STUNTWOMEN BEWARE

When you decline the "advances" of a stunt coordinator or stuntman and then he keeps harassing you when you don't comply----they can and will try to make you look bad and even hurt you on the job---the are master's at making thing's look like an accident.  These are not "men" and they should be run out of our Industry.  You have a voice—you must speak up.  Email me at julieannjohnson@the stuntwoman.net if this is happening to you.

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The Rise and Fall of the Global Stuntwomen

     My name is Julie Ann Johnson and I have been a Hollywood stuntwoman my entire adult life. I was blacklisted in my prime for complaining about safety issues, discrimination and drug abuse on the job.

     One of our beloved production managers, Abby Singer, once said to me when I was first starting out, ‘Julie, this industry is going to chew you up and spit you out.’ Well, they did just that. When I asked him why, he said, ‘Because you’re kind, thoughtful and considerate.’ Well, he was right. They spit me out without a second thought. But now I’m back, because you can’t keep a good stuntwoman down.

     I am currently collecting data and first-hand accounts of the status of stuntwomen around the world, and what I’m finding is as appalling as it is enraging. Sadly, the stuntwomen of the world face the same problems that stuntwomen have faced here in the United States for decades: Sexual harassment, bullying, threats, stalking, and attempted rapes and rapes. And if they complain, they are blacklisted.

     For the most part, the perpetrators go unpunished, and keep repeating their abuse because there is nothing, and no one, to stop them. I would like to change that.

     Guidelines and rules are not good enough. The status quo is not good enough. The law is not protecting us. The only way to stop these abusers is to identify them and shame them. To that end, I welcome stuntwomen from around the globe to email me at [email protected] and I will post your stories, anonymously if you prefer, on my website thestuntwoman.net, and bring these abusers to the attention of the world media.

    If our global stuntwomen want to stand up, I would like to hear from them. Together, we can stop this epidemic of abuse. United we stand, tall and proud. Divided we remain in stagnant waters to drown alone.

    Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright once said: “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”

     I say there’s a special place in hell for men who don’t heed this warning.

     I encourage women outside of our movie industry to support us; you are more than welcome to join our cause. If this industry thinks it can continue to abuse the best stuntwomen in the world, they should be prepared to get out their big fat wallets and checkbooks. THIS ABUSE MUST END.

     It’s been said that “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” I say that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good women to do nothing.

      I welcome women in the print and broadcast media to support us, and to help us expose the abusers in our industry. It will take their voices to help us put a stop to this abuse.

     I also welcome a fearless filmmaker who has the courage of a mother lion protecting her cubs to step forward and document the true and shocking story of the rise and fall of the global stuntwomen. We have entertained you for decades. Now let us enlighten you.

Julie Ann Johnson

Author of The Stuntwoman: The True Story of a Hollywood Heroine