Maitri - Female First Collective, Amazon Prime Video has launched a new partnership for women in media and entertainment circles
Aparna Purohit Creator - Maitri, Head of India Originals, Prime Video; Indhu VS, writer, and director; Retina Plathottathil, Writer, Director & Producer; Elahe Hiptoola, creator & producer; Parvathy Thiruvothu, actress and director; Rima Kallingal, Actress, Producer & Performing Artist; Shreya Dev Dube filmmaker and cinematographer Neha Parti Matiyani participated in the event moderated by Smriti Kiran, creator, and curator of Maitri.
To spark more conversations and foster meaningful collaborations, Prime Video has also launched a social community for Maitri, a way for women in entertainment to share successes and work together to overcome challenges.
Sharing deeply personal stories and experiences, participants reviewed the progress made so far and the challenges faced by women professionals in the industry, be it in films, streaming, or television – covering aspects such as conscious and unconscious bias, gender inequality, safety, and more. The session kept alive the palpable camaraderie among the participants as they shared their thoughts, opinions, and learnings on handling difficult situations. Through the dialogue, they reiterated their commitment to collective action to find potential solutions to create balanced female representation through the powerful medium of modern storytelling. The forum said that more women are working and taking care of the basic logistics of safety and sanitation and it is fundamental to include women in decision-making roles to ensure that the narrative is balanced and fair.
"Through Maitri's new session, we want to assess where we stand on diversity, equity, and inclusion, understand the challenges ahead and collaborate to find the right solutions," said Aparna Purohit, India Original Head, Prime Video. “We are very happy with the encouragement and support Maitri: Female First Collective has received so far. Although it has been a gradual journey, I am happy that some changes have already taken place. Being able to hear things like 'our writers have female writers', 'our female characters have agency', and 'our content definitely passes the Bechdel test' in conversations with creators is a big step in the right direction for me. At Prime Video, we are very committed to DEI. As a next step, we want to have at least 30% women HODs in all our productions,” she added.
Smriti Kiran, Creator, and Curator of Maitri say, “Maithri is the space we all wanted but didn't have. And about the challenges we face in connecting women working in the vast and diverse Indian film industry. It was created to have honest conversations, address those issues, and create opportunities that lead to greater change in representation. This is the first step in what we hope will lead to big changes.
Prime Video is deeply committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in its content and productions, as well as in its partnerships with the creative community. Maitri: With the Female First Collective, Prime Video aims to raise awareness about the important role women play in the entertainment industry.
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