“Girls Trip” and “Master” Star Regina Hall on Storytellers and Overcoming Adversity Through Writing When Roles Seemed “Stagnant”: Cannes Lions

Teacher, Black Monday Y girls trips Star Regina Hall revealed how it helped her hone her acting and writing skills to get through a time when the roles she was playing seemed “backward and not showing my reach.”

The actress and producer spoke to a Cannes Lions advertising market panel exploring the impact of women in storytelling, along with Amazon’s global marketing director Ukonwa Ojo.

Hall said, “I always want to do what’s interesting and inspiring and show a whole range of what humanity is. There was a point where there was no opportunity to play these roles.” They were stagnant and they showed no significance. “

He often remembers playing “boyfriend” or other “outcast” roles, adding, “You couldn’t play or present what was inside you.”

He said only after the studios realized that making money on films that attracted viewers outside the mass market had more opportunities. “You say life changes, and then the studios realize, ‘Oh, you can make money,'” she said. “He is very attached to what they think the masses will get and buy. The opportunity to bring people closer to storytellers also changes what you, as an artist, do. “

Hall revealed that he overcame these challenges by continuing to act while writing for himself. “It will keep you active and motivated. You have to make sure that you always work hard so as not to be sidelined; Make small films, show something different. Hopefully people in the industry are watching this and seeing the range. “

He said there were “a lot of people who didn’t get a chance to see each other” in the range of roles they played, adding that the solution was to focus on “work and opportunities and not constraints.” . “

Now working as a producer with her company, Rh Negative, Holly has joined Ojo to applaud the growing number of creators working on both sides of the camera. You said the world has changed to allow for a greater balance between male and female narratives. “They are both strong and the Yin and Yang experience is wonderful. “It reveals different qualities as an artist,” she said.

All the women’s team

Hall just created the Amazon Prime Video horror movie TeacherDrama about a professor and a freshman at New England College facing institutional challenges that become increasingly supernatural. Hall, who stars in the play, was hired by a women’s team. “It was wonderful to see passionate creative people, who are often women, bring their feminine wisdom, intellect and energy to the set,” she said.

He paid a special tribute to screenwriter and director Mariam Diallo, of whom Hall said: “He had a vision, he knew what he wanted and he wasn’t afraid. I felt that she lived by this story and she knew what she meant and she was told. [She knew] How much I wanted the audience to perform and have fun. I trust him”.

On the issues of diversity raised by history in the more traditional institutions of Ivy League College, Hall said Diallo took this scheme and used it for storytelling, then mixed it with horror. “The school is extraordinarily relaxed, but it also has its own history of racism and life within its walls,” Hall said. “The question is: what are the institutions concerned about, what are the concerns for us?”

Hall and Ojo urged the advertising and marketing delegates in attendance to support projects that go beyond traditional audiences. “How do people get excited about seeing ‘someone else’? Hall asked.

Elsewhere in the session, Ojo showed a video montage of creative women’s work on Amazon Prime, including The Incredibles: Mrs. Meisel, Rizzo, Harlem, Boise, Ricardo, Cinderella, Wheel of Time And documentaries on singer Pink and Mary Jay Blige.

“Women have a positive influence on roles in the story, in all roles. “When women play the lead, they create more diverse actors and scenes, which is good for everyone,” Ojo said.