Monthly Archive for January, 2010

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This is big.

This is Sally Ride, first American woman in space big.  This is Sandra Day O’Connor, first female on the Supreme Court big.  This is Billie Jean King beating Bobby Riggs big.

This is a big, bold blast in the glass ceiling for all women directors.

Last night in the wee hours here on the east coast, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman EVER to win the DGA top honors for feature filmmaking.

What is interesting about the DGA event is that all the nominees get up to make a speech, all receive a silver plaque and then at the end of the evening one gets the gold.  Reports are that when Bigelow’s name was announced everyone cheered.

I’m getting goose bumps just writing about it.

Her acceptance speech seemed incredibly humble:

“Just to be in the room with all of you is an unimaginable honor,” says Bigelow, who appeared uncomfortable speaking to the audience. “We all felt a deep responsibility to tell this story as honestly as possible, given the courage of our troops overseas. This is the most incredible moment of my life. And with that, I’ll disappear.”

But following the whole event on twitter I couldn’t help but be dismayed at some of the sexist remarks coming out of the mouths of people in the room.

Here’s what Lee Daniels, the director of Precious said of Bigelow: “Your movie is as beautiful as your legs.  You make me question my sexuality.”

I find that incredibly offensive.  Lee just finished making a movie about how a girl was treated because of how she looked and who she was, and this is the bullshit that comes out of his mouth when talking about his fellow nominee?  Unacceptable.

Another comment:

Stage manager (I can’t figure out who that person is) to Carl Reiner after seeing Bigelow: “That’s the most beautiful director I’ve ever seen.

And

Jeremy Renner said the only thing to rival Kathryn Bigelow in a bikini is “Lee Daniels in a one-piece.”

I was tweeting back and forth with another woman who knows much more about the awards that I do and she wrote to me when I said I was appauled:

I think it’s unique to have such a looker in the room up for awards.  Plus, ppl are surprised she is almost 60. But yeah.

I wonder if they said the same things to Robert Redford back in the day.

I was thinking maybe only in the most rare cases, like Brad Pitt or Redford.  I’ve never seen them talk this way about any other.

But some other people did notice the comments and were disturbed by them.  Andre Soares at Alt Film Guide wrote:

Comments abounded on Bigelow’s looks — in other words, on the fact that she’s a woman. Had she been a handsome guy, I wonder how many remarks would have been made about his physical attributes. And how many male directors and presenters would be publicly questioning their sexuality.

And in other good news, Lesli Linka Glatter took top honors for AMC’s Mad Men.

What does this mean for women directors in the future, only time will tell but at least no one will ever have to be the first one in this category again.

One big step forward and a little push back.

Kathryn Bigelow tops directors with ‘Hurt Locker’ (USA Today)

DGA Awards: Focus on Kathryn Bigelow’s Gender Alt Film Guide

It’s pilot time in Hollywood.  The time of the year when all the networks look at the submitted scripts and decide which ones to take to pilot.  Then after they see the pilots, the networks then decide which shows to put on the air next season.  It is a cut throat and difficult process.

One thing we started this year on the blog is to track the scripts and pilots written by and about women.

Clearly I missed the bigger picture.

While there are a fair amount of pilots about women, the story here is the lack of women who are writing and creating the shows. The only way I know about this is from a very disturbing email from a reader who sent me info that came from a high level female TV executive.  This is an industry wide problem and 2010 is way worse for women creators than it was in 2009.

Now remember, TV is supposed to be better than the movies.  Why?  Because TV people know that women watch TV and advertisers want women viewers because they want us to buy their products.  Simple.  So wouldn’t it make sense to have more women creating shows?  I guess we are now going to have to be as vigilant about our TV watching as we are about our moviegoing.  Deliberately supporting the women created shows so they are successful so that more get made.  What also pisses me off is that there are women at all levels of the decision making structure at the TV networks.  So again the question is, why are women being passed over?

Here are some stats about women in the business:

According to the Center for Study of Women in TV and Film, in 2008, women made up 25% creators, executive producers, producers, directors, writers, editors, and directors of photography working on situation comedies, dramas, and reality programs.

Women make up 23% of executive producers.  Usually all creators get an executive producer credit and there are always other executive producers besides the creator.  While I know of no comprehensive list that lists all the creators and executive producers by gender, extrapolating from the data above you could probably guess that women maybe make up around 10% of show creators and showrunners (and I’m probably being generous.)

Here’s the info I got about this year’s pilot season:

In 2010 – 3 out of 33 comedy scripts that went to pilot were written by women. That is 9%.
In 2010 – 6 out of 36 drama scripts went to pilot were written by women.  That is 16%.

In 2009 – 9 out of 43 comedy scripts that went to pilot were written by women.  That is 20%.
In 2009 – 10 of 44 drama scripts that went to pilot were written by women. That is 22%.

The numbers are getting worse.

NBC had no comedies written by women and Fox had no dramas written by women
HBO had one female written pilot in two years. FX nothing. Lifetime nothing.  USA nothing.

Here is the list of scripts that are being made into pilots (and some that have already been picked up for series ) written and created by women:

ABC Drama Series

Scoundrels – Richard Levine & Lyn Greene

ABC Pilots

Comedy: Awkward Situations for Men – Jeff & Jackie Filgo; Untitled Goldberg-Meehan Shana Goldberg-Meehan; Women are Crazy, Men are Stupid – Howard Morris & Jenny Lee

Drama: Cuthroat – Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters; Off the Map – Jenna Bans; Untitled. Yuspa & Goldsmith Cathy Yuspa & Josh Goldsmith

CBS Pilots

Comedy: Open Books – Gail Lerner

Drama: I, Witness – Pam Veasey

CW Pilots

Drama pilots: Betwixt – Liz Chandler; The Wyoming Project – Amy Sherman Palladino & Dan Palladino

Fox Pilots

Drama: Daylight Robbery- Karyn Usher

NBC Pilots

Drama: The Chase- Jennifer Johnson; Love Bites- Cindy Chupack

A&E Pilots

Drama: The Quickening- Jennifer Salt

ABC Family Pilots

Drama: Pretty Little Liars- Marlene King; Huge- Savanah Dooley & Winnie Holzman

AMC Pilots

Drama: The Killing- Veena Sud

Disney Channel Pilots

Comedy: Janet Saves the Planet- Billy Van Zandt & Janet Milmore; Smart Alec Ellen Byron & LIssa Kapstrom

SYFY Pilots

Drama: Being Human Ellen Byron & LIssa Kapstrom

Showtime Series

Comedy: The Big C- Darlene Hunt

TNT Series

Drama: Rizzoli – Janet Tamaro; Delta Blues Joshua Horto & Liz Garcia

Winter's Bone

This year Sundance is telling us to “rebel”, re-start the revolution, to re-think what independent filmmaking is. Their animated bumpers before the films are persuasive propoganda and it’s embedded in all the panels and new director John Cooper’s conversations.  As female filmmakers, I say we take this advice.  Sundance is noted for highlighting filmmakers who are ignored in the mainstream media. For giving new directors a chance to break in with their smaller films that would be ignored in the larger Hollywood film industry.  For finding original voices.  Well, for the most part, that’s us.  I’m hear at Sundance mostly for programming for the Citizen Jane Film Festival, a film festival in Columbia, Missouri that celebrates films by female filmmakers.  And I am excited that some of the best work at Sundance this year comes from original female voices, with the biggest buzz circulating around Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone.

Granik is no stranger to Sundance.  She took the Dramatic Directing Award for her first feature-length film Down to the Bone back in 2004, and this year she is one of the few lucky filmmakers to have multiple distributors interested in her work.  Winter’s Bone is a unique coming of age story set in the Missouri Ozark mountains and told through the experiences of 17-year old Ree Dolly (in a breakout performance by Jennifer Lawrence).  While Ree’s meth-cooking father is running from the law, Ree is left to tend to her younger siblings and mentally ill mother.  We are soon swallowed into Ree’s world through her journey to find her missing father, who has put the family house up for bond after being arrested.  Based on the award-winning novel by Daniel Woodrell and shot completely on location in the Missouri Ozarks, this “country noir” has a sense of place rarely seen.   Granik immersed herself in the Ozarks, starting with writer Woodrell’s own neighborhood and befriending locals to develop locations, find many of her actors, get a sense of the local dialect, and find musicians that we see and hear throughout the film.  Her collaborative nature and attention to detail ultimately creates a reality that is both naturalistic and at times mythical.  Granik captures the close-knit sense of family kin and codes of law, as well as the devastation the meth epidemic has had on families in that region, much like the rest of rural America.  But what is most obvious from both Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone is Granik’s ability to bring out the best in actors.  Much like Down to the Bone brought Vera Farmiga attention and awards, I suspect Winter’s Bone will garner much deserved attention for young Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes, who plays Ree’s uncle who goes from sinister to sympathetic with very few words.  Hopefully the buzz and attention for Winter’s Bone will last beyond the festival circuit.

Perhaps no film follows the Sundance slogan of “renewed rebellion” more than Katie Aselton’s directing debut The Freebie.  Festival regulars know Aselton as actress in many a mumblecore film and the wife of one of the pioneers of the mumblecore movement, Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair).  Like many other actresses, Aselton wasn’t getting the roles she wanted, so she took the advice from her husband and decided to write and direct her own film to solve this problem.   And along with writing, directing, and co-producing, Aselton is also in nearly every frame of the film.   Continue reading ‘Guest Post: The View on the Ground at Sundance by Kerri Yost’

Adriana Maggs is one of a bunch of up-and-coming female directors with their work on display this year at Sundance.  Her writing and directing debut Grown Up Movie Star is in competition this year in the World Cinema Narrative section.

Synopsis is below.  Adriana answered some questions by email while she was at Sundance.

Women & Hollywood: How did you come up with the story for Grown Up Movie Star?

Adriana Maggs: Grown Up Movie Star was a short film script I wrote and was workshopping on a panel. A local producer, Jill Knox-Gosse, was interested in it and asked me if I would tell more of the story, make it into a feature. The characters and scenarios are rooted in the themes that I explore both in my work and in my life.

W&H: Female directors tend to get pigeon holed into certain types of movies. Are you aware of that, and did you ever take that into consideration when writing this film?

AM: No, I didn’t take that into consideration.  I come from a place that is completely open to artists, a community that fully supports all storytelling perspectives.  I actually find it really hard when I step onto a “main stage” so to speak, that so many women artists and filmmakers struggle to have their stories told.  But I am not naive to think that the support we receive from the Newfoundland government and arts community is “standard” practice.  I am so thankful to have been nurtured in a creative environment. But after having moved to Toronto, I do understand the importance of supporting women in the arts and appreciate all of the strong and talented filmmakers and producers who as women have really paved the way for the rest of us.  Heather Rae, producer of Frozen River comes to mind.

W&H: Do you think its easier for a female director to be more successful in directing if she also writes the film?

AM: Again, I’m finding the question unusual, considering how I was, if you will, raised in a community of artists.  I suppose it’s easier for a first time director whether male or female to have an opportunity to direct if they in fact, write their own script.  I really want to believe that good story telling is good story telling and I also feel watching a film is like going to an art gallery or reading poetry or any artistic medium.  The viewer is subjective based on taste, life experiences, tolerance, empathy and will choose whether they like or dislike a film based on individual taste whether written and directed by a woman or a man.

W&H: What does getting into Sundance mean for your film and your career and what are you hoping to get out of it?

AM: It is a complete honor and really wonderful to have Grown up Movie Star included in such a prestigious and welcoming festival.  I have always thought that if I could have a film in a festival, I would have wanted it at Sundance.  The history of the festival, the amazing support of independent film and filmmakers, the amazing Sundance Institute are all reasons I am very proud our film was accepted this year.

For me, once I wrote the film and we were on set, it became everyone’s film.  The actors — Shawn, Tatiana, Jonny — and the amazing crew really brought it to life and added so much to the story.  They really let me see the film through new eyes and it was like discovering the story all over again.  So what am I hoping to get out of it?  Well, I am really happy people are coming to see our work, I hope that people appreciate the work and hope that some can relate to the characters and their personal struggles.  And being from a small island off the coast of Canada and arriving in Park City on an international stage, I am excited to meet other filmmakers, see lots of films and figure out a way for more people to see ours!

Continue reading ‘Sundance Interview: Adriana Maggs, Director/Writer of Grown Up Movie Star’

Good news, no great news.  Winnie Holzman creator of My So Called Life and book writer for the Boradway musical Wicked is getting back into TV.

She and her daughter, Savannah Dooley have penned the show Huge based on the YA novel of the same name by Sasha Paley.  The show has just gotten a 10 episode order from ABC Family.  Wolzman will executive produce the first episode and consult on the remaining ones.  Savannah will serve as the show’s executive producer.  Hopefully, Savannah will be as awesome a writer as her mom.

Here’s the description:

The project, described as “Glee” meets “Ugly Betty,” explores how young girls deal with body-image issues. It is set at Wellness Canyon, a weight-loss camp, and revolves around two girls from different backgrounds who fall for the same guy.

Ok, I’m not sold on the description.  Hate that it’s set at a weight loss camp, and hate the the leads fall for the same guy (been there, done that), but I will give Holzman the benefit of the doubt since she basically created the best drama ever, which I still kind of miss.

ABC Family eyeing ‘Huge’ drama (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC Family Order Dramas (Variety)

I’m still bitter over the Golden Globes.  I can’t let it go.  I really thought that Bigelow would win best director and she, of course, didn’t.  I wish that I didn’t care this much but I find the fact that we girls have a horse in the race for best director so empowering.  I can’t imagine what it is doing for women in film schools or for women directors in the business. (Any of you out there have any thoughts?)

Just like Hillary Clinton said in her speech when she dropped out of the presidential race, that there are 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, this Kathryn Bigelow best director conversation has moved the bar on women directors further than we have ever gone before.

We all know that it’s probably because the film had such wide appeal to men and even though I wish that women who direct films about women or emotions had wider appeal, the more we dive into awards season, the less I care.

I JUST WANT THE WIN.

I know this is not about me, but in some way I feel it is.  I hate to put the pressure on other folks but we have been waiting a long time.  While it looks like we’re going to have to wait a long time for a female president, we women can finally get our first female winner at the DGA Awards and hopefully at the Oscars.

While folks were thinking that James Cameron and Avatar had all the momentum after the Globes, The Hurt Locker pulled a huge upset and stole back that momentum this past weekend at the Producer’s Guild Awards and won best picture.  Why is this win so important?

Here’s what Oscar watcher Scott Feinberg said on his blog And the Winner Is:

That’s right, producers, that rare breed of money-hungry urchins, liked the movie that’s made a mere $16 million so much that they gave it their prize over the one that’s made $1.8 billion (on the very day that it surpassed “Titanic” to become the highest-grossing movie of all-time). In case you need it spelled out for you, that’s an upset of epic proportions — the cinematic equivalent of David slaying Goliath.

Thanks, however, to tonight’s PGA shocker, Cameron and his ex-wife appear to have on their hands a serious battle for custody of not only the best director Oscar but the best picture Oscar, too.

Sasha Stone at Awards Daily breaks down the Director’s Guild nominees and comes away with mixed feeling of calling a potential winner:

After the PGA’s shocker, I feel unsure of even calling Kathryn Bigelow to win this thing hands down, although if there is a frontrunner, she is it.

Here’s her case for Bigelow (she makes cases for all the nominees)

The Hurt Locker is a film that has come through against all possible odds.  There isn’t a single “sellable” thing about this movie.  No stars, a woman director, a movie about the Iraq war — by rights, this film should be left on the pile to be discovered years from now.  But it just didn’t happen that way.  It was one of those movies you had to see and if you saw it, you would find that it tells the moving story of three men on the ground in Iraq fighting our futile and unwinnable war.  People say it doesn’t take sides – what it doesn’t do is lecture.  It goes right into the motivations behind this war and it reveals the ultimate impossibility of it: there are always going to be scrappy warriors who can build better IED that kill us despite our military might.  If 9/11 didn’t say it all, The Hurt Locker most certainly does.

Bigelow is not getting accolades because she is a woman.  She is there because her film has the goods.  Someone made the argument recently that had it been directed by Ridley Scott it wouldn’t be getting the same attention – and while I’ll concede that the idea of a woman winning for the first time in 82 years is a thrilling prospect — Ridley Scott could not have directed this film this way because it is wholly Bigelow’s vision.  One would have to be familiar with Bigelow’s work to know this, but from the way she directs actors, to the sequences of the action shots, to the eroticism – this is all Bigelow.  With much help from writer Mark Boal.  I know it’s difficult for some people to wrap their mind around the fact that a woman could actually direct a film that wasn’t about whining, men and weight loss, but there it is.  In fact, women have been directing great films all along; it’s just that no one has ever felt like they directed the best film of the year.  Until now.

Women don’t usually win on the first time out.  It takes a while to create the climate for women to lead and win.  I believe that Kathryn Bigelow is a leader and that directors are seen as leaders in our culture and society because they are seen as the leaders on the set.  They are in charge and the buck stops with them.

Bigelow should be glad that she’s not the first woman to have been nominated because it is not about the novelty but about the accomplishment.  She walks in the shoes of the women who came before her.  It’s just that her shoes just might be the ones to finally kick through the ceiling.

THE PGA UNLOCKS “THE HURT LOCKER,” ROCKS OSCAR RACE (And the Winner Is)

The Director’s Guild Preview (Awards Daily)

It’s not news that gay and lesbian films struggle to get out of the niche and be seen as mainstream entertainment and make serious box office dollars.  We all know that many films have gay characters, but films that star and are driven by gay people — male or female — are few and far between.  In the last couple of years there have been several high profile and award winning films that told gay stories namely Milk and Brokeback Mountain.  Milk made $31 million on a budget of $20 and won two Oscars.  Brokeback Mountain was way more successful making $83 million on a $14 million budget and wound up winning three Oscars.

But there really hasn’t been a film of the stature that starred a woman or women.  In doing some research in a very unscientific manner (on twitter) the responses I got when asking for the most mainstream lesbian films were: Basic Instinct, Monster, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Hours, Kissing Jessica Stein, But I’m a Cheerleader, Chasing Amy, Bound, Desert Hearts, Imagine Me & You.

Some good, some bad, some terrible and none really big successes.

Desert Hearts while excellent is from the 80s and while Basic Instinct grossed the most, it is not anyone’s example of a lesbian film.  Fried Green Tomatoes grossed $82 million but that was way back in 1991.  Charlize Theron ruled in Monster but that was not a positive movie.  The Hours was Oscar bait and while several of the main characters were lesbians, I wouldn’t call it a lesbian film.  And then there is Boys Don’t Cry which I honestly don’t know how to categorize.

So when I read the news out of Sundance about how well Lisa Cholodenko’s new film The Kids Are All Right played, I got excited. It’s got all the elements for a mainstream hit. Stars, including Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. And it’s a comedy. All too often niche films of any kind take themselves too seriously. It’s about time we got a comedy about lesbian life.

Here’s a report from The LA Times:

Cholodenko’s movie, a late addition to the festival, centers on the drama that ensues after two children of a lesbian couple seek out their birth father. Supporters of the movie — and there are many — say it can sustain both an awards campaign as well as a broad release to an audience that would be taken with the film’s comedic and poignant moments. The movie, which played to a house packed with distribution execs (and whose screening evoked, in some ways, the response to “Little Miss Sunshine” four years ago.

It also described the audience as “giddy.”  Nobody said that about Cholodenko’s previous films which included Laurel Canyon and High Art.

Here’s NY Magazine’s Vulture blog:

But Bening and Moore are the real treats. Bening plays an uptight, wine-slurping doctor and Moore plays her wife, a compost-loving free spirit. They have two kids, an 18-year-old girl (Mia Wasikowska, who will soon play Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland) and a 15-year-old son (Josh Hutcherson) who both reach out to the sperm donor (Ruffalo), who gave his DNA to each mother. Chodolenko shows a warm, funny side and crafts some brilliant chemistry between her two leads, who make an extraordinarily believable onscreen couple. This may turn out to be one of the most significant lesbian films yet made — especially because it’s premiering in the long shadow of Prop 8. (Emphasis mine) But straight marrieds will have little trouble identifying with the undermining, bitching, nagging, teasing, and reconciling, either: Lighthearted and uproariously funny, it’s not at all a gay-marriage film, but just a great film about marriage. Now, back to that question: Who to push for Best Actress?

Distributors are nervous hoping that this could be a Little Miss Sunshine instead of a Friends With Money.  I think that it is time to stop underestimating audiences.  Figure out a way to market this to women and you will make money.  Make it about family, not just a gay family, and people will come.  Make sure people know they will have a good time and not be hit over the head with a diatribe.

The time is ripe for a successful film driven by a lesbian storyline.

As of this morning, there was no distribution deal yet for the film.

Update: As of 12pm EST it looks like the film is going to Focus Features.

Sundance: Annette Bening and Julianne Moore Wow the Fest With a Gay Marriage Drama (NY Mag Vulture)

Sundance 2010: ‘The Kids Are All Right’ becomes a Sundance sensation (LA Times)

“Kids” More Than All Right: Cholodenko Shines At Sundance (IndieWIRE)

Special thanks to The Linster and Dorothy Snarker for their help.

Robin Veith

Remember when everyone was heralding Mad Men as the second coming for women writers and I didn’t buy it for one minute?  I’m not saying the show doesn’t write great female characters.  It does.  It just doesn’t employ many women in senior level writing positions.  That’s just a fact.

The writers started working on the new season yesterday and two women in the writing women, Kater Gordon and Robin Veith have departed and have been replaced by men.  We knew Gordon was leaving since the fall.  Commenters on this site and in other places have stated that she got married and moved north.  Congrats to her.

Robin Veith, who started out as a writer’s assistant and wound up getting co-writing credit on the first season finale of the show which earned her and Matthew Weiner an Emmy nomination, is said to have quit before she was fired.

There is always a lot of writer turnover before each season.  But having two women replaced by two men — Keith Huff and Jonathan Abrahams — gives me pause.  I am betting that both of them will be in higher writing positions than the women who departed were.

“Mad Men”: Writers’ room opens Monday with new faces (Variety)

Digging a Little Deeper: Mad Men and Women Writers

Marcia Gay Harden is starring in Joan Carr Wiggin’s latest writing and directing effort, If I Were You which started shooting last week in Toronto. Film costars Leonor Watling and Aidan Quinn as well as Valerie Mahaffey who co-starred in Carr-Wiggin’s film A Previous Engagement. Big fan of Marcia Gay Harden.  She was so good as Ellen Page’s mom in Whip It. She recently won a Tony Award for the Gods of Carnage on Broadway.

Film synopsis (from press release):

Two women who meet by chance make a pact to fix their troubled lives: they will each do what the other one says. But one of them has a secret. She knows her husband is sleeping with the other woman. The wife’s plan backfires when the mistress an aspiring actress, orders her to play King Lear with the mistress playing the Fool in a hilariously amateur production. The wife’s life is transformed in unexpected ways as she, like Lear, struggles with matters of mortality and betrayal, loyalty and love.

Film will be shooting for five weeks.

Marcia Gay Harden, Aidan Quinn join ‘You’ (Hollywood Reporter)

Talk about girl power!  The film has its world premiere this weekend at Sundance with Joan Jett in attendance (and I read they rocked out afterwards.)  Here’s a description (from fandango):

The story of the groundbreaking ’70s female rock group the Runaways is recounted in this River Road Entertainment production focusing on the duo of guitarist/vocalist Joan Jett (portrayed by Twilight’s Kristen Stewart) and lead vocalist/keyboardist Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) as they navigate a rocky road of touring and record label woes under the malevolent eye of abusive manager Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) during their teen years. Acclaimed video artist Floria Sigismondi directs from her own script, with Scout Taylor-Compton co-starring as guitarist Lita Ford.

This movie looks so great. Looks like Dakota Fanning is officially grown up and Kristen Stewart gets back to her indie roots.  The one important point is that Apparition who releases the film on March 19th, needs to figure out how to avoid what happened to Whip-It to make this one a success.

Some reviews

Sundance Review: The Runaways (Cinematical) -- positive

Sundance: Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning rock out in ‘The Runaways,’ but the movie itself is no knockout (EW) -- mixed

The Runaways

Remember way back in November when Publisher’s Weekly came up with a list of the top 10 books (not best selling books) of the year and not a single one was written by a woman?  Lo and behold the National Book Critics Circle disagrees a bit and has nominated many different women for its 2009 awards.   Clearly, we gotta do better in biography, criticism and non-fiction.  Wolf Hall is on my reading list.

Here are the female nominees:

Autobiography:
Diana Athill, Somewhere Towards the End (Norton)
Debra Gwartney, Live Through This: A Mother’s Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Mary Karr, Lit (Harper)
Kati Marton, Enemies of the People: My Family’s Journey to America (Simon & Schuster)

Biography:
Martha A. Sandweiss, Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line (Penguin Press)

Criticism:
Eula Biss, Notes From No Man’s Land: American Essays (Graywolf Press)

Fiction:
Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage (Wayne State University Press)
Michelle Huneven, Blame (Sarah Crichton Books/FSG)
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (Holt)
Jayne Anne Phillips, Lark and Termite (Knopf)

Nonfiction:
Wendy Doniger, The Hindus: An Alternative History (Penguin Press)

Poetry:
Rae Armantrout, Versed (Wesleyan)
Louise Glück, A Village Life (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Eleanor Ross Taylor, Captive Voices: New and Selected Poems, 1960–2008 (Louisiana State University Press)
Rachel Zucker, Museum of Accidents (Wave Books)

Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing
Joan Acocella

Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award
Joyce Carol Oates

National Book Critics Circle Finalists

When I saw this picture I tried to come up with my idea of what these two awesome women said to each other on the red carpet at the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards this past Saturday.  Every scenario I wrote was so lame that I can’t post them.  Any of you comedy writers have a good idea?

BTW, Tina took home the trophy for best comedy actress and Meryl was denied the best actress is a film by the juggernaut that has become Sandra Bullock.

What do you think they said to each other?

photo h/t Jezebel

Today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  While I don’t know if this is coincidental, two shows this week — Friday Night Lights and Private Practice — both had major storylines that tackled abortion worthy of a look.

The stories were about two very different young girls both about 15 and in high school:

One white, Friday Night Lights; one black, Private Practice

One rich, Private Practice; one poor, Friday Night Lights

The outcome (spoiler): one abortion, Friday Night Lights

I’ve said many, many times how big a fan I am of Friday Night Lights.  It is one of the best shows on television, hands down.  If you don’t watch the show because you think it is about football I say you are an idiot.  This is the second season that the show has aired on Direct TV first and will run on NBC in the spring.  I beg you to watch it.

The storyline revolved around Becky (Madison Burge) a beauty queen singer desperate to be loved realizing she is pregnant from the first time she slept with Luke (Michael B. Jordan Matt Lauria) one of the football stars.  She does not want to have the baby, especially because her mother had her when she was very young and she believes that she is her mother’s mistake. Continue reading ‘Roe v. Wade Anniversary: Friday Night Lights and Private Practice Tackle Abortion’

I went to a lunch earlier this week where Donna Orender, the President of the WNBA was the speaker.  It was a small group of women from a diversity of professions.  She talked about her life and how she has gotten to where she is now.

A little background on Donna: she played basketball for Queens College and worked on the PGA Tour before coming over to the WNBA.

What struck me most during the conversation is how the issues she is dealing with regarding building up the brand of the WNBA and women’s sports in general are the same issues we all talk about in the entertainment business.

She talked about how that women’s sports is one of litmus tests in how the culture talks about women.

She described herself as a cultural anthropologist, and believes we are on the edge of a cultural revolution.

She talked about getting sponsors and how based on her numbers and the growth that it should be a no brainer, she should sign every sponsor.  But she doesn’t, and the league struggles.  Teams disband (Sacramento and Detroit) and new teams crop up (Tulsa and Atlanta).  She needs to educate potential investors about how different the women’s sports model is from the men’s.  And every single year she has to reinvent the wheel.

Most importantly, she talked about how important it is for people to watch the game and also to attend games in the arena.  You gotta “actively support with your eyeballs and dollars.”

We are all fighting the same fight.  We have to support with our dollars and with our TV time.  The game has improved tremendously and watching the young women players develop from the college game (where basically 100% of them get degrees unlike the guys) to the pro game is great to see.

Women’s sports, like entertainment, opens people’s minds to seeing women in new and different roles.  I have been a crappy fan.  I haven’t gone to a game in a while.  This season (no matter how bad the NY Liberty are) I will be in the stands as much as I can.   I’m glad Donna reminded me of that.

Lone Scherfig

The BAFTA short list was released this morning and the list is striking for a one big reason — women directors are everywhere. I’m no expert on all things awards but I don’t think I have ever seen a list that has included TWO WOMEN (Lone Scherfig for An Education and Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker out of five nominated for best director.

THIS IS A BIG DEAL.  I don’t think this will repeat for the Oscar nominations, but one can only hope (at least until Feb 2.)

The awards will be handed out in London on Feb 21.

Kathryn Bigelow

Even more, in the British Film category, three women directed films are nominated:
An Education, Amanda Posey, Finola Dwyer, Lone Scherfig, Nick Hornby
Fish Tank, Kees Kasander, Nick Laws, Andrea Arnold
Nowhere Boy, Kevin Loader, Douglas Rae, Robert Bernstein, Sam Taylor-Wood, Matt Greenhalgh

For best film, not only are there two women directed movies here, An Education (with two female producers – Amanda Posey, Finola Dwyer) and The Hurt Locker, (why are they still not sure of the producers?) but Precious is of course, about a girl.

Other good news:

Two women editing noms:
“Inglourious Basterds,” Sally Menke
“Up in the Air,” Dana E. Glauberman

The Costume Design category is all women:
“Bright Star,” Janet Patterson
“Coco Before Chanel,” Catherine Leterrier
“An Education,” Odile Dicks-Mireaux
“A Single Man,” Arianne Phillips
“The Young Victoria,” Sandy Powell

Bad News:

Jane Campion is nowhere to be seen even in the screenplay category.  Even worse, out of the ten writing nominees only District 9 has a female co-writer, Terri Tachell.

Only one woman is included on the sound team- Anna Behlmer for Star Trek, and no women are included in the special visual effects or cinematography categories.

BAFTA Unveils Nominations (Variety)

Here’s a quote that Helen Mirren gave to the NYTimes’ Carpetbagger (who is now a woman- Melena Ryzik) getting on the bandwagon for Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker and also for Avatar:

“I think they’re both spectacular films, from either end of the spectrum of what is possible to do with film,” she said. “I guess because ‘The Hurt Locker’ was directed by a woman; I’m a big supporter of that. It’s a fantastic film — visceral, fabulous filmmaking. Proper filmmaking.”

Rock on Helen.

I am very excited to see her playing a Mossad agent in The Debt. Anyone have an idea on a release for that film.

Mo'Nique in Precious

During a recent episode of Oprah: Fridays Live, two seemingly unrelated stories about black girls and their mothers were (un)intentionally juxtaposed.  First, Winfrey interviewed the white father and aunt of Shaniya Davis.  Following that segment, Winfrey introduced Gabby Sidibe, star of Precious, the film Winfrey executive produced.  A friend of mine had previously mentioned Precious and Shaniya in the same breath, but it wasn’t until I saw these segments that I paused long enough to make a connection. Watching a story on Davis, the 5-year-old girl allegedly sold into sexual slavery by her black mother only to be found dead days later, succeeded by scenes of Sidibe as Precious Jones, an illiterate, fat, black girl twice-pregnant by her father, whose value was similarly determined as something more tangible—and much less valuable—than Precious, was disheartening yet illuminating.  The similarities between a little North Carolina girl and a fictional Harlem teenager, though not immediately apparent, exist below the surface nonetheless.

Antoinette Nicole Davis

What the flurry of debate surrounding Precious and Shaniya Davis’ death reveals is a particular public fascination with and unequivocal condemnation of black women who represent a pathologized version of motherhood, an image that perpetually manifests itself in our public sphere.  It seems that turning our collective attention to the lives of young black girls requires that their mother either serve as First Lady or represent a stereotype, such as a welfare queen (Precious’ mother, Mary Johnston) or (former) drug addict (Shaniya’s mother, Antoinette Davis).  A recent article about the continued violence in Chicago Public Schools, for example, concludes with an interviewee implying that single black mothers are the reason for such decrepit (educational) environments, making them solely responsible for black children’s violent behavior, never implicating the larger social constructs.

I defend neither mother’s actions.  Our view of them, though myopic, is not unwarranted.  Indeed, what Precious and Shaniya experienced at the hands of their mothers—like so many black bodies before them—is a trauma tied to an appraisal of their monetary value: Precious is worth a welfare check, while Shaniya’s price equals her mother’s drug debt.  Yet, despite both Mary Johnston and Antoinette Davis serving as the latest examples of well-worn images of black women, the abuse that these dark-skinned, natural haired black women enact upon their daughters is understood as unique and alarmingly monstrous.  Though the penultimate scene of Precious shows Mary explaining to Ms. Weiss (the social worker) her reasons for allowing Precious to be abused by her boyfriend, by then the viewer has become accustomed to quietly judging Mary.  An earlier scene featuring Precious’ grandmother—appearing onscreen just long enough to shake her head disapprovingly at her daughter—not only validates our negative evaluation of Mary, but implies that she became monstrous and abusive on her own, without precedent.  The lineage of abuse remains unseen, comforting viewers into believing that such people are mere anomalies.

Continue reading ‘Guest Post: How Did She, How Did We Get Here? Reflections on Precious Jones, Shaniya Davis and Black Motherhood By Summer McDonald’

I find it really funny — and telling — how the success of The Blind Side is still making people in Hollywood scratch their heads.  This past weekend the LA Times took a long look at the making of the film.

First, it seems that Julia Roberts was the only woman considered for the part.  When she passed the geniuses at Fox (where the film was at the time and now I’m sure are feeling pretty stupid) told John Lee Hancock (the writer and director) that he should rewrite the script and make it into a father-son story.

Why not change the leading part from a pistol-packing Southern supermom to a man and redraft the film as a father-son story?…If Roberts didn’t want to do the movie, they would only make it with a male lead.

Didn’t matter one bit that it was based on a true story.  At least they are not only asking women to rewrite female leading roles.  Guys can’t write women leads either.  Even funnier now is that due to the success of The Blind Side for Sandra Bullock and the failure of Duplicity with Julia Roberts that conversation about Julia Roberts would probably not happen today.  Now all that could change again this summer once Eat Pray Love comes out.

John Lee Hancock thought that the film would be a success precisely because it appealed to a wide range of people, yet that is exactly what made the studio nervous.

“The Blind Side” was “a feathered fish” that didn’t fit their marketing pigeonholes. “It’s not really a sports movie, although it’s got sports in it. It’s also not a chick flick,” though it was written for a female star. “My take on it was . . . there was something for everybody.

Interesting confirmation that any film that stars a woman is a chick flick. But, I’m really impressed that Hancock (now on the top of the world with a huge success) was this honest about the bullshit that goes on in Hollywood when deciding what movies to make:

Hancock, 52, thinks there is a lesson here for a film industry fixated on “event” movies and multi-film “franchises.”

“To the studios, it’s an anathema. It can’t be a real movie unless it cost hundreds of millions of dollars and has to have all the effects, and 16-year-old boys need to want to see it to be successful. That simply isn’t true.”

Amen.

Turns out that Sandra Bullock will get an even bigger pay day for this film because when the script passed to Alcon they had to keep the budget low (cause you know, it stars a woman) so she took less up front ($5 million versus her usual $10 million) for a bigger back end deal.  She might make upwards of $25 million on the film which just got her a Golden Globe and will get her an Oscar nomination.

And, while the film has had incredible broad appeal with a wide diversity of audiences including Evangelical Christians and African Americans it was women — especially those over 35– who got the film off to a strong start on the same weekend that New Moon dominated the box office.

But there is still a lack of confidence about women showing up at the box office and it’s going to take more time and more hits to get over it.

Here’s a kicker quote from Stacy Snider who run Dreamworks:

But “The Blind Side” is a “good reminder,” she says, “that if you find something that moves you deeply on a personal level and offers something novel, despite the fact that it is a genre that is not popular — drama — driven by a demographic you mistrust — adult women — you should cast those concerns aside.”

The Blind Side is a good lesson to Hollywood and to all of us that sometimes you need to think outside the box.  It always astounds me that trusting women means thinking outside the box.

The Making of Blind Side A Real-Life Drama (LA Times)

To the anonymous stylist who said this about Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) and her dress:

“You don’t put a big girl in a big dress. That’s rule number one.”

FUCK YOU!

This woman is perfectly shaped!  There is nothing big about her!

I hate you and I don’t even know who you are.

Back in November The Lovely Bones was on all awards watchers list just due to Peter Jackson previous pedigree.  No one had seen it, yet it was based on a best selling book and had awards potential written all over it.  Then people starting seeing it and the awards buzz virtually disappeared aside for Stanley Tucci in the supporting actor category.

But one thing that Paramount discovered in screenings is that young women — teen girls, you know the audience for Twilight — really liked the movie.

What happened with The Lovely Bones reminds me of that William Goldman quote- “nobody knows anything” when talking about Hollywood.

“The Lovely Bones” exemplifies how studios sometimes believe they have a firm understanding of what they are selling but are later surprised when moviegoers in focus groups and early screenings weigh in with contrary opinions.

You gotta give Paramount and Peter Jackson credit for getting on the girl wagon.  It’s not like they had any choice, it was pretty much that or nothing. They had the elements, a PG-13 film starring a young woman Saoirse Ronan.  So instead of just writing the picture off they changed their campaign.  They put a trailer for the film on New Moon.  They pulled back from the awards focus and waited until after the holidays for a wider released.

This past weekend they released the film on 2800 screens to a gross of over $20 million, way better than expected.  72% of the audience was female and 40% were under 20.  That means that young women went to see The Lovely Bones while their guy friends probably went to see Avatar again.

There are two lessons here.  One is that you can really make success from failure.  I think that Paramount didn’t give up because it was Peter Jackson and they want to be in business with him again.  I’m sure filmmakers without Jackson’s stature would never have gotten the same treatment.

Second, don’t underestimate young women and women in general.  This film was not a franchise film, it didn’t have a rabid fan base built in and it still did decent numbers.  That means that success can be found outside of fandom.  Just make a movie that people want to see and then sell it to them.  It really makes me want to see it now and before I was indifferent.

Paramount Digs Up Bones’ Audience (LA Times)

Lovely Bones Does About Face (Variety)