The historical obsession with the ingénue —the young, often passive female lead—limited the scope of stories told on screen. For a long time, Hollywood conflated femininity with youth, leaving a void where the complex, lived-in experiences of older women should have been.

Furthermore, many veteran actresses have turned to producing to ensure the survival of their own careers and those of their peers. Nicole Kidman’s Big Little Lies is a prime example of a project born from the desire to create meatier roles for a group of women who refused to be sidelined by an industry that once would have overlooked them. Why Experience Matters in Storytelling

The Renaissance of the Screen: The Power of Mature Women in Entertainment and Cinema