Asher Keddie says work and life balance is just impossible
FINDING that elusive work and life balance is just impossible says actor and Offspring star Asher Keddie.
WHEN four of Australia’s most successful women in the film and TV industry got together to talk about gender issues in film and television it got very personal.
“I really just don’t think the ‘balance’ is achievable,” said Offspring actor, mother and Gold Logie winnner Asher Keddie. “You just have to take it day by day.”
“I often have 15 to 16 hour days and I have two young children, both with different needs at seven years and 16 months. And as well, a husband who is working incredibly hard and prolifically. (Asher’s husband is the renowned artist, Vincent Fantauzzo.)
“I just think the balance is quite impossible but if you have support within your workplace that certainly makes a difference.
“But it is obviously very different in other industries, We are able to achieve what we need to if the support is there. We have a producer who is incredibly supportive and ‘wants’ us to have babies, if that is our choice, so that is all due to our show’s producer, Imogen Banks.
“I don’t really feel like I have lot of challenges as a female actor in that kind of way,” Keddie said.
Keddie is matter-of-fact about the the issue of gender imbalance in the film and entertainment world.
“There is an individual comittmeent we need to make to keep the conversation going and it has certainly began and the disparity is being addressed,” she said.
“It will be just great when we don’t have to focus on it so much on and we can just get on with creating great work and not keep going on with the conversation ... without anything happening.”
The panel discussion was part of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
The panel featured award winning Keddie, along with her Offspring producer Imogen Banks. actor Sarah Snook, known for her standout roles in The Dressmaker and The Beautiful Lie and LA-based producer, Bruna Papandrea, celebrated for producing Hollywood blockbusters Gone Girl and Wild, alongside business partner Reese Witherspoon.
“If you start your career at the age of 20, whether you are male or female, as a woman you are inherently and implicitly thinking ‘if I want to have kids I probably want to have a baby between 30 and 40,” said The Dressmaker actor Sarah Snook.
‘So, in order to do that, women think ‘I need to create a career that is sustainable for at least 10 years, say, from 20 to 30’.
“I think women put more pressure on ourselves, in the short-term, so you kind of feel like you are out walking uphill all of the time.
“As opposed to the longer chance for male counterparts, who may be thinking, hey, ‘I’ve got some time to learn and work as there isn’t a biological thing going on.”
International film producer, Bruna Papandrea — who bought the universally successful film starring Reese Witherspoon, Wild, to the screen — thinks the biggest challenge women have within the film and TV industry is convincing people that women can actually be the centre of a movie plot.
“That really has been the biggest challenge — that kind of convincing — but when you think about it is an actual good financial bent when you look at the strength of the female population,” says Ms Papendrea.
“Confidence plays a huge part in the way women sell themselves and as someone who started their career in Australia, I always felt enabled and supported here, but when I went to Hollywood, yes it is quite different and still quite a boys club.”
Within the clubhouse at the Hamilton Island Golf Club, guests joined the panel discussion over lunch that also saw actor Simon Baker and his wife Rebecca Rigg in the audience.
“Confidence seems to be the thing that really jumps out and I don’t think that is gender specific because I struggle with confidence,” added audience member Simon Baker.
“I have sometimes seen in the business, some men having an absolute fear of women,” said Baker.
“It’s a very competitive business and they want to hold on to their ‘stake’. If someone comes along they feel threatened. And if a woman comes along they probably feel even more threatened because some may see it as an ‘attack’ on their masculinity.”
As for whether female thespians prefer to be called ‘actresses’ or ‘actors’ those on the panel were nonplussed: “Either way, it doesn’t worry me,” smiled Keddie.
Meanwhile, leading producer Imogen Banks says it is always very hard to value your own worth, no matter what field are you are in.
“You have to treat it as a numbers game and if the recent Screen Australia ‘Gender Matters’ initiative — with a target to have 50 per cent female oriented ‘good’ projects made up of women by 2018 happens — that is terrific.
“But we can’t be making crap: it has to be good.”
According to the measured Keddie the conversation about all of this has well and truly begun, but it is much more than that.
“The conversation is happening, yes, but it can’t just be a ‘fashionable’ conversation. Stuff just has to happen.”
According to Screen Australia boss Graham Mason, also in the discussion audience, it is daft to be ignoring 51 per cent (females) of the Australian population.
“There is a commercial end to it — to be ignoring 51 per cent of the population creatively, culturally and commercially is daft,” said Morris.
“You look at both The Dressmaker and Mad Max and both had females as the main roles and look at their success.”
Now in its 33rd year, Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is full of sailing types, social names and style peeps all on the isle for an annual ode to all things nautical.
The sailing celebration — offshore and onshore — has kicked off as one of the country’s best orchestrated and most stylish week-long events with Matt Moran hosting a dinner along with his mates Richard Roxburgh and Vincent Fantauzzo.
The week is open to anyone who wants to attend — race week isn’t just for a privileged few but for anyone who is interested in sailing, a holiday on Hamilton Island, a buzzy night life and good food.
In the past 11 years, the week has included more pop culture and lifestyle events, very much thanks to Nicky Tindall, the innovative granddaughter of the late Bob Oatley.
This year the week has been the biggest in the event’s history with the island buzzing with professional and amateur sailors, families, food lovers, wine connoisseurs, celebrities and style leaders with the likes of Paspaley Pearls and Guillaume Brahimi taking roles by hosting glam dinners and beachside events.
And the big buzz around? Perhaps Chris Hemsworth (an ambassador for the German car brand) may fly over to the island on Wednesday night — even though he is in the middle of shooting Thor on the Gold Coast.
It would be a surprise and star-studded appearance, and if it happens, you read it here first ...
*Melissa was a weekend guest of Audi and Qualia at Hamilton Island Race Week
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