Reese Witherspoon honored at Women in Entertainment gala

Reese Wirspoon remembered when she met with several film production studios in 2011 to ask m how many movies were being developed for women.

studios’ responses nearly floored her.

“Of all major seven studios, answer was one,” Wirspoon said after she received prestigious Sherry Lansing Leership Award at Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment breakfast gala Wednesday in Los Angeles. Oscar and Emmy-winning actress was handed award by her friend-actress Kerry Washington for excelling in film and her philanthropic efforts.

Wirspoon said she was grateful to receive award named after Lansing, former Paramount Pictures CEO who was first woman to he a Hollywood studio. While she called Lansing a “trailblazer,” actress hearkened back to her meeting with studios that felt “grim.”

“One movie was being me with a female le out of 140 movies,” she continued. “As I was told by a studio he at time, ‘Well, we alrey have one female star this year. We can’t make two.’ Can you guess which year this was? 2011. t 1911. ... 2011.”

Wirspoon said moment helped empower her to start her own production company, Hello Sunshine, which has produced Oscar-minated films “Gone Girl,” “Wild,” and HBO drama series “Big Little Lies” with an all-female leing cast.

actress, who starred in films including “Legally Blonde” and “Sweet Home Alabama,” told packed room of about 600 people, mostly women, that “this is our time.”

star-studded event included Charlize ron, John Legend, Mindy Kaling and Maggie Rogers. It also h about 40 young women who are taking part in THR’s Women in Entertainment mentorship program, established a dece ago.

“A lot of people can recognize a problem, look at it and complain about it,” said Wirspoon, who is also a member of Time’s Up movement, an initiative for anti-harassment and equality. “But t everybody is going to do something about it. Leers are really doers. Even though you don’t think of yourself as a leer, or you’re hesitant or you’re hyptized by words saying ‘You can’t.’ Too b. Do it anyway.”

Around $1.5 million in university scholarships were presented to high-school seniors from under-served communities in south and east Los Angeles. All of seniors have taken part in program.

Often shedding tears onst, ron said gala “fed my soul.”

Actress Olivia Wilde, a guest editor of THR’s Women in Entertainment issue that was released Wednesday, said women should explore ir feminine strength.

Ronan Farrow received Equity in Entertainment award for his journalistic work against -based discrimination.

Political activist Stacey Abrams spoke during her keyte speech about storytelling holding an extraordinary power. She said she’s witnessed moments when women and ors who “look like me are often foottes t chapters in stories.”

Abrams, who is African-American and once served in Georgia House of Representatives, encourd those in room to make a difference. She also ackwledged that when she ran for Georgia goverr in 2018, she went against vice of those who told her she needed to “change my look and use smaller words.”

Abrams encourd attendees t to allow anyone to stifle m.

“This is power you all possess as leers in Hollywood: With a word, with a scene, with a script, you become vocates for voiceless,” Abrams said. “You become cyphers who tell whole truth of who we are in society. As women, you can lever to highlight our complexities, our strength and our capacity for redemption.”