words :: Ben Osborne.
Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds and Mad Max. What do all three movies have in common (besides being all-time greats)?
They were all edited by a woman.
While industry figures like Tarantino and Scorsese are household names, behind the scenes women like Sally Menke, Margaret Sixel, and Dody Dorn help make Hollywood classics a reality—but they rarely get credit. And while the gap is still large in the Hollywood film industry, it’s been well documented.
Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds and Mad Max. What do all three movies have in common (besides being all-time greats)? They were all edited by a woman.
In the outdoor realm, we can’t say the same. But, there’s a crew of women who are hoping to change that. Introducing, the Well-Travelled Collective.
Comprised of industry powerhouses Darcy Turenne, Andrea Wing, and Sarah Steele, the trio is hoping to bring together women from every part of the industry to create a space that allows women to collaborate, share their side of the story, and perhaps most importantly dictate the way that stories about women are told.
If you’re well versed in the world of outdoor sports, you’ve probably seen Darcy’s work in her award-winning The Moment, or more recently her short that earned a Vimeo Staff Pick and a nomination for action sport film of the year, Elle Aime. Her co-conspirators Andrea and Sarah are no different— Wing is well-versed in the world of production having worked as head of Video Content at Lululemon (she’s currently working for Origin Outside), while Sarah worked as head of VR at Google.
To say the three are a dream-team would be an understatement. For Turenne, the combination of their skillsets represents an opportunity for each of them to bring a unique skillset to the table.
“I’ve done a lot of my projects on my own and all three of us were really seeking to partner with other people who could be creative collaborators and have different things to bring to the table”, said Turenne. “All three of us are very different in what we can offer, and we really wanted to partner to create a creative synergy.”
While the partnership between the three filmmakers makes sense from a logistical standpoint, there’s a deeper connection. From each of their careers in the world of film, all three felt there was something missing.
“We thought with so much female content out there, there’s a real lack of female creators actually making the content,” says Turenne. “And especially in the outdoor space. Women in film are really far behind in the typical film world, and in the outdoor film world it’s even further behind.”
Throughout their careers, the trio has felt a shared sense of isolation in the workplace, alone on an island in an industry filled with men.
While they aren’t pointing fingers saying they are never going to work with men again, the goal of the Well Travelled Collective is to focus on elevating the voices of women, giving them a space to tell the stories they want to be told, and creating job opportunities for a historically underrepresented group of people, specifically in the outdoor space.
With a few jobs already in the works, we’re excited to see where this trio takes us—follow along at their website and stay tuned for some great content from the collective. —ML
