THR Full Comedy Actress Roundtable: Emmy Rossum, Issa Rae, Pamela Adlon, America Ferrera & More!

hi and welcome to slows up with The Hollywood Reporter we are here with Patrick on America Ferrera and me rock them we surrend to Minnie Driver Kamla Advani thank you guys and I think we will just dive right into it and we're going to start with what I hope is a fun icebreaker for everyone what's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you guys as a performer I did a sex scene and was wearing one of those modesty patches which is like chasing chasing and it's kind of like nonsense because then you kind of just stare it like a weird sticker and I could feel I had like go back like this and I could feel that it had shifted significantly to the left and I could only imagine the pov oh my god all I could think I was like oh my god I just must be I cannot imagine but anyway he was a gentleman about a regatta 'fl to you oh lordy Lordy lordy Lordy yeah so I was a lot red-faced and hearts only half dog like 35 yeah I felt like I was good as every other week yeah I have a lot of those from californication like [ __ ] on the sink and then a sink break citizen in the water shoots out and I'm in the little thin dress with the g-string and I feel the dirty like no do water like I have hantavirus yeah like I'm sure this [ __ ] is ending today what is also a really embarrassing one I was a teenager and I was shooting a show in Vancouver and I was supposed to be being like a girl and I've always been like very kind of awkward whatever and I'm having a like a relationship with this guy in this show and I was wearing a silk shirt yeah and the director comes over and he's like okay so you you're serving him at the bar and he goes what the [ __ ] is that I got my arm flip and I was sweating I actually wore a sweat stain but I was died oh my god way he sounds like I was humiliated I was a teenager and I was so nervous but there and I was in the silk shirt and goes what the [ __ ] meanwhile haunts me but it was huge I was just like oh I just spilled actually I'm sweating he was human or five but yes you know what they wear down your if you're knowing clearly knew big was we just wanted to make her feel I guess I don't know he did clearly know what it was yeah if this isn't a slice this would never happen to you but on many movies I've done with actors who are mostly short they would dig me a ditch they would dig you a hole hole do a kissing scene in which you can see being there and down with your mud and the dirt and below and I remember just voicing early on wouldn't it be just a bit easy if maybe he stood on a half Apple a whole Apple when digging me a ditch for your like I have never felt normal people filled yeah it was really embarrassing and also a nice and I remember saying to it happened twice I remember on both occasions saying to the actor isn't it weird for you and they will I write great cuz now we're the same height oh yeah in fact I have I have really a big feat in its ex but that I'd like just being tall men as tall as you but I remember just being on stage it was just a small moment on set and I'm trying to figure out whose sneakers who were on set every my head is your head the doors I mean just fine we don't need a I was doing a scene not the season last season where I'm just supposed to be asleep in a bed and Bill Macy comes in and he takes a pair of shoes and he urinates in them and then leaves and we did it so many times that I actually fell asleep but I woke up in the middle of the take not even knowing where I was and did one of these like I'm not sleeping cousin and then realize we were rolling and like trying to pretend like I wasn't sitting Michael it was like a very bizarre wall he was urinating at ginger tea I was fully on camera like in the scene waking it was terrific Oh like we're gonna go again I could never be that relaxed and you were directing that episode I was not very specific mrs. unless you can toss that yeah what am I humiliating thing that happened to me a lot when I was on Ugly Betty I had to wear these braces including him in and out all the time and they did they cut together like a whole outtake reel of like 52 times during the season that I drooled on myself like glamour I'm like so far it's the braces so sorry and then of course on the show I'm on now I'm not wearing braces and I have drilled on it's not a weight you'd rather like me what am I really like maybe I get are you going to deal with that reel of a doing without you know Regis yeah my cash just wanted to laugh at me at parties and helping people with this round yeah you're not alone yeah yeah okay so many I know you've said we can roll on speechless this is a role that a lot of other women didn't want to take because of house is unlikable the character one yet that was a piece of what appealed to you on some level this was my strong points you know for relatable you know what is the appeal of playing so it didn't serve on the face a bit likeable I actually have a real problem with women being called unlikable because you never hear that about a man you never hear it about such an unlikable but you have they're funny they're called anti-heroes and they're funny and they're strong and diverse and interesting she has a very heightened set of circumstances you handed a baby who a doctor tells you is never going to lead a typical life they probably won't walk they probably won't talk you face down this horror and you'll then in the roses everything after that the baby lives you love your family comes back together the small stuff doesn't really apply you don't get worried about you say whatever you think I feel like she's a different set of tenants by which she lives and some of them are really not likeable but she's human in that way I don't I don't mean for her to be liked but I think a lot of actresses were worried that that would somehow tarnish them JJ is so excited he's never had an aide speak for him before just mum suppose he is 16 now as timers voice changed Pagano that means in laughing if it's something that you celebrate someone's diverse emotion then that's interesting as an actor I like it sure I like that that's got likability written all over it and I was liberation in it too I mean I think my character I'm super shorter is so different from when I played for four years betty was like you could throw anything at her and you could [ __ ] on her and she would just smile and keep going and that was easy for me to play especially as a 20-something year old who knew that my role as a woman was to like make people like me and Amy on superstore is so different she's coming from such a different place she has a job that is just a job and she doesn't seek her validation and she doesn't need people to like her Adam sleeping in the basement yeah I told him I wasn't happy I don't know what I expected him to say but he said I'm not happy either which is definitely not what I expected him to say and so we talked about it and then we yelled about it and then we just stopped talking and now it's all weird and tensed Emma's all upset and it just gets miserable I mean I am so sorry you want a balloon animal thinkin it playing that role as I am growing up as a woman there's liberation and feeling like I don't have I don't have to make everyone like me and if you don't like me like I can just be a person in the world and it's not the end of the world if somebody doesn't approve it's very antithetical to being an actress because we are groomed and raised to be people pleasers and we've got to make everybody like us because we've got to be in competition with every other girl in a way that men really aren't I don't think so I think it's systemic in how we raised as women and particularly women in this business yeah is it have you guys at times thought about that meaning you talk about your being afraid of how it would tarnish you as mattress there are those conscious thoughts that you guys have in taking I Roland towards that yeah a movie that I did when I was in my teens yes that producer came over to me and was like we just you know what we want to hurt you just to be more likeable and I was like I can't play that even at 16 I know I knew I don't know what that means and I'm not going to do that like this is a quirky smart triathlete yes no that doesn't make any sense my mom and with my character on shameless it's been so many season al feels like she's gone through so much I mean I had I went to jail for cocaine and overdoses toddler uh-huh and still somehow found the humanity yeah and redemption afterwards and the dark and [ __ ] up comedy and you know I guess there was a moment where I thought like oh God is everyone gonna hate me and I saw like who cares okay Connie Connie no [ __ ] what's the cheapest way I can get this woman into the ground no embalming we keep her in the fridge until we can cremate her and give you back the ashes and what is essentially an old coffee can 750 it's like you can never play for a joke you have to play the reality of the situation and play the humanity of the situation and whatever anybody else takes away from it is a reflection on them I know but here's one thing I will everything I reach only that's the whole idea of being a dressers robe actresses are us to be that we you know it's often pretty two-dimensional a role will be far more two-dimensional not the roles that we write for ourselves necessarily we'll certainly these particular roles sitting around here but usually I don't know and all the movies I've made you're constantly being asked to elevate the material expand its fill it create layers find a calibration in it so it does become the most interesting thing to see you know what where you go where the needle goes from you a little too great and I think it may feel more amplified just because television shows these days are more like publicly social in terms of the conversation and some people are tend to be quicker to take sides but I think that's the most compelling element that people are drawn to a specific trait in female characters specifically I think for me and watching television I'm always like what would I talk about what's the piece of a performance or a choice that I can most relate to that I could put myself in those shoes and be like what I do the same thing I made a mistake but at least I can see the [ __ ] that I do wrong all the livelong Jesus do you really want to know please tell me okay have you noticed Molly the common denominator and all your can't find a man bull should have used yeah let's do the [ __ ] run down Molly what minute he's super see the next minute he's too distant the next he's too gay and then when you do find someone that you actually like you for want to by doing too [ __ ] much you act like minus one is supposed to be some sort of fairy tale but it's mine the character and my shows is named after me and I was purely by accident it was an untitled show and I was like it's copy character Isa for now and then I just aired that way and then I just didn't realize see implications of people being like [ __ ] she's trash yeah that's me but I think professionally I think I would be the hero in my own like live story but personally people would look at my story and be like that's not why are you doing that good so I think in real life I am trash there is writers I wouldn't even brace fire on a person and I'm that's the fun part of America I mean everybody today they look really good I think you know trash no but I think I have trashy shaping oh yeah that's fine yeah don't even looks like you know I was playing a rabbi on a show and then I went from that into this this character of criss cross on the show I was Dick I mean she is not what you would call a likeable person she's like very myopic it's like you know she becomes obsessed with this gentleman named dick and she writes some obsessive letters over and over and over and over and over again and it's like through this letter writing that she kind of finds herself is it possible that I saw you on a horse yesterday yeah I have a ranch just outside of town oh how big and you want to know how big my ranches no more polite to ask a rancher the size of his acreage to ask a lady her age duly noted I'm just for the record nominal dividing line I might straddling 40-ish sorry in the contradiction and like hunger is the beauty it's like in that like that there were not just a good girl the bad girl or there like girlfriend or the [ __ ] like it's like trying to put all those pieces of like being a female that have been put onto us like we are actually like creating animal and ogre jizz meeting them and yeah most likely the authenticity and like I'm gonna so turned on by human that is for my show this season that I'm shooting right now is I'm exploring people who have done the [ __ ] up things having a redeeming quality last season the guy who's father of my girls on the show we sit down in a restaurant and it's like a horror movie it was horrifying and amazing I kind of cater idiot it was so intense to do that I mean you want me to help you make the girls not be upset that they still won't get to see you even though you're going to be around sweetie it's a really big opportunity Xander they don't care hey yeah I'm telling you good news here man you don't have to worry about it they're living their lives I mean they're happy if they get to see you but they don't expect anything from you he was like well it is very complicated I'm like I'm sure it is okay and he goes Island and he goes I'm thanks for your help and I go thank you for your help and I stand up and I walk out of the restaurant and so I knew like I wanted this song cherry by Ratatat which just goes boo dude and it's a song that my kids have played for years and it's just haunting and like I get chills and my note from the network was we don't want you to stay on him because we're feeling a little bit of empathy for him we want to leave with you and I said no one interested and him sitting there then the fart that we just made in this restaurant what's going on with this guy that's the that's so great - enough for that that gives me goose by grade and it's not a finite idea but you're the dick in the same it's not about says oh well me is a dick but he's a person sitting there at the end having yes like I want to go in there I want to go inside him it's that like all right yeah and it's what I think we need more of in our art and entertainment and in our culture like being able to not have the good guy in the bad guy but have more curiosity about where it will give rise to that behavior what gives rise to the anger or the that's right the separation from I think that's super excited users yeah I'm curious thing happen you're someone who moves very fluidly between film and television are the role Arthur well how did the role for better offer to you differ in terms of these are the layers of a person as many funds they speak to this - I mean yeah hardened or layered I am I think that I've been really I don't know how but I've been never been interested in labeling myself as a comedian or event like yeah that's like I don't see the difference I think that of course I would never consider myself like and you know I see improvisers and I'm like oh my god like that's an improviser like I'm the comedian like that's a stand-up I have to have it like rooted and something or else I can't do it but I just never had to that's crazy exciting you're also going to do that drama because you're a great comedian oh that's that's why I mean you hear of a clown gun I can't just flip over you can't do comedy if you're just a dramatic actor you can't go to communist what I'm saying hard you're hovering everything murderers of all is why is that because it is harder to go if you're known as a genetic actor and when you hear something like that I'm like everyone on hilarious because it goes deeper so the comedy goes deeper it does it does yeah it's like this just years ago I've done they're all the same you do I think it's completely as I think it's just finding the truth in whatever moment and calibrating it's either I think they're completely the same oh boy here were I once auditioned for a play that was written by Marsha Norman and it was a very dramatic crying scene and I remember like being in the hall like no good night mother not every mom but I went in and I did just like sobbing I was sobbing it was like something about how like my mother had died or something and felt really good about it and I went in and I did it and they all laughed and I was like what the [ __ ] wait were you really young we yeah I was like 13 14 oh yeah and I didn't know why they were laughing and I just made me cry harder and then they laughed harder and then I went out my comb age and I was like what the [ __ ] they laughed and she was like it's a comet and I was like what I was like I thought you nailed it did you get it yeah I [ __ ] my mind I want to name names but I can tell you like there's a bunch of people like they cannot turn a joke and then oh no they're not interested in doing it and I totally get that that when you're staying with lakes the truth and the depth and really well-written comedy that yeah it's truthful but I can't wash I have it out right now and just show those really funny you guys enjoy like sick it no inky dinky doesn't work and it's and that's a bit like me - I am but I like sometimes I you know I can you see sometimes if I only get when I see a joke it's like really hard I don't know if you guys ever feel this like I don't see it coming oh gosh yeah my feelings I notice plenty of person before you and you're like oh I like free falling into like a nightmare that has to do with confidence hydras birthdays a jerk that's why she knows how she gave me to somebody - yeah but I'm telling you before I was a director for years you know and I've been doing you know voices and animation for years it doesn't matter how many times you've done a certain thing or what you know what level you're at if you're feeling a little bit like off that day you walk into a session there's [ __ ] Jim Cummings and Billy West and like that they great fit so yes exam are when you or when you walk in and Julie and she's like oh you're like you know it on it's like if you're doing like a voice and that they're like okay so you're the army guy the mom and the baby and then you're doing the voice it's like if you sit there you don't have a minute to like go in your head and get it yeah and if you feel little you know you know not so there it's not going to be as good yeah yeah yeah your confidence has to be up here please do something about like not exceeding the maximum effort there's just something comedic about just you know saying and not putting all the Rings what exactly that and wedding at some times yeah your head you'll have to harden and even in I found like you know I set up acting in stuff in high school and then where did you go up what I go I hope here my oh you don't like in LA yes that's what we are email it yeah I know totally me too I grew up in LA you grew up where yeah I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and all that was nice okay I think that counts as only yeah we were gonna fight when we were younger but when I severely I went to King drew as a medicine medical Magnet oh via dot smart smart people school barely yeah I'm not a doctor so I didn't make it but I wire to me the Google small ass I know but now I say like before you know in in terms of acting I got into directing like in college leader and that's when I realized Oh like I wasn't a good actress oh especially in terms of working with people in realizing like the choices that they would make and there's a certain effortlessness to so I think comedy that doesn't necessarily ring true to drama to me I think that so much in drama is being in tune with everyone else I don't know now that I'm saying that it feels like that's so much of what comedy it is be like being able to read a room and being able to express yourself in a way that people relate to and ultimately touches their funny bone but I don't know what my point is that's okay I understand Megan you said this rolled out the first one that's an offer that was not to leave it was not written as a human character um tuition is that good fortune or that's a sign of true progress um I think it's it's probably a little bit more complicated than that I mean I think that I have worked in television now and film for years and so my personal success as much as I wish that that equated to a certain broader success and more opportunities for more Latino characters that's not always necessarily the case right we came out the gate with Ugly Betty and it was years and years and years after we went off the air that there was another latina on main character on television so where you would think it's like oh it works let's go in this direction it doesn't always end up that way and so I think fortunately for me I've established myself to a certain degree so I'm so lucky that I now get considered outside of the box of latina I don't think that's true for everyone in the way that like when Halle Berry gets considered for you know rules that are not written black that's not necessarily that doesn't apply to everyone also but that's not to say I don't think there hasn't been progress I think there's been progress but if we don't get in the positions of power if we can't tell our stories if we can't write and direct and produce our stories authentically then those roles and those opportunities that feel new and fresh aren't going to come and I think the same is true for people of color I don't think we can just assume that the same people can stay in the positions of creating and there one day going to wake up and understand our experiences and write to them it's important that you raise your hand and say I want to do this because people aren't going to assume then you want to do this or can do this I mean sociologically we're crazy socializing around we're kind of like programmed to be a little bit deferential to be likable I mean even it was funny because I was watching you guys watch feud oh it's really wonderful and they were talking about heathen and that day is the idea of a woman director those women were like why would never work for a woman director and these were the female actresses so just the fact that women now have to raise their hand and ask to be taken seriously and not apologize for it right and there are only so many of us in a position of access and privilege to get to raise our hand and it's true those of us who are in that position have to challenge ourselves to do it but that is one argument and then the other argument is there are so many people not in the position to say like well I want to do that mom and that's what you're me I felt like even though I've been on my show so long it was something that I really like you're directing dinner here yeah yeah I directed to happen to my night and see that's a great I said any when I directed one of our no 15 I don't know about women like I found it hard to ask to direct like I had to kind of well I kind of quasi asked for a while like I think I'd like to do that and pick me yeah and then actually like went to NYU and got a teacher and learned a little bit about cinematography and sewing I kind of knew a little bit more of what I was talking about and then said legitimately that that was something I wanted to do and then didn't totally [ __ ] it up and got another opportunity to do and though that's really kind of an empowering or isalways Jill Soloway who did transferrin and then also with difficulty always talks about directing it's like you're constantly saying I want I want I want and something so amazing about that just like a woman I'm just saying like I'm going to just go for what I want like my designer let's what do I want to see what does I want it like it's such an interesting sure awesome combo easy you've talked about what one of the goals of this show was to make people of color relatable um for me to came down to just telling human stories like we are all human at the end of the day uh that's even in watching television my whole life and seeing oh this is a black comedy and this is a white white females as a human and the two never really meshed and I remember even being in high school and you know once the predominately black and Latino high school and people telling me I was white people funny I was like what about it so I'm not okay I'm only funny to white people but you're laughing in your black so what does that mean and so when I say even Bloor that and again even with the show just just trying to be funny putting people in realistic situations and I think within our writers on you know were people from all different backgrounds all different ages that also helps and in terms of expecting very specific relatable stories we literally spend time just talking math and talking to each other much like like what's your most embarrassing moment here what's the time where you felt the most unsensible and I think we're telling a very universally specific story like it's specific that you're following you know to black women but at the same time these are all situations that really emotionally like everybody's been in a relationship of some sort everybody's so insecure are socially uncomfortable or inept and I think that's what we really try to tap into this is that core feeling so you can't say oh I don't relate because I'm this isn't this is a black show so I can't really write right now what are the roles that you feel like you should get tired of being approached for or perhaps this happened earlier in your career and you were able to fight against it there was certainly a best friend shot of my life yeah I felt like I was the constant like the quirky best friend to like a various newer blond something you are always the final source are always like so you know that's where you can be yeah yeah I mean I everybody could tell watching it like oh no oh we love the best friend the best friend is is loveable Judy Greer and I said who's a goddess we've both have been kind of playing best friends on say like kind of always kind of neck and neck for the same book on a car for a second thing my husband's like you guys should do like a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Titan movie where it's like the best every so often you see like Kate Hudson running around the to like I find like a wizard with that's right exactly mara trade said she I think I feel like it was right before mama man she was like I've been offered my six which wrong yeah I was like I'm [ __ ] done I've done with like I know where am I and then she did for the mission it was wait a lot often with mama man yeah wait aren't women mean I hate sort of saying that we're created out of some sort of patriarchal idea but we sort of are you will not give them that many iterations of what it is to be a woman in film and journalism well you certainly haven't been until now now being the golden age of television I think where you can do ever you want you can write whatever you want you can direct it how you want and you can embody it you can be unlikable and explore what that looks like and you can be like lead and the funny one you can be the character you can be the best friend is to be funny to say praise I mean also it's just about like pushing the show you know we have an all-female writing room like it was a pretty blessed experience the making of this show underneath that title that's what was so awesome is that of course it's under this like salacious title of I loved it it's like actually like such a feminist heart but just to feel the eyeballs behind the camera as all women or feeling like you are the subject and not the object is such a crazy shift in autonomy like so you're not just like coming in to sit in the mark and say you're like there is such an I'm sure like that's what we all feel turned on by to is like just to feel in control of your narrative like nothing be like it's out of our hand and I could be the one who's telling a story yep is like it's a different shift because I thought I had to do a lot of like pretty risky stuff in this risque 1000 years old risque in this show but like but it felt safer than being on a network show doing some smooching sangwich right because the eyeball behind the camera looking at you like you know with the spray gun and the chicken cutlets and the hair extensions and you I see less myself and more self-conscious than I did just feeling like empathy or just like feeling like given the given the autonomy for sure speaking to that easy you've talked about how you wanted to flip the script a little bit on on the nudity front and push for four men this would be in that position too I'm here today with your bonds our boys today respond differently good day good day do they respond in similar ways are they equally as uncomfortable or comfortable I mean if they are earned baby little but if the other day I haven't expressed it but I found that a lot of the guys that we worked with have just been all in my balls off of the wall but just they've been really great about ungenerous with with their body parts and they understand that too and you know I've had some of the actors come up in something like I think it's cool that the women aren't as nude on the show and you know I think we should be equal opportunity I'm always lay in the onion day a hundred percent that's okay the same day yes because I do I would like to see more dicks but then I'm just like you know in those conversations not everybody wants to see you know I only really want to see any nudity if there's a purpose for me like I am okay to be as naked kind of as you want me to be within reason if it applies to the story serves the Carinae are different as a headline gratuitous breasts in vagina and it's just like why is adamant because it's an object a risque even not part of the narrative because it is rib androgyne as well but it is we can a lot of it is because you said when you just see certain body parts that it's that you know that it's because the they watching it if you know what I mean it's for something else but that is a I think it's really interesting that when we do these kinds of roundtables we talk so much about sexuality and when we do the drama roundtables we don't talk about the horrific violence on so many of the shows and I don't really have a problem with the nudity I have a problem about people's heads being and Bastion and children watching that I don't have any problem with children seeing a woman topless I don't I love it he's eight five mom will do sewing on a team you know it is tricky to have like your child come up to you and be like you were gonna tick today much I just take you back for sure then we go a month except yeah it's gonna be a little and you're a part of David Schwimmer's collection of short films to fight sexual harassment I'm curious what role that's played in your career but also how your response to it has changed with time with experience with confidence I've never been in a situation where somebody asked me to do something really obviously physical in exchange for like a pay-to-play by the she Wishon wash this car and you'll get the job I was worried about an actress who had to audition by washing the directors car and her baked bikini yeah firm oh and she was that they will do it was the face of Sorrento I know even as recently as a year ago my agent called me and was like I'm so embarrassed to make this call but there's a big movie and they're going to offer it to you they really love your work on the show but the director wants you to come in into his office in a bikini there's no audition at all you have to do Wow and I was like what you're already doing shame wait and we hold a lot already seen everything you wanted to know if I was fat now oh so Dean so I actually heard this moment where I was like how good is the part yeah for what I do I was like would I do it how good is the part send me the script maybe the characters in a bikini in the movie yes non a bikini in the movie not naked in the movie and I was just like this is actually really happening confusing and I was gonna be I'm just a believer and like that was anywhere anywhere you know we really love your work but we really just want to see how tight your asses like are you [ __ ] kidding me Cheska be it was going to be someone with the tie arrows and boobs and scoop is always going to be other thinner longer release absolutely we change so that whole narrative by the way I didn't just kidding either you change it we change it by sitting here and talking about these things we change it by writing shows by directing them by you do your whole Rilke bet of living the answer because god knows the questions that opposed to women so often are not only offensive but the fact is dinosaur ethics when I was fifteen my second movie and it was like really independent movie so it was like running gun and we were just stealing locations and we played orphans and we're shooting at one of those houses on sunset on the way to the Palisades and you're I suppose have a guardian on set when you're a miner but mine like like they dropped me go make your move break you up later and we did a scene where we broke into the house and then we go swimming in the pool and so the scene is after and I have a towel on and the director comes over to me just pants don't be really funny if you like drop the towel just drop the towel and we could just see your butt like really fun how are you I was in here oh my god I just didn't know what the [ __ ] to do I was humiliated and I found some strength of this me now where I said I don't feel comfortable yeah hmm and then I remember I had to kiss one of the other orphaned kids in the movie and I had never kissed a boy and he said to me an apple is an apple a plum as a plummet kisses and he kissed without the tongue and I was like I'm going to is amazing Oh guy guys in a greater I'm sorry if I do I'm sorry if I don't oh really get the ball I would don't know my eyes are real oh I was so nervous hello I was so nervous that he he might get a hard-on that he filled the [ __ ] sock with sand which just ended up really chasing the both of my lines all over the bed and also the bed itself as I've never been a politician in a bikini I mean I'll tell you why I wanted to be do know that series because I think that whether you're in Hollywood or not these kinds of situations happen this kind of inadvertent even like bringing up sex in a conversation just telling you all about your sex life with your girlfriend or whatever just to kind of like add sex into the conversation and people have to know that it's okay to to say no I don't want to talk about that no I don't want to do that anything because we talked about it Mona that's her also how how the conversation changes and that there are so many avenues now for limiting on suspect whether it's a blog whether it's opposed whether it's whatever it is that one can go well this person asked this thing of me the other day that felt sort of anti diluvian if it's where it was appropriate or not I don't know what that means it means back to the flood okay means pre-flood gotten thanks that Wow antiquated is an idea of English and we were just going to let that slide no I'm like but I'm storing it happens also unlike start and rush I'm like it's Minnie Driver one of the things that came up with you in the last year or so was wondering how many questions we were going to wait so you're going to bring this up well I decided a would a charity but hit but where I think it is interesting is I'm curious a how many other actresses you heard from and B if you felt like you were fighting for something larger than just your paycheck what is it what we do asking for same amount of money or the man makes on a show God's sakes yes yes I'm that was I think that was a big deal and a big a became a big problem I wouldn't say it was acrimonious but after a very very long kind of stalemate negotiation it became public Oh which so that was that was I trying to shame you and now something yeah I don't pretend to know anybody else's motivations but I mean when we started the show obviously bill Macy was the green light for the show is Bill Maher an Oscar nominee I was 22 years old and then as the show started to really get legs or than became its you fella a little bit more waited and no Fiona's direction and it felt I mean I started to take on a directing hat and kind of know take a leadership role yes and something that at one time felt okay that it was unbalanced started to feel not as good absolutely yeah and so but I think that it was difficult for me at first today this is what I think I deserve because I think that that you do want to be liked and you do want to get how do you get like on your back way to your agent measure go kinda it feels like we're all in a console air when your contract is up yeah I was I waited for it to be up and then I said I've loved my experience yeah and I'm so happy and so proud and everything but I just want this to be right if we really I should be compensated different yeah I'm living for 20 years I mean this is this is this or no I didn't it wasn't public for I didn't know about it I mean I'm long time and it was going on and when it was finally public it kind of took me aback yeah I'll tell you the person that supports supported me most it was William a may say but today to have the man counterpart on my show be like yes she does deserve it and more was so validating and after that when it after it became public it was it was a very quick resolution do you think those male feminists in our lives but they Lamia the one man holding you and Andy yeah he had a daughter we need everyone to feel that it's wrong fair so they'll have to couch it in polite like I deserve this yeah yeah just made my day no but before I don't know what Hugh knows is right Suzanne Somers went through this with Three's Company and they got rid of her yeah she was like a huge star on that show and I know everybody thinks it's like fluffy and stupid 80s but she was like on the cover of every magazine she was massive she's a fascinating woman they made a documentary about this and basically she asked for equal pay and they said no liar and they not only said no they said you're fired and she had to come and do one final scene where they let her in the back of the set they made a fake Hawaii porn from her and she called you know jabbed and Janet and she's like I mean why I'm never coming back by go and then they escorted her out not to see anybody blow her off and that was it and is that the message that that then sends to women in Hollywood savvy so let me let me ask you this do what what do we what do we do maybe not even women you're in positions of power but let them you know but hold on to what we're doing here Janelle line back saying were you all go I'm not going to work for that Omega well there's 20 other women who will do you take a stand and go I'm not taking that role because there is no parent it's it's insane well it's hard being out there I mean it's gender inequality when we look at any business it's not just how no example in the medical and absolutely people in government people what have there are no female chairs that UCLA I was having this conversation about women on the phone with my manager about pant getting paid the nurse and the doctor both female both said nurse the men get paid more than we do here there are no female chairs of the UCLA medical departments and interim chair is a female just while they're waiting for the dude to come back from the holiday I mean I don't know if this is true but it's the same exact problem with white women and women of color as well there is a difference in how they're compensated and so whether or not you want to say it's a gender problem a race problem whatever it is through the state and we don't to such mine English like I need to do something to make it right for me yeah yeah I can feel good about doing this job and when it became such a big thing I was like at a health food store in Canada and this little girl who worked at the health food store came up to me and she was like what you did for gender equality really meant by men's life and just the fact that I touched a real person really meant something saying that are we supposed to say no what do you think the solution because I mean I think the thing is is obviously there's a bigger picture and people are going to take from your actions and your successes and your failures what they're going to but each of us we find ourselves in different places with different platforms and different kinds of access and we have to get right with ourselves what you did is saying this used to feel okay to mean it doesn't now and coming to terms with that and then and then having the conversation with with the entire system built around you to keep you from asking for more I feel like most of the times that I have had to ask for something I had to convince my agents to ask with me and there is a system and it like having an attorney or agent and say I want this thing and I'm saying we don't think you should ask for that is there a rate of the no and and what would happen and that more generative like we don't think you're going to get that you know there really really good opportunity and and the feeling of you're coming to your own yes coming to your own place with saying what makes this worth it from yeah what if you will manage to pay and you've got you're looking at the men are getting paid in a movie for example they're getting paid not just twice but maybe four or five times and it's a three hander piece and a woman is getting paid they've actually just apportioned out so significantly less but the part is great and it's the same screen time and you've got a mortgage to pay and you want to be a good actor and you want opportunities what are you supposed to do are you supposed to take the par or used to paint your own mirror and because it had been seven years it's not a front and you and I do another two and be a playwright and really inform everyone yeah we have to take this [ __ ] even though we can get inspiration from one another and and feel like it when any of us wins we all win we can't we can't shame each other because we all have different situations yeah all have fun feeling less accountability now at least like I feel like now is there is something just obviously in the air then these things are handed in right there's no capital right now like you can't like someone can't just out now not pay you what you deserve and not have you have a platform to be like really low it's rare the planet like every single time it's this dance so you sit there and you're like you don't want to get locked into a contract of five to seven year contract you know can you do something creatively that I don't want to sign that and then if you do like it's people always tell you not to ask it's not okay that's what I'm doing where your power goes away right you have to open even if you think even if you can did with the confident not to say I want desperate thing really there's a system in place around you to really make you question like whether it is letting you in too hard for another part you'll make people mad exactly I know they don't want to work out that we don't resent you because you're patterning for more than they think you know as an advice combination there only remembering just names me I don't there is a double share like we don't I start paying you more they actually respect you know what I'm saying but that's but that's the those are the things and those are the conversations that keep us from asking I am I'm agreeing with you which is we you also have to then go to work with these beer I don't want to be in a situation where you're saying like it's going I'm with this thing you get what you want and then you step onto a set I'm not saying that's what happened all the time I'm saying the fear of that and the idea that we have to we have to ask for what we want and still maintain working relationship right what makes it different for each of us well you have to have negotiators that are negotiating on your behalf in an unemotional business way because at the end of the day it is a job it is a business and you're asking I deserve it and by the way we had to go to earth and rebels and it's a nurse in a hospital and have a warrior women I'm coming to for a little bit of crime no sir yeah but I love the fact that it went rogue but I think it isn't with the platform's many of you guys have to be producers and directors and creators to do you feel an obligation to tell certain types of stories today that you perhaps wouldn't have or wouldn't have the freedom to or the the access to even five ten years ago I wouldn't call it an obligation I would say like I can't you feel pressing wait yeah I know like the stories that represent yeah but no one else is talking yeah yeah yeah I just think it's aren't aware and so yeah you know and our second suitor that's something that we're tackling just because that's something that I wasn't or the scale and the you know the fact that you know white women have a burritos or black women elect Inouye and that to me is just astounding in a country where we have laws and that that's still happening you know really in every industry and so know yeah I don't think that it's an obligation I don't even think it's a responsibility but it's just it's real life yes you know that's a story in and of itself and it's just the conversations lead to people taking action and that's the most important part okay we're going to end with some really lighter presses dr. ourian left turn happening right now if you could switch places with anyone else in Hollywood for a day and would you want to be loose you guys okay gonna be able to have these white okay Jane Johnson like one of those my bra yeah my event I will need to come on it'd be so fun why but why yeah um because he's so big and great and awesome and he's allowed I'd like to feel I'd like to feel that power not a power that I feel inside myself but the power that is actually acknowledged I feel like that dude walks in and he gets [ __ ] done or is that the fight really hard because I don't I don't want to fight I don't know if I don't even though he fights I don't did you fight yeah love him really I really the nicest person good Louise because I think that's the only person that my husband loves as much as me is my way I will she believe you miserable asset and then she used two sides like oh I'm going to do this it's actually harder I want even but this school and something and then is just chilling in our backyard oh yeah you think it's a woman hanging with him yeah I mean children everybody yeah which I love to chill in my mom's backyard so I was know that no you does I think shonda rhimes the amount of what she's built for herself and the amount of access she's created for so many other people and she's just got like the access to tell the story she wants to tell and elevate the voices that she wants elevate I love to like head a studio for a day and just read as much as I could in the shortest amount of time and just say yes to stuff but a big scale that would not normally get made oh I would be awesome I would best the best friend I have is right off the bat I'll be about you I don't have one oh no your [ __ ] self I know I kind of like what's happening to me right now and for a day though I could use a little more money but you want to be who makes the most money I'd like my 16 year old get an apartment when Johnson with me yeah I like another guys one I got a say oh and the rock love and she's got that documentary he's got that welcome are you coming up another boiler water he does as well like extra curricular stuff that the rock does you want to get in on that in the TV character I most identify with mm current a stock boy did she was like a regular black girl going to high school having a crush on to dude and I really identify was like a middle school when she came out and I was like Brandi hey you could sing but she don't sing on the show it was cool I was the last person I felt like that was Newman and then white people disappear from television yes probably a Zoe's character and new girl oh damn gosh yeah now it is as you see well you're there yeah I would puzzle fold see if anytime you're just smiling and awesome view they're looking over that are all showering with me on the scene it's over there between the land and the sky sorry it's love it I feel like I'm I am often side here but here are one way in deeply no one knows full details are very wrong no I love him man and ready everyone I'm still thinking that I can you go back what the characters in television that I relate to it would be like Esther Rolle and Mary Tyler Moore yep you know now but I don't know I used to like my favorite shows growing up we're like eight is enough and the Waltons because I liked the nice family great yeah we will turn that white bread night everybody just like that made me feel good because my family was Jaden weird and I like tonight john-boy can I marry a nightmare yeah I love I want to be them okay I will smooth on Fresh Prince of bel-air I made it because I always felt like I straddled to world I came from I was in a world that I were a part of but I wasn't also part of another world smooth I spread like I can ask that good one but I feel like you could not find the light stuff into like really philosophical [ __ ] I already know it's really beautiful like your poet thank you guys for being part of this is a great publication no no he's really not hearing from the woman was amazing nothing would have been only for ya I'm Oprah have Easter Egg Katherine ah Kevin Bacon thriller ghost or Elizabeth math Kris Jenner Minnie Driver and thanks for watching thanks thanks thanks for watching thanks for watching The Hollywood Reporter on YouTube on YouTube hold on be sure to hit subscribe for more videos cool

Channel: The Hollywood Reporter

Views: 582,429

Rating: 4.9077907 out of 5

Keywords: thr, the hollywood reporter, hollywood reporter, entertainment, hollywood, pamela adlon, roundtable, better things, thr roundtables, the hollywood reporter roundtable, issa rae, insecure, america ferrera, superstore, emmy rossum, shameless, kathryn hahn, i love dick, minnie driver, speechless, interview, comedy, comedy actress, full roundtable, emmy, comedy actress roundtable, emmys 2017, emmy roundtable, actress, awards humor, funny, 2017, roundtable 2017

Id: Kgi4jvDGqfI

Length: 55min 55sec (3355 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 05 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

I'm in love with Pamela Adlon.

[u/LongwaytoLA]

I love seeing Issa Rae up there

[u/DeepState_9]

Nice to see Bobby Hill.

[u/d0nttweet]

It's always funny seeing some of these roundtables where there's a good chance none of them gets nominated...