Women’s Panel “Creative Forces: Women in the Biz”

By Kris Mendes from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

I am excited to report to each of you, my loyal readers, on the Women’s Panel held on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 2:00p.m. sharp at the Lobero Theater, in Santa Barbara, California.  The event was moderated by Madelyn Hammond, and the stars were Julia Louis-Dryfus, DeDe Gardner, Melissa Cobb, Leslie Urdang and Denise Ream.  I particularly related more to Denise Ream, who happened to sit closer to me, and her job fascinates me.  She currently works as the executive producer for Pixar Studios, coming off films like “UP” and “Cars 2”.  My moment of glory came when I had the opportunity to personally ask Denise what I had to do to be like her when I grow up (lol).  To my surprise, Ms. Ream was of good humor and stated that one needs to believe in themselves, much like she did, work hard, be ready to “roll up your sleeves” and work your way up, like most people in the industry have done.  Fired up and ready to go, I was ready to drop the mike Dave Chapelle style and walk away from the podium, but I had a follow up question for Melissa Cobb, on the support and resources available to actors in light of Heath Ledger’s tragic death, and Joaquin Phoenix and  Charlie Sheen’s spin outs.  Melissa was quick to respond, and I paraphrase in my own words for emphasis, NOT to buy the garbage the tablets are putting out, to stop supporting a business that preys on the health and privacy of actors, and in reality, things aren’t much different inside or out of the industry.  While the rest of the panelists went on to assure the audience that support and resources exist and are easily accessible for actors in crisis, I think Ms. Cobb’s message was very powerful and simply makes sense:  We as a society feed off on celebrity gossip, but at what point do we stop celebrating illness and personal hardships of others?  Food for thought, Enquirer.