Melissa Rossi of Gray Cat Films recently joined Free The Bid’s online directory of talented female commercial directors. This means her body of work will be made visible to brands and agencies that have taken the pledge to hire more female creatives - brands like P&G, AirBnB, Coca-Cola, Visa, and more.
Free The Bid is an important advocacy group for women in the ad industry. The nonprofit is working to address gender bias by targeting the industry’s triple-bid process. They’ve come up with a simple and direct solution by asking brands and agencies to take a pledge to consider at least one female candidate during this stage of the bidding process.
In 2017, women directed just 9% of broadcast commercials. We recently wrote about Hollywood’s glass ceiling, but haven’t quite scratched the surface of the ad industry, where gender bias is just as prevalent. For many filmmakers, the ad industry is an avenue for building a sustainable career, however, years of gender bias have prevented women from building competitive reels to go up against their male counterparts.
In an effort to make female talent more visible and accessible and showcase their work, Free The Bid has created a searchable online directory. From Free The Bid’s directory to the talent we see within our own community, it’s clear that this is not a pipeline issue. We had a chance to speak with Melissa about the process for joining Free The Bid and how her work at Tongal has helped her inch closer to achieving this goal.
Maddie: Congrats on being featured on Free the Bid's website! What does it mean for you to be part of this game-changing organization?
Melissa: For me, being featured on Free The Bid feels very validating. To be listed alongside so many incredibly talented female directors is an honor, and it really feels legitimizing to be included as a serious option for some very big brands who have taken the pledge to Free the Bid.
MM: What was the process like for getting your profile on Free the Bid?
MR: To apply for Free the Bid, I emailed the address listed on the Free the Bid website and was contacted by the Executive Director who asked for links to my work. Once the links were reviewed, I was sent a list of all the things they would need to set up a profile for me (headshot, bio, website, etc.). Once I got those materials to them, my profile was up the very next day!
MM: Has your work on Tongal had any impact in helping you reach this goal?
MR: Absolutely! While I started out creating spots on spec, Tongal was really the main avenue for me to make the jump from aspiring commercial director to working commercial director. Tongal has given me some truly remarkable opportunities to build a portfolio that includes some very well-known brands like Pampers and LEGO that I would not have had otherwise. And most importantly, Tongal is a platform that has always Freed the Bid, allowing anyone to pitch on projects, and whose winners are chosen based solely on the merit of work submitted. (Let's hope Hollywood catches up soon!)
Melissa directing for LEGO/Toys "R" Us Bricktober Project while 5 months pregnant.
MM: What advice would you give to filmmakers wanting to have their work featured on Free the Bid?
MR: Apply! It's an organization that prides itself on inclusivity and features a wide variety of work. And if you don't get listed, keep working at it until you do!
MM: Why do you think it's so important for ad agencies to turn to women for creative content and production?
MR: The first and most important reason is that women are really good at it! Right now, women only direct 10% of commercials, and if you look at all the studies being done about why there aren't more women directors, lack of talent is not the issue and agencies can really benefit from the outstanding work that women are doing, plain and simple. On a more global level, whether we like it or not, media of any kind serves as a reflection of society. What we feel, how we see the world, and what we want the world to look like is influenced by media. If 90% of the work created only represents 50% of the population (and audience!) then we are reinforcing a very skewed and narrow view of the world. In my opinion, the truth is what resonates most with audiences. Hiring more women gets ad agencies closer to that truth, and therefore, more eyes on their content.
MM: What kind of projects and opportunities do you hope to gain through this new level of visibility with agencies that want to be part of the change?
MR: I hope to gain more exposure as a Director and more opportunities to keep doing the thing that I love most!
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Part of our mission at Tongal is to open the floodgates to opportunity. What are some of the ways you actively search for opportunities?
