Co-directors and producers, Betsy West and Julie Cohen, centered their passion project around Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life. There was only one issue: When they requested to interview the then 82-year-old, her response was simply “not yet.”

But the two didn’t take this as a sign to pack up production and look elsewhere for inspiration. Since both West and Cohen had interviewed the justice during previous projects, the duo pressed on, interviewing Ginsburg’s friends and family.

“It’s a one step forward, two steps back process,” said West, who earned her master’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1974. “We barely told people we were making this film for the first two years because we were so nervous that it wasn’t going to happen.”

Almost three years later, West, Cohen and their team sat huddled behind a treadmill in a gym, watching in awe as the small 84-year-old frame of Justice Ginsburg was holding a plank for a count of 30 seconds. They were filming the opening sequences for their critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary, “RBG.”

While Ginsburg, also known as “The Notorious RBG,” has garnered a mass following in recent years, West set out to document her lesser-known history before she was on the bench and given another nickname: “The Great Dissenter.”

The film captures moments like Ginsburg’s Supreme Court nomination hearing in 1993 and her struggle to be taken seriously as an attorney at a time when women weren’t considered by firms. It provides a glimpse into Ginsburg’s women’s rights activism as she focused her efforts on the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

For West, this story was reminiscent of her own.

West was entering the broadcast journalism industry at a time when women were just getting “more of an entree into professional life,” she said. In the wake of the women’s right’s movement, West said that to avoid discrimination lawsuits, there was a collective effort to allow more women into industries such as journalism.

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The fellowship from SU gave West the financial stability to invest in herself, she said. Whereas Brown University exposed her to a rigorous undergraduate experience, Newhouse was a “turning point” in her academic career by introducing her to the professional journalistic standards.

However, West was the only woman at her first internship in WHEN radio newsroom in Syracuse. This was the case for much of her early career in television production companies.

As more women were entering the industry, West said that she was so thankful for the jobs that she overlooked the misogyny and harassment that occurred.

“Certainly in my case, the comments, the remarks the suggestions, the invitations, the offers, the creepiness,” West said, “you know, you just tried to let it roll off your back.”

For the women in her generation, the #MeToo movement was a wake-up call that perhaps they did not push back against damaging toxic masculinity in society, West said.

Despite these obstacles, West landed the role as an executive producer for numerous years at ABC News. She currently works at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism teaching broadcast and documentary classes. And while West has made previous documentaries, “RBG” presented a new team dynamic.

“We made an intentional decision to have women rule the roost for this film. Given our subject matter, it just seemed like the right thing to do,” Cohen wrote in an email.

Associate producer Nadine Natour said that the entire core creative team were women. Having not met many women in the industry before, Natour said this showed her “what was possible.”

Ultimately, the team’s perseverance and copious amounts of research resulted in an interview with Ginsburg. Slowly, the team was invited into more intimate aspects of her life, including her home and chambers, where she showed her famous collection of collars. The film culminates in the gym sequence and a glimpse into her lifelong passion of opera, as she debuted in an honorary role in “The Daughter of the Regiment.”

Issues like access and locating a financial backer were solved together by the duo of West and Cohen. They had met previously on the 2013 documentary, “Makers: Women Who Make America,” but forged a strong friendship as they worked in tandem on “RBG.” Cohen said that they made all of the creative decisions together.

“Betsy is so accomplished, but she never makes you feel like there is any separation between you and her,” Natour said. “You feel like you’re on the same level, she’s always laughing and she’s open to new ideas.”

The documentary, which was released in May 2018, brought home awards at the 2019 Primetime Emmys, in the category of “Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.” West was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program. Together, West and Cohen made a speech at the Emmys and did a plank on stage in evening dresses, paying homage to Ginsburg.

Although the team was excited to receive an Emmy and praise from the Sundance Film Festival, the audience response has been the most meaningful. Not only have millennials and older generations said they were heartened by the film, but it also seemingly struck the children of today.

“What I did not anticipate were the little girls who are inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who would show up at our screenings, like literally eight, nine, 10-year-old girls would be in the justice outfits.”

West said the years-long process was both “daunting” and an “extraordinary privilege.” The team set out to equally balance Ginsburg’s rise to an attorney with the more poignant moments, especially her relationship with her late husband, Marty Ginsburg. Following audience screenings, West said that men especially resonated with Marty, who championed his wife’s career choices in an era when this was unseen.

With such resounding response from the audience, West, Cohen and most of the team involved in “RBG,” are getting back together to make another documentary about the famed chef Julia Child. The announcement came on Oct. 8.

Projects like “Makers” and “RBG” illustrate West’s dedication to telling the stories of trailblazing women.

“We wanted to tell people about her history facing tremendous personal challenges,” West said, “and becoming, really, the legal architect of the Women’s Rights Movement, the leading litigator who changed the law and the world for women.”

Published on October 23, 2019 at 1:44 am