Despite the #MeToo, wage inequality in Hollywood have the hard life

Photo WENN.com
Claire Foy and Matt Smith

AFP

Wednesday, march 14, 2018 14:43

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Wednesday, march 14, 2018 14:43

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The movement #MeToo and Time’s Up may make the headlines, women continue to earn often less than men in Hollywood, as in the example of Claire Foy, the queen of England in “The Crown”, but paid less than her male partner.

Sign of the times, the phrase was slipped in almost innocuous, Tuesday, but has rapidly made the tour of the world.

During the first two seasons of the hit series of Netflix’s “The Crown”, Claire Foy, who played the queen Elizabeth, the central character of the story, has won less than Matt Smith, the actor who played her husband, prince Philip.

The disparity between the salaries of actors and actresses to Hollywood is not a revelation. The ranking of the players the best paid in the world, published by Forbes magazine, the shows consistently, every year.

In 2017, Emma Stone, actress the best paid in the world, would finish in 15th position if the rankings had been mixed.

But, apart from Forbes, the numbers are few, no serious study is available, and the omerta was the rule.

“Your officers tell you not to talk about it,” says Melissa Silverstein, founder of the internet site “Women and Hollywood”. “This was not something we shared.”

But in recent months, benefiting from the momentum that history is created by the case of Weinstein, the tongues were loosened, and the ears, they have been more reactive to what was happening up here for regular.

In early January, the american press has revealed that actress Michelle Williams had been paid $ 1,000 for return of the scenes of the film “All the money in the world”, when his partner on the screen, Mark Wahlberg, had been paid $ 1.5 million.

The american actor, who is incidentally the better paid of Hollywood, has finally publicly commit to pay the entire stamp to the legal defense fund of the new association Time’s Up, born from the case of Weinstein.

To Melissa Silverstein, the simple fact of the topic is “revolutionary. It is a factor of change”.

Because it works on a different dynamic, the tv seemed to have, quite a long time, an approach that is often more egalitarian.

The “Friends” phenomenon of the 90s, will remain, on this subject, as a pioneer, because the six main characters, three women and three men, have bargained collectively for their wages, a practice very rare for the time, getting that everyone wins the same thing.

The examples have multiplied since, more often in the sitcoms, the dramas, however.

The five lead actors of the two american series most popular now in the United States, “The Big Bang Theory” and “Game of Thrones”, all perceive the same salary.

The heroine of “Grey’s Anatomy”, Ellen Pompeo, has also done a lot to react when it announced that it had renegotiated its contract and receive now $ 20 million per year.

“If we want to talk about changes (the wage) should be a part of it”, she told the magazine “The Hollywood Reporter”.

The story of “The Crown” shows, however, that inequalities remain, behind the small screen as the large. Because the two media operate primarily on the principle of history, ” explains Melissa Silverstein.

“In Hollywood, the value of a person, this is what she has touched for his role before,” she said.

Gold Claire Foy, if she had already a long career behind her at the time of accepting “The Crown”, had no role also publicized that Matt Smith, the main character of the british series “Doctor Who” for four seasons.

Several people have pointed out on Wednesday that difference on Twitter, denying that the difference of treatment is sex-linked.

“After season one, Claire Foy has won all these awards (a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award). Why hasn’t it been increased? She had become more known,” retorted Erin Therese (@erin_thereseV), also on Twitter.

“From now on, nobody will be better paid than the queen,” said Tuesday, Suzanne Mackie, one of the producers of the series.

To reset the level which will not benefit Claire Foy, who will be replaced by Olivia Colman to play queen Elizabeth is older in season 3.

But for Melissa Silverstein, this is the scope of the ad that is important, showing that the studios and producers can no longer free itself of the debate.

“You have to ride in this train because he is running,” she said. “We have to go in the direction of the story.”