Washington
Kerry Washington, Patty Jenkins, and Laura Karpman Talk Taking Risks and Supporting Women in Film
Believe in yourself, take risks, and don’t let traditional measurements of success (which are often upheld by old white men) dictate your own. These were just some of the nuggets of wisdom shared by Kerry Washington, Patty Jenkins, and composer Laura Karpman at the Tribeca Chanel Through Her Lens conversation Friday at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York City. Moderated by filmmaker and journalist Perri Peltz, the trio spoke on the obstacles women face in the film industry and the importance of mentoring and supporting new filmmakers—something the Through Her Lens program is dedicated to doing.
“The problem is that we’ve been in a world where only one type of story has been allowed for a very long time, and we’re also in an industry that’s rear-facing, so as long as you are basing what is going to succeed on past data, then it means that you’re blocking all of these other stories’ abilities to come in,” said Jenkins, who famously directed the Wonder Woman films and Monster. “We can’t save the world if people’s voices aren’t being allowed to contribute to that.”
She encouraged people to share at the start of their filmmaking careers: “We need your stories, we need all people’s stories.”
She also touched on the notion of progress in Hollywood, and how it isn’t as drastic as we think it is. “There has been the illusion of progress in putting people in positions, right? But actually there has been almost no progress in having confidence in other people’s stories,” she said.
“I was traveling with [director and screenwriter] Gina Prince-Bythewood, when she did The Woman King, trying to do as many screenings for her as possible. I knew she wasn’t gonna get nominated. I knew it because I said, ‘They’re never gonna watch her movie because it’s got ‘woman’ in the title, and that’s the truth.’
“I can’t tell you how many Academy events I’ve been to where every Academy member says to me, ‘Oh, my daughter loves [your film]. I haven’t seen it, but my daughter loves your film.’ They didn’t watch it. You can tell from the screeners and things. They didn’t watch it.”
If men’s stories are seen as universal, why can’t everyone else’s be? Jenkins challenged that particular notion. “I love men’s films. I love men’s stories, but there’s room for so much more,” she said. “And all of us have trained ourselves to see universality through the eyes of men. But nobody is training everybody to see them through every anybody else in the world.”
Washington shared just how important it is to see those stories, especially as a mother to Black children.
“Because I have two daughters, there was a very special magic to the fact that Wonder Woman and Black Panther came out around the same time, because their intersectionality as girls and as Black kids was so honored in both of those films,” she said. “That they got to see all of their femininity empowered, all of their Blackness empowered….To be a mom raising Black girls in a time when those films exist is such an asset. Because my mom had to tell me, ‘You can do anything, you’re a superhero,’ but I had to take her word for it. Because pop culture at large was not mirroring that message.”
Representation “is important because it’s humanity,” she added. “I think that’s what scares people about inclusion, is we get scared about everybody being honored and mattering in the same ways.”
Laura Karpman, a veteran, Emmy-winning composer who most recently earned an Oscar nomination for American Fiction, said the gender disparity is even more bleak among film composers. She proposed that one way to make change is through “work stoppages,” while another is through advocating for inclusion in voting bodies.
“When I got into the Academy in 2015, I was the third woman composer admitted, and I was the first one in 20 years,” she said. “I got an Oscar nomination this year; I was the sixth woman ever nominated in music composition. But four of them have been in the past years since we diversified our branch. So what happens is that if you actually diversify these voting blocks, and then you get results.”
Washington is renowned for her work on Scandal now, but she remembers, at the time, showrunner Shonda Rhimes was met with a lot of doubt when it came to launching the show.
“When Shonda wrote the pilot for Scandal, everybody, including the network that aired it, called it a risk. Because there hadn’t been a Black woman in the lead of a network drama in the last 40 years,” Washington recalled. “And I remember at the time feeling insulted by that word. But I actually think when we are at our best as creative people—what we do is take risks. And I think a lot of times the studio or the streamers are terrified to take risks. A risk means you’re going out side your comfort zone to do something that’s never been done before, and you’re not sure that it’s gonna work, but you believe in it enough to to try.”
Karpman later added, “I don’t think any of us are a risk, because we’re all so good, we really know what we’re doing, we understand our craft, we are experts at this.”
Closing the conversation, the panelists imparted some wisdom with the crowd. Jenkins shared how important it is for women in the industry to mentor one another and teach “each other leadership and how to manage a set, how to get things done.”
Karpman added that “literally just helping people with language” and advising them on how to speak more confidently makes a huge difference. That and sharing “how to be in a room with people who are going to try to dominate and intimidate you.”
And Washington offered what she called a bit more “unconventional” (but equally important) advice: “Take care of yourself.”
Jenkins, Washington, and Karpman were also present at a luncheon at The Greenwich Hotel, where Tribeca and Chanel fêted another year of the Through Her Lens program. Notable attendees included Jane Rosenthal, Selma Blair, Katie Holmes, Rachel Weisz, Christy Turlington, Ashley Benson, Dianna Agron, Joey King, Camila Mendes, Chase Sui-Wonders, Emily Mortimer, Jenny Slate, and more.
On September 11, 2025, after 11 years at the Washington Post as an editor and columnist, I was fired via email.
In the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk killing, I did what I have always done— and was expected to do — as a public voice and columnist on race, gender, and culture: I commented on America’s racial double standards in public discourse when it comes to political violence. You can read my posts below.
And then this post of mine:
The very next day, I was fired from my job at the Washington Post without so much as a conversation.
According to the termination letter from the Post, the company cited these two Bluesky posts, claimed that I disparaged white men, accused me of ‘gross misconduct’, and that my Bluesky posts “potentially endanger[ed] the physical safety of our staff”.
You can read the letter for yourself here.
In October, along with the Washington Post Guild and the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, we filed a grievance against the Post, challenging the termination.
So, I have some updates…
The arbitration hearing will be this Thursday, June 4, in Washington, D.C.
As the last remaining Black full-time staff columnist in the Washington Post’s Opinions section, I was very aware of what my firing represented for diversity in newsrooms.
While newsroom diversity is absolutely critical, it is not the only principle at stake. I am fighting for journalists’ rights to do their jobs, to comment on matters of public concern without fear of censorship, retaliation, or political pressure.
And this is a battle well worth having.
I am thankful for the support of the Washington Post Guild, my lawyers at the Washington Baltimore News Guild, as well as Norman Eisen and the legal support from the Democracy Defenders Fund.
And of course, I am deeply grateful to my readers, followers, friends, mentors, and the industry peers who have supported me throughout my career and through what has been one of the most personally and professionally challenging periods of my life.
The stakes are high, but I’m ready.
Let’s go.
-Karen
Jordan Selesnick won the Regional Championship at SCG CON Washington DC with Azorius Momo on Sunday.
Creatures (25)
Lands (21)
In a field packed with Izzet Prowess and Mono-Green Landfall, Selesnick put the power of Azorius Momo on display — proving the power of strong metagaming and mulligan decisions. Selesnick regularly dug for better opening hands in tight matchups, allowing his deck to have starts similar to those in Modern as opposed to Standard. After an 8-1 start on Day 1, Selesnick cruised to the No. 1 seed in the Top 8 with a record of 12-1-2.
Once in the Top 8, Selesnick only dropped a single game in route to a dominant performance. He defeated Stephen Snelson, on Izzet Spellementals, 2-1 in the quarters before clean 2-0 wins against Alexander Kans, on Selesnya Aggro, and Matt Xu, on Mono-Green Landfall.
Selesnick showed off both types of powerful draws the Momo deck can have in the finals, blinking a Quantum Riddler into play on Turn 2 in Game 1, and landing a copied Sage of the Skies on Turn 2 in Game 2. With the fast starts and utility offered from Starfield Shepherd, Selesnick had no problem navigating the mid-games for fast wins facing down strong starts from Xu.
Creatures (20)
Lands (26)
Selesnick took home $20,000 and the title of champion, while Xu earned $10,000. The Top 32 finishers earned invites to the upcoming Pro Tour in Amsterdam, though Selesnick and Xu also punched their tickets to the Magic World Championship.
Izzet Prowess made up almost 25 percent of the 1,198 players on Day 1, followed by Four-Color Control at 10 percent, thanks to its strong showing in the most recent Regional Championships. Mono-Green Landfall was next at just under nine percent, while Mardu Discard and Dimir Excruciator rounded out the Top 5 decks.
Day 2 consisted of 285 players that reached 18 match points on Day 1. See how the archetypes converted below.
View the Top 8 decklists from the Regional Championship. For all the decklists from the event and final standings check out the Melee page for the tournament.
SCG CON will be back in action next in Las Vegas on June 26-28.
LONGVIEW, Wash. (KPTV/Gray News) – Officials say they have found the remains and identified all of the missing workers following a chemical vat implosion at the Nippon Dynawave paper mill on Tuesday.
The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office released the names of those killed, bringing the death toll to 11:
- 52-year-old Gilbert Bernal of Kelso, Oregon.
- 29-year-old Tyler Covington of Castle Rock, Oregon.
- 27-year-old Brad Covington of Castle Rock, Oregon.
- 48-year-old Robert Wilson of Clatskanie, Oregon.
- 54-year-old Dale Miller of Portland, Oregon.
- 35-year-old Jared Ammons of Longview, Washington.
- 38-year-old Braydon Finkas of Cathlamet, Washington.
- 26-year-old Clinton Doran of Kelso, Oregon.
- 51-year-old John Forsberg of Longview, Washington.
- 58-year-old Norman Barlow of Vancouver, Washington.
- Dillon Miller, taken to a Portland hospital; coroner has no other information.
Officials say a 900,000-gallon tank containing a highly destructive chemical called white liquor imploded at the facility just after 7:15 a.m.
Roughly 600,000 gallons of the substance rushed through work areas at the plant on Tuesday when the tank ruptured.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson called it “the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history.”
Multiple people, including a firefighter, were injured and taken to area hospitals for treatment following the implosion. Some of those injured were also brought to the Oregon Burn Center.
Investigators were looking into what caused the tank to implode in the first place and whether there’s a risk of it happening again.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said it would begin an investigation into the implosion after the recovery efforts are concluded.
Officials said some of the chemical had made its way into the Columbia River and they have received reports of dead fish near the site’s spillways.
The Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were monitoring air and water quality and working to assess any other environmental impacts.
Copyright 2026 KPTV via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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