Equity is the newly released Sony Pictures Classics film which is a first of its kind female driven Wall Street thriller. Not only is the film about women, it’s also written and directed by women. Equity is the story of senior investment banker, Naomi Bishop, who is threatened by a financial scandal and is put to the task of untangling a complicated web of corruption. The lead role is played by Anna Gunn, known recently for her work on Breaking Bad. Also in the movie are James Purefoy, known recently for his work on The Following, Alysia Reiner, known for her recent work on Orange is The New Black, and Sarah Megan Thomas, known recently for producing and staring in Backwards, and who also developed and produced Equity.
I recently interviewed Sarah Megan Thomas to find out the inspiration behind her most recent creation, and what it took to get this movie to market. Here are her 3 simple strategies to creating Equity for women…both on and off the screen:
Equity Born Out of Inequity: Thomas has made a name for herself as a writer, producer, and actress. She is a graduate of Williams College and trained at both The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Drama Studio London. She has starred in several off-Broadway productions including Love’s Labour’s Lost, a version which she deemed Sex and the City meets Shakespeare. She has appeared in numerous TV roles including parts on Law & Order: SVU and Guiding Light, and in 2012 she produced and played a lead role in Backwards a romantic film that takes place within the competitive rowing industry. Thomas says that one of the driving forces behind Equity was that she was bored of auditioning for “vanilla” roles. She says that she’s always been thirsty for roles featuring dynamic, strong, complex, women, and unfortunately there just aren’t enough of those roles out there. So, she decided to create her own movie that would feature just that type of female. Equity the movie was born out of what Thomas saw as an inequity when it came to finding opportunities to act in dynamic female roles. Thomas says that if what you want in life does not yet exist, go create it.
On Competition: In addition to her love of acting, Thomas also considers herself an athlete. In fact, she was the first in her high school to score over 1000 points in basketball. Thomas says that sports have taught her that it is ok to fall down and get back up. She says that when it comes to making movies, there are numerous obstacles, and many days where you simply fall flat on your face. She says that success is only possible when you pick yourself up and try again tomorrow. Thomas says that she started this movie from scratch, which means that she not only had to develop the storyline, she also had to develop a business plan and execute on it in order to get it made. She says that she knocked on countless doors in order to get buy-in, and even though not every opportunity panned out, many of them did. She raised the funding, developed the story, attracted an A-list team, and produced what many consider to be the first of its kind in a male dominated movie genre. Her advice to anyone going after a big dream is simple; learn how to get back up.
Collateral Buy-In: Although her primary focus was to make a movie that featured complex, strong females, Thomas says that she also received early buy-in from investors on Wall Street because the movie stood out from the typical The Wolf of Wall Street or Wall Street movies in that the tone of the movie was not to vilify investment bankers. She says that some of her initial investors came from Wall Street and they were not female. What they appreciated about her slant on the movie was the fact that the heroine of the movie never crosses the line, holding closely to the ethical obligations of the job. This is very different than the typical storyline for Wall Street thrillers and thus created collateral buy-in by movie investors. In fact, Thomas spent a great deal of time meeting with men and women on Wall Street, not just to raise funding for the film, but to curate real stories about what it’s like for women in high-powered competitive positions in a male dominated industry. Thomas says that ultimately there were compliance and regulatory hurdles which made it difficult for many Wall Street executives to invest in the movie, but that the greatest value of all came from meeting with and learning from the men and women who have built their careers there.
Sarah Megan Thomas is excited about the initial reviews of her new movie, Equity. Even more than the reviews, she’s enthusiastic about making a difference in the world of film. She says that even though women make up 50% of the population, they do not make up 50% of the dynamic roles in movies, and she’s afraid that this incongruity creates an unconscious bias in the minds of women as to what they believe is possible in their careers and in their lives. Thomas feels that if she’s done just a tiny part to restore equity for women in the world of movies, then Equity has succeeded in her eyes.