30 Jun After #metoo, calling out Hollywood’s last acceptable “ism”
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Temple Mathews has worked hard and enjoyed a long career in the entertainment industry. At age 64, he managed to raise the money to produce and direct his first feature film, Holiday Breakup, which stars his daughter, the actress Maron Mathews, who has since become a star on social media. Long before he reached his sixties, he was well aware of rampant age discrimination in the business.
After the latest encounter, where he was dismissed from consideration for a job because of his age, he wrote, then directed a short film mocking the ludicrous bias against older people in the business. He was also inspired by his participation in a group called Happiness Seekers, a constellation of industry folk, mostly in their seventies, who came together to learn how to stay positive at a time in their lives when they’re discarded by their chosen profession as no longer relevant. (One key part of their work was meditating.)
Take three minutes to watch Temple’s film (shot on an iPhone in an office borrowed from a friend) and how his character “old-schools” the punky entertainment hot-shots who turn on him. And then, listen to my conversation with him on this week’s Gracefully. How can you help counter this last acceptable “Ism” in your work and your daily life?