The Free the Bid website will host the reels of 130 female
directors -- those already signed to production companies and those
without representation. It will track the work women do as a result
of the initiative. Free the Bid will also organize agency
screenings featuring female talent and put on events to showcase
work done by those who are part of the platform.
"There's so much talking about women empowerment and the low
percentage of women directors but when you see the numbers year
after year there's not much change," Ms. Har'el said. "I know how
many women can't get a break and I wanted to do something practical
and inclusive. I hope that the ad agencies that pledged are going
to make a true effort to get more familiar with women
directors."
The idea came about after Pereira & O'Dell co-founder PJ Pereira,
whom she had worked with on projects for Airbnb, had reached out to
her after seeing her quoted in a Mashable piece about gender inequities with
commercial directors. The article had examined the rosters of the
production companies that made Ad Age and Creativity's Production Company
A-List and found that women comprised only 9.7% of the rostered
directors at those shops.
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Mr. Pereira had seen Ms. Har'el quoted in the article and "the
same day I got back at the agency and told people I wanted to have
a woman in every triple bid," he said. "It was a no brainer.
Everyone agreed."
Ms. Har'el discussed the idea with him over dinner, and it was
then that she saw a bigger opportunity that could include other
agencies. That led to some brainstorming and "a couple of intense
weeks inviting agencies big and small" into the process, Mr.
Pereira said.
"I just knew I had to bring that kind of thinking to everyone
else," Ms. Har'el said. "The next people to join were 180 ... then
Mother pledged. It was right after I directed a Stella Artois
commercial for Mother with an incredible creative director named
Sasha Markova and we really started talking about it -- how there's
never any women. Mark [Waites] from Mother was one of the first
people that joined in and I remember his email. I was just sending
around this little PDF with the idea and he wrote me 'We're
in!'"
That led to intense momentum for the idea, with others signing
on. At the time of its launch Thursday, Free the Bid was already
backed by top execs including Make LoveNotPorn/IfWeRantheWorld
founder Cindy Gallop, Kat Gordon of the 3% Conference, BBDO's
Global CCO David Lubars, Joan founders Lisa Clunie and Jaime
Robinson, director Spike Jonze and Coca-Cola VP Rodolfo
Echeverria.
FCB's Global CCO Susan Credle and CEO Carter
Murray, McCann Global Creative Chairman Rob Reilly, Nestle Waters North America
Chairman Tim Brown, Ebay CMO Suzy Deering, JWT Global CCO Matt Eastwood, DDB Chief Production Officer Diane Jackson,
Leo Burnett CCO Britt Nolan and 180 L.A.'s head of integrated
production, Natasha Wellesley, are supporters.
Also on board are Mother's Mr. Waites and Ms. Markova,
Phenomenon CEO Krish Menon, Nikki Weiss & Co. founder Nikki
Weiss and production companies B-Reel, M ss ng p eces, Epoch Films, Little Minx, Great Guns and Tool, which reps Ms. Har'el in
the U.S.
"I hope this stays alive and people who took the pledge are
going to use the website to introduce themselves to the good work
so many women are doing but also think about how to bring more
diversity in general," said Ms. Har'el. "I want to make sure other
women filmmakers have the same chance to sustain themselves while
being creative and shaping the way women are represented in
advertising. "
