Women leaders are creating opportunities at the crossroads of gaming and media

Hollywood and gaming have collided, and collaborations between creatives in film, music, television and video games have multiplied, often with brilliant results. Breaking into this intersection of industries is complicated, even as diversity, inclusion and equity open doors for new creators and innovators. And that was one of the central themes of this year’s GamesBeat Insider event, “Bluring Boundaries: The Convergence of Film, Music, TV and Games.”

Amanda Kruse, Head of Business Development at Big Fan and Erika N. Ewing, Head of Lionsgate Games, sat down with Bridget Stacy, Vice President of Global Marketing, Xsolla sat down to talk about how the industry is evolving at the crossroads between gaming and entertainment, and how future leaders with diverse perspectives can get their foot in the door now.

“Video games are inevitably a younger industry than film and television; it’s a place where you have to be entrepreneurial,” Kruse said. “A place where the best people I know, who have the jobs they love most, did those jobs for the most part. Film and television force you to play many roles.”

But gaming and entertainment remains predominantly male-driven, although more female leaders than ever are emerging at the forefront of the industry. There are more voices at the table today, more diversity in games and characters, but keeping that trend alive requires marginalized people reaching out to their peers for support. Ewing credits her time as part of the Frag Dolls, a group of female gamers recruited by Ubisoft to promote games and compete in esports, as a key part of her growth in the gaming industry.

“Being close to them, feeling empowered by them and finding a place, finding other women along the way or people I admired, a few steps ahead of me,” she explained, was a gateway to her career. “When I take those few steps forward, you take those few steps back and you always keep that door open. I hope we continue to do more and more for each other and that that is reflected at the table.”

Normalizing new perspectives

She and Kruse met when Ewing started at Lionsgate Games, where Kruse was an integral part of her career path. Lionsgate is a studio defined by its female-led and focused entertainment: Orange is the new black and Forcefor example, one of the biggest shows on television with a female showrunner. They are also the studio that produced it. Hunger Gamesthe highest-grossing action franchise with a female lead, Kruse said.

“The inside of the studio is very similar to that,” he said. “We had many department heads who were women. We had many voices at the table. It felt normal. “The normalization of that definitely gave Erika and I a lot of confidence when it wasn’t the norm, when we went to other spaces where that wasn’t necessarily the norm.”

How the gaming industry is changing

Film and television are a little ahead in this conversation, Kruse said,

“There are definitely more high-level women I work with, in film and television, than in games,” she explained. “But even in the short time I’ve been playing, everything has changed radically. I will say that one lovely thing is the collaborative nature of games. It’s very difficult to get into film and television when you’re young, but in video games I had a very different experience. I’ve never been part of a community where I’ve been able to say, hey, I don’t know what to do. People, especially amazing women in this industry, have been quick to provide me with resources or educate me, which has been incredible.”

The fundamental role of mentoring

“I think both Erika and I take mentoring very seriously. “It’s something that we not only encourage in ourselves, but we try to encourage it in other people,” Krause said. “I don’t think it’s something people take seriously enough. “Film and television are kind of a broken learning system.”

To address the ways the studio culture has failed those in subordinate roles, they actively mentor junior employees, encourage them to pass that on, and offer mentorship to others to elevate them, even when it’s not easy and even when they make mistakes. . They also encourage others to put themselves out there, reach out and introduce themselves to people in the industry you might admire, who might offer you their time and attention, and be generous with their own time in return.

“Give the time of day to someone else. “You don’t know what magic can happen after that,” he said. “We just have to be there for each other. “That’s the crux of this.”