Film Book Protested by Women : Education: Groups object to comments about female filmmakers in a textbook written by an L.A. Valley College professor.

Feminists and filmmakers are protesting a textbook by a professor at Los Angeles Valley College who wrote that women lag behind men in the film industry because they are more interested in husbands and children than professional success.

During the past several days, representatives of the National Organization for Women, the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America have asked college officials to review a two-page section of “Orientation to Cinema,” by W. Milton Timmons, a 1986 textbook used in two introductory film courses he teaches.

Valley College Vice President Tyree Wieder said Monday that she would not comment until after administrators meet with Timmons, an instructor in the department of theater arts.

In an interview Monday, Timmons expressed surprise at the criticism and defended his assertion in the book that women generally have not succeeded in the film industry, particularly as directors, because they are more interested in having children. He also reiterated his view that most women attend college to “find a college-educated husband” or “a comfortable job . . . not an all-consuming professional career.”

“I stick by that,” he said, citing statistics that fewer women complete college than men.

Tess Martin, an American Film Institute administrator who runs a training program for women directors, said of the comments: “It’s outrageous. I don’t believe there’s a woman who would read this who wouldn’t be bothered by the tone. If he’s an expert, he’s an expert in misrepresentation.”

Martin and other women filmmakers learned of the book recently from a woman student who was disturbed by its language. A NOW representative said her group wants administrators to stop using the $46 textbook. Several women members of the DGA and WGA said the college should either ask Timmons to revise the section about women in the film industry or invite women directors and screenwriters to campus to address the issue.

“As writers, we cherish the idea of freedom of speech,” said Pamela Rosenberg, head of the WGA’s women’s committee. “We are not saying the book should be banned. But I think if he really investigated and did further research, he would come to other conclusions.”

Timmons, an instructor at the college since 1970, said he worked as an administrator for the CBS radio network from 1961 to 1963, then earned a doctorate in mass communications from USC. He has taught film and television for 25 years.

“Orientation to Cinema” was written as a practical career guide to the entertainment industry during a 1981 sabbatical from Valley College, Timmons said, describing the tone as intentionally provocative.

Critics said the book, which was updated in 1988, makes sweeping generalizations based on weak evidence.

For example, they cite its discussion of the comparative lack of well-known women directors: “So the main reason that women don’t become filmmakers is the same reason they don’t become professionals in any other career. They don’t try. They have no desire to be ‘King of the Hill.’ If they even bother to go to film school, they usually drop out after one or two courses. And if they get as far as directing a movie, they almost always summarize the experience by saying ‘Never again. Life is too short to subject yourself to that kind of pressure.’ ”

Martin and others said they found an insulting tone in excerpts such as this one:

“Since most men in the industry are single, between marriages or in the market for a trade-in, the complaints about a lack of intelligent and well-educated women are loud and long!”

Timmons responded that there are “damn few” intelligent, well-educated women in the industry because there are few women “in it at all. It was phrased as a sarcastic kind of statement. I don’t see it as insulting.”

Student Catherine Garedakis, 25, disagreed.

“It seemed like he was saying women haven’t been intelligent enough to make it in the industry,” said Garedakis, who took Timmons’ Introduction to Cinema Arts course last semester. “Women are still discriminated against regardless of the profession.”

Martin and others said it is true that women filmmakers still find it difficult to make a mark for themselves. But they said the textbook ignores the achievements of scores of women producers, screenwriters and directors such as Penny Marshall, director of “Big” and this year’s Academy Award-nominated “Awakenings.”

And they said bias against women by a male-dominated Hollywood power structure has played a large role in holding women back, an assertion that Timmons rejected.