Jennifer Aniston Celebrates Women Taking Charge Behind the Camera | Women in Hollywood | ELLE

Wow, first of all, you're amazing. How are you even here or even standing up? I don't even understand it. I've seen you, I've never seen you this much in the last, in my life as I've seen you in the last. No, it's never too much, never too much. Oh my God, this is a really incredible room and quite overwhelming, I'm not going to lie. I'm somehow eligible for this award again. I was given this, it was like 2011 and a lot has happened since then. Like a lot, you know? And as I sort of look around the room, there's some really incredible changes that have actually taken place and that is how many incredible women have just kicked the door down, you know? Like seriously, kicked the door down. And I mean, you've been creating, you've been directing, you have been leading, you have been producing, you have been starring and you have been making human beings which is unbelievable and making it all look so easy which we all know it really is not easy. And I have been lucky enough to stick around, as they say, in this incredible, and to see this incredible shift take place in our industry in real time. Where being a female showrunner is no longer an anomaly but it is a, it's the norm. And while we still have a lot of progress to make, I do think it's really important to acknowledge that things have evolved. And when I first said I wanted to produce back in like 2004, the room got really, really quiet. And I got sort of that sort of kind sort of look of how cute you are and that sort of pat on the head and the sort of the bubbles, the air bubble above the head that says, okay, let's just wait a second, we'll put a pin in this for now. For now, see, and I've lost it too and so has the teleprompter guy. Oh, but there we are. But my desire to help and to shape stories, to donate blood, sweat and tears to making those stories, not just performing in them, it never left. And gradually, ever so gradually, and because of women like you who are sitting in this room who would not take no for an answer, our industry began to change its point of view. And I got to produce my first movie and I can confirm, I love it. And I'm really good at it. And I love the process, I love the collaboration, I love the details, I love my producing partner, Reese Witherspoon. We get to do the morning show together. My producing partner and soul sister, Kristen Hahn, which just is proof that collaboration and friendship absolutely can exist in the same space. And so that's what keeps me showing up. And every day, it's the friendships, it's the friendships and the shared belief that storytelling still matters, that baring our souls as actors and creators still matters, something that AI will never be able to duplicate no matter how smart it gets. So, yeah, I mean, I'm definitely not the same person I was 14 years ago, thank God. But what I still, what I believed back in 2011 still holds true, which is, in this industry, women have to keep holding each other up and lifting each other up and lighting the way and showing each other what is possible and leaving the door open behind us so no one has to kick it down, just sort of help a sister out, as they say. So anyway, thank you, Elle Magazine, and for this honor, again, and for celebrating amazing and powerful women in the best sense of the word. So, you know, here we go. Here's to the brilliant, beautiful women in this room. I see you, I celebrate you, you inspire me endlessly, and maybe I'll see you back here again in 2039. Okay, thank you. Thank you.