We don't want to be our own niche. We're filmmakers like everybody. How many years in a row are we going to talk about the fact that we make films and we are women? Enough already.
Society is really coming to a point where they're not asking if women can be funny anymore. We all know they obviously are.
The industry has always been accepting of gay artists, but a particular thing for me is to see gay artists of color.
I was lucky to grow up in the '90s, when we had just as many strong female artists as male artists. That's a world I would like to live in again.
When women get great roles in life, they start to get great roles in films and TV. Look at Janet Reno, Madeleine Albright, and Mrs. Thatcher. Because those images are coming at us in life, they are reflected in acting.
Oh all the time when Victoria Wood and I did our series. There were people asking 'Can women be funny?' People still ask that. It's like asking: 'Can women breathe in and out?'
As a female actress, I didn't feel the need to be sexy or beautiful.
I could not - and I still cannot - see a sustainable career as a filmmaker in which I focus fully on our gay stories.
In the comedy world, there's always been one woman to five men. I think that's changing, that we're being respected more as writers and comedians.
We showed record companies that they shouldn't be scared just because it's an all-girl band. We could play just as well as the boys.
You don't choose a film because it's made by a woman, you choose it because it's good.
I love the women I've played.
If the culture shifts, if people think differently about women, the art will shift, too. You can't ask art to make social change. It's not what it's for.
