Pamela Abdy Exits Warner Bros. With 'Pure, Unadulterated Rage'

Pamela Abdy left Warner Bros. last month after Paramount Skydance's controversial acquisition closed — and on Thursday night she told a Beverly Hilton ballroom exactly how that feels. The word she chose: "pure, unadulterated rage."

Abdy, the studio's former co-chair and chief executive officer, received the inaugural Vanguard Award at the Women in Film Honors gala. She accepted it with a 15-minute speech that drew a standing ovation from hundreds of attendees.

"Rage for these women, rage for me and even more rage for the entire generation of women who deserve to have their potential recognized and elevated," Abdy said onstage. "Rage at how women are under attack everywhere. Rage at how our health and our well-being always seem to come second to how we show up in a room."

What did Abdy say about Hollywood's treatment of women?

Abdy said she has been labeled difficult, emotional and combative. She has been told to put on her "big boy pants" and to smile more. Executives told her that movies starring women and directed by women make less money and reach smaller audiences — a claim she watched collapse under her own slate.

"Barbie," which Abdy oversaw alongside Mike De Luca, grossed more than $1.4 billion and became the highest-grossing film in Warner Bros. history. "Sinners" set an Oscar record with the most nominations ever earned by a single movie. Last year's best picture winner, "One Battle After Another," was, in presenter Nancy Meyers' words, "another feather in Pam's very crowded hat."

"It is getting harder, not easier, to be a woman in the business," Abdy said. "We tell ourselves because a few of us made it into these chairperson seats, we broke through, that we paved the way for the next generation. But I don't think it's true."

She pointed to language as evidence. Greta Gerwig was consistently called a "female director" when she made "Barbie," Abdy noted, while top-grossing male directors are never called "male directors." Hollywood still runs "Most Powerful Women" lists. "The men don't have a separate list; they are the list," she said.

"As a leader who happens to be a woman, I am supposed to sublimate this rage," Abdy said. "And you know what happens when they tell you to tamp down a fever? Sometimes it just burns hotter." She framed that fury as usable energy: "Rage can be destructive, but I think of it as fuel, as something that can burn bright, something that can be harnessed to fight on for what we think is right."

How deep is the leadership loss?

Women in Film Chief Executive Kirsten Schaffer put a number on the moment. "In the executive suites of Hollywood, in the past three months, we've lost 50% of our top women leaders, which has been a major blow, because it's not like we had that many to begin with," she said. Her answer: "We keep going. We keep opening doors. We keep investing in each other. We keep hiring each other."

Who else was honored?

The gala recognized four other women:

• Jane Fonda presented Salma Hayek Pinault with the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award for philanthropic work, including the Kering Foundation's fight against gender-based violence across the U.S., Mexico, France, Italy, Korea and the U.K. Hayek Pinault dedicated the award to Dolores Huerta, who died last week, calling her "a womb for our community."
• Sharon Stone presented Hannah Waddingham with the Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV.
• Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, granddaughter of Max Mara's founder, presented Adria Arjona with the WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award.
• Emmy Rossum honored writer-director Beth de Araújo and actor Gemma Chan, in absentia, with the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film for their upcoming movie "Josephine," about a young girl who has witnessed a sexual assault.

De Araújo spoke through tears about the fear the film addresses. "I'm very tired of being scared," she said. "It is time for those who are committed to violence to be scared of us."

Sandra Bullock, in a taped tribute, joked that Abdy should "remember that when they gave it to you, you were initially employed at the place where you are no longer employed" — then backtracked: "Say everything you want to say, toot your own horn. They love you."

Abdy closed by asking what business the industry is leaving for the next generation of women. With half of Hollywood's top female executives gone in a single quarter, her rage-as-fuel framing reads less like a farewell and more like a starting point.