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The Association of Women Drivers — the industry’s first all-female stunt-driving team — is accelerating careers and boosting awareness.
Putting women behind the wheel
Helping expose the boys club of stunt driving in the ad industry, the founders members of the Association of Women Drivers, Angela Meryl, Olivia Summers, and Dee Bryant, sit down and talk about their favorite stunts, tricks, and how the ad industry can achieve equity.
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Olivia Summers, Dee Bryant, and Angela Meryl Form First All-Women Stunt-Driving Team
Fed up with “wigging,” “paint-downs” — in which, respectively, stuntmen are put in wigs to double for actresses, and white stuntmen wear dark makeup to double for actors of color — and other unfair practices, stunt drivers Olivia Summers, Dee Bryant, and Angela Meryl have started their own stunt driving team.
The Badass Stuntwomen Shaking Up the Hollywood Boys' Club
For an embarrassing amount of time, Hollywood has used men in wigs to do stunts for female characters. The women of the Association of Women Drivers prove there's no need for that.
Get Out of My Lane: Why Hollywood Needs More Women Stunt Drivers
"Olivia, I had no idea there were female stunt drivers. We just put a guy in a wig."
This is what was said to me in November 2019 as I left a commercial production meeting, effectively negating the industry visibility that I've continued to fight for since my first day on set. It wasn't the first time I'd heard comments like this; I've heard whisperings of men wearing wigs since I started as a stunt driver fifteen years ago. It sadly wasn't a new idea to SAG-AFTRA either. And despite it being against SAG-AFTRA rules, it has never been enforced under the current leadership.
It's Time To Change The Male-Dominated Structure Of The Stunt Industry
“I didn’t realize there were female drivers. We just put a guy in a wig for a job.” This is the most common sentence that female stunt drivers hear when they are in the industry. Three accolade-studded female stunt drivers Olivia Summers, Dee Bryant, and Angela Meryl who have 60+ years of professional stunt driving experience in 500+ commercials and more than 300 films and TV shows launched the Association of Women Drivers (AWD) the first all-female driving team. They decided to challenge the male-dominated stunt industry and create their own platform.
Trio Forms Association Of Women Drivers, First All-Female Stunt-Driving Team
EXCLUSIVE: Last November, as veteran stunt driver Olivia Summers was leaving a production meeting, a commercial producer took her aside and said: “I didn’t realize there were female drivers. We just put a guy in a wig for a job.” It’s a practice known as “wigging,” in which stuntmen don wigs and dresses to double for actresses.