On writing Strong Female Characters - why so hard to produce?

Female character-driven movies and TV shows have never been in greater demand from film production companies and TV channels - especially on streaming. And there are a ton of "tips" out there on how to write well-rounded female characters. What used to be a cliché ("female, therefore weak") is now starting to become a cliché in reverse. "We want strong female characters."

You've probably already read it. Lists of tips such as: not let them be stereotypical; let them have human flaws; make sure they do not behave in the way that you expect; make sure they have "authentic craziness." Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

However, creating your own female-centric story that is both fun for the audience who will see it and for the production team, which has to be excited first about your character to want to take on the task of bringing it to life on screen? THAT will require more than simply changing your protagonist from a male to a character who identifies as a woman, and just giving a woman the traits that are considered as "masculine" in order for her to be "dynamic".

Whether you dream of writing the next Inventing Anna, I May Destroy You or Russian Doll, whether you really wish you could bring back Alien or wish you could write the next Mad Max, whether you envy Kill Bill or wish you had written Thelma & Louise, what you have to ask yourself is, what is the one element that makes a compelling story actually compelling enough for a film/television executive to be hungry to give you the green light?

And the answer to that is not self-evident.

Audience interests have broadened so much nowadays that audiovisual media is now teeming with female leads who are not cis, straight, white, "in their heads" or "down to earth" and production executives in both film and television are eager to hear - at last - from female (and male) filmmakers who can bring something unconventional to the screen.

The answer on how to write a full-fledged female character can only be found by answering the basic question:

What is the story YOU want to tell?

What unparalleled experience can YOU create within the working environment of a film crew, or a television production, so that your collaborators will work with you with the same enthusiasm you have for your own idea?

There are no "original" and "authentic" stories, no matter what anyone says. There are honest and personal stories, based on profound experiences. Stories that come to life on screen because they already have life. Your life!

Creating a film is such a demanding "sport", bordering on the miraculous when it finally comes to fruition. And it touches souls and dreams. You can only achieve this if you write what your soul is telling you to write, at the risk of exposing yourself, and baring a part of yourself to the audience that you may have previously hidden too deep inside, or not dared to express.

The script is not just words on paper. It's not a brain exercise. It's not something flat, like a screen. It requires a whole team of people, working hard for weeks or months, shooting on sets that sometimes last from dawn to midnight, to bring it to life. The crew will shed blood and tears to give your character flesh and blood. Actors are not magazine pictures. They are people who breathe their roles, in and out, they hurt while their characters hurt, and in their best performances they may even give more than they thought they could in the first place.

Film is life.

When you write, never forget that.

Only then will you give more than you believed you could give, to an audience that is hungry for stories that move them, that make them dream and feel that you have opened a window to a new world they not only wish they could escape to, but that they wish they could live in. For the audience to experience a film as a revelation, you must first reveal yourself, to your own self.