For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a writer. And I always assumed that I would write novels. I majored in English with a creative writing focus, but I never even considered taking a screenwriting class.

But then I found myself getting increasingly frustrated by the lack of strong female characters in the movies that I was watching. I kept waiting and waiting for a smart comedy in which women were allowed to be funny and interesting and complex. Eventually, it occurred to me that instead of bitching about it, I should just write that movie myself.

That persistent yearning to see funny, interesting, complex female characters in movies is the entire reason that I was initially drawn to screenwriting. While I would obviously love to be a successful screenwriter one day, I am driven primarily by a desire to impact the depiction of gender in comedies.

Caitlin, could you name a few of the movies you like that feature strong female characters?

I think the gender issues in Hwood movies are there, but they’re really only readily apparent if you look for them. And we can always find problems if we look for them.

Of course, I’m a guy and I don’t look to Hwood movies to establish my social norms. But I can tell you when I see a female role that I think is inauthentic. Why? Because it doesn’t fit. A strong female protag isn’t just a woman in a man-suit. A lot of the movies from the early thirties featured women in man-suits; and that’s when Hwood started to employ female writers.

For that reason, I think when we write we must think about the people we know and the people we regularly deal with.

To grow as writers, we also have to regularly stretch our boundaries. What if Danny Ocean and his crew were women? There’s no reason for them not to be. Quick wits and nefarious plans are not exclusive to men. Could men play the roles of the women in Pride and Prejudice? Yes.

Scott, as you often point out, gender-bending is a great idea generator.

I have two sons and two brothers. I also have two daughters. So, when writing, especially when I’m writing comedy, it’s generally going to come from a male perspective.

Write what you want to write, unless you’re being paid to write for someone else. Write what’s on your mind. But be aware of your intended and unintended audience. Just try not to let the external dictate what you write. Let it influence, just not dictate.

If you’re dissatisfied with the way things are going, do something about it. But be positive in your approach.

Like Caitlin. She’s, “driven primarily by a desire to impact the depiction of gender in comedies;” go for it! Follow your vision!

If you’re not dissatisfied, then you have to ask yourself if what you have to say is really original. If it’s not, then what’s causing you to want to remake something old – you probably think you have a better way of doing it.

Must male writers be more socially conscious? Yes and no. Yes if they want to reach an ever expanding audience. No because there are going to be more and more prominent female screenwriters who will more accurately depict the female side of the equation.

I think it would be much easier for me to find strong female characters in dramas, but in comedies, it's tough.

One of my favorite movies is Wet Hot American Summer, where all of the characters are fantastic, including the women. The girls in Clueless and Mean Girls are funny and believable, although they don't exactly defy gender stereotypes. My absolute favorite female character in any movie would be Jo Stockton in Funny Face. And if I can stray into television, there's Rory Gilmore.

It seems like it's easier to find these characters in high school movies. Adult women in contemporary comedies are more likely to be reduced to the standard romantic comedy types, which I hate.

I don't get as frustrated as some of my girl friends about this, but it is a little aggravating part of the business.

My list of movies with strong female lead characters is long, but here goes:
Alien
Aliens
Terminator 2
Ever After
A Little Princess
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Raise the Red Lantern
WALL-E
Erin Brockovich
The Color Purple
Thelma & Louise
All About Eve
Bridget Jones's Diary
Gone with the Wind
Doubt
Heathers
Clueless
Silence of the Lambs
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
A League of their Own
Batman Returns
Auntie Mame
Star Wars
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Lion in Winter
Sleeping Beauty (for Maleficent)
Aladdin (for Jasmine)
Mulan
What's Love Got to Do with It Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Volver
Frida
Set it Off
Persepolis
Kill Bill 1 & 2
Victor Victoria
Gosford Park
Offside
A Fish Called Wanda
The King and I
Rock and Rule

That's all I can think of and I lifted most of this from a comment I left on another blog. And pickins are still slim.

"What if Danny Ocean and his crew were women?"

Dude, I would watch that! The thing is, a lot of the wrong people in H'wood think girls don't have those kinds of personalities (WE DO!) or like those movies (WE LOVE THEM!). I think we're in a funk right now where girls are encouraged to be self-loathing. Katherine Heigl got her head taken off for calling out 'Knocked Up' on its sexism, and from a lot of girls too! I'm still trying to figure out what was the appeal of 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'.

Trust me, Tom. We've been fighting for respect and to get our movies made, but if the person with the purse-strings is convinced girls won't watch this, it's going to be a little longer and a little harder before it can happen. :(

Thanks for sharing this, Scott. It's a great letter. I'm hoping Merida will be more Princess Leia than Princess Amidala. Pixar knows how to write girl characters and I love 'em for it. I know I should be impatient with how long it's taken to get a girl-centric movie, but with Brenda Chapman directing, I can't be anything but excited. :D

Perhaps the reason girls will watch boy movies, but boys won't watch girl movies has something to do with the fact that so many of the girl movies have a central character who is too much of a wet noodle.

I know plenty of guys who liked movies like Kill Bill or Juno, which technically are girl movies, but since the girls in them aren't dainty princesses boys (and those of us girls who aren't dainty princesses either) can relate to them.

You'd think there would be plenty of scripts being written now with strong female leads. I'm a man, but when I started working up the hooks for my most recent projects, I got as far as "It's about a guy..." Then I thought... hey, wait, you know what would make this different? Make it more memorable? Stick out from the stack? Keep the same concept, but "It's about a gal..."

I've said it time and time again. That "conventional wisdom" is just plain WRONG.

Guys have ZERO problem with a strong female protagonist.

What genre is more testosterone driven than the Sci-Fi/Action/Thriller?

ALIEN
TERMINATOR

I can't think of two male characters in this genre that stand on par with the two fine leading ladies in these films.

Strong female leads get a bad wrap -- and I don't know why. They do extraordinarily well at the box office.

It's like some bad "old wive's tale" we've all bought into.

I remember sitting in the Chinese watching Terminator 2. It was packed, electric. And when Linda Hamilton shows up on screen doing chin ups...well...the audience cheered a bunch of hell yeahs and I thought - holy cats...some serious ass kicking is about to go down in this movie.

We loved it. These roles are few and far between.

Why can't they take Merida and make her a peasant instead? She doesn't want to be a princess could be the spine. Archery is one of the ways she demonstrates that desire. She beats the prince at some village competition and that makes her father proud.

She holds up the last arrow, goes into position, will she make it? will she throw the competition and wed the prince so that her mother no longer has to comb the queen's ratty hair?

The look on Merida's face?...holy cats...some serious ass kicking is about to go down in this movie.

Turn it around Pixar. Or pay me, and I'll do it for you.

I remember - was it last year? The president of WB said he wouldn't make any more movies with female leads because they don't make money. But they do make money, as Papageiena's list proves. They just have to be good movies.

I write action films, and I realized the other day that I always have female leads. Sometimes I think it's a mistake. I'll never be able to get a career if I only write about women.

Then I realized there are men who only write about men, and nobody thinks that's weird.