Pamela Abdy Calls Out Hollywood's 'Bro Machine' in First Post-WB Speech

By Daniel Okafor

Pamela Abdy used her first public appearance since leaving Warner Bros. to deliver 15 minutes of what she called "pure, unadulterated rage" — on the record, inside the Beverly Hilton, at Women in Film's annual WIF Honors on Thursday.

Abdy received the inaugural Vanguard Award, honoring a leader whose career moves the industry forward. Nancy Meyers presented it. The honor was announced before Abdy and Michael De Luca exited Warner Bros. last month, as Paramount Skydance completed its $111 billion merger with the studio.

She did not pretend the timing was comfortable. She also didn't soften the message.

What did Abdy actually say?

Abdy opened on craft, recalling work with some of the greatest filmmakers of all time and an aim to spark "valuable conversations and debate." Then came the pivot: "We also have to do this under the microscope of a media ecosystem that has largely abandoned analysis and fact for the trap of clickbait."

She thanked every female director she has produced or worked with, followed by lists of female executives and producers. Then the fever metaphor, which deserves quoting in full: "As a leader who happens to be a woman, I am supposed to sublimate this rage. And you know what happens when they tell you to tamp down a fever? Sometimes it just burns hotter."

The catalogue of insults followed. "I've been called difficult, emotional, combative. I've been told to put on my big-boy pants, to smile more. I've been told movies starring women and movies directed by women don't make as much money, that the audience is limited."

She also called out male directors for not supporting female directors the way they support each other. Hollywood publishes "most powerful women" lists, she noted, and no equivalent for men — "because they are the list." That's the line most likely to travel.

Is it getting harder for women in Hollywood?

Abdy's verdict: yes. "It is getting harder, not easier, to be a woman in the business," she said, questioning whether a few women reaching chairperson seats really paved the way for anyone: "But I don't think it's true."

She asked what business the industry is leaving for future vanguards, and noted this week's elections gave her hope, citing women appointed to top political positions. She thanked those who stood by her through "the highs, the lows, the great successes, and yes, the very public failures" — a list that included De Luca.

After 31 years in the business, she said, she has stopped caring about the label. "If the definition of difficult is someone who is passionate about getting movies made, then I will just have to suffer the fools who don't know the difference and keep fighting to do what I love." She closed with a promise: "I'm not done."

What happens next for the ousted executives?

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter earlier in the evening, Abdy said of her future: "no idea what we are going to do next. Honestly, it is kind of a nice thing to not know."

She addressed the broader culling of top female executives — a wave that took out Cindy Holland as Paramount's streaming chief and Bela Bajaria as Netflix's chief content officer. "Obviously, it is upsetting to see," she said, adding: "These one moments don't define you. What defines you is the work you did and the work you left behind and the work you hope to do in the future."

The night's other honorees: Adria Arjona (WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award), Gemma Chan and Beth de Araújo (Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film, for Josephine), Hannah Waddingham (Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV, for Ted Lasso), and Salma Hayek Pinault, who received the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award from Fonda herself.

Abdy leaves without a job and with a speech that doubles as an indictment. The question she posed — what business are we leaving for the next generation — now hangs over an industry mid-merger.