Lauren Shuler Donner Quotes

Women in Film and Television is such an important body.

When I go to a web video meeting and look around, at least half the show runners are women. And a lot are actors-cum-writers who are frustrated with the situation of being a woman actor in Hollywood and have decided to create their own show.

I think for women especially, writing and creating your own role, producing, directing - having some control over what you do is really important. We can pave the way for other women to send what messages they want sent.

There should be more women directing; I think there's just not the awareness that it's really possible.

I was the first woman to speak ever at the National Press Club, and they gave me a necktie.

I'd love to see more women working as directors and producers.

I want more girls to be able to see themselves behind the camera creating images we all enjoy, and I want to call attention to the fact that women directors are here all over the world.

I want to support other women because of the opportunities I've had - and I've had a lot of opportunities. What I try as a female director is to do the best job I can and, in the meantime, bring attention to as many other female directors and writers as I can.

I want to see some scripts written by women and projects being directed by women.

We need to encourage more women to write roles for other women. The great substantive roles aren't being written for women and aren't being produced and directed by women.

The intersection of being female and a showrunner carries difficult challenges.

I'd say it's far more challenging to be female and be a showrunner. People are not surprised to see a black person running this show, but the female aspect is the thing that I get asked about.

They say I can open movies, and that's nice in that it puts into people's minds that women can do it. It's not just Kevin Costner, not just Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not just the guys.

If you look at NBC, two of their most successful shows - '30 Rock' and 'Parks And Rec' - are written by women, produced by women, and I think that's the future. Women are the new men.

In television, women can really run anything. It can be a comedy, it can be a drama, it can be genre, it can be anything. But in films, women are still getting to the top.

Being a woman in music was fine, but when I wanted to direct, I was poking my head into a man's world.

When I was starting out, the first women studio heads and writers were just getting into their perches - development execs learning their chops.

The bottom line is that female writers aren't being given enough opportunities by male producers.

I started off in drama, and there are so many women that I admire. Women in this industry are gladiators. Cicely Tyson, Viola Davis, Taraji Henson, Regina Hall, Regina King.

I wish I had seen some women directing before - that would have given me the idea of who I was.

I have very much been a guy who's acknowledged how many women have directed me, have produced... it's been unbelievable.

We don't need a lot of initiatives for women in film; what we need is money.

It remains an incredible struggle for women in theater, and, in particular, playwrights and directors, to get their work seen and to not only get seen, but to get it to Broadway.

We want to see women in more power positions, not just in front of the screen but behind the screen as well.

I swear, if anyone near me even so much as whispers the sentence 'Women probably don't want to direct,' my fist will fly as a reflex action.