Personal care brand Dove recently announced a new series in collaboration with filmmaker Lena Waithe called Girls Room.
The trailer revealed that the series would be about high schoolers meeting in the restroom dealing with the nuances of social media, body image, identity and bullying.
To the dismay of fans, they realized that the series was surprisingly similar to Atlanta filmmaker Nina Lee’s 2017 unreleased series by the same name.
Some people on social media began to tweet to Lena Waithe and Nina Lee about the stark similarities. Waithe responded to the observations on Twitter.
“There has been an accusation floating around that I want to address. In 2019, I partnered with @Dove for their project #GirlsRoom. Prior to my joining the project, in 2017 a @dove partner came up with the title and the concept from which my scripts were based. I was brought on to write the scripts and produce the content. I have never seen Nina Lee’s work nor would I ever steal another artist’s work.”
Dove hired Waithe to write and produce the series, implicating that Dove was pitched the series but didn’t do their due diligence to vet the project by making sure that the people pitching it were bringing an original idea. Waithe told the viewers to ask Dove the questions regarding why there were so many similarities.
“As a fellow creator myself, I can only imagine how she must be feeling and I look to #Dove to give us more clarity on the situation. Now that I’m aware of Nina Lee, I look forward to seeing her art.”
People had a lot to say in response to Waithe’s explanation.
“The color schemes of your promo and Nina Lee’s are the literal same, save the lies sis,” said Actually Ashley on Twitter.
“Lena, what we’ve seen in the previews is near identical. Did no one vet this project for you?” said Lavish.
After having a phone conversation with Waithe, Lee released a statement on Twitter to address the controversy.
“I spoke to Lena Waithe this morning and she and the director both assured me that they would never steal, copy, or mimic another Black woman’s work. They also told me about how supportive they are of Black women in film, and that they look forward to seeing my work someday. While I appreciate their outreach, I still want to take the time to point out that there is an important discourse to be had here. Black artists have historically struggled with having our work taken from us against our will and without our permission. Therefore, I am not surprised to see what feels like a commodified version of my art being co-opted by a major corporation. However, it is not without irony that Dove sought to create a series centered on the inclusivity and representation of women like me, who often feel erased from our own narratives. And while Lena was brought on after Dove created the show in 2017 (the same year my promo was released) – I think we can all acknowledge this while still recognizing a multi-billion dollar corporation and a director with an established personal brand and platform are benefitting from an idea that has uncanny similarities to my own. I reiterate this all to say that as an independent filmmaker who is scraping by on extremely limited resources, this hurts. I don’t blame Lena or Dove, I just hope my transparency can prevent another situation like this from happening again.”
Lee had a chance to sit down with 11Alive’s The A-Scene to discuss the whole situation.
“Lena said that someone came to Dove with the idea, and Dove liked the idea and brought her in 2018. I still [thought] that’s too much of coincidence for someone to come to Dove in 2017 while we were doing all this promo. And, I feel like that is just a little coincidental that someone [has] this idea about black girls in a bathroom going through issues,” Lee said.
Lee did admit that the Director of Photography (DP) that worked on her series claimed that someone had stolen the hard drive with her content on it. This could be true. But, fans wondered if she ever considered that the DP or the person that stole the hard drive pitched and sold the content.
Dove released their own statement.
In 2019, we were proud to bring on ATTN: to produce and Lena as the writer to help bring the concept to life. We’re sad to see conversations suggesting that any part of our Girls Room project was based on other creative work, and specifically that Lena was involved in that. Lena Waithe had no part in naming the series or its look and feel. We were first made aware of Nina Lee’s work this week and we respect her passion for her art. We remain committed to supporting women in creative industries and empowering young girls.
Interestingly enough, instead of hiring Lee to join the project for a successful collaboration, they instead would rather release a generalized and cliché statement that removes any accountability and leaves both the original creator and viewers in the dark on the future of the series.
Is money that tight that they can’t share the wealth? Lee could be hired on as a writer or producer of some sort for a reasonable rate.
Are they that clout hungry that they must accredit all the good ideas to themselves? Not knowing, the legends are the ones who uplifted and gave others a platform, not the ones who grudgingly held onto their positions hoping no one new takes their place…
