E!’s late night series “Busy Tonight” is hosted and executive produced by three women, a growing trend in the TV business that is giving women more opportunities to run shows.
During the show’s panel Tuesday at the Television Critics Association press tour, the three — Tina Fey, Busy Philips and Caissie St.Onge — were asked if they feel that TV is better than the film industry at giving females more chances to be in charge. The three were unanimous in their response.
“It’s 100 percent true. Films are a mess,” Fey, who serves as an executive producer, said. “TV is better than movies in all the ways.”
St.Onge, who serves as the showrunner, expanded on that thought a bit, explaining that TV by its design has created and nurtured more opportunities for women. “There’s so many different levels of women starting out. Women that have been at this for years,” she said, adding that women “have always been a huge part” of every staff in the industry she’s been a part of since the early 1990s. “I moved my way up the ladder in television,” she continued. “It’s easier to give someone a chance probably than a movie. It’s a huge ship.”
Fey added: “There’s also just something, like, women get to decide what’s on the TV more often than we get to decide what movie we’re seeing on the weekend.”