--- title: Hollywood Now Needs Women, Whether or Not it Wants Them description: I gave my speech back before #metoo and before #Time’s Up, before Wonder Woman and Black Panther… but I ended with this statement... canonical: https://time.com/5179747/angela-robinson-women-in-hollywood/ author: Angela Robinson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-01T12:30:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:28:38.112Z article:section: Ideas og:title: They Don’t Want Us Here. But Now They Need Us og:description: Hollywood needs women whether it wants them or not og:url: https://time.com/5179747/angela-robinson-women-in-hollywood/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1848deaf4d4e8dba/6989293397cdffcff76b47dc/angela-robinson-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4167 og:image:height: 2344 og:image:alt: IMDb LIVE At NY Comic-Con og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: They Don’t Want Us Here. But Now They Need Us twitter:description: Hollywood needs women whether it wants them or not twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1848deaf4d4e8dba/6989293397cdffcff76b47dc/angela-robinson-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Director Angela Robinson: They Don’t Want Us Here. But Now They Need Us > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=e6289283-3ae1-430f-b422-c7ebe36bdb2d&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Angela Robinson](https://time.com/author/angela-robinson/) ## Angela Robinson Mar 1, 2018 12:30 PM UTC  Angela Robinson, writer-director of Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman speaks onstage during IMDb LIVE at NY Comic-Con at Javits Center on October 7, 2017 in New York City. Angela Robinson, writer-director of Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman speaks onstage during IMDb LIVE at NY Comic-Con at Javits Center on October 7, 2017 in New York City. Bryan Bedder—Getty Images for IMDb.com by [Angela Robinson](https://time.com/author/angela-robinson/) ## Angela Robinson Mar 1, 2018 12:30 PM UTC Every year, I go and speak to the American Film Institute’s Women Director’s Workshop and I start with the same sentence: “They don’t want you here.” Sometimes this is met with confusion or blank stares, but often, it’s nods of recognition. What I’m articulating is what [these women—many of them women of color](http://time.com/5096809/natalie-portman-golden-globes-hollywood-sexism/)—_know to be true._ “They don’t want you here.” This simple truth has probably rarely—if ever—been spoken out-loud on their [long journey to Hollywood](http://time.com/4651594/octavia-spencer-harvard-hasty-pudding/), especially by someone within the industry. I give the requisite caveats—I’m not talking all white men or even individual white men, I’m talking about They with a capital “T.” I go on to say that although Hollywood [is a sexist and racist place](http://time.com/5076323/olivia-munn-sexual-harassment-hollywood-essay/), that is not _why_ they don’t want you here. There are two reasons. The first reason is economic. There are a finite amount of jobs. And if you—a woman—[get a job directing a movie](http://time.com/5087673/film-directors-diversity-report/) it means that some white dude doesn’t. It’s a reasonable reaction: I don’t care how much I like you or want to do the right thing. If you say, “Hey, I want your job,” I’m going to say, “Hell no.” (Usually the women laugh here.) I go on to tell these talented women that they cannot be lulled into a false sense of security by the well-intentioned folks who run diversity programs because those people are, unfortunately, _not_ the people doing the hiring. The second reason is deeper. It has to do with cis white male fantasy and wanting to see the world through a lens where they’re the heroes and always get the girl. What’s even harder than taking somebody’s job is asking him to give up that lens on the world. I tell the women at AFI this because they need to know what they are up against. This has been my gospel, year in and year out. But last April, when I spoke to these same women at their graduation ceremony, something was different. I had just finished directing a feature; I felt the landscape shifting beneath my feet. I was like a scientist in a disaster movie, like Anne Heche in _Volcano_, watching the Richter scale and birds flying in unusual patterns—and, to continue the disaster metaphor, I felt that the collective [rage women were feeling over Trump’s election was simmering.](http://time.com/5111480/womens-march/) And like in every disaster movie, before the tsunami hits, the water slips way, way, way back, exposing all the beach for a mile out to sea, gathering, gathering, gathering power—and then the tsunami comes crashing down. Which is what happened, and which is still happening. I gave my speech back before [#metoo](http://time.com/5175341/monica-lewinsky-vanity-fair-essay/) and before #[Time’s Up](http://time.com/5102698/oprah-times-up-cbs-sunday-morning/), before [_Wonder Woman_](http://time.com/4979257/the-women-behind-wonder-woman/) and [_Black Panther._](http://time.com/black-panther/) But at the end of my speech, I said this: “They might not want you here but I have a feeling that sometime soon, they may _need_ you here.” That time is now. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5179747/angela-robinson-women-in-hollywood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5179747/angela-robinson-women-in-hollywood/"},"headline":"Director Angela Robinson: They Don’t Want Us Here. 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