Am I surprised that there is a woman on Judd Apatow's team who has produced most of his successful comedies? No. Those guys clearly need someone who can get shit done cause they seem totally stoned the whole time. She's a "guys girl", cute and seeming non-confrontational. (We all know those women and girls)
Shauna Robertson seems to be the perfect enabler for Judd Apatow's juvenile comedy team. She takes care of all the details as illuminated in Rachel Abramowitz' recent LA Times piece. (BTW Abramowitz doesn't do her any favors with her condescending tone describing her as "tiny and looking 12.")
Here's how Judd describes her value:
"She is the rare woman who always wants to take the joke farther than any man wants to go. All nudity in my films is a result of Shauna pushing me and calling me a wimp. If it wasn't for her I would be making 'Bratz 2.'"I think that Judd would do great making Bratz 2.
Her thoughts on whether Knocked Up was sexist. (Why bother asking her the question, she works with Apatow.)
"I don't share that opinion. I feel like we have very strong women in our movies."Has she seen any of these movies?
But it's this last quote that troubles me the most and illustrates why we need to continue to push for more women directors. (If I were a female producer I would give her smack down about she has completely demeaned the role of the producer.)
Robertson appears relatively ego-free about what she does except to say that it's essentially an extension of how she started out, as a director's assistant. The title has changed; the function has not. "I always do the same job. I don't always remember what the credit is."It's great, now every director's assistant can dream of being a producer of misogynistic comedies.
