'Pretty outraged,' Manitoba actor, filmmaker says after Hallmark Media VP accused of ageist comments

Winnipeg filmmaker and actor Cindy Myskiw says it's rare to see women her age represented on the big screen.

"Most of the age groups are looking between anywhere from 30 to maybe 50, and that's pressing it," Myskiw — in her 60s —  told CBC's Up To Speed.

"I try to submit. Sometimes I get an audition, sometimes I don't, but most of the time not." 

The conversation about ageism in the film industry has resurfaced after a lawsuit alleged Hallmark Media executive vice-president of programming, Lisa Hamilton Daly, instructed an employee no longer with the firm to stop casting "old people," saying, "our leading ladies are aging out." 

Penny Perry, the 79-year-old casting director who filed the lawsuit obtained by The Associated Press, alleges she was wrongfully fired from the network known for its feel-good movies because of her age, despite stellar performance reviews.

Winnipeg actor and filmmaker Kelley Hirst says she got angry when he heard the allegation.

"I was pretty outraged. For heaven's sake, who among us is not getting older?" she said during an interview with Up To Speed.  

Hirst, who is in her 60s, said the allegations reflect the "hypocrisy of the industry," adding older adults and seniors comprise a significant part of those consuming Hallmark movies: "This is the demographic you're marketing to, and I think it's important that they see women who look like them." 

Several holiday-themed Hallmark movies have been filmed in Winnipeg over the years, most recently Hanukkah on the Rocks (following 2022's Hanukkah on Rye) and Following Yonder Star.

Comments allegedly made by Hamilton Daly included one directed at actress Lacey Chabert, 42. The lawsuit alleges Hamilton Daly said the actress is "getting older, and we have to find someone like her to replace her as she gets older."

The lawsuit alleges the executive also said Holly Robinson Peete, 60, "can't play leading roles anymore," adding, "No one wants her because she's too expensive and getting too old."

Myskiw called Hamilton Daly's alleged comments "horrible," and said women her age are even being excluded from background roles. 

"They're looking at 18 to maybe 30 [years old] for background … it's like, what about the older people?" she said. "Where are the older people in this town? Do they not exist? Are there no grandparents?"  

Both actors, who have most recently directed films, said exclusion is also gender-based, saying that behind the scenes, it is still very much a men's market.