Magic between us || Fillie

It's A Man's World

Millie was sitting on the yellow sofa in their designated break room on set as she went through today's script for the hundredth time. It was the last day of the week, the scenes she was filming were all over the place, she barely got any sleep last night... suffice to say, she felt lost and pretty exhausted.

Nevertheless, she was beyond grateful that it was a Friday and that she would have the whole weekend all to herself, free of any obligations. She planned on spending it in her bed; asleep. She would probably have to pass on Caleb's sleepover Saturday, because she really wasn't feeling up to it.

There comes a point in her life, when she needs to... be alone, spend some quality time with herself. Think through everything that has happened, everything she was feeling, rest a little bit, maybe watch a movie or a start a new TV series, pamper herself and recharge for her future endeavors.

The next month-and-a-half, maybe two months, were going to be hectic for Millie. All the promotion for her new movie 'Enola Holmes' will be taking up a lot of her free time outside of filming. The situation with Covid was a blessing in disguise in a way, because if it weren't for the 'less travel, less socializing' policy, she would have to travel back and forth the whole time; do an interview, go back to filming, do another interview, go back to filming, go to the premiere, go back to filming, and so on and so on.

This way, she was only supposed to sit behind her screen and film herself talking to her camera, the interviewer and probably mostly Louis. She'll share some interviews with her other co-stars as well, but not as many. Because, of course, the love story between Enola and Tewkesbury is what sells. Her chemistry with her love-interests is what sells.

She does feel bitter about it sometimes. It was like, no matter how hard she worked on something, no matter how good of a job she did, no matter how great the message behind her projects was, the thing that people would talk about the most, was the romance between the characters and the possible romance between the actors.

Not her acting, not her stunt-work, not her professionalism, not the story itself... none of that mattered. All that mattered to the public were boys, boys and boys. Girls were treated like jewelry; the only important thing about them was how good they looked on-screen against their co-stars.

She had learned pretty early on that it really was a man's world out there and that she will forever have to fight her way through it. And of course, she will fight, twice as hard as them probably. Because she wanted to be praised for how good she was at what she did, just like her male co-stars were. And she wanted to be respected just as much as they were. Because she deserved it.

For the longest time though, she thought she didn't. She let herself believe the stories people told online; the stories that diminished her worth. Because it was easy to get all caught up in it, it was easy to fall into that trap that they place for her so skillfully every single day.

She still had days where she let it all reach into her mind and make a mess of it, poison her own thoughts, but she fights it as much as she can. And she does so by focusing on the good things in her life, on the good people surrounding her: her family, her true friends, the people at work who appreciate her talent more than even she does sometimes.

Because there are people like that out there. They may be hard to find at times, but they do exist. She was lucky enough to have worked with people who not only guide her to do better, but who also listen to her. Give her chances to express her thoughts and opinions as if they matter. Because they do matter. Her voice matters. Every girl's voice matters.

It took her a long time to figure that one out, to believe it fully, and now that she did, she will never quiet it down. Not for anyone. She will speak her mind, voice her opinions and fight for her rightful spot in this industry and in this world.