00:00Hi, it's Mariah Gullo from The Hollywood Reporter and I'm in studio with Linda Perry.
00:04Hi.
00:05And we are here to talk about Served Like a Girl.
00:08Yes, we are.
00:09It's a new documentary that you are the producer of. Now, you didn't start off being a producer.
00:14You kind of came into the project.
00:16Well, I am a producer.
00:17Well, yes.
00:18In the music.
00:20So I am.
00:21No, yeah, Lisa, no, it was not my intention.
00:25What happened was, you know, when you're doing documentaries and, you know, funds run out and then you still need
00:34more stuff.
00:35And when Lisa came to me, she wasn't 100% done with the film yet.
00:39And she showed me like 20 minutes and said, you know, can you write a song for this?
00:44And I had just been working with Pat Benatar on writing a song.
00:51She called me up, you know, prior to, will you write a song with me for the Million Woman's March?
00:56And I was like, she's like, I'm going to be on tour and I can't be there.
01:00So let's write a song.
01:01And Gloria Steinem is going to put it out there.
01:03And, you know, Russell Simmons.
01:06I'm like, okay, great.
01:07You know, so we write a song.
01:08And then so this project came in and she asked me to be a part of it.
01:13And so I was with Pat and I was like, hello, I have Miss Love is the Battlefield right here.
01:21Heartbreaker hit me with your best shot.
01:24Hell is for children.
01:25What a better person to be speaking for these women.
01:29And so we wrote the song and with Neil.
01:34And so there's a lot of stuff that goes into that.
01:37There's a lot of things.
01:38And so, you know, there's no money and there's nothing to do.
01:43So she knew that I'd be helpful.
01:45So she was very gracious and very generous and gave me a production, you know, a producer credit.
01:52And, you know, so it's my job to be supportive and try to get the movie out there as much
02:01as possible.
02:01We come up with different routes to go.
02:04We come up with different little things that we can do to bring more awareness.
02:08So, yeah, it's pretty, you know, to be a part of this project has been pretty awesome.
02:13So it's a great project.
02:14Yeah.
02:15What was your initial reaction when you saw that first 20 minutes?
02:19Like what, how did the movie make you feel?
02:22Well, it hit me with the, it was a big 20 minutes.
02:26And, you know, because I was very unaware that, you know, over 55,000 homeless people are women veterans.
02:37Yeah.
02:38It's the highest percentage is women veterans that are homeless.
02:43And that was pretty shocking because you think that, you know, like you're signing up.
02:50You're going to go right now and we're going to go join the military, right?
02:55Mm-hmm.
02:55Army, Navy, whatever.
02:56You're going to go under oath.
02:59Mm-hmm.
02:59You're going to raise your hand and you're going to say, I'm going to fight for my country and I'm
03:03willing to die.
03:04Mm-hmm.
03:05You understand?
03:06Like these people are going and saying, I'm willing to die for my country.
03:12And then when they get done with their service, they come back and women are homeless.
03:18There's no benefits for them.
03:20There's no support groups.
03:22There's no system in place to support these women.
03:25Now, mind you, the men, it's not like the men have it made, but they at least have something.
03:31Something.
03:31The women have absolutely nothing.
03:33Yeah.
03:33And that is pretty shocking.
03:37Yeah.
03:37And when Lisa was here, she told us a little bit about the circumstances of the homeless veterans.
03:43A lot of it is, you know, because of post-traumatic stress disorder, it's hard to hold down a job.
03:50Yeah.
03:50There's a lot of broken homes or broken marriages.
03:54Therefore, you end up on a couch somewhere or in a car.
03:57So, you know, people don't really see, you know, they see kind of like this image of homelessness and they
04:05think of like a man sleeping on the street.
04:07But, you know, the definition of homelessness, especially when it comes to women and their families, can be, you know,
04:15it's a wide net, which is why they are the fastest growing number of homeless.
04:22So that was, you know, and I have to say, you know, like there's been times where my rebellious, you
04:29know, 60s side of me is like, you know, I didn't ask you to fight for my country.
04:34You know, I don't believe in war, blah, blah, blah.
04:36Well, you can say that all you want, but the truth is, no matter what, people are going out there
04:40and it's just not right.
04:43It's just not, it's just not a right system.
04:46And then the government tried to acknowledge it as by not acknowledging it because basically if they acknowledge it, that
04:54means they're saying your wife, your mother, your daughter is out on enemy lines holding a gun and dying.
05:05You know, that we have these women out there and there's a couple major scenes in the movie where you're
05:12shocked when the, you know, like, so now here they come, the government comes up and they make this big
05:16speech where they're going to start allowing women to be a part of the service.
05:20And these women that are already in service, you know, they've been, you know, serving for years, you know, since
05:26the forties are like, what, what do you think happened to me?
05:29You think this happened to me because I was knitting cotton balls together to keep the soldiers warm, you know?
05:35And so it's, so it's pretty shocking.
05:39So anyways, that's why I got involved.
05:41And, and, and then the song just kind of came and it came from a very natural, organic, beautiful place.
05:47And it was more of a, you know, hallelujah moment.
05:50Like, because what's wonderful about the film is it doesn't take you down this, like, there's no hope, you know,
05:58you don't walk out going, you know, it's like, it's actually extremely hopeful.
06:04Right.
06:05You know, because people are getting to be aware of this film and they're being aware of this, you know,
06:12problem.
06:13And these women are so awesome in it, you know?
06:15So anyways.
06:17Yeah.
06:17What was one of your favorite scenes?
06:19Cause I know that there are a lot of like, there's a lot of humor in, in the documentary.
06:25Is there, is there a certain character that you connected with or?
06:28You know what?
06:29I love them all.
06:30And that's the truth.
06:31Like they, you know, Lisa said that she didn't know what the outcome was going to be.
06:37She only followed the women that were exactly the way they were off camera.
06:43So off camera, on camera, they, their personalities didn't change.
06:47They were authentic.
06:47Magic.
06:47And that's who she followed.
06:49And it was great because you could just tell those were the ones to follow.
06:53But they all are funny and it's all very sad.
06:56There's great stories.
06:56Like the, the scene where hope, um, is getting ready and the, her, um, hotel room and her
07:03mom comes.
07:04Like for some reason that one, it really is a big touching moment because you know, that
07:09was like, okay, let's cut and do it again.
07:11Like when she sees her mom for the first time, all she's wanted was this support from her
07:17mom and for her mom to show up, you know, and you could tell like her body was shaking
07:23like that.
07:23There was nothing scripted about that.
07:25That was a real raw emotion.
07:27And she just melted in her mom's arms and it's all she wanted.
07:32And that really, really touched me.
07:35Yeah.
07:36Um, can you tell us a little bit about, uh, coming, uh, putting together the song dancing
07:40through the wreckage dancing through the wreckage?
07:42Well, um, you know, I love that the title just came that the words just kind of came.
07:48And, um, so I kind of had the majority of the song kind of already in its works.
07:53And then Pat showed up and Neil showed up and I, you know, it was like, Hey, you got
07:59to sing the song.
08:00And I told her, I didn't have to show her anything.
08:02She was like, I'm on board.
08:03You know, she is still, Pat Benatar is still punk rock.
08:07She's still, you know, women empowerment and she's a fighter, you know?
08:11Um, and, um, and then her and Neil, we got in the room and we just started, you know,
08:17throwing words together and it just all came out really organic.
08:21There was nothing thought out about it.
08:23And I ended up just loving dancing through the wreckage cause it, it really made sense.
08:28It's like, you're kind of, you know, just finding hope and trying to make light of this very,
08:37very, you know, bad situation, but you become the, the, the hero through it, you know?
08:43And then the chorus is like, hallelujah.
08:45It's just like, you know?
08:47Yeah.
08:47You know, because it doesn't just stay in this movie.
08:50It actually, I mean, it, I mean, it transfers towards a lot of things that women have to go through
08:56in general.
08:57You know, this is not, it doesn't, it didn't start in military and it's not going to stop in military.
09:02It's, it's across the board, you know, that women in general have to deal with a lot more than men
09:08do.
09:09Yeah.
09:10Um, have you gotten any feedback from, uh, active military or has anybody?
09:16Not from me, you know, Lisa, you know, that's, that's, you know, she's, she's the front person in this.
09:22I'm just, you know, trying to, um, I'm, I'm, I'm one of her soldiers, you know, she's the lieutenant or
09:29general
09:29and I'm a soldier just trying to, to be a service, you know, to her and, and to these women.
09:34And I'm, I'm trying to help this story and get it told, um, you know, the best way possible.
09:41And, um, I just want to support them and bring awareness.
09:45What can people do if they're moved by this story and they want to help female veterans?
09:51Well, um, at the end of the film or you can just go to serve like a girl.com and
09:56all the information is there.
09:58And, um, you know, the, you know, like documentaries don't really get a lot of big, um, you know, theater
10:05releases.
10:06So we're getting like five or six releases, which is actually pretty major.
10:10And then it goes to DVD and, um, you know, just try to be supportive of, um, you know, getting
10:19the movie out there.
10:21Um, reaching out to serve like a girl.com final salute is, um, uh, you know, a place that people
10:29can find a lot of information.
10:31And, you know, I think through these times, you know, our eyes are open, you know, we, we, our eyes
10:39are definitely open right now.
10:41So let's just not shut them anymore.
10:44Yeah. Well put.
10:46Um, do you think that if there's going to be some real change and improvements or reform to, uh, how
10:53women are treated in the military,
10:54do you think it's going to come from the government or is it going to come from, uh, the public
10:58as a whole?
10:59You know, I wish I could answer that one.
11:02I don't know.
11:02Cause you would, you would, you would want to safely say, of course, our government will take care of this
11:09situation, but only time will tell.
11:14Well, well said.
11:15Thank you, Linda Perry.
11:16Absolutely.
11:16Thank you for being here today.
11:17The movie is called Served Like a Girl.
11:19Mm-hmm.
11:19Check it out.
