Media portrayals of girls and women in STEM

(image from icreatetoeducate.com/girls-stem-careers/)

A recent article [1] by M. Bhatt, J. Blakley, N. Mohanty and R. Payne explores how media shapes the perceptions of girls and women in Science, Technology, Engineeering and Mathematics (STEM) in the United States: “How Media Shapes Perceptions of Science and Technology for Girls and Women“. Their examples mostly come from TV but the points are equally valid for film writing.

This short post is simply to draw attention to their interesting article.

Statistics

In recent years, women have been earning the majority of the undergraduate degrees (50-something percent for women, 40-something percent for men). The article doesn’t mention this, but a quick search shows that they earn the minority of STEM degrees (40-something percent for women, 50-something percent for men, although there is a wide variation depending on the exact field). However, when it comes to STEM employment, the numbers drop (20-something percent for women, 70-something percent for men). The statistics for women are worst at the graduate degree level, which of course makes it hard to staff teachers at all levels of the educational system in STEM fields.


Media influences beliefs in ourselves

• 
  Media’s “pervasive negative stereotypes about women and science and math constitute some of the most important and insidious roadblocks to attracting and retaining women in STEM fields.”
  
• “Media affects the way we view ourselves and the rest of the world.”
  
• “If most of the images of women that a young girl sees fall into a limited number of categories, she will have limited beliefs about who she can become.”
  
• “… individuals adopt behavior changes based on the observation and imitation of other individuals, including fictional characters appearing in mass media …”
  
• “… the gender gap in science and math achievement in a country is significantly correlated with implicit gender-science stereotypes in that country…”
  
• “… providing girls and women with positive role models, both real and fictional, has the potential to reduce stereotypic beliefs and alleviate the effects of stereotype threat.”
  
• “Increasing representation of women in these fields, even with something as simple as a textbook image or a video with a gender-balanced crowd, can help mitigate these effects.”
  

They end with these recommendations:

• “Representation: depict more well-rounded portrayals of scientists and technologists.”
  
• “Participation: include more female characters in all the STEM fields in scripted dramas and comedies.”
  

As a very old example, in one of the DVD’s for the complete Get Smart TV series (created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry in the 1960s), there is a relatively recent interview with Barbara Feldon (who played Agent 99) where she pointed out that the her character was the smartest and most competent, as the writers intentionally indicated by giving her the highest agent number. Feldon mentions that she has met women employed in a STEM field who told her how Agent 99 inspired them.

[1] Meghana Bhatt, Johanna Blakley, Natasha Mohanty, Rachel Payne, “How Media Shapes Perceptions of Science and Technology for Girls and Women“, 2013.

Annapolis Film Festival: Screenwriting advice from David S. Ward

I recently attended the Annapolis Film Festival, which had a very interesting panel on Screenwriting. The panelists were

• Lane Shadgett, screenwriter, Jamesy Boy & Perkins 14
  
• Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, Editor & Online Community Manager, Script Magazine
  
• David S. Ward, Oscar winning screenwriter, The Sting & Sleepless in Seattle
  

The moderator was Michael I. Miller, writer, producer; Writers Guild of America & Advisory Board, Annapolis Film Festival.

After Introductions, they discussed Advice for new writers, Today’s script market, How to handle notes from producers, How to deal with actors and directors, and they ended up with an audience Q&A. Of course, David S. Ward had lots of great stories about the making of The Sting.


Here are a few of my own (very brief) notes:

Advice for writers?

Lane:
Be prolific. Don’t be shy about promoting your work.

David:
The best thing is to write. You must write to get better, to get efficient, to find your voice. Getting an agent is much tougher. It is really really hard. Today they look for writers who have already sold. When I started, they were looking for writers whose script they liked. It is especially hard outside NYC and Hollywood.

Jeanne:
I live in upstate NY and write there. You do have to go to LA on occasion for meetings but you must write and have a product. My advice: Don’t suck. Don’t such as a human being or as a writer. Work really hard. Don’t give up.

David
In the beginning of my career, TV was inferior to film. Studios want branded IP – YA books and comics with a following. The indie world is different, but even they are starting to demand a name actor to help them sell foreign rights. These days in many cases, more money – up to 60% – comes from foreign sales than domestic. When I first started, the domestic sales typically were 85-90%, with foreign sales making up the difference. Good writers are moving to cable TV, where writers get more control. The studio gravy train is hard to get on.

Lane:
I agree with what David said. But the key that cracks open the lock is that actors want to play good roles. Think about your script from their perspective. For example, “Jamesy Boy” was this situation. To attract name actors for a supporting role they have to really want to play a part that won’t take much of their time. That part must be an interesting character that is present in the key scenes of the movie. A good casting director is very valuable. Also, actors have their favorite writers. Try to be one of them.

Jeanne:
Don’t pitch on twitter but use social media to build a network of supporters.

Mike:
How do you deal with notes from producers?

David
You must be diplomatic. Their intended concern may be different from their specific written complaint. Don’t get a reputation as a difficult writer. Even if the note is “stupid”, it may have a good point which is not well-expressed. What is the heart of your script? Don’t give that up. The note giver may not understand story structure. Given them an alternative or option, which they can take credit for and feel ownership for the film.

Lane:
Here is a statement that can be very useful: “I was thinking about that note of yours. I think what you mean is … . Another way to solve that problem is … ”

Jeanne:
Even if a note is “bad” something good can still come out of it.

Q: How to you write description? The Sting has lengthy descriptions but these days a script is supposed to be very sparse.

David:
Whether sparse or not, write your description in an interesting way. A comedy film might be written in a different style than a crime drama. Really work the descriptions very carefully.

Lane:
Skills needed for studio work:

1. writing
   
2. developing (revisions using notes)
   
3. pitching in a room.
   

These are different skills.

Q: Please comment on story vs structure.

David:
I tell my students this all the time: If you write structure, you won’t sell anything.


Notes from a separate event at the Annapolis Film Festival:


Conversation with David S Ward

My UCLA thesis film was Steelyard Blues. It had a scene with a pickpocket. To research this scene, I read a book on con-artists. Learned about the worlds of grifters, which lead to the idea for The Sting.

The Sting was pre-approved by Robert Redford before the script was written. It was optioned for $1200. Newman liked it and sent it to George Roy Hill (GRH). It was green-lit in two weeks.

GRH was incredibly well-prepared and taught me a lot about directing. GRH said to DSW: “Never be so unprepared that an actor can ask you a question about a scene that you can’t answer.” GRH has a PhD in music from Yale.

Cannery Row is near and dear to my heart. It was poorly marketed due to changes in the MGM organization.

Writing process: I try to never “cheat”. I have a goal but need to rewrite until it makes more sense.

The biggest problems in your script are often those that lead to the best part of your story, if you can solve them. Unfortunately, most people give up at that point. You must have a work ethic. As with many artistic endeavors, writing is problem solving. You must solve problems and you need the drive that says “I’m going to get there.”

Start with a short, then a low-budget script, then ask for money to make it. There are people that will fund to the $75 K level.

DSW: I write every day – usually in the night or early morning. Longhand, using a uniball micro pen. Occasionally, I skip a few days. But never more than that. I’m a writer, so I write even if i’m not in a paid job.

The seven basic conflicts

Syd Field defined conflict as creating the force of opposition between the characters and the actions that helps shape or motivate the plot. Those forces which work outside the character form the external conflict(s) and those inside form the internal conflict(s).

Among other sites, tvtropes.com says that Arthur Quiller-Couch was the first to develop the basic conflicts. However, one blogger, whose site is now down, tried tracking that source down and decided that the claim is probably wrong. In any case, here they are:

1. (wo)man vs (wo)man
   
   This is an external conflict: protagonist versus antagonist, hero versus villain.
   
   Another example, a romance such as: man falls madly in love with a woman who has other motivations.
   
   Examples:
   
   
   • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1939) – Dorothy struggles with the Wicked Witch of the West
     
   • All That Heaven Allows (1958)
     
   • Die Hard (1988)
     
   
   
2. (wo)man caught in the middle
   
   An external conflict where a person is caught between two opposing forces.
   
   Examples:
   
   
   • Yojimbo (1961) - remade as A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
     
   • Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
     
   • Collateral (2004)
     
   
   
3. [wo]man vs. self
   
   An internal conflict of a [wo]man against her/his own values and dreams.
   
   Examples:
   
   
   • Pi (1998)
     
   • Requiem for a Dream (2000)
     
   • Black Swan (2010)
     
   • The Wrestler (2008)
     
   • Body and Soul (1947)
     
   • The Lost Weekend (1945)
     
   
   
4. (wo)man against society
   
   A form of conflict where man stands against a man-made institution (such as slavery or bullying or corruption).
   
   Examples:
   
   
   • Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
     
   • The Matrix (1999)
     
   • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
     
   • To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
     
   
   
5. (wo)man vs. nature
   
   This is an external struggle positioning the hero against an animal or a force of nature, such as a storm. Here, “nature” is often viewed as anything that has to be survived or changed rather than defeated. According to this, a zombie apocalypse, such as Resident Evil, would thus be Man Vs. Nature.
   
   Examples:
   
   
   • Jaws (1975)
     
   • The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
     
   • Moby Dick (1956)
     
   • Resident Evil (2002)
     
   • The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
     
   
   
6. (wo)man vs. God/fate/supernatural
   
   These include internal conflicts such as a character attempting to break free from a future path chosen without his or her consent.
   
   Examples:
   
   
   • Seventh Seal (1957)
     
   • Constantine (2005)
     
   • The Apostle (1997)
     
   • Slaughterhouse Five (1972)
     
   • A Serious Man (2009)
     
   
   
7. (wo)man vs. machines/technology
   
   An external conflict between a character and an artificial entity such as a computer or robot.
   
   Examples:
   • The Terminator (1984)
     
   • Ghost In The Shell (1995 animated film)
     
   • I, Robot (2004)

Script characteristics and ROI

(from boxofficequant.com - click the image to enlarge. Note that this graph suggests that if you want to maximize your ROI then you should get 3, but definitely not 5, Academy Award noms/wins. Yes I am making a joke:-)

This post is on the 2007 paper “From Story Line to Box Office: A New Approach for Green-Lighting Movie Scripts” by Jehoshua Eliashberg, Sam K. Hui, Z. John Zhang. They try to predict the ROI based solely on the script. The ROI, or return on investment, for a typical studio is given by
ROI = (0.55 × box-office revenue − production budget)/ production budget.
This is because a typical studio takes 55% of the gross box-office revenue.

The question investigated by the EHZ paper is: How does the ROI depend on the script?

The basic idea is to have a computer perform a “textual analysis” on the script (which determines how much action/sex/etc is involved, what locations are involved, etc), have human reviewers answer 22 questions about the story/plot (gleened from [B],[F1],[F2],[H]), blend them together into a sequence of “fitted values” which is essentially the script’s “score”. They are able to predict the ROI “classification” about 60% of the time.

Here are the questions:

1. Clear premise – The story has a clear premise that is important to audiences.
   
2. Familiar setting – The setting of the story is familiar to the audience.
   
3. Early exposition – Information about the characters comes very early in the story.
   
4. Coincidence avoidance – Story follows a logical, causal relationship. Coincidences are avoided.
   
5. Interconnected – Each scene description advances the plot and is closely connected to the central conflict.
   
6. Surprise – The story contains elements of surprise, but is logical within context and within its own rules.
   
7. Anticipation – Keep readers trying to anticipate what would happen next.
   
8. Flashback avoidance – The story does not contain flashback sequences.
   
9. Linear timeline – The story unfolds in chronological order.
   
10. Clear motivation – The hero of the story has a clear outer motivation (what he/she wants to achieve by the end of the movie).
    
11. Multidimensional hero – Many dimensions of the hero are explored.
    
12. Strong nemesis – There is a strong nemesis in the story.
    
13. Sympathetic hero – Hero attracts your sympathy because he/she exhibits courage and belongs to one of the followings: good/nice, funny, good at what he/she does, or has power.
    
14. Logical characters – Actions of main characters are logical considering their characteristics. They sometimes hold surprises but are believable.
    
15. Character growth – Conflict is important enough to change the hero.
    
16. Important conflict – The story has a very clear conflict, which involves high emotional stakes.
    
17. Multidimensional conflict – The central conflict is explained in many different points of view.
    
18. Conflict build-up – The hero faces a series of hurdles. Each successive hurdle is greater and more provocative than the previous ones.
    
19. Conflict lock-in – The hero is locked into the conflict very early in the movie.
    
20. Unambiguous resolution – Conflicts is unambiguously resolved through confrontation between the hero and nemesis at the end.
    
21. Logical ending – The ending is logical and believable.
    
22. Surprise ending – The ending carries surprise and is unexpected.
    

Some of these (eg, #8 and #9) are problematical but, none-the-less, this list is a good checklist for any screenwriter.

References:

• [B] I. R. Blacker, The Elements of Screenwriting, Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1998.
  
• [F1] S. Field, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, 3rd ed., Dell Publishing, New York, 1994.
  
• [F2] S. Field, The Screenwriter’s Problem Solver, Dell Publishing, New York, 1998.
  
• [H] M. Hauge, Writing Screenplays That Sell, Harper-Collins Publishers, New York, 1991.