INTERVIEWS

Equity: What Women Want

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This summer, a noteworthy movie has shattered gender barriers, with star turns by women delivering powerful lead performances in a domain typically dominated by men. But no, it does not feature ghosts. 

Directed by Meera Menon, and produced, written, and almost exclusively starring women, Equity tells the story of fiercely intelligent, merciless investment banker Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn), struggling to manage an emerging tech company’s public stock offering, all while staving off an ambitious young associate Erin (Sarah Megan Thomas, also a producer on the film) and an investigation into insider trading by her former friend Samantha (Alysia Reiner, also a producer) at the Department of Justice.

Amy Fox

Amy Fox

With Equity we’ve officially come a long way from “chick flicks,” that condescending category of female-centric films criticized for focusing solely on relationships (to be fair, bromance pictures also apply – we’re talking about you, Fast & Furious franchise). But when it comes to the kill or be killed world of Wall Street, this Sony Pictures Classics release follows the feminist adage, “Anything you can do, we can do better.”

When producers Thomas and Reiner were seeking a talent to fulfill their vision of a female-centered financial thriller, they needed to look no further than screenwriter Amy Fox, whose film adaptation of her one-act play Heights, earned her recognition for her facility with drama and character. The only problem? Amy barely knew what a stock was.

Creative Screenwriting spoke with Fox about why she felt that weakness was a strength, as well as where today’s emerging screenwriters are lacking, and how choosing a cricket sound effect shaped her writing skills.

Anna Gunn as Naomi Bishop and Lee Tergesen as Randall in Equity.  Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Anna Gunn as Naomi Bishop and Lee Tergesen as Randall in Equity. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

How did you come to be involved with this project?

I knew producers Sarah and Elysia from working in theater. We had met about ten years ago, I was a playwright initially, and they were both theater actors. When they came up with their company (Broad Street Pictures) and the concept to do this first film about women on Wall Street, they approached me about doing the script.

The film foregoes the easy path of showing Naomi as a fish out of water in a man’s world – instead it jumps right in with the idea that she is one of several high profile women in the industry. Did you feel a certain responsibility depicting women in this environment?

We weren’t necessarily looking to present a certain angle. We just started mining the stories of everything we could read, and everyone we could talk to. Why are women in Wall Street? Why are their numbers what they are?

The script feels incredibly authentic – do you have a background in finance?

I knew absolutely nothing and did a tremendous amount of research. I like to joke that I went home and Googled, “What is a stock?” I basically did that. But I thought that was an advantage, because I knew that my audience wasn’t going to have that background. So if I could clarify it to the point where I understood it, then I was a good translator.

Anna Gunn as Naomi Bishop in Equity. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Anna Gunn as Naomi Bishop in Equity. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Was it always the intention to make the story a thriller? Can you even make a movie about Wall Street without involving a crime?

Pretty much with every Wall Street movie there’s always a scandal, there’s always fallout from the scandal, there’s always a betrayal. It’s easy to make a movie about a bunch of crooks but we wanted to do something a little more complicated than that. It’s a complex world.

Naomi herself doesn’t seem to do anything actually criminal – no insider trading, no false testimony or fudging numbers – was that a deliberate choice?

She never, ever crosses any line. She makes a judgment call – about the company that she’s taking public, and whether she should investigate a question, or to just ignore it. But then this question becomes a rumor that ends up eating away at the IPO.

It’s fascinating that the prosecutor who is investigating her is a best friend, defying that unspoken expectation that these women should be helping each other instead of coming after each other, and that she was just as ethically compromised.

We wanted to show that Samantha was overreaching. A lot of prosecutors do end up working for the banks. That’s a very, very common revolving door, and we were interested in the fact that it can be so easy to assume that the prosecutor is the good guy and the banks are the bad buy.

Alysia Reiner as Samantha Ryan in Equity. Photo by Steve Buckwalter, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Alysia Reiner as Samantha Ryan in Equity. Photo by Steve Buckwalter, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

One of the most effective lines in the movie is a speech that Naomi gives where she says, “I like money.”

The line came from one of the first interviews I did. I was speaking to a woman who worked on Wall Street, with some really horrific stories of blatant sexism – strippers on the desks, and things like that. I asked, what kept you going every day? And I was imagining she would say something like strength of character, and she said to me, “I like money.”

It is interesting to compare it to Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, and Michael Douglas’ “Greed is good” comment from Stanley Weiser’s screenplay – whereas that line was villainous, this one seems part confession, part boast, and even part dare, it seems.

I never had a woman say that to me so unapologetically. It was interesting to me as a form of currency and power, and what that feels like for a woman. I remember reading that Michael Douglas perceived himself as the antagonist and thought that that speech would be horrifying – he was shocked how many people cheered.

There are some moments that are very unique to women – where Erin is caught pouring out her drink, revealing to Naomi she is pregnant. What makes it so cold is that it’s another woman busting her, not a man.

We heard stories that you could have children, but you try to be at a certain level. For Erin, that meant she needed to get that promotion before she went on maternity leave. Drinking is such a part of that celebratory culture, and multiple women told us, oh yeah, you pour out your vodka and replace it with water. That was a known thing you do when you’re pregnant.

Sarah Megan Thomas as Erin Manning in Equity. Photo by Steve Buckwalter, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Sarah Megan Thomas as Erin Manning in Equity. Photo by Steve Buckwalter, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Was there any special challenge in presenting these women as flawed as opposed to a kind of role model for women succeeding in business?

When you’re the first, people want you to create these role models, but I never saw them as role models. But you’re not the first to think there’s a lot of questions about portraying such flawed women, and I think it’s a function of us not having enough stories of women in power.

When you were growing up watching movies did you feel like they were lacking a woman’s voice? Did you think, we’re missing something here?

I don’t think I was aware of what was missing. It’s something I’m very sensitive to now. I think that a lot of my memories of watching movies actually sitting there with my two older brothers – they would laugh at something, and then I would be, oh that’s funny, because my big brothers are laughing. I think that I almost developed a more of a male taste in a certain way. It took me a while to expand my own perspective and look for something beyond that.

What is your writing process like?

A lot of filmmakers and screenwriters start from a visual place. For me, I tend to start with the characters and the dialogue. My very favorite thing to do in the world is just sit down and start writing two people talking to each other.

James Purefoy as Michael Connor and Anna Gunn as Naomi Bishop in Equity. Photo by Steve Buckwalter, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

James Purefoy as Michael Connor and Anna Gunn as Naomi Bishop in Equity. Photo by Steve Buckwalter, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

When you’re writing a scene with characters talking, do you keep in mind a point that they have to get to? Or do you let the conversation flow with a life of its own?

It’s both. I like to start with a very charged dynamic between people, and then kind of see where it takes me. A scene that comes to mind is where Samantha was coming to interrogate Michael (James Purefoy). I just remember I had a lot of fun with the dialogue there, and having a lot of fun imagining. From the moment this woman shows up, she’s going want something from him, and he’s going to be very wary of her.

When you do a scene like that, do you think of other movies? Or do you think of conversations you’ve actually had?

I don’t tend to think of other movies. I think there was a time when I was very interested in a lot of British writers, playwrights mostly, filmmakers like Mike Leigh. A certain kind of a scene where there is a subtext and people are kind of dancing around it, dancing around it, then boom, the subtext rears its head.

Any other major influences you had growing up? How did your upbringing impact your film interests?

I grew up in Boulder, Colorado. My dad worked for IBM, and my mom was home with us and was also a teacher. My parents were very encouraging of my creativity. A lot of Woody Allen in my house. A lot of Steve Martin. A lot of murder mysteries, we were really into Agatha Christie.

I never went to film school, so really I’ve had a much greater film education as I started teaching film. I’ve had a lot to catch up on.

Mia Farrow as Judy Roth and Woody Allen as Gabe Roth in Husbands and Wives (1992)

Mia Farrow as Judy Roth and Woody Allen as Gabe Roth in Husbands and Wives (1992)

You graduated from Amherst College and now teach screenwriting at New York University. Do you see any interesting tendencies with the current crop of students?

My students are very interested in their vision of they want to do, which is really important. But when there’s an assignment or an opportunity that requires compromise in their vision, that can be hard.

Like what I did with Equity, right? It wasn’t my original idea. Somebody brought me a concept and I thought I could execute it.

With so much online access, do you find your students to be more or less film literate than in generations before?

I find them extremely film literate, and I think that actually can be a problem. A lot of the students have seen more movies then they have lived life. They have an easier time writing a scene that’s like something they saw in a movie than writing a scene that comes out of personal experience.

Director Meera Menon on set of Equity. Photo by Perry Bindelglass, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Director Meera Menon on set of Equity. Photo by Perry Bindelglass, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Can you describe an unusual breakthrough you might have had in your career, which caused you to approach writing differently?

I think that I now find it kind of shocking that anyone, including myself, tries to write screenplays without having also experienced directing and being on a film set.

I did a sound mix for my short film, and we had this scene, it takes place in a country house, and there were all these crickets in the background. I remember the mixer asking me, what kind of crickets I wanted in the background. He had like 50 different kinds of crickets. Now if I’m writing a scene, I might have an adjective to describe the specific crickets. And before I would have just wrote that, well, I just want crickets in the background.

There are that many cricket sounds?

Sleepy crickets, or creepy crickets, or drunk crickets! I just never would have thought in terms of those subtleties of the filmmaking can totally change how a scene sounds and feels to an audience.

Featured image: Anna Gunn as Naomi Bishop in Equity. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

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Matthew Wade Reynolds has been a writer, journalist and Hollywood development executive for most of the waking hours of his adult life and all of the dreaming hours of his childhood. <br> <table> <tr> <td><a href="mailto:Matthewwadereynolds@yahoo.com"><img src="http://creativescreenwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/email.png" style="height:25px"></a></td> <td><a href="mailto:Matthewwadereynolds@yahoo.com">Matthewwadereynolds@yahoo.com</a></td> </tr> </table>

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