"Girl" reporters get real: SHE SAID

HALLIE EPHRON: Last week I went to the movie theater (have you noticed how many movies are now opening IN theaters instead of streaming?) to see SHE SAID.

It’s the true story of two New York Times reporters, Jodi Cantor (played by Zoe Kazan) and Megan Twohey (played by Carey Mulligan), investigating sexual abuse allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Reviewers praised it as a slow simmering thriller, every bit as exciting and suspenseful as ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN.

It was great. Simply great.

And it took me back to my youth when, in my dreams, I imagined being a star investigative reporter like comic books’ Brenda Starr.

Back in those days, as these covers attest, the public wanted to read about a woman reporter who outs toxic men, as long as she had big boobs and got tied up in the process.

SHE SAID is the perfect antidote.

But the reality of what it takes to be an investigative reporter made it clear to me that I never would have lasted a minute. Tracking down people who don’t want to talk to you, showing up on their doorsteps, ringing the bell, asking tough questions … I’d much rather make it up.

It also got me thinking about other fictional “girl” (aka female) reporters. The female reporter was always bookended by a male lead. She was smart but she was also beautiful. Single. And unencumbered.

Lois Lane (Noel Neill to George Reeve’s TV Clark Kent) in SUPERMAN.
Hildy Johnson (Rosaline Russell to Cary Grant) in HIS GIRL FRIDAY
Tess Harding (Katharine Hepburn to Spencer Tracy) in WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Jane Craig (Holly Hunter to William Hurt) in BROADCAST NEWS

Then along came SPOTLIGHT. Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) and a pair of male colleagues investigating a decades-long cover-up in Boston's Catholic, legal, and government establishment.

She didn’t need a love interest.

SHE SAID takes it a step further, two female reporters who work together to take down a predator. No big boobs. No witty dialogue. They have to juggle kids (though apparently without babysitters or nannies) and husbands with trips to Europe to track down victims. A whole lot of courage and tenacity is on display.

Of course here at Jungle Red Writers we are fortunate to have a genuine investigative reporter among us. But I’m wondering if “girl reporter” (in the best sense) was an aspirational goal for any of us, and was it a conscious decision to make stuff up instead?

JENN McKINLAY: I’ve heard amazing reviews about SHE SAID. Definitely, going to see it.

I remember seeing female reporters on television and thinking it was super cool, but I was definitely more into being a female archeologist (thank you, Elizabeth Peters). It was either that or a Bionic Woman or Wonder Woman.

I do feel like my formative years were full of newly divorced women (1970’s and 80’s) who were working outside the home, going back to school, having careers, and really putting themselves first for a change. I remember films like Educating Rita and Working Girl - both of which came out when I was mid to late teens - and they definitely had an impact and helped shape the women of my generation (X).

RHYS BOWEN: I have to make time to see this. And yes, girl reporter was one of my aspirations.

I went to college convinced I was going to be a journalist. I edited the college newspaper for two years. But along the way I saw the movie La Dolce Vita and a scene in which paparazzi hound a woman whose family has just been murdered and I thought “I can’t do that!” Luckily I was accepted into the BBC instead.

I grew up with a working mother ( assistant principal and later principal) so I took it for granted that women worked and had power.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Hmm, nope, girl reporter was not one of my goals, funnily enough–although my mother always called me Brenda Starr, so maybe she had a premonition. But I have been on TV since 1975 (!) and on the radio before that.

I am in LOVE with all the reporter movies. All The President’s Men, and Network, and Broadcast News! And Spotlight was a treasure, truly, so realistic. (And you have to realize, I was a reporter in Boston while that story was breaking, and my boss kept coming into my office and asking–do YOU have any of this? Gah.)

His Girl Friday, of course, and oh, Mr Deeds with Jean Arthur! And even though Adam’s Rib was a lawyer movie, that one, too.

Working Girl, Jenn, was a pivotal pivotal movie for me in so many ways, I cannot watch it without crying.

(Sidenote: I will confess, the night I was offer the job at ABC Network (including Nightline) I flew home to Boston, SO happy, looking down at the lights on New York and started singing Let The River Run, let all the dreamers wake the nations…–Oh, it makes me cry even now. AND I didn't even take the job!)

Anyway, cannot wait to see that movie. ANY TIME there's a scene where the presses start rolling with the big story, it really gets me.

LUCY BURDETTE: I’ve been wracking my brains but cannot remember wanting to be a girl reporter. I did love all the movies you mentioned, Hallie. This could be another post, but I actually can’t remember much of anything I wanted to be!

I was a very good student and spent a lot of time reading, but somehow that didn’t translate to I want to teach, or I want to be a librarian, or a reporter…so weird! 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, now I'm singing "Let the Rivers Run" to my doggos. I love that movie! So, even as a youngster, I didn't have ambitions to be a reporter. Somehow I knew, even then, that deadlines and I would not be good friends. I did actually want to be a Girl Criminal Lawyer, though! I read F. Lee Bailey's THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS when I was about twelve, and thought defending criminals was the coolest job anyone could do. Sadly, my passion didn't survive actually going to law school!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Somehow GIRL REPORTER never made it on my kid's radar . Girl archeologist, girl marine biologist, etc., etc. I had a rock collection, which pretty well sums me up. But I love the reporter movies and Spotlight is way up there on my list, just brilliant. I can't wait to see SHE SAID!

HALLIE: I dare say, the "investigative reporting" that each of us do is the research we put into making our made-up characters and situations feel believable. Fortunately we never have to get in there and ask real people to reveal their secrets. We give them secrets that in turn drive our story lines.

Was there a life goal that you fantasized about but reality convinced you that it wasn't for you, after all?