Monthly Archive for November, 2009

I’ve been a fan of Rebecca Miller’s work ever since I saw Personal Velocity at Sundance in 1992.  What I like most about her is that she makes movies where the women are necessarily very likable.  They are complicated and screwed up and not your typical Hollywood fare.  Her latest film The Private Lives of Pippa Lee which she wrote and directed (based on her novel) opened last week in NY and LA and will be opening further in the coming weeks.

The film stars Robin Wright as a woman who discovers as she approaches 50, that she has no idea who she is and it scares her into changing her whole life.  Pippa spent most of her adult life married to a man 30 years older because she was desperate for security after growing up with a manic and medicated mother (played by Maria Bello.)  She meets an older book publisher Herb Lee (Alan Arkin) and — after a tragedy with his rich Italian wife — makes a life with him and their two children.

As the movie begins, they move from NYC into an Connecticut retirement community (keep in mind that Pippa is nowhere near retirement age) and everything unravels.  Robin Wright gives a very strong performance as Pippa, a woman who begins the movie as a weak, and gradually gets stronger as she realizes she has plenty of time to discover who she is and what she wants in life.  Blake Lively plays the young Pippa, a wild child desperate for love.

What moved me a lot was the relationship that Pippa had with her kids.  Her son Ben (Ryan McDonald) adores her, yet her daughter Grace (Zoe Kazan) cannot stand her.  She’s a daddy’s girl, a high risk photographer and looks down at her mother for having no career or life outside of her family.  My favorite scene was when mother and daughter really talked to each other and Grace admits how she feels and how much effort it takes to hate her mom.  That scene between Wright and Kazan was fantastic.

I don’t really know why Rebecca Miller’s work doesn’t get the recognition it should.  Actors seem to love to work with her based on the stellar cast in this film in very small roles including Julianne Moore, Winona Ryder, and Keanu Reeves among others.  But this film is Robin Wright’s film, and as always, she is really interesting and mercurial.  Now that we are in the year end awards conversations, I think that people should take a hard look at her performance, because she is a woman at the top of her craft.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is now playing in NY and LA.  Here is info on where the film will be rolling out.

New Moon and The Blind Side helped make this past holiday weekend a record breaking one for Hollywood.  It seems that this weekend, grosses were upwards of $275 million breaking the mark set in 2000 by 12%.  The interesting thing is that none of the films that actually opened for the holiday made any dent in the box office.

What does that mean?  It means that the women ruled the box office for the second weekend in a row.

New Moon suffered a massive 70% decline in ticket sales, but since it started off so well there was no place to go but down.  The precipitous drop does really show that the film does not appeal to guys and all the people who want to see the film will have seen it pretty soon.  But even though it had a huge drop is still made over $42 million over the weekend and in two weeks has grossed over $200 million domestically (and an additional $243 million overseas) and will end up with over a half a billion worldwide gross.  All on a budget of $50 million.

New Moon is already number 6 on the list of the top grossing films of 2009, and it will probably beat Star Trek to enter into the top 5 for 2009.

BUT the bigger story of the weekend is the INCREASE in box office of The Blind Side.  That movie went up 18%.  That’s virtually unheard of.  Most films decline in their second weekend when there is additional competition, but The Blind Side has great word of mouth and will play for weeks.  It will be one of the those films that when other things are sold out through the holiday season people will go to because they heard from someone that it was good.  The Blind Side almost beat New Moon for the top spot grossing approx $40 million.  The movie has already past the $100 million mark.  All on a budget of $35 million.  That’s two hundred million dollar movies this year for Sandra Bullock.  I really hope she got some serious backend dollars for this flick.

How did this happen?  How did this movie that everyone was dismissing a couple of weeks ago as a “lite Sandy Bullock film” become a hit?  First, it’s a good movie.  It does exactly what it is supposed to do.  It makes you feel good.  You smile at the end of it.  Yes, it’s sappy, but it’s supposed to be.  Second, it’s a family movie.  Kids and parents (and men and women) can see this together and all enjoy it.   Third, underestimate Sandra Bullock at your own peril.  She is really helping to redefine what roles women can play in their 40s.  This year she played the evil boss, and crazy stalker and a fierce mom.

Also, Precious which is playing in over 600 theatres declined 34%, and personally I think that the success of The Blind Side will make a dent in Precious’ numbers for now.  Once the year end nominations start coming in people will want to see Precious because they will want to be in the know.  While I am not saying that the films are alike, one could look at the ads for the two movies and want to see a more upbeat film that deals with hard issues in a more upbeat way like The Blind Side does instead of Precious which everyone knows is brutal and intense.

New Moon Tops Box Office Again (Hollywood Reporter)

Thanksgiving box office record blown away despite absence of new hits (LA Times)

On December 2, a retrospective of Sally Potter’s work including a digitally remastered print of Orlando starring Tilda Swinton will kick off at the BFI Southbank in London.  It is the first career retrospective of a British female filmmaker.  (At least we have finally made it to a day when a woman has enough movies under her belt to have a career retrospective.)  The retrospective lasts all month until December 28.

If you are in London and want to attend, you can get details here.

But, for the rest of the world, the good news is that after the screening, both Potter and Swinton will participate in a live webchat following the premiere in London on December 2 and take questions from around the world.  You can participate and submit questions here.

Potter is also launching a new archive of production materials for research purposes. Details here.

Check out this new Orlando trailer:

Taking a break from blogging.  See you next week.

I recently saw this very interesting documentary by Hannah Rothschild, The Jazz Baroness, about her great aunt Nica who spent over 28 years as Thelonious Monk’s best friend.  I was kind of surprised by the story because, of course, I had heard of Monk, but had never heard of Nica.  For those who don’t know who the Rothschilds are, they are Britain’s most prominent Jewish family.  We’re talking dynasty.  Pannonica (Nica) started out her life following the normal route of a wealthy woman, got married and had a passel of kids.  But her life was irrevocably changed when she a friend played her Monk’s Round Midnight and she was hooked and spent the next two years trying to find him.  After meeting, the two became inseparable (though there is no confirmation that they were lovers) with her supporting him sometimes financially, but mostly through her love and admiration.  She even took the fall for him and almost went to jail for many years when pot was found in their car.

The Jazz Baroness is the story of an unlikely and groundbreaking friendship.  Their relationship was very unique and at times dangerous to both since they were friends at a time when black men and white women were not seen together in the way they are today.

Director Hannah Rothschild answered a couple of questions about the film.

Women & Hollywood: Why do you think that this unique relationship between Nica and Thelonious Monk has gone virtually unreported until now?

Hannah Rothschild: At the time they were hanging out, in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s everyone on the scene knew because they saw them out together. But its been 21 years since she died and twenty-seven since he did. Interest in their relationship and in Nica in particular was reignited when her children and grand-daughter Nadine published Nica’s book ‘Three Wishes’ posthumously. It’s a wonderful journal of her personal photographs and her interviews with musicians where she asked each if they had three wishes what they’d be. After that lots of people’s memories and interest was tweaked.

W&H: What made you need to tell this story?

HR: I was lucky enough to know Nica and as I worked as a documentarian wanted to find out more about this close relation. Her story reflected so many things I am interested in- history, women, music, human rights, America, Europe and my family.  It seemed like a gift.

W&H: Clearly Nica was a woman ahead of her time in many different ways.  What can we learn from her sense of independence and passion?

HR: She was born in 1913 at a time when women didn’t have the vote and in most cases access to education or employment except as domestic servants. Her youth was a waiting room for motherhood and marriage. In the UK until the divorce act of 1969 women weren’t granted either alimony or custody of their children. The only two groups banned from private enclosures at racecourses, for example, were convicted felons and divorcees. Against this backdrop her decision to cross continents and fight for the rights of a group of people whom she considered were badly treated serves as an inspiration. She was an early feminist and freedom fighter.

W&H: I found it so interesting that Nica seems to have been virtually erased from the Rothschild legacy.  How painful is that for you and why do you believe that occurred?

HR: I hope that from now on she will be fully instated. In our family, until now, women have with notable exceptions been erased from the records. Only the children of the eldest sons are included in the family tree: my daughters for example don’t merit an entry because their mother is not the heir. I don’t find it “painful,” it’s just weird.

W&H: What was the most important thing you learned about yourself and Nica from making the film?

HR: To put principals before personalities, to stand up for what you believe in but also accept that others are entitled to their opinions.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female filmmakers?

HR: Fight the good fight! I think that being a woman, having children, juggling the personal and professional has made me a more interesting person with a far wider and subtle take on the world. A young single male might have more energy but he’s bound to have less wisdom!

Film premieres Wednesday, November 25th on HBO2.

On Friday morning Hollywood woke up to the realization that fangirls can be as rabid as fanboys.  By Saturday morning they realized that two BIG records had been broken, including the highest midnight screening opening and the best opening date in history.  On Sunday morning, they woke up realizing that New Moon had not only shattered all even optimistic expectations, it had coattails helping to fuel a big and unexpectedly good weekend at the box office  Entertainment Weekly wrote that: “this one of the most lopsidedly female-driven weekends in Hollywood history.”

Here are the numbers:

• New Moon made $140 (Updated: 142.8 million) dollars this weekend.

• It made more on Friday than Twilight did it’s first weekend.  That means the franchse is growing in strength.

• New Moon has the THIRD biggest opening weekend numbers.

• Women accounted for 80% of the tickets buyers; and were divided evenly between women under and over 21.

• The film also kicked butt overseas bringing in over $118 $124.1 (Updated) million overseas.

• The film scored a high A- in exit polling done when people left the theatre.

TOTAL WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: $258 $266.9 (updated) million for the weekend.

And while everybody expected New Moon to be big (but not this big) what is more astounding to me is how well Sandra Bullock’s movie did opening opposite the juggernaut.  The film actually performed way better than industry estimates which were at best $20 million and it cements Bullock back as a powerhouse.  The Blind Side topped her great opening this summer with The Proposal bringing in $33.6 million.

The film, more than New Moon, showed the power of women, even the much maligned older woman.  The film’s success was built on 59% female ticket buyers with 75% of them being over 25.   If you really think about it, it is older women who made this weekend a huge success because 50% of the audience for New Moon were over 21, and 75% of The Blind Side’s audience were over 25.

AND let’s not forget Precious.  The film widened to over 600 screens and took in $11 million and is still raking in high per screen averages.  It will roll out wider this holiday weekend.

So what does this mean?

It seems to me that while Hollywood felt comfortable dismissing Sex and the City, Mamma Mia (because the audiences for those were primarily over 25), and even Twilight (as a one time wonder), there is no way that these numbers could be dismissed as a fluke.  THEY ARE JUST TOO BIG.  Women and girls are looking for material that they connect with just as much as guys and boys are, but they thing that blows me away about the success of New Moon and even The Blind Side is that the theatres were just packed with women not caring if the guys came with them.  This was a weekend where the gals went in bunches and left the guys home cause they wanted to see this movie more than they wanted to see whatever their boyfriends or guyfriends wanted to see.

As I’ve harped on FOREVER there is an audience out there hungry to see films that appeal to them.  I’m not trying to say that all women’s films will be as successful as New Moon because that’s silly.  These kinds of movies come along rarely cause Hollywood hardly makes them.  But this weekend’s number indicate that they should make more of them.

I think we need to keep New Moon in perspective.  Like I stated above, these films come along rarely and Hollywood has a tendency to try and replicate successes very quickly.  Lots of times those replications don’t work.  I think the actual film New Moon suffered because it was rushed to the screen.  But that didn’t matter one iota to the fans.  They loved it.

I think this is an opportunity for Hollywood to be smart and creative and to think about how to build on the women’s market because it is clearly out there.

But don’t think that New Moon’s huge success doesn’t give me pause.  The misogyny which I have been told about (and refuse to read) that has made it’s way onto the web calling girls stupid and screaming idiots and worse (so typical) for enjoying the film makes me angry.  Because we have had so few films that has a woman at its center do as well as New Moon it is being held to an absurd standard.  Yes, I wish the film would have been better.  I thought it was cheesy and the last third was just useless (a total waste of Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen’s talents.)

I love how people are complaining about the objectification of Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson.  Now you’re upset about the fact that movies taunt and flaunt? The only thing that makes this different is that Megan Fox had to keep her short shorts on in Transformers, and Taylor Lautner spent most of New Moon with his shirt off.  If you’re going to complain about these guys being sexualized, you will have a hard time getting anyone to take you seriously.  Women are sexually objectified in basically every Hollywood film.

But at the end of the day the success of New Moon (there are many other people having better conversations about the content of New Moon and whether it sets back women and if it is anti-feminist), is a HUGE triumph, and has the potential to be a game changing moment in the film business.  The fact that a film fueled by woman power and starring a woman has called such waves in Hollywood is unprecedented.  The business must figure out ways to build on it.  If they don’t they are squandering a huge opportunity and all their shareholders should have them fired.

New Moon Shines at Box Office (Variety)

New Moon Tops Foreign Box Office (Hollywood Reporter)

Here are two pieces about New Moon where Women & Hollywood was featured last week.

From CNN.com – Hey Hollywood, the Fangirls are Calling:

But successful female-centric films often are dismissed as flukes instead of viewed as trends, says Melissa Silverstein, a media consultant who also runs the Women & Hollywood blog.

Even though women are an important audience, they still are largely overlooked by studios, which want “the biggest bang for their buck,” says Silverstein.

She thinks “New Moon” has the potential to set records for a female franchise and could possibly unseat “Transformers” as the year’s biggest opening weekend.

But will it be a wake-up call for Hollywood?

“I can only wish,” she told CNN. Instead of dismissing it as a “Twilight” phenomenon, studios should look to it to build the next female-driven franchise, she says.

And on Salon- Could New Moon be a Feminist Triumph:

“New Moon finally give us an apple to apples comparison with other types of fan-driven films,” she told me in an e-mail. “The biggest films in Hollywood are the ones that come out of comic books, toys and books. Starting last year with ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘Mamma Mia’ (and both those can be dismissed because the targeted audience was older), but now with the two ‘Twilight’ films, it shows that female filmgoers can be as rabid in their fandom as male.” The question is, will the powers that be recognize young women as a robust market that’s been largely ignored and condescended to, or will they write it off as a limited phenomenon? “Studios should look at this as a golden opportunity and not a fluke!” writes Silverstein. But tapping into the passions of young female audiences means “working to try and uncover things that are bubbling in fandom and even trying to come up with exciting ideas to engage the audience,” not just waiting around for the next runaway bestseller.

Nevertheless, Silverstein is optimistic about “New Moon’s” potential to improve women’s lot in Hollywood across the board — as long as executives recognize its tremendous appeal as more than a fluke. “Hopefully, this success will infiltrate the minds of Hollywood number crunchers and seek out products for the female audience,” she says. “If people start thinking and making more movies that star women and are women driven, it can only help women at all levels of the business.”

New Moon has recorded the BEST OPENING DATE IN HISTORY!

The film grossed $72.7 million (that more than the whole opening weekend for Twilight) on 4024 screens.

The previous record was held by The Dark Knight which made 67.2 million on 4,366 in July of 2008.

So I guess we can say that the fan girls kicked the fan boys asses!

New Moon Takes Opening Day Record (Variety)

In midnights screenings of New Moon in over 3500 theatres, the film made over $26 million which topples the record held by Harry Potter and the Half Blood Price at a little over $22 million.

And remember Harry Potter opened in the summer when school was out and oh yeah, starred a boy.

And in a press release from the Fandango folks, the film is selling more than 10 tickets per second on the site.

Go girls!

New Moon Breaks Midnight Screening Record (Hollywood Reporter)

As New Moon descends on the world today I asked a couple of colleagues who write and think about film from different cities to answer some questions about the global phenomenon.

The questions I posed are followed by the answers by the different women.  Some of the participants requested anonymity.  The participants are: Jen Yamato, Cinematical/FEARnet Contributor; Candice Frederick, Reel Talk; Erin Donovan, Steady Diet of Film; Shannon Ridler, The Movie Moxie; Karen Gilmore, Reel Artsy; Jessica Barnes, Cinematical; Sasha Stone, managing editor, Awards Daily; MaryAnn Johanson, FlickFilosopher.com and Jenni Miller, Cinematical.

You should add them all to your regular reading.

1- The studio is trying to hold down box office expectations but based on many indicators New Moon could make $100 million dollars this weekend and it has the potential to even break the record for highest weekend gross of the year (the record is now held by Transformers at $109).  Do you think the movie business is taking this film seriously as a potential game changer or is it looked at as a fluke?

JEN YAMATO: I think the power of female ticket buyers has been noticed by Hollywood, thanks to Twilight, but its perceived success still comes from pre-determined factors: namely, the huge worldwide following of Stephenie Meyer’s source novels. And so to replicate the success of the Twilight films, a studio may still think a pre-sold audience is necessary. But if anything, New Moon seems to prove the potency of female audiences’ appetite for romantic stories and hunky male bodies – especially when its actors have tabloid-worthy private lives to devour off-screen. The Twilight phenomenon is not simply a film movement, but a multi-headed entity with tentacles in merchandising, books, music, the currency of celebrity, live events, and beyond. In that regards, it is unusual.

CANDICE FREDERICK: I think it is probably viewed for what it is, a cult phenomenon, like others have been in the past. They’ll harp on this until the next one comes around.

ERIN DONOVAN: Everything is a fluke until someone figures out how to reliably monetize it.

SHANNON RIDLER: I think the movie business did not take Twilight seriously and it’s too soon to say with New Moon as just being released today.  I think it is a potential game changer which proves that women and girls will go to the theatre if there is something they really want to see.  It also has proven that this particular audience can, will and plans to see what they like numerous times in the theatre – which is not something we see often.  I don’t think it’s fair to call it a fluke considering it was a 4 book series and at least a 3 film series, I think it’s fairer to call it a perfect storm of timing to get this content to its audience.  Very likely it will be imitated but I can’t imagine any results being anywhere near as strong as we’ve already seen.

KAREN GILMORE: Summit is taking this film seriously, that’s for sure! And right now don’t you think that every studio is secretly wishing that they had New Moon on their roster? Twilight is a juggernaut whether people chose to embrace it or poke fun at it. Team Edward apparel has taken over Hot Topic and several other stores. If you walk into Target’s entertainment section Twilight merchandise is front and center. Hollywood wants movies that go beyond the movie and the Twilight Saga does that. It’s already a game changer, look at how many vampire (and werewolf) related stories are popping up in film and TV.  Do you think The CW would have been so eager to push Vampire Diaries if not for Twilight’s success? No way!

JESSICA BARNES: I think Hollywood has been taking the teens pretty seriously for some time now, and while there are adult fans of the series, teens are the bread and butter of the franchise. The film reminded studios that women of all ages are still a viable market for box-office returns.

SASHA STONE: I think they have to play it close to the vest or else risk losing the fan base.  If Twilight became as big as Harry Potter in conceptual advertising, it would lose its fake edge.  Since it appeals to goths and outsiders (or wanna be goths and outsiders) it has to hold on to its cred.  It can’t ever to have appeared to have sold out.  All of this is smoke and mirrors as they ride this thing out to its conclusion.  The stories are ultimately vacuous — it’s all about the romance and that is what makes it irresistable but also temporary.

MARYANN JOHANSON: If it does really well, it’ll be considered a fluke. If it flops — which seems unlikely — it will be seen as evidence that movies aimed at girls and women don’t succeed. We cannot win here.

JENNI MILLER: I don’t know much about box office stuff, but I do think that it is both a fluke (after all, MTV passed on the book rights) and a wake-up call for Hollywood that teens and women of all ages can and will blow your BO out of the water. Of course, the cult surrounding it is what makes that possible. Without the books, the hype, the constant press and touring and gossip, this movie wouldn’t have been that big.

2- Do you think the franchise gets enough respect in the Hollywood establishment or the film blogosphere?  If not, why do you think that’s the case?

JEN YAMATO: There is no doubt that the Twilight franchise is dominated by female fans. It doesn’t get a fair shake in the film blogosphere because, simply put, the blogosphere is itself dominated by male voices. To say the appreciation is divided by gender seems reductive, but it’s true; men and non-fans (i.e. those who have not read and loved the books) just don’t connect to the stuff that Twilight fans, mostly female, find potent.  The difference in attitudes in the film blogosphere is one of respect vs. attention; the majority of online writers can’t ignore that Twilight is a phenomenon, one which most importantly, drives traffic from a heretofore untapped online demographic. But respect for Twilight – the books, the films, their fans, and the reasons why fans like Twilight to begin with — is something that is severely lacking at the moment.

That’s partially why it’s so impressive to me that the Twilight phenomenon has borne an entirely new segment of bloggers: Twilight fan sites, created and run by fans themselves. The fan site community has become its own self-contained space, and they’re doing just fine for themselves.

CANDICE FREDERICK: I’m not sure if respect is the right word, but I do think the vampire phenomenon has folks taking notice and have even jumped on the bandwagon with other vampire spinoffs like the show “Vampire Diaries.” People will most likely hop on anything that is selling money for the moment until the next biggest thing comes around.

ERIN DONOVAN: Teenage girls aren’t really the film blogosphere demographic, so it’s not surprising that films catered to them will not be respected by bloggers.

SHANNON RIDLER: I don’t think the franchise gets enough respect in the Hollywood establishment or the film blogosphere. The Hollywood establishment overall seems to report on it as they do most things that are very popular, talk about it while it’s hear and then on to the next thing when it’s gone.  The film blogosphere is a different story there seems to be two streams: The TwiHards who talk about anything and everything to do with the Twilight and other film sites that talk about it just because it’s big news even though they don’t care about the series at all.  I’ve noticed this specifically with horror film websites where Twilight be something their audience is in yet they report on it all the same.  I think when Twilight is reported on but the writers obviously don’t care they just do it to hits on their site.

KAREN GILMORE: Twilight is one of those subjects that quickly became polarized in the blogosphere. Either people love it or hate it and there isn’t much middle ground. Why? Because that’s probably what draws the most hits to a website. Fandoms and over critical gossip/trash sites seem to be beacons on the Internet. They entertain people with their avid devotion or snark.

JESSICA BARNES: No, I don’t think it is all that respected. Partly, because just as a film there were some major problems with the first installment of the franchise, and in spite of Hardwicke’s efforts most of the film was pretty stilted – it was almost as if the plot didn’t show up until half way through. But mainly I think most of the derision comes from my belief that women’s taste isn’t all that respected in pop culture discussions. So-called chick flicks are considered to be low-brow and sentimental at best and at worst, just crappy films. I was stunned to see how Twilight fans were treated at ComiCon with accusations of how they ‘ruining everything’, as if somehow those fans weren’t legitimate followers of a fantasy franchise, they were just boy crazy.

SASHA STONE: I think it is probably snickered about because it is aimed at tweener girls, the least respected group, no doubt.  But money talks so they’ll eventually have to bow down.    No one really giggles when young boys are shelling out their allowance to watch Megan Fox bend over a car because, on some level, Hollywood and the blogosphere is run by and dominated by young men and boys — even older men who run things are secretly young boys underneath it all.

Girls are a whole different animal.  Because less money is spent on entertainment aimed at them, and because they aren’t as reliable in terms of box office, it remains a mystery as to what really draws girls in droves.

MARYANN JOHANSON: Well, it’s absurd, and ridiculous, and offers a terrible role model in Bella, who is passive and whiny and extra super annoying. As movies, these are awful, and don’t deserve any more respect than, say, the oeuvre of Michael Bay. However, if adolescent male sexuality — for boys of all ages! — can be catered to on a regular basis by Hollywood, it must be seen as a measure of progress, if of a depressing sort, that adolescent female sexuality is being catered to, if only in this one franchise.

I would be marginally happier if Hollywood actually acted the way everyone says it acts — it’s a business! it’s all about the money! — if that held true when it came to movies aimed at women, even if they’re awful. *Twilight* made a crapload of money; *New Moon* will make even more. Will that result in more movies like these? I’m guessing not, because “everyone knows” that women don’t go to the movies, and movies aimed at women don’t make money. Even though they clearly do.

JENNI MILLER: It gets no respect in the blogosphere except as a traffic-driver — in the past, I’ve been just as guilty as courting that audience for numbers, even going so far as to email the people who run fansites.  Because they are rabid for info on Twilight, and it WORKS! The movie — I haven’t seen the second — isn’t actually THAT bad, but I think everything around it is what pisses online journos off. It’s for fanGIRLS (of all ages), as someone awesome at Cinematical pointed out — the comic book people (like myself) are just as nerdy and screaming but on the inside! I literally squealed going into the Tim Burton Q&A yesterday. I stayed to shake his hand. People like him are my Twilight. So that is why I think Twilight is easy to make fun of; I’m guilty of it myself. So the people who do pander to that audience to get traffic get no respect, even though it’s for THEIR audience, and they get no respect, no matter what. Which is unfair, because you do have to give your audience what they want.

Continue reading ‘Women Writers Talk New Moon’

Women are going to seriously dominate the box office this weekend with the opening of the juggernaut New Moon as well as the Sandra Bullock starrer, The Blind Side.

New Moon is the 2nd chapter of the Twilight saga the love story between the mortal Bella Swan and the vampire Edward Cullen.  The good thing about this film is that no matter what any critics say this film will be a hit, especially among younger women.

What can I say about the film?  It’s totally cheesy and at times pretty bad that you kind of have to cringe.  But it’s critic proof just like Transformers 2 was. (BTW – Transformers 2 had only 19% on rotten tomatoes compared to New Moon’s still low 28% as of 7am today.)

Even though the movie has so many problems (I know that Summit wanted to rush out the sequel and didn’t want to give Catherine Hardwicke the time she wanted to make this film better but honestly they should have waited and listened to her) the boring script being the big one, I am excited to watch this movie roll out because I can’t remember the last time a movie with a woman at the center was essentially critic proof.  It would be better for all of us if the movie was stronger, but this is a movie that women want to see and they will not be kept away.

If you want to experience a cultural phenomenon go and see it this weekend (if you can get in.)  Just be prepared, there will be lots of screaming fans with you in the theatre.

The Blind Side

Here’s my confession.  I’m a big Sandra Bullock fan.  Don’t know exactly why, but I’m just always rooting for her.  Maybe it’s because she knows exactly the type of movies she will be good in (All About Steve notwithstanding) and lays it all out there.

In The Blind Side, Bullock takes on the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy based on the true story of a wealthy white Memphis family who takes in and virtually adopts a young black man.   They work hard to help this boy, including hiring tutors to help put him on the road to success.  And by success I mean finishing high school, getting a college scholarship, and now having a successful NFL career.

I’m a sucker for a feel good sports movie, but this is not about football the same way that the TV show Friday Night Lights is also not about football.  This film is about family and Bullock is great.  She kicks butt as the gun toting NRA member who astounds herself and her family by taking in and loving a 350 pound black young man.

It’s hard not to think about Precious when writing about this film.  This boy has potential and options that Precious never had.  Sports.  Sports are still a way out for boys that girls just don’t have.  I’m not trying to gloss anything over and say this boy had it easy, he didn’t.  He lived on the streets and was lucky to be alive.  But when you look at a big boy you can see the potential for his life and his future, and when you look at a girl of the same size you see all the limitations she has.  That’s just the reality.

But nonetheless, this is a heartwarming and moving story that’s fun and is a film that both men and women can enjoy.

I guess I should thank the Hollywood Reporter for making my job easy this week by providing me with such blatantly sexist material.

They posted their conversation with cinematographers and SURPRISE there is not a single woman included.

I know that they do these around awards season and NOT A SINGLE WOMAN has ever been nominated for the best cinematographer award but you cannot tell me that The Box is in contention for any type of award.

Beyond pathetic.

Awards Watch: Cinematographers Roundtable (Hollywood Reporter)

The Writers Guild of America West has released its most recent report on the status of women and people of color in Hollywood and just like the report of two years ago (and the ones before) women seem to be making no traction.  In fact, in movies, it’s getting worse.

Here’s from the introduction:

The 2009 Hollywood Writers Report updates an all-too-familiar story about the challenges faced by diverse writers on the employment and earnings fronts.

The previous report — released in 2007 by the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW)
– found that business-as–usual industry practices resulted in virtually no progress for
women and minority writers.  Indeed, these writers had actually gone backwards in some
areas relative to their male and white counterparts since the Guild’s 2005 report. The
2007 report thus called for “rethinking business as usual” in the industry, which would
include establishing “clear goals, reasonable timetables and effective mechanisms” for
diversifying access to writing opportunities.

Despite this clarion call, the present report finds little if any improvement in the
employment and earnings of diverse writers in the Hollywood industry.  White males
continue to dominate in both the film and television sectors.  Women remain stuck at 28
percent of television employment and 18 percent of film employment.  The minority
share of film employment has been frozen at 6 percent since 1999, while the group’s
share of television employment actually declined to 9 percent since the last report.
Although women and minorities closed the earnings gaps with white men in television a
bit, the earnings gaps in film grew.

The stats:

Women hold just 25% of all the writing jobs.  TV jobs make up 28%, and film jobs make up 19%.

Earnings: There is an over $5,000 earnings gender gap in TV and almost $42,000 in film.  This is the widest margin in years.

So people, men make $42,000 more per year than women.  How fucked up is that!  For every $100 a male screenwriter makes, a woman makes $58.  That’s higher than the overall gender earnings gap.

The previous Hollywood Writers Report noted that while women writers had made considerable strides in television earnings, they appeared to be going backwards in film earnings.  The current report suggests that these trends continue to hold for women writers relative to their white male counterparts.

As the steam was coming out of my ears, I emailed a few questions to Kim Myers, the director of diversity at the WGAW answered some questions about the data.  (Keep in mind that the data is through the end of 2007 and that women of color are in both the women’s number and the minority numbers.)
Women & Hollywood:  Why do you think that women film writers are losing ground?

Kim Myers: Although this is somewhat anecdotal, in conversation with women screenwriters most attribute this fact to the type of films that are being developed at the studios.  The emphasis is on tentpole movies and franchises – many of which are comic book or graphic novel adaptations.  Action is the main focus of these movies.  While there are many women screenwriters who have written and continue to write action movies, this is often seen as the province of male writers.  With that in mind, it could be the reason women screenwriters are getting fewer jobs – and being paid less because they are not being hired to write the “Big Movies”.

Continue reading ‘Still Sucks to Be a Female Writer in Hollywood’

Yesterday the Academy released the 15 films eligible for the best documentary feature.  Now we know that women are more visible in the documentary field and we are happy to see several women included in the long list.  Out of the 89 eligible films the list was culled down to 15.

Here are the women:

“The Beaches of Agnes”- Agnes Varda

“Garbage Dreams” – Mai Iskander

“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” - Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith

“Mugabe and the White African”- Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey

“Which Way Home” – Rebecca Cammisa

Academy Names 15 to Documentary Shortlist; Moore Snubbed (IndieWIRE)

The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik has a recent piece about how small the pool is this year for Best Actress.

He talks about how the top three potential nominees are Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), with other contenders being Abbie Cornish (Bright Star), Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones), Penelope Cruz (Broken Embraces), Hilary Swank (Amelia) and god forbid Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side).  Bullock’s potential inclusion to Zeitchik is indicative of the shallow pool.  (Let’s remember that Julia Roberts had never done anything remotely like Erin Brockovich before she hit that one out of the park.)

The piece goes on to say that there are many men jostling for those top five slots and if there were 10 nominations some would still be left out.

No shit.  Most movies, even the awards movies are made by guys for guys.

Here’s Zeitchik’s reasoning as to why women are so woefully underrepresented:

It’s axiomatic that older actresses who want to play strong lead roles often have to abandon features for venues like cable TV. Awards season has a way of reinforcing the point. During the 1980s, three women older than 50 won the best actress Oscar, while a fourth (Shirley MacLaine) was about to turn 50.

During the past 20 years, on the other hand, exactly one fiftysomething woman has taken the prize (Helen Mirren, for “The Queen”).

That’s far from a comment on this generation’s talent or even on the preferences of voters. But it does say plenty about the roles women are offered.

But it also highlights that, for all the strides made by the women behind the camera, the women in front of them can still be subject to the old prejudices. Indeed, the more cynical in town — including at least one actress awards-contender — say that the director and actress trends are hardly a coincidence. Many female directors, they argue, can feel pressure to cast a preponderance of strong male leads to negate the perception that theirs is a female-oriented film.

Yes, this is a good year for women directors as I have written about many times, but I don’t want the conversation to be that, just because we have several potential contenders for year-end awards, our work is done.  Women directors have a harder time getting traction.  Let’s remember that.

But what this story reminded me of is all the strong female Oscar-worthy performances that don’t ever make it onto the Oscar radar screen because they don’t have wide enough distribution or get killed by the mostly male critical establishment.  Movies that star guys get distributed more widely than movies by and about women.  That said, it makes sense to look beyond all the films getting the buzz to some films whose distributors can’t afford to mount Oscar campaigns or maybe even send out screeners.

Just because a film or a performance doesn’t get included in the “buzz” doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be.

Here are some performances worthy of being considered:

Amy Adams- Sunshine Cleaning

Michelle Pfeiffer- Cheri

Nicole Beharie – American Violet

Shohreh Aghdashloo – The Stoning of Soraya M.

Tilda Swinton- Julia

Audrey Tatou- Coco Before Chanel

Michelle Monaghan- Trucker

Yolande Moreau- Seraphine

Catalina Saavedra- The Maid

Sophie Okondeo- Skin

Robin Wright- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Charlize Theron – The Burning Plain

Update: Forgot One: Kerry Fox- Storm

Shallow Pool for Oscar’s Actress Contenders (Hollywood Reporter)

If you read this blog regularly, you know that only three women have been nominated for a best directing Oscar in the 81 years that the Oscars have existed.  Zero wins, three nominations.  Based on a wikipedia count there have been 396 (one year 2 men were nominated together) total nominations and three for women.  That’s .75%.  Not even 1 percent.  Women have been nominated less than 1 percent of the time.  Shameful.

I wanted to learn a little bit about how the nomination process work in order to understand if and how we can get a woman — or multiple women — nominated this year.

First, in order to get a best director nomination you need to be nominated by that branch.  According to the folks at the Academy right now there are 367 members of that branch.  They of course do not share the names and also tell me they don’t do demographic breakdowns.  The winners are voted by the full Academy which currently has 5785 members.

Now there are a couple of ways to become a voting member.  According to the Academy site:

So Precious rolled out further this past weekend and continued to astound at the box office.  The movie made it to number three for the week grossing over 5.8 million in just 174 theatres.

A little perspective: The Men Who Stared At Goats starring George Clooney made a little less than Precious coming in at 4th place.  But that movie played in 2,453 theatres.  Precious grossed over $33,000 per theatre and the number 1 movie of the week 2012, which made over $65 million, grossed a little over $19,000 per theatre.

Precious will roll out further this weekend onto over 600 screens in 100 markets.

Here’s what the boxofficeguru.com’s Gitesh Pandya had to say about Precious via Gold Derby:

Its $35,000 average proves that it’s not a one-weekend wonder that worked in just a few top markets but something that will build in the weeks ahead into a surefire blockbuster appealing to moviegoers in towns big and small.

Precious is one of only two films this entire decade to reach the Top 5 with less than 200 theaters. The other was ‘Paranormal Activity’ last month.

Awards contender ‘Brokeback Mountain’ opened four years ago with a similar limited bow with an eye-popping $100,000-plus average. It expanded to 69 sites in its second weekend and grossed $2.5 million for a $36,355 average. The fact that Precious generated a similar average from more than double the number of theaters is nothing short of remarkable, even when factoring in four years of ticket-price increases. So this one is well-positioned to keep growing since the publicity it generates in two weeks of limited play will get a broader audience to get off the sidelines by the time it opens wide.

And let’s not forget about New Moon which opens this Friday.  The film is the advanced ticket record holder at Fandango beating out Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Dark Knight.  And Twilight is fifth on the list.

So that means that two of the top five films on Fandango’s list for advanced tickets are for films about and fueled by women.  People are buying multiple tickets in advance and in a fandango survey, 22% said that mothers and daughters are going to see the movie together.

Both these movies are lightning in a bottle.  The movie business needs to figure out how to build on this and not say it’s a fluke.  But, keep in mind that both films are directed by men. (Twilight’s script is written by Melissa Rosenberg and the novels of Precious and Twilight are written by women – Sapphire and Stephenie Meyer.)

The next person who says that women aren’t a market is going to get my foot shoved up their ass.

‘Precious’ is truly precious at the box office; $2.5 million is ‘remarkable’ (Gold Derby)

What’s wrong with this picture?

This is getting a little pathetic.  Hollywood Reporter, you are now 2 for 2 for excluding women from your year end roundtables. Please don’t tell me there was no woman to include.  I don’t believe you.

Awards Watch: Writers Roundtable (Hollywood Reporter)

The NY Times ran two very different stories about two very different young actresses – Megan Fox and Kristen Stewart – who both appear in huge franchises, Fox in Transformers and Stewart in Twilight.  Both women had cover pieces, Stewart in the Arts & Leisure section and Fox in the Magazine.

Both these women are big tabloid fodder.  Their faces are everywhere but there are a lot of differences between these women and I think it illuminates some of the issues facing young women in the business today.

Stewart started her career as an actress before she became tabloid fare.  She first appeared opposite Jodie Foster in Panic Room when she was 11.  She has been acting ever since.  Most of the films she appeared in before Twilight were smaller, indie pics and she is still making indie films even in the wake of her being in one of the biggest movies of the year.

Fox started her career as a sex symbol wearing those tight short shorts as the pretty girlfriend running from peril in Transformers.  Those big commercial movies (especially ones by Michael Bay) are notoriously horrible to women.  They have very few lines and are just window dressing.  Think of Liv Tyler in Armageddon and Kate Beckinsale in Pearl Harbor and you get my drift.  That’s how she entered our world, that’s how we relate to her. But as Lynn Hirschberg writes in her profile, Fox and her team are trying to create a legitimate career for her beyond Transformers and that includes figuring out how to get girls to like her which is a really, really big problem.

Fox says:

“Girls think I’m a slut, and I’ve been in the same relationship since I was 18. The problem is, if they think you’re attractive, you’re either stupid or a whore or a dumb whore. The instinct among girls is to attack the jugular.”

That is probably true, but it was her and her handlers decision to a) not do another film in between Transformers where she took on a different type of role; and b) to cultivate the image of the sex siren to turn on boys and in turn make girls hate her.  How fun is it for a girl to be on a date with a guy and see her on the big screen. I bet not too much fun.  She didn’t care what girls thought of her before and now after seeing the scathing reception for Jennifer’s Body she has a seriously big problem.  I think the problem goes way beyond her speaking her mind and flaunting her sexuality.  Have we ever thought that maybe she just can’t act?  Just because you are sexy in movies doesn’t mean you should have a long term acting career.  I think its really disingenuous to blame girls and women for her problems when she has when she created them.  Maybe she should try acting authentic and she might endear herself to some people.

Ironically, the opposite is true of Stewart.  Girls like her.   She’s one of them.  Twilight would probably be a big hit even with different actors but she is beyond perfect for Bella and you gotta give Catherine Hardwicke some credit for that.  The tabloids don’t leave her alone either and keep speculating that she is not only dating but is engaged to her co-star Robert Pattinson, but she doesn’t play the game.  She seems quiet and uninterested in that world.  She gets called moody, Fox gets called slutty.

“What really kills me — it really rips me up — is when people think I’m abrasive, inconsiderate or ungrateful because I don’t go outside in a bikini and wave to the paparazzi. Come on!”

I wonder what actually would happen if she posed in a bikini.  Would she lose her good girl image?  Would the public turn on her and treat her like Fox?  Just looking at what these two young women have to go through makes me sad.  Your damned if you do and damned if you don’t.  Stewart is difficult because she doesn’t buy into the tabloidization of women, and  Fox has bought into it too much so she is having a hard time getting free from it even if in real life she is nothing like the persona she has created.

But we’ve seen this all before.  Remember Demi Moore and Meg Ryan?  Demi Moore was vilified for her roles in Indecent Proposal and especially GI Jane.  She could not get a gig after that.  Meg Ryan was the girl next door who we all wanted to be until she actually made the mistake of showing that she was human in her much written about, short, relationship with Russell Crowe.

The bottom line is that we eat women for breakfast, lunch and dinner in this culture.  Let’s all keep that in mind the next time we call someone a slut or petulant or ungrateful.  As women we need to figure out how to be better to each other.

Media Vampires, Beware (NY Times)

The Self-Manufacture of Megan Fox (NY Times)

I had the chance to check out Anna Deveare Smith’s play on health care issues courtesy of the folks at Second Stage Theatre.  If you have never seen Anna on stage doing her interpretations you are really missing out.  Her Ann Richards’ piece was amazing.

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“A continually engaging and engrossing collection of testimonials about life experienced at its extremes.” - The New York Times

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“Thoughtful, vibrant, elegantly directed by Leonard Foglia, Let Me Down Easytraces a graceful arc from lighthearted and funny to downright philosophical.”
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Now playing through Dec. 6!
LET ME DOWN EASY
Conceived, written and performed by
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
Directed by LEONARD FOGLIA

“The most exciting individual in American theatre” (Newsweek) ANNA DEAVERE SMITH (“Nurse Jackie”, Twilight: Los Angeles, Fires in the Mirror) explores the power of the body, the price of health, and the resilience of the spirit. With Ms. Smith’s trademark journalistic precision, Let Me Down Easy features first person accounts from a wide variety of sources, including Lance Armstrong and former Texas governor Ann Richards.

ANNA DEAVERE SMITH has appeared on TV’s “The West Wing” (in the recurring role of Nancy McNally) and “The Practice.” (as D.A. Kate Bruner).  Her theatre work includes Twilight: Los Angeles (two Tony Award® nominations for Best Actress and Best Play) and Fires in the Mirror (which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.)  She currently stars in the new Showtime series “Nurse Jackie” alongside Edie Falco.

Check out Anna Deveare Smith on the Today Show.

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