In an interview with Women and Hollywood’s Melissa Silverstein, Callie Khouri — who wrote Thelma & Louise and created the ABC drama Nashville — discusses writing roles for women. Silverstein asks, “One of the things I’ve read you talk about is the challenge of writing two female characters, who had conflicts with each other, but not having it deteriorate into a ‘cat fight.’ Can you elaborate further on that?”
Khouri replies:
None of us, including Hayden and Connie, none of us, are interested at all in that particular slant. We just don’t think there’s anything to do in that. In my mind, that’s what network television has evolved into. It’s just not the kind of thing that appeals to me. But we are interested in having a show that talks about where women are at different points in their career, what’s expected of them, what the obstacles are for them, what the problems are with each other, and the competition in a field that has a limited number of spaces. How do you compete in the market place, how you stay relevant after many years of being in the public eye — all of that. Their approach, their differences are based on how they feel about their work. One of the characters, she’s all about artistic integrity, while the other is a character who is driven to make it. We’ve started her in the pursuit for credibility as an artist. To me, that’s interesting and that’s real. But women who just don’t like each other because the other one is a woman and “women don’t like each other” myth-that’s not interesting to me at all.
In addition, Silverstein asks Khouri if she thinks Nashville is a feminist show:
CK: I guess. That’s not how I think of it. I didn’t think of Thelma and Louise as a feminist movie. They think I’m a feminist and I’m making a show, so if that makes it a feminist show then ok.
[Women And Hollywood, image via ABC]
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