Free The Bid Australia

A PLEDGE TO GIVE WOMEN DIRECTORS A VOICE IN FILM & TV INDUSTRY

Free the Bid is an effective, simple, game changing action our industry can take to break the cycle that has limited the number of Women Directors working in the Film and TV industry.
Around ten percent of Australian made content is directed by women, including Films, TV and Advertising yet we have 85 percent purchasing power. We’re the market but we’re not creating the content. Changing that is a business no brainer.
Free the Bid has a simple idea: One Woman director to pitch on every project will help make unconscious bias a thing of the past.
Gillian Armstrong – Director

WHO ARE WE?

Free the Bid is a not-for-profit initiative advocating for equal opportunities to bid on commercial and Film/TV jobs in the global film and tv industry on behalf of women directors. We offer a pledge that ad agencies, broadcasters, production companies and brands can take to commit to include at least one women on every pitch for a commercial or Film/ TV job.

We also offer a searchable database showcasing the work of 150+ women directors, both those signed to production companies, agents and independent directors.

This campaign is based on the successful awareness initiative- http://freethebid.comFounded By Alma Har’el

The problem in practice:

In the world of TVC directing

At the bidding stage, ad agencies are typically presented three directors per film/spot. Agencies (quite rightly) look for the most high-profile candidates who are most often men. Women struggle to build reels to compete with their male colleagues because they are often excluded from bidding at every stage of their careers, frequently limited to female oriented content. A woman can’t build a competitive reel in the face of gender bias. Production companies don’t have incentive to sign more women and agencies don’t have an incentive to hire them.

In Film and Television

Even though the percentage is slighter higher for women directing TV and Films in Australia it is a very competitive and male dominated industry to get into. Similarly, women are considered for female oriented content first and foremost. Unconscious bias around women’s capacity to direct action or male ensemble content means they may not be considered. You can’t get the work unless you’ve done the work. If more women were given the opportunity to direct more projects this would feed back into the film and advertising industry creating a greater scope of work for Australian women directors as a whole.

Production companies , Ad agencies, broadcasters and brands get one WOMAN DIRECTOR pitch on EVERY job!

WHY START WITH WOMEN?

• Because women are more than half of the world’s population! And half of the creative voices. We’re a talent pool that isn’t being tapped to its full potential.

• Women are the number one consumer group and make for 85% of product purchase decisions. We need more nuanced work that speaks to them.

• Cultural misrepresentations of women are perpetuated by the unconscious bias of male story telling. Women directors bring their experience and talent to their storytelling and will change the way women are represented in film/tv and advertising to the benefit of our mothers, our sisters, our daughters and all the men in their lives.

• Giving women a voice in advertising, film and television will help woman directors across all platforms and reach audiences. Many male directors sustain a regular income through commercials and tv which allows them to pursue and develop long- term feature and TV projects. Women directors don’t have that privilege, and their numbers begin to drop after film school and remain low, especially if they have children.

Although this idea doesn’t solve all the diversity challenges we face in the workplace, it can make a significant and important impact very quickly – 50% of the world is severely underrepresented in our industry overall. Free the bid will represent women from a diverse range of backgrounds and that’s a great place to start. If half the agencies in the country start to request one woman director to pitch, they’ll start winning jobs and the the social and economic rewards will follow.