Lauren Kilbride '14

By Sarah Hibshman Miller '98

Lauren Kilbride '14 Connects the Dots Between Laurel Experience and Career with Mattel

Lauren Kilbride ‘14 has been a Coordinator with Mattel Films, the film production division of Mattel, since early 2022 and was fortunate enough to have an inside look at the recent production of The Barbie Movie. “When I joined Mattel The Barbie Movie was already in post production, which is the editing phase,” she recalled. “I remember sitting at my desk reading the script and just sobbing. It was such an interesting take. For me, thematically, it's about how in a vacuum— in Barbie world—she is perfect, she can do anything, have any job, have great friends, anything is possible in Barbie World. It’s only when Barbie comes to our world where she becomes less perfect. In a revolutionary world Barbie can reclaim herself.”

Lauren attended Laurel for Upper School. She didn’t anticipate coming to a school like Laurel but fell in love with it on her first visit. She recalled feeling like Laurel was a place where she could do anything she set her mind to. Anything was possible for a Laurel Girl. “I do not think I would be in Los Angeles if not for Laurel. I owe so much of where I am now to the opportunities that Laurel made me see that I have. The abilities I have, what was available to me, and all of the opportunities I could harness,” she said.

After graduating from Laurel, Lauren attended film school at the University of Southern California. She studied in the screen writing program and graduated in 2019, immediately going to work at an agency that managed writers and directors. From there Lauren started working in TV writer’s rooms where she had the opportunity to work on shows like Law and Order: Organized Crime and The L Word: Generation Q.

Despite her love of the TV writing world, Lauren heard of an opportunity working for Mattel's growing Films Division and decided to explore it. It turned out to be a great fit. The Barbie Movie was the first film to be produced by the Division. “Greta Gerwig is someone I am a huge fan of but I wasn’t sure what a Greta Gerwig Barbie movie would be like,” she recalled. “I was so impressed with Mattel's handling of their intellectual property or IP (toys, games, etc.), including Barbie, their largest property. Other companies often handle their IP materials to make money but Mattel seemed to deeply care about making the movie deep and interesting, and tying IP into that mission,” she continued.

As a Coordinator, one of Lauren’s roles is to review Mattel’s giant catalog of IP and help determine if anything might make for another great movie. Think “Hot Wheels” and “Polly Pocket” as some of the next big ideas.

As for The Barbie Movie, Lauren definitely sees how the movie and its themes have shaped, and will continue to shape, the future for women. “As far as what Greta Gerwig did with the theme—patriarchy and girlhood—and infuse that into this doll or toy and think about it in an interesting way that speaks to women and really the population as a whole, it is definitely going to help change the course of history, movies, and even toys,” said Lauren.

Lauren is still in touch with many fellow classmates and has received a lot of positive feedback from the women in her life. “It made me so happy to see Ms. Klotz compare the themes in the movie to life at Laurel,” she said, recalling a recent communication about the movie and its correlation to the Laurel Community from Head of School Ann V. Klotz. “I grew up with the idea that I can be anything and do anything, and that is from my time at Laurel.”

It truly is a Barbie World.

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Laurel Head of School Ann V. Klotz reflected on Barbie World in a blog published on her own site, www.annvklotz.com. Below is an excerpt.

“Dressed in the requisite pink, my son, Atticus, 19, and I went to The Barbie Movie. I was curious, skeptical at the beginning, totally hooked as Barbie encountered surly Sasha and her mom, the complicated and wonderful Gloria, who was, in fact, glorious. Atticus reported to his older sisters that I cried the whole time, which is not accurate, but I did cry. So much of what Gloria said as she deprogrammed Barbies hypnotized by Ken’s adoption of a patriarchy in Barbieland resonated. Gloria’s monologue mirrored conversations I have had for decades with girls and women as a teacher, mother and friend. It is complicated to be female. There are paradoxes that feel impossible to navigate, contradictions, judgments, societal norms, pressure. I felt as if I knew the words America Ferrera would speak before she uttered them.”

“I have spent most of my life as a teacher in girls’ schools, encouraging girls and young women to use their voices. I’ve reminded legions of girls that they have a right to be at every table and reminded them, too, that they have access to an exceptional eduction. ‘Of those to whom much is given, much is expected,’ my mother used to say. Sometimes I say, ‘Carry as you climb; women need to lift up other women, not tear them down.’ Sometimes, the girls in my classes roll their eyes as I talk about the fact that we are not yet on a level playing field in terms of men and women being paid equally for having the same qualifications and doing the same work. Then, they return from college and say, ‘Ms. Klotz, you were right— people ARE sexist.’ There is no joy in being right. . .”

“For many of the girls in the school I lead, The Barbie Movie may seem like an innocuous parody of times long past—for me and for women my age and older, not so much. But part of why the movie may feel more entertaining than revolutionary is because of the work we do at Laurel every day. Our students come of age in a school that encourages them to be their authentic selves, that encourages them to dream, dare, do, to explore possibilities, to reject anyone who tries to diminish them or judge them. . .what would have happened to Barbie if she had been a Laurel girl?”