Name: MPW Summit 2023: Renaissance Woman
Uploaded: 2023-10-11
Duration: 15 min 45 s
Description: Connie Britton,Actress; Producer, Activist; Board Member, Dartmouth, The University of Southern California Interviewer: Mallun Yen, Founder and CEO, Operator Collective; Co-chair, Fortune MPW Summit

Connie Britton,Actress; Producer, Activist; Board Member, Dartmouth, The University of Southern California Interviewer: Mallun Yen, Founder and CEO, Operator Collective; Co-chair, Fortune MPW Summit

MPW Summit 2023: Renaissance Woman

Conferences

Hello, everyone and welcome back. Now, our next guest says that empowering women is personal for her, whether she's working towards that goal on screen or the United Nations goodwill ambassador. She says that empowered women make the world a better place. She is the actress, producer, activist and five time Emmy nominee, Connie Britton known for her roles in critically acclaimed productions such as the White Lotus Friday Night Lights and Dear Edwards. She is also a board member at Dartmouth and us C. Connie joins us today for a conversation about using her influence for good and she will be sitting down with Malan Yen, founder and CEO of Operator Collective and an MP W CO chair, Connie, welcome. Thank you. Um So I'm so excited to be here with you. Thank you for coming. So I gotta tell you whenever I told anyone that I was interviewing Connie Britton, the response was, oh my God, I love Connie Britton uniformly. So you know whether it's uh whether it's, you know, from men or women, you have this universal appeal, but we know there's this tension between likability and ex success, especially for powerful women. And um it seems to me that you've been able to weave power and likability pretty effortlessly, but I know it doesn't happen. Well, maybe it does happen naturally. Like, how do you, how do you do it? Well, um, I love that question because I think we, as women see that around us all the time, this, this sort of expectation that we must be likable. Um, and we've witnessed it in politics, we've witnessed it in the workplace. Um And certainly on television, you know, there's always, there was always this dictate about, you've got to be likable. You know, you're a woman, woman character, you have to be, she's not likable enough, she's not likable enough, you know, or else or else you're the villain, either you have to be super likable or you're the bad guy or you're just a bitch. But what's really important to me is I never, ever once think about being likable and I never judge my characters from the outside. And um every character that I play, I play from the standpoint of my fundamental belief, which is, I believe that as women, we are always trying to find our own power and that's very authentic for each of us individually. It's different for each of us individually. And so um if, if by by accident, the characters end up becom coming out as likable, great, you know, to some degree, I'm always serving the story that I'm trying to tell. But um it's really important to me that the, the, that I show women who have the complexity that we all have and, um, the drive and determination and flaws and, um, sense of helplessness some days and all of those things. Um, and, and then the hope is that we can see ourselves in that way and say, oh, I like her and I didn't know that I would like her with all those flaws and all those problems and all those questions. And I didn't know that I would like her if she wasn't perfect. Yeah. So that's the goal. It's, it's, well, it's brought us a lot. Um One of the things that I've noticed is that you make choices that are not typical, they're out of the ordinary. Um You lived in communist China in the eighties. No one in the eighties when your roommate was Kirsten. Um You adopted a baby from Ethiopia as a single mom. You're an activist for climate poverty, human rights. You're on the board of Dartmouth and US C and you're also a venture investor and which is actually how we know one another. So I wanna just wanted to ask you, which is why in the world were you interested in investing in a venture fund like operator collective, which focuses on enterprise and B to B software. Whereas most celebrities start um and really focus in consumer an area that, you know, is closer to their daily lives. Um Well, um first of all, because Erica Schultz asked me to and I've learned from working alongside you at the Dartmouth Board that I really wanna do whatever you suggest. Um And also because I didn't, I didn't know anything about it. I mean, nothing, the only thing that I understood about the operator collective was that it was created and founded by and for really incredible women, primarily women and also with an emphasis on women of color and that, that really interested me. So, um you know, but I, I do throughout my life, I've, I've, I've always tried to look at things more globally and um I've been, I've always been intrigued by the thing that I have the least understanding about because I, I just think that I, I think we never stop educating ourselves, you know. Um And especially now at my ripe old age, I, I feel like I'm, I'm always ready to try to learn about something that I never thought I understood before. And boy, it's harder as you get older because like we get, we feel like we're so smart at the things that we're so smart at that's much more comfortable. But I like and, and as an actor too, um taking risks is really important. And so even with my acting roles, um every time I choose a role, I want to make sure that there, it feels like it's going to take me outside my comfort zone in some way and um you know, it's not really a risk if there's not really the possibility of failure. So, you know, a risk is a big deal, but um those are the best opportunities to learn and to grow. So I wanna continue doing that in every regard with everything I do. So, what are some of those things top of mind that you're pushing your, that are pushing you right now challenging you? Well, um you know, um as actors, we've been on strike for a while and um and the writers have been on strike, sort of is we're really at a an inflection point in Hollywood and, and everywhere in the world obviously. Um So, but for the last four or five years, I have been developing um a production company and that is a very different set of skills than my acting work, which is very familiar to me, but I wanted to do it because what I found as an actress, I really enjoy the creative part of the process. Iiw, I was finding myself yearning to be at the very baseline of creation for stories for the stories that we were telling. And so um that was, that was something that made me say, think, OK, I would like to start a production company because I wanna, I wanna be at the helm and at the foundation of whatever the next things are that I do and it's really been a steep learning curve. But and, and I've learned a lot and it's fantastic as I was saying, you know, this is, this is where I want to be. And I, I'm gonna, I'm always still acting and, and always want, and the, the goal and the dream is that I will be acting in the things that I have created and I have put together and I've had, I've envisioned with all kinds of other great collaborator, collaborators, great writers and great, great directors and studio executives and the rest of it. So um that's been my, my focus right now from the on the work standpoint and then there's of course, the being a mother standpoint, which is, you know, that's like learning something new every day. So especially with a 12 year old boy with a 12 year old boy. Yeah. Yeah. And as a single mom. But, you know, it's, that's the, as we all know, the greatest gift, the hardest job ever, I'm gonna talk to the audience in a sec for, for questions. But, but so the production company. So this is new for you. Um So how has it been? What are there, are there challenges? Are there so many challenges? It's been, you know, it's been incredibly rewarding but also incredibly challenging. And I've been able to see firsthand from a very different vantage point where we bump up against um our own cultural obstacles as women. And seeing that from the standpoint of what we're putting out into the world what we're putting on television. And, um, it's real frustrating and I'm very fortunate because I, I actually feel like I've been able to play incredible characters in almost kind of a golden age of TV. I've, you know, I mean, I started on, not started, but one of my first, my first and favorite things was a show about football and high school football. And I was playing the wife of the coach. And, oh my gosh, I'm going to be literally sitting on the sidelines in this show. And it became a wonderful, powerful role and we were able to show who those women are. Tammy Taylor, a Friday Night Live best character ever. And so what you brought to that, but, but, you know, I, I from, from this sort of, from the sitting in the position of trying to develop programming and as a producer, I am really, really seeing the pushback that is, that is deeply embedded in the structures of Hollywood and Hollywood studios, even as they are celebrating themselves for being so progressive. We had a show. We had this incredible show. You guys are going to love this. It's called hysterical women. And it's basically four generations of women told from the lens of they're hormonal changes. So we've got, we've got a daughter who's getting her period. We've got a mother who's permenopausal. We've got her sister who's trying to go through fertility treatments. And then we've got the mother, the grandmother who's on the other side of menopause and having the best sex of her life. It's a fantastic show. Oh, wait, wait, wait a minute would do that. Who wouldn't watch that show? Do you wanna know what? I'm not gonna tell you who the studio was said when they rejected it. And by the way, there are people in that studio who I know are fantastic and like, feminist women and like want with female programming. Well, we already have a show on the air with four women. So you can't, that show is sex and the city pretty different. Yeah. So anyway, guys, it's like that. So yeah, those are the challenges but that, you know, I respond to those challenges by saying everything I do. I look at from a much more a much really the lens of like, where are we in the culture where we, where are these women in the culture? My goal is always to be telling as un the stories that are as universal as possible and that are really reflecting us back to ourselves. So to, to me the challenge of getting shows like that made or any, any show that is going to help us deepen our understanding of who we are and the culture as women, um poorest human beings. Uh That, that is my goal and I, and, and pushing up against the structures that are in place to, to prevent us from even having those shows on the air is just now part of the new part of the job for me. Well, I'm glad that you're focused on it because I believe Connie, you can do anything we have time for. Uh, probably let's do a quick question or two. Let's grab, um, Erica, Erica Schultz. Hi. Um, so Connie, I have to say you are such an inspiration to so many, I mean, through your acting, through your advocacy, your humanitarian work. I know I speak for the women in this room that you're such an inspiration. So my question is what can the powerful women in this room do for you? Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna start crying. First of all, I'm just so um just honored and blown away to be here with all of you today. And I was really, it was exhilarating to walk in and walk down the hall and see some of you sitting out there making billion dollar deals or whatever it is you're doing or, or, or calling your nannies. I don't know, it doesn't matter. And um so thank you for that and I mean, I, you know, I, I'm, it's always really hard for me to ask for help. I, I think that's also a woman's thing. Um So thank you for asking the question. I think if, as I have been thinking about my production company and been really inspired by actually what you created with the operator operator collective. Like I, I think the idea of creating um a truly independent um company and studio where we have control over the what we're putting out and what we're putting on, on the air and into the world. Um That would be a really exciting um and divergent idea from how the system works right now in Hollywood. Um And to do that um with a collaboration in a community of women would be really exciting. Um Men have done some version of it. Um But I think it'd be really exciting to do that in a collaborative way with some women. So, I mean, if anybody is interested in talking about that with me, I would love to chat about it. Can you raise your hand if you wanna help Connie Britton with her production company? OK, Connie, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Oh my God, that was so fast. Thank you guys.