50th Anniversary: WIF Gala marks successes, honors achievers

By Ellen Olivier

Dec. 1, 2023 12:09 PM PT

There was good reason celebrate at Thursday night’s WIF Honors. In addition to recognizing an A-list of achievers, including America Ferrera, Yara Shahidi, Eva Longoria, Greta Lee, writer-director Celine Song and writer Linda Yvette Chávez of “Flamin’ Hot,” the night marked WIF’s 50th anniversary. Founded as Women in Film, Los Angeles, in 1973, the organization has now spent half a century fighting for gender equity in the screen industries.

Considering that Lily Tomlin had been the organization’s first honoree, it seemed only fitting that the actor and comedy legend step onto the stage at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood to help kick off festivities. Tomlin took over after WIF President Amy Baer welcomed the crowd and former columnist Sue Cameron told the story of WIF’s origin, which began after she wrote a story for the Hollywood Reporter detailing the paucity of female writers on TV shows.

“In 1973, women were just having a horrible time,” Cameron said. “They were completely ignored. It didn’t matter, actor, writer, director, whatever. Nobody cared.” That is, until Cameron’s story appeared, revealing that women accounted for 2% of TV writers. “I knew when I held these statistics in my hand that I had a bomb that was about to explode,” she said.

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Yara Shahidi, left, and America Ferrera, right, are seen at the WIF annual gala at Dolby Theater on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023 in Los Angeles, CA. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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Lisa Edelstein is seen on the red carpet at the WIF annual gala at Dolby Theater (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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Yara Shahidi, left, and Greta Lee, right, are seen at the WIF annual gala at the Dolby Theater. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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Diane Warren is seen on the red carpet at the WIF annual gala. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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Eva Longoria, left, and Yara Shahidi, right, embrace on the red carpet at the WIF annual gala. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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Jonica Booth is seen on the red carpet at the WIF annual gala. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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Bella Heathcote is seen on the red carpet at the WIF annual gala. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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Jackie Tohn is seen at the WIF annual gala. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Tomlin continued the tale, having been called back then as a celebrity to bring attention to the new group. She first recalled “that rainy, rainy night in 1973” when she sat in her car waiting for someone to tell her that enough people had shown up to justify an award ceremony. “When [women] saw those horrible numbers, they thought. ‘Not on my watch. Something has to change.’”

She then joked that, aside from making the immediate, very important decision to form an organization, a “nice dinner party” was also in order, “and remember, this was the ‘70s. So, in addition to the anger, there were a lot of caftans and macrame, and after the press left, they had custard flambé and they all set fire to their bras.”

On Thursday, Jane Fonda followed Tomlin to present America Ferrera with the WIF Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award. The two-time Oscar winner praised the “Ugly Betty” Emmy winner and “Barbie” star for standing up and speaking out for what’s right, naming as the actor’s many concerns, “climate change, women’s rights, reproductive rights, democracy, voting rights, immigrant rights and always human rights. Human rights.” She then added, “I’ve never been happier to say the words on a stage, ‘I love America.’”

Jon Hamm next introduced the night’s first recipients of the Crystal Award for Advocacy to actor Greta Lee and writer-director Celine Song, collaborators on the Oscar-contending “Past Lives.”

“Every now and again, Hollywood does get it right. They managed to give birth to the perfect little film and that happened this year,” said the “Mad Men” Emmy winner. “The film is ‘Past Lives.’” Janice Min, editor in chief of the Ankler, then moderated a discussion with Lee and Song.

Later in the evening, actor Annie Gonzalez presented the Crystal Award for Advocacy to Eva Longoria, best known for “Desperate Housewives” and writer Linda Yvette Chávez for their collaboration as director and writer on “Flamin’ Hot.” Variety writer Angelique Jackson moderated the talk with the two.

Because she said Hollywood studios rarely make movies with a Latina director and writer, Longoria said that while shooting, “I felt like I was on set every day with the weight of the dreams of Latinos.” About the film’s screening at the White House, she noted, “There were a thousand Latinos on the lawn, and they’re crying and they’re laughing and they’re repeating things and they’re singing the songs that they grew up with and that we knew. And Linda and I, we were in tears. We couldn’t believe it because that’s how we want a movie to land. But also, we realized, ‘Oh, they’re seeing themselves reflected back for one of the first times.’”

Before the evening’s end, Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti presented Yara Shahidi of “black-ish” and “Grown-ish,” with the WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award. “Who has more grace and style than Yara Shahidi?” she said. Prezioso Maramotti, the Max Mara global brand ambassador, called Shahidi an “accomplished activist and graceful ambassador for culture and education,” also commending the young actor for tackling such subjects as female friendship, cancer and a world altered by climate change in her work.

In the years since the organization’s founding, WIF has initiated numerous programs to bring change to the screen industries. They include fellowships, writing labs, grants for short films, a helpline to address sexual misconduct and within the ReFrame project, WIF awards stamps to gender-balanced movies and TV shows.

Another program, Vote for Women, came about “in one of those years when there were no women nominated for directing — and there were great movies made by women,” said WIF Chief Executive Officer Kirsten Schaffer in an earlier conversation. “So, the next day, we were saying, ‘Wait, here are all the women who could have been nominated. And wait, also there are all these women in visual effects that aren’t getting nominated. Look at this list. And, there are all these editors.’”

Women in Film rebranded in 2020 to WIF, in order to expand the mission to include today’s screen alternatives to film, and to include trans people and nonbinary individuals.

Schaffer said that not only was the term “film” becoming outdated, but “there is also a gender expansion happening. For us to be relevant for this next generation, we have to be really thoughtful about who is in the mix.”

“The great news is that writers in television are now close to parity,” Schaffer said. “We’ve made progress, but we still have a way to go. … So, I think our future work is around getting all those numbers up to 50% and keeping them there.”

Hollywood, CA - November 30: Eva Longoria, recipient of the Crystal Award for Advocacy, is photographed in the Los Angeles Times Portrait studio (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)