Reese Witherspoon opens up about challenges of being a female producer

Reese Witherspoon has spoken candidly about the challenges she has faced as a woman in film production.

The Legally Blonde actress founded her media company, Hello Sunshine, in 2016 to produce television shows and films focused on women's stories.

Since its launch, the company has produced hit series such as Big Little Lies and The Morning Show, as well as acclaimed films including Gone Girl, Wild and Where the Crawdads Sing.

However, in a recent interview with Harper's Bazaar, Reese revealed that she often found herself having to prove that her production company wasn't simply a vehicle for her acting career.

"Even when Gone Girl and Wild had grossed over $600 million at the box office and I got three Oscars, it still wasn't a guarantee that I could get things made," she said. "People were still questioning whether I was a real producer or was just doing it as a vanity project."

When asked whether having to fight for her company made her "furious", she replied, "No, I was pretty conditioned to it."

Reese then recalled a moment when a male executive dismissed her projects by asking her, "Why should I make a bunch of movies or biopics about women?"

In response, she challenged his understanding of his own company's audience.

"Seventy-six per cent of the visitors to the website were women, when he thought the proportions were 50:50," she explained. "I'd read every study that told us that women consume more media than men. That guy got fired."

The star added, "I shouldn't laugh. But it's dumb not to know your customer and your audience."