{"id":21572,"date":"2021-01-13T15:25:42","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T23:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=21572"},"modified":"2023-09-29T10:24:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T17:24:34","slug":"the-story-of-9to5-a-movement-that-changed-the-american-workplace","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/the-story-of-9to5-a-movement-that-changed-the-american-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of 9to5: A Movement that Changed the American Workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julia Reichert<\/strong> and her filmmaking partner and life partner Steve Bognar<\/strong>, have been making documentaries for a long while. Most recently, in 2020, the team won the Academy Award for American Factory<\/em>, about the reopening of a shuttered auto factory in Ohio. But their incredible dossier goes back to the 1970s \u2014 Julia’s first film, Growing Up Female<\/em> (1971), which explored the socialization of young American women and girls and the effects of stereotypes placed by media, advertising, and personal relationships, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2011 and her 1976 film\u00a0Union Maids,<\/em> chronicling three women in the 1930s labor movement, is now considered a classic. Her collaboration with Bognar on A Lion in the House<\/strong><\/em><\/a> for Independent Lens took eight total years to film and edit, in telling the powerful story of several children receiving cancer treatment through the American health care system. The 225-minute film would win them a Primetime Emmy and helped promote national awareness on pediatric cancer.<\/p>\n

Their newest project, 9to5: The Story of a Movement<\/em>,<\/strong><\/a> circles back to some of Julia and Steve’s favorite topics, namely gender issues and the American workforce, while using their telltale direct cinema approach (eschewing voice-over narration, letting their characters do the talking), for the previously untold story of the fight that inspired a hit song and changed the American workplace.<\/p>\n

“Based on interviews with the group’s founders, with a wealth of archival footage, 9to5 is sleek and astute, a valuable addition to Reichert and Bognar’s filmography and to the history of the women’s movement,” wrote Caryn James in The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. “They let their compelling evidence speak for itself in a beautifully crafted film.”<\/p>\n

Reichert and Bognar kindly talked to us over email about the making of 9to5, including how long it took to make, memories of the fictional\u00a09 to 5,\u00a0<\/em> and how far working women still have to go. <\/p>\n

Why did making this film now, after <\/b>American Factory<\/i><\/b>, have particular appeal to you as your next project?<\/b><\/p>\n

We actually started making <\/span>9to5: The Story of a Movement<\/span><\/i> well <\/span>before<\/span><\/i> we started making <\/span>American Factory.<\/span><\/i> But when the story of the factory\u2019s rebirth took off like a rocket, we were pulled between the two films, and for long stretches we had to prioritize the filming in the factory, because events were unfolding at a rapid clip.\u00a0 Once we finished <\/span>American Factory<\/span><\/i> in early 2019, we turned our attention back to <\/span>9to5.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s funny, we finally finished the editing of <\/span>9to5<\/span><\/i> in Los Angeles, the day before the Oscars.\u00a0 We were in a car, working on a laptop!<\/span><\/p>\n

“Before #MeToo, there was a very long period when a lot of women would say, ‘Well, I\u2019m not a feminist.'”<\/pullquote>We discovered parallels to both films.\u00a0 The \u201cunion avoidance\u201d company\u2019s tactics you see up close in <\/span>American Factory<\/span><\/i> were born in the wake of 9to5\u2019s success, the late \u201970s and early \u201980s. The union avoidance (or busting) industry has been a big feature of the realities of workers\u2019 lives since then, but it operates largely under the radar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Julia: <\/b>Women have always struggled for respect at work. I sure did, first as a young waitress in the 1960s, then a clerical worker, then as a female filmmaker in the 1970s and 80s. We\u2019ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. Before #MeToo, there was a very long period when a lot of women would say, \u201cWell, I\u2019m not a feminist.\u201d Even young women who believed everything that feminists believed rejected that word. I think that has changed. The women of 9to5 were like a #MeToo movement and a #TimesUp movement for an earlier generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Secretaries were the low-wage workers of their day. Activists today can learn a lot from 9to5 women\u2019s unique strategies and tactics. It is important to me to bring this history of the women\u2019s movement back to the public and back into history. If you don\u2019t know how people made society change in the past, how can you believe in it or know how to do it now?<\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted this movie to be, in addition to inspiring and entertaining, a kind of primer for organizing, to demystify the idea of organizing. Which is something more and more needed and sought after by working people in today\u2019s world…including tech workers, gig workers, as well as minimum wage fast-food workers. People are seeing the need to stand together.<\/span><\/p>\n

My own working-class background, and growing up before sexism was really recognized and named \u2013 all this formed me. Once I got over my class shame and dived into the Women\u2019s Movement, I found I had things to say. Gradually I learned skills in photography, radio and film. My first film, made with Jim Klein, was<\/span> Growing Up Female<\/span><\/i>, from 1971. Then came <\/span>Union Maids<\/span><\/i>, the energetic story of three working-class women who were part of the creation of the early industrial unions. This was a first for documentaries\u2014recognizing the role of rank and file women in making profound social change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

9to5: The Story of a Movement<\/em>, which I made with my long term partner Steven, is a sister film to <\/span>Union Maids<\/span><\/i>. Looking back at my 50 years of filmmaking, I see that recurring themes of work, class, race and gender are central to the movies I\u2019ve been lucky enough to make.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And how long <\/b>did<\/i><\/b> you work on <\/b>9to5<\/i><\/b>?<\/b><\/p>\n

We started thinking the story of 9to5 should be a movie about eight or nine years ago, when Julia had reconnected with Karen Nussbaum, co-founder of 9to5.\u00a0 Karen shared stories from the 9to5 early days, and we kept asking ourselves, why is this movement not more widely known?\u00a0 That got our wheels turning to make the film.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

There were no books or big articles to read about 9to5, so we were doing original research, which Julia loves. Finding the archival footage took years, literally. Much of it is local TV news, or from local photographers. Working women\u2019s issues rarely hit the national news.\u00a0 Archival producer Jane Tucker, Julia and others worked tirelessly.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many women you spoke to for the film, and of course there could be thousands more to tell their own stories. Interviews are so critical to your films. How did you land on the people you focused on for 9to5<\/em>?“We made the film with a new generation of activists in mind.”<\/pullquote><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

We interviewed over 30 veterans of the 9to5 movement, all over the country\u2014in Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Seattle, Washington DC, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and Detroit.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t include everyone we filmed, but each person helped us understand and tell this story in a huge way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working with our tireless editor Jaime Meyers Schlenck, we gradually came to feel which stories\u2014which pieces of the big quilt\u2014were needed to make the story come to life now. Like in most of our films, there is no one protagonist. The story unfolds in several cities across two decades. It really IS the story of a movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have memories of watching <\/b>9 to 5<\/i><\/b> the fictional film, either when it came out or after, and did it have an impact on you? And what about the indelible Dolly Parton song, which is now so ingrained in our culture — what meaning does the song have for you personally as part of this story?<\/b><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve always loved the brilliance of the original <\/span>9 to 5<\/span><\/i> Hollywood classic.\u00a0 The satire is so pointed, and the filmmaking is full of life. The movie\u2019s smile is bright, but its teeth are sharp.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

And Dolly wrote one of the all-time great anthems in her 9 to 5 song. It\u2019s a song about resilience.\u00a0 About looking reality in the face and not giving up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n