MIPCOM: Kristin Kreuk Predicts More Female Stories in Wake of Harvey Weinstein Scandal

"Women are making their voices heard," the 'Beauty and the Beast' star said as she touts her Canadian legal drama in Cannes.

Women will no longer stay quiet in Hollywood over male dominance on- and offscreen and will fight for more female stories and roles, Beauty and the Beast star Kristin Kreuk told The Hollywood Reporter in discussing the fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

"Everyone is ready. If people didn't do it [fight for female stories] before, they'd get destroyed now," Kreuk said in Cannes as the downfall of the disgraced movie mogul continues to play out. "What he was able to do, it's heartbreaking. Weinstein had access to money and power in a business where there's women everywhere."

Kreuk predicted female stories that until now have gone untold will finally get heard. "I just don't think it's OK anymore. People could get away with it before, they can't anymore, nor do I think they want to," she added about leading ladies and female stories being delegated to supporting roles and low-budget projects.

Kreuk is at MIPCOM to tout her latest project, taking the lead role in the Canadian legal drama Burden of Truth. The indie drama has Kreuk playing a big-city lawyer, Joanna Hanley, who, after being passed over for partnership, returns to her hometown to take on what she thinks is a simple case, only to find herself in a fight for justice for a group of sick girls.

The female-driven drama is executive produced by four women — Ilana Frank, Linda Pope, Jocelyn Hamilton and Kreuk — and three of its six screenwriters are women.

"You need people to protect female stories. And women understand them best. And our show is very female focused. The stories are about women, and young girls, growing up and in love. We really need women in the room to protect them," Kreuk said.

The ladies' touch is very much seen in the script, she insisted. "For guys to write a transitional moment for a female character, they'll be aided by the male character. But a women will say, no, she'll make that transition on her own, but you need to give her this thing to make that happen. It's doesn't need to be dependent on this male," Kreuk argued.

She added that the CBC, which will premiere 10 episodes of Burden of Truth in winter 2018, and the Canadian TV industry as a whole is making a concerted effort to finance and produce female-driven stories.

"Especially now, women are making their voices heard, and they know it's on them to tell the stories they want to tell. And they want to do that. And they do have the support," Kreuk said. Burden of Truth is from co-producers Entertainment One, ICF Films and Eagle Vision.