The Wrong Kind of Women: Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood

Actor and filmmaker Jones debuts with a timely look at how women are undervalued in Hollywood, on and off the screen. She analyzes the dominance of the “male gaze” in how movies are shot, and shares demoralizing experiences as an actor, such as being given a litany of physical changes—to her hair, weight, teeth—she needed to make. Meanwhile, a male peer whom she interviews recalls only being urged to exercise a little more by his agent. Disgusted with the roles she was offered, Jones turned to filmmaking. Though her 2014 debut as a writer and filmmaker, Imagine I’m Beautiful, won distribution—a “very big deal” for an “$80,000 movie made by unknown filmmakers”—she’s disappointed to discover it opens no doors. She finds her experience common; while inexperienced male directors are offered big-budget films, women scramble for funding and opportunities. Despite such prominent success stories as directors Ava DuVernay and Patty Jenkins, Jones cautions readers that Hollywood still has far to go in changing its ways. She spotlights social media’s importance, discussing how being able to directly raise funds and win fans online is key to changing a retrograde corporate culture. Film viewing will never be the same after reading Jones’s insightful look at the reality of being female in Tinseltown. (Feb.)