you have different chapters in life and
sometimes people like you to stay in one
lane and they like you to be one thing
because it makes them comfortable what
I've discovered is I'm always happiest
when I turn the page start a new chapter
and try something that people don't
expect
you've been so instrumental with the
times up movement and really helping to
bring attention to that issue where do
you think we stand now have we made
progress and how can we keep the
momentum up with that movement I think a
tremendous amount of progress has been
made
you know the meaty movement has been
really powerful throughout the world I
read a new story today about women in
Russia who have been speaking up in a
way that they've never spoken up before
women in Kazakhstan Africa it's um it's
a global movement and I think me too and
time SAP is all about breaking the
silence that's kept women and people of
color and anyone who feels other in the
workplace feel less marginalized and I
think that's powerful and I don't think
it's going backwards I think it's only
going forwards and you had even been
active in a movement earlier asked her
more which I don't know if as many
people know about so tell me what that
was and why that was important ask her
more was a campaign around 2015 to have
journalists on red carpets asked
actresses more than what they were
wearing so you know it was just kind of
this idea that these women worked really
hard it's actually a job that you had to
perform to a certain level in order to
get the acknowledgment of being
nominated by your peers or by any group
or entity so that instead of asking
about the fashion on the carpet which is
beautiful and amazing but is not a
creation of the actresses that's
something a company made and and
bringing it back to the work of these
women were doing which is something I
think is really important get it back to
the idea of what really got you there
was the hard work and dedication of her
performance that was extraordinary
so obviously this cause has been close
to you for a long time obviously
predating me too and times up yeah I
started the company seven years ago to
create better parts for women in
Hollywood and it came out of frustration
and just reading a lot of really bad
scripts like really bad scripts and
thinking women
are more complex and interesting than
they are being represented on phone and
as my work has grown as my company has
grown it's been come clear that you
can't change the stories unless you're
changing the storytellers so that's why
a big piece of our company is hiring
female directors female writers women of
color people in the LGBTQ community
disabled women just people who have not
had their stories represented on film
and it's been incredible the response
that has happened and as companies are
becoming more open-minded to the ideas
that that we need different storytellers
it's become an incredible time to be in
our business and being a producer who is
mission base so I read a great quote
from you a pretty powerful quote where
you said it's not just the art you make
it's how you make the art that brings
consciousness to the audience which is
stemming out of the same idea you just
described so even now this is you know
predominantly female set and the video
team today is all female why do you
think that impacts the final project and
the way stories are told
why is changing the storytellers and the
people behind the scenes so important
well I think you can't expect every
movie to be made by the same 20 men and
feel like you're getting different
stories and that has been by and large
what's been going on in Hollywood for a
long time and you can't expect people to
care about the stories the same way when
it isn't from their perspective so what
a lot of what we talk about and times up
but also at my company hello sunshine is
how do we get a holistic overview of
every kind of part of entertainment
whether that's television film digital
entertainment mobile entertainment
social media even shows that we're
creating for social media how can we
tell a perspective that hasn't been seen
before and I think it just it's just
different I mean we talked about the
male gaze versus the female gaze women
tell stories about women and different
people color tell stories about people
of color in different ways and I think
variety is the spice of life and we're
supposed to be seeing each other's
stories that's how we build compassion
in this world and I have first-hand for
25 years seeing what moviemaking can do
to communities all over the world the
impact a movie like say Legally Blonde
can have on women in China or India I
have women coming up to me and saying
you know in Belize I went to law school
because of Legally Blonde so it's just
taking that idea and saying you know
what if we had that kind of powerful
storytelling from other perspectives
that was just as viable commercially how
could we change the world and I really
think we can do you feel like there's a
different energy when it's more diverse
set when you're when you've been in
productions that are more diverse
whether it's gender wise or LGBTQ or
diversity of race yeah for sure there's
a different energy on set I recently
worked with Ava Duvernay on a wrinkle in
time and not just in the casting if she
actually creates a diverse crew behind
the scenes so that you're seeing 50
percent women 50 percent men people of
color represented every ability every
LGBTQ you're just seeing every person
with an opportunity to create movie
magic and the energy is different I've
never seen anything like it before
that kind of inclusion that makes
everybody feel like they're part of the
magic of moviemaking and I think the
audience feels it because they know it's
happening and they know they're seen and
heard because you know all we really
want in this world is to be seen and
when you finally see someone who looks
like you on film and you know the people
who told the story look like you as well
or lived part of your experience there's
something deeply validating about that
and I think you carry that with you for
your lifetime yeah actually as a person
of color I totally agree and as part of
the reason I ended up on the set
camera yeah so you know Fast Company
also reaches a lot of entrepreneurs CEOs
what actionable steps could they take to
help create diversity in all forums in
their businesses I think you have to
look at there's two ways to look at it
from the top down and from the bottom up
how what are you doing to make sure that
your board is inclusive that you really
have 50/50 representation of male and
female and people of color and people
with disabilities and you have to think
like if particularly if your consumer is
all of those things it's important that
you're aware that the people making the
decisions are aware of the audience or
the consumer I think that's that's just
good business and good sense and from
sort of the HR level up I think it's
important to have a lot of interns and
who wouldn't necessarily think they
would have a career in that particular
field so we seek out our interns we we
really make a conscious effort to make
it feel accessible to people who
wouldn't necessarily think gosh I want
to be a movie producer or work in
digital content and we put cameras in
their hands and we have them shadow our
editors and it's really important that
we mentor the next generation how do you
find them how do you go outside your
network because a lot of Silicon Valley
has a diversity issue as well and one of
the things we've often heard is well the
reason is there's they stay within their
network the people they know firsthand
people they've worked for it and they're
all a similar demo so how would you
suggest breaking out of their network
well I think that's one of the great
things about times up it has connected
me with a lot of people within my
industry that have an ability to I can
say to them I'm looking for more
diversity at hello sunshine or I'm
looking for more people from the LGBTQ
community and I think that that's
important part of the socialization of
these causes and these movements
is that we have to help each other and
become more inclusive so I'm working
with Ava Duvernay
she has an incredible company called
array now that you know helps people of
color become filmmakers and showcase
their work but it is also she has an
incredible network of people who work
behind the scenes so that's very helpful
to me well you know we struggled
sometimes in the digital space to find
people who have grown up the ranks in
social media and digital and so we're
you know I think that's a that's a new
frontier for us that we need to kind of
tackle and conquer but we're always
probably making more calls about who to
bring in as interns then then worrying
about who's on our board I think so a
general question who is a female role
model of yours
and how has that person shaped you and
giving you advice that you carry with
you even today gosh I have a lot of
female mentors I mean Oprah comes to
mind this is because I had the
extraordinary opportunity to work with
her this year and travel with her
promoting a film and every free moment I
would ask her what she's learned you
know in a way she has multiple master's
degrees in human behavior she's done
over 34,000 interviews of people so I
would always say to her like what what
do you think people what do people want
what's the one thing that's sort of the
connective tissue of humanity of people
you've met and she said people just want
to be seen they want to be acknowledged
and they want to know that they were
understood so I thought that was really
beautiful and so poignant and if I can
help people do that I'd feel really
really proud of the work I'd done in
this world but I have so many female
mentors I love Mindy Kaling as a woman
who saw a deficit of characters like her
and thought well why not me you know why
don't I write my own care
why don't and then it became why don't I
write my own show that I star in no
one's gonna write it for me and I love
that attitude that you can't sit around
and wait for the phone to ring you have
to be proactive and sometimes you have
to do things that are completely
frightening and foreign to you and
pretend you're brave and then you get
braver along the way I always say it's
like jumping two feet into a cold pool
and figuring out how to swim later but
you can't get it anywhere you know new
in life if you're not pushing against
the boundaries and that's kind of how
you created hello sunshine
right yeah I mean I created hello
sunshine because first of all I started
looking at consumer behavior and women
are going to the movies less they're
watching a lot of streaming a lot of
social media a lot of digital content
and if you're like what's digital
content well a lot of it set just that
stuff you see on the Internet
this is not on broadcast but that's what
I was noticing it in my life I was
noticing in my friend's life I was
noticing my 18 year old daughter was
watching a lot of that and my 14 year
old son and I thought well who's
creating that digital content for women
that's interesting that's not about I
sort of looked at the whole spectrum of
what was being created and I thought
there's so many more aspects of what
women are interested in so that's where
hello sunshine was born out of we still
make movies we still make television
shows but now we have this great
Facebook shows and a show on ATT that's
all about women I find interesting and
I'm interviewing them and it's just
expanding the idea of what aren't women
interested in reaching out to them in
different platforms we often ask people
about productivity hacks kind of like
one little trick or you know you're a
little tip for how to be productive as
you're juggling you know to businesses
and you know your career your film
career and also your personal life so if
you have any little tip that really
helps you kind of keep on top of
everything
oh yeah I mean I have a couple I i had
multitask a lot so this year probably
because i've been in too many car wrecks
I decided to stop driving myself back
and forth places so either uber or I'll
get a driver that really helps me a lot
and I'm also not distracted or doing
anything dangerous
so I'll check my emails and in the car
so that I'm not by the time I get home
it's over with and I can just focus on
being a mom and being present with my
family that I'm also another thing I
think is a good I have to read a lot I
read a lot of manuscripts in a lot of
books so whenever I get a chance and I
feel like I'm a little bit tired and my
reading isn't gonna be as accurate I
also download audible books and I'll
switch from reading to the audible and
now so I can get through things much
quicker like that and also you sometimes
your brain is just working in a
different way it's easier to absorb
information if you're hearing it as well
so that's my little hack I think that's
it is there anything you want to add
that I haven't covered that you know you
just want to get out there whether it's
having to do with time's up for your
businesses or your projects it's fun I'm
having the time of mine I'm honestly
having the time of my life I had no idea
that my career would just get better and
better and I think it's important that
people know like you have different
chapters in life and sometimes people
like you to stay in one lane and they
like you to be one thing because it
makes them comfortable what I've
discovered is I'm always happiest when I
turn the page start a new chapter and
try something that people don't expect
and it's scary sometimes you don't know
if it's gonna be successful or not
successful but you'll never know until
you try so try it go out there and try
excellent Thank You Reese that was
amazing thank you great question
well thank you they love it with a
camera women love you not
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