Brenda Chapman is an artist, a writer and a director ("Brave" and "The Prince of Egypt").

How can we get more women in positions of power in Hollywood? Anybody? ... Anybody? ... And the crickets chirp.



I suppose the flip side of that is to figure out how to get the Hollywood Boy’s Club to give up some of their seats for the ladies? Okay, okay. I know – now stop laughing.



Maybe we just need to make our own chairs. I prefer that approach, because it’s the only one that seems viable to me. But where to start?



Mentoring is a good place. We need to help young filmmakers and student filmmakers get the experience they need to transfer their work to the public screen. We can give them a leg up that we older (ahem) women didn’t have. Let them learn by our mistakes; we shouldn’t hide our trials and tribulations out of a fear of looking foolish.

Those of us left still standing need to keep standing to inspire. Women of my generation and older are the only figures that today’s young filmmakers have to look up to. I offer up a personal example: It has been a heartbreakingly hard road for me over the last year and a half. When Pixar took me off of "Brave" – a story that came from my heart, inspired by my relationship with my daughter – it was devastating.

To keep my name attached to 'Brave,' I was persistent and stuck to my principles.

Animation directors are not protected like live-action directors, who have the Directors Guild to go to battle for them. We are replaced on a regular basis – and that was a real issue for me. This was a story that I created, which came from a very personal place, as a woman and a mother. To have it taken away and given to someone else, and a man at that, was truly distressing on so many levels. But in the end, my vision came through in the film. It simply wouldn’t have worked without it (and didn't at one point), and I knew this at my core. So I kept my head held high, stayed committed to my principles, and was supported by some strong women (and men!). In the end, it worked out, and I’m very proud of the movie, and that I ultimately stood up for myself, just like Merida, the protagonist in "Brave."

Sometimes women express an idea and are shot down, only to have a man express essentially the same idea and have it broadly embraced. Until there is a sufficient number of women executives in high places, this will continue to happen.



That’s just one story of a few I could share. I know there are so many more out there to prove we can move up that food chain. But we must be persistent.



Mentor. Inspire. Move forward together. That’s the best I can think of.