Archive for the 'News' Category

Mabel Normand

In 1989 Congress created the National Film Registry which “spotlights the importance of protecting America’s matchless film heritage and cinematic creativity.”  Here’s what it does:

Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the registry that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant, to be preserved for all time. These films are not selected as the “best” American films of all time; rather, they are chosen as works of enduring importance to American culture.

Here are the list of women directed films that made it to the list.  Most seem quite small, obscure and old that I have no idea if they can be seen anywhere.

(All descriptions from the Library of Congress web site)

Mabel’s Blunder (1914)

Mabel Normand, who wrote, directed and starred in “Mabel’s Blunder,” was the most successful of the early silent screen comediennes. The film tells the tale of a young woman who is secretly engaged to the boss’ son. When a new employee catches the young man’s eye, a jealous Mabel dresses up as a chauffeur to spy on them, which leads to a series of mistaken identities. The film showcases Normand’s spontaneous and intuitive playfulness and her ability to be both romantically appealing and boisterously funny.

Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)

“Quasi at the Quackadero” has earned the term “unique.” Once described as a “mixture of 1930s Van Beuren cartoons and 1960s R. Crumb comics with a dash of Sam Flax,” and a descendent of the “Depression-era funny animal cartoon,” Sally Cruikshank’s wildly imaginative tale of odd creatures visiting a psychedelic amusement park careens creatively from strange to truly wacky scenes. It became a favorite of the Midnight Movie circuit in the 1970s. Cruikshank later created animation sequences for “Sesame Street,” the 1986 film “Ruthless People” and the “Cartoon Land” sequence in the 1983 film “Twilight Zone: The Movie.”

The Red Book (1994)

Renowned experimental filmmaker and theater/installation artist Janie Geiser’s work is known for its ambiguity, explorations of memory and emotional states and exceptional design. She describes “The Red Book” as “an elliptical, pictographic animated film that uses flat, painted figures and collage elements in both two and three dimensional settings to explore the realms of memory, language and identity from the point of view of a woman amnesiac.”

Scratch and Crow (1995)

Helen Hill’s student film was made at the California Institute of the Arts. Consistent with the short films she made from age 11 until her death at 36, this animated short work is filled with vivid color and a light sense of humor. It is also a poetic and spiritual homage to animals and the human soul.

A Study in Reds (1932)

This polished amateur film by Miriam Bennett spoofs women’s clubs and the Soviet menace in the 1930s. While listening to a tedious lecture on the Soviet threat, Wisconsin Dells’ Tuesday Club members fall asleep and find themselves laboring in an all-women collective in Russia under the unflinching eye of the Soviet special police.

And two women centric films Jezebel and Mrs. Miniver were also included.

Full list here

Here’s the link to the radio show from this morning where we talked about women’s box office successes of 2009, can a woman get a best director nomination and win, with three amazing creative artists, playwright Theresa Rebeck, TV writer and director Nell Scovell, and feature writer and director Katherine Dieckmann. about how we shift the conversation about getting more women into creative positions on power in Hollywood (and other areas of pop culture.)

Would love to hear people’s thoughts on the conversation.

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Bios on the Guests

Theresa Rebeck is one of the most accomplished playwrights in America today.  Her newest work The Understudy is currently playing in NYC through January 17th.  She is also a novelist.  Her first book Three Sisters and Their Brother is now available in paperback and her newest novel Twelve Rooms with a View will be published in May by Random House.  She is also writing a pilot for USA TV.

Katherine Dieckmann has written and directed three feature films most recently Motherhood starring Uma Thurman.  She was also a journalist and a director of music videos.  She currently is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, where she teach screenwriting.  She also directed music videos for R.E.M., Aimee Mann, Wilco, and Everything but the Girl, among others.

Nell Scovell is a TV writer and director who created the show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  She caused a bit of a stir with a recent piece on Vanity Fair’s website about her experience as a female writer on Late Night with David Letterman.

Happy New Year!

The Women’s Media Center is piloting a radio show on WBAI in NY and Women & Hollywood has put together a progam for tomorrow morning’s edition.

It airs at 10amEST and you can stream in live here.

The first part of the show will be a conversation with me and the hosts about what happened for women in 2009 and what to look forward to in 2010.

The second part (which I am so excited about) is a conversation with three amazing creative artists, playwright Theresa Rebeck, TV writer and director Nell Scovell, and feature writer and director Katherine Dieckmann.

Bios on the women are below.

The focus of our discussion will be how to shift the conversation about parity issues in Hollywood (and other areas of pop culture) beyond the where are the women to trying to come up with solutions.

Here’s an overview:

Women as consumers are evident in all areas of the arts.  We buy 50% of the movie tickets, over 50% of the theatre tickets, the majority of books and are a desired TV audience.  Yet, there is still a great disconnect between the audiences and the work.  Statistics show that women creatives are underrepresented in all areas of theatre, film, and TV.

And the biggest problem is the numbers are not improving.

Women remain at 25% representation in TV, under 10% of directors, 10% of film writers, 31% of theatre creatives jobs (and that includes actors.)

For the last decade (if not longer) the conversation has been about asking the question where are the women?  The time has come to shift the conversation from continuing to lament the problem to finding solutions.

If you can listen live please do.  I will post the podcast when it is up.

Bios

Theresa Rebeck is one of the most accomplished playwrights in America today.  Her newest work The Understudy is currently playing in NYC through January 17th.  She is also a novelist.  Her first book Three Sisters and Their Brother is now available in paperback and her newest novel Twelve Rooms with a View will be published in May by Random House.  She is also writing a pilot for USA TV.

Katherine Dieckmann has written and directed three feature films most recently Motherhood starring Uma Thurman.  She was also a journalist and a director of music videos.  She currently is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, where she teach screenwriting.  She also directed music videos for R.E.M., Aimee Mann, Wilco, and Everything but
the Girl, among others.

Nell Scovell is a TV writer and director who created the show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  She caused a bit of a stir with a recent piece on Vanity Fair’s website about her experience as a female writer on Late Night with David Letterman.

In conjunction with its Women in Entertainment breakfast, The Hollywood Reporter has published its annual list of the most powerful women in Hollywood. My thoughts are that the list is pretty much the same from last year especially in the top 10 with a couple of women moving around. Angela Bromstad joins the list in the top ten as president of primetime entertainment at NBC (a very hard job nowadays.)

The list also indicates the inroads women have made in TV (and how far women have to go in movies) with 7 of the top ten, TV executives.

These are incredibly powerful women yet all (in the top 10), except Oprah who owns her own company, report to men. The list is also pretty damn white. I counted 8 women of color on the list.

Amy Pascal

This year’s top 10:

1. Amy Pascal, co-Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment (last year 3)

2. Anne Sweeney, president Disney-ABC Television Group co-chairman Disney Media Network (last year 2)

3. Oprah Winfrey, chairman Harpo (last year 1)

4. Nancy Tellem, president CBS Network Television Entertainment Group (last year 4)

5. Bonnie Hammer, president, NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Prods. (last year 6)

6. Donna Langley, co-chairman, Universal Pictures (last year 11)

7. Stacey Snider, co-chairman and CEO, DreamWorks Studios (last year 5)

8. Dana Walden, chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television (last year 9)

9. Nina Tassler, president, CBS Entertainment (last year 10)

10. Angela Bromstad, president, primetime entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios (last year unlisted)

Full list:
11. Sue Kroll, president of worldwide marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures

12. Judy McGrath, chairman and CEO, MTV Networks

13. Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, president of distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures International

14. Nikki Rocco, president of distribution, Universal Pictures

15. Abbe Raven, president and CEO, A&E Television Networks

16. Dawn Ostroff, president of entertainment, The CW

17. Sue Naegle, president, HBO Entertainment

18. Lauren Zalaznick, president, NBC Universal Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks

19. Kathleen Kennedy, producer

20. Mary Parent, chairman of worldwide motion picture group and office of the CEO, MGM

21. Andrea Wong, president and CEO, Lifetime Networks

22. Sheila Nevins, president, HBO Documentary and Family Programming

23. Ann Daly, COO, DreamWorks Animation

24. Nancy Utley, president, Fox Searchlight Pictures

25. Emma Watts, president of production, 20th Century Fox

Full list here.

Last year’s list

Mentor Spirit Marks WIE Breakfast (Hollywood Reporter)

It broke my heart when I read that Emma Thompson signed the petition to get Roman Polanski out of jail.  I could not believe that she of all people, a woman who has dedicated herself to bringing attention to the epidemic of human trafficking, would sign a petition to get a rapist out of jail. The good folks at Shakespeare’s Sister were also mortified and have been following the issue. One reader, Caitlin Hayward-Tapp a student at Exeter University in England put together a petition asking Emma Thompson to remove her name and got over 400 people to sign.

Caitlin was able to present the petition to Thompson at a recent event and got a very interesting answer as to why she signed it in the first place (This comes straight from Shakesville):

she [Emma Thompson] explained about how well she knows Polanski, how terrible his life has been, and how forgiving the survivor of the rape all those years ago now is. She said she thought the intentions of the judge were unclear, as were the intentions of those who arrested him recently. She told me that a lot of her friends had rung her up asking her to sign the petition, so there had been a certain amount of pressure. (My bold) She said that she had already been thinking a lot about the petition, as others had expressed their dismay at her signing it.

A certain amount of pressure.  I bet.

Here’s more:

She said, while she supported Polanski as a friend, a crime is a crime. I don’t know whether she had realised the extent of Polanski’s crime, but she is now fully aware. She will remove her name from the petition – in fact, she said she would call today and sort it out. Even though, she stressed, Polanski has had some truly terrible experiences in his lifetime, experiences that we couldn’t even imagine and which should not be taken out of the equation, she agreed that she could not put her name to a petition asking for his release.

Here’s a message Emma wanted to pass along:

“Know that I will remove my name because of you, and all of the good work that you have been doing. I have read your petition. I have heard you. And I will listen.”

I am so glad that Emma is removing her name.  She does such good work of human trafficking and will be in NYC next week with the installation Journey which highlights this blight that nobody seems to give a shit about.  Here are some details on the event.

Journey opens to the public on Washington Place, off Washington Square Park.

Hours of Operation are:

Tuesday, November 10 – Friday, November 13 12pm-8pm

Saturday, November 14 11am-7pm

Sunday, November 15 10am-3pm.

Produced in partnership with the City of New York and the City of London.  Here’s the press release.

Let’s organize a group to go and see the installation.

Emma Update (Shakesville)

Tonight in Hollywood Elle Magazine will host the annual salute to women in Hollywood.  I am looking forward to the day when we don’t need to highlight women because they will have as much power as men, but in reality, women are nowhere near as powerful as the guys.

The women being ackowledged tonight include: Katie Holmes, Zoe Saldana, Emily Blunt, Renee Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn, Julie Andrews, Julianne Moore, and Bonnie Timmerman. (How come there is no link to the Julie Andrews and Bonnie Timmerman pieces?)

The highlight of the issue includes the most powerful women in Hollywood according to Nikki Finke the feared blogger who writes Deadline Hollywood.

Here’s the intro:

Last year I was on ELLE’s Women in Hollywood power list; this year I was asked to write it. That’s ironic, because I hate power lists more than one-size-fits-all spa robes. These influential jobs are not necessarily comparable. Are the casting directors I included more important than the cinematographers and film editors I didn’t? So what I have is a very subjective roster of women I deem essential to a town run by alpha males who don’t play well with others. Women in general do. In case you’re wondering, 2009 was a lousy year for female producers because the Industry has contracted, so they’re MIA here. But there are still some movie moguls standing, and, even better, TV execs are thriving. My favorite category, however, is the “coaches.” The trick in Hollywood is not just getting power, it’s keeping it, and if women need psychic intuition or telephone therapy or wise advice from showbiz legends for an edge, who am I to judge? Well, I am the judge. It’s my list!

Here are some of the categories on THE LIST.

THE TALENT

Tyra Banks, mogulette
So much more than that model show, she seems the likely successor to Oprah both in talk and in other TV programming her production company has cooking.

Beyoncé Knowles, singer, actress
She’s come into her own as an actress (Cadillac Records, Obsessed), pitchwoman extraordinaire (L’Oréal, American Express, Pepsi), and inaugural ball star, and is worth $87 million (No. 4 on the 2009 Forbes richest entertainers list).

Kathryn Bigelow, director, producer
This veteran action director (Point Break, The Weight of Water), unafraid of shocking us, may already have a bead on the Oscar with her latest, The Hurt Locker.

Miley Cyrus, Inc.
Young and gorgeous, rich and bankable, versatile and talented, earns $25 million a year, all in one teen-tween package.

Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, talk show host
She has broken every gay barrier—even Madison Avenue is comfortable with her.

Tina Fey, actress, comedian, writer
She saved NBC’s bacon during the 2008 election with her Sarah Palin bit on SNL and with her Emmy-winning 30 Rock.

Michael Patrick King, writer-director and 2009’s honorary female
He gave us the best years of Sex and the City on TV and can be credited for reviving the chick flick in Hollywood when the movie version grossed $415 million.

Stephenie Meyer, novelist
Delivered Hollywood its hottest franchise in years, the Twilight vampire series. She’s sold 70 million books to date, and the films have grossed $383 million worldwide.

Nancy Meyers, director
One of the few women directors who constantly works (The Parent Trap, What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give) because she’s expert at defining the sexual zeitgeist.

Meryl Streep, actress
She shattered Hollywood’s ageism and sexism; at 60, she’s getting her best and showiest roles.

Continue reading ‘The Most Powerful Women in Hollywood According to Nikki Finke’

After two years of being co-president of production with Alex Young, Emma Watts has taken over sole reins of the job.

Young, of course, gets the usual Hollywood departure deal and becomes a producer on the lot, and she will most certainly get her contract extended.

Another bit of info: Fox has some serious high profile women running important divisions:

Vanessa  Morrison, runs animation

Elizabeth Gabler, runs Fox 2000 division,

Nancy Utley runs Fox Searchlight along with Stephen Gilula

Emma Watts shines at 20th Century Fox, becomes sole production president (LA Times)

One of the first “Hollywood” people who reached out to me when I started writing the blog was Joan Hyler.  That totally made my day.  Joan Hyler is one of the legendary female managers in the business.  She’s the shit.  Some of her long time clients include Diane Lane and Karen Allen.  She worked in NY in the 70s as an agent and now that Sue Mengers is retired, she’s one of the women left with serious Hollywood history.  She’s a legend.

I was all set to try and see her on a trip I was taking to LA and then read the story of her horrific car accident in August of 2008.  Suffice it to say that her injuries were devastating and she was in a coma for four months, but she somehow managed to survive and now she is back at work while still going through grueling rehab.

She appeared back in public for the first time to accept the Courage Award at the Visionary Ball to benefit UCLA Dept. of Neurosurgery whose doctors saved her life.

Here’s what she says about her career:

“I’d like to think I understood their talent and was able to help them articulate it,” she has said of her success with A-list clients. “I wanted this big-ass career, and I got it.”

Here’s how she described herself in an interview with the Jewish Journal

“I was a woman in the age of women, an agent in the age of agents, a New Yorker when that was the place to be … I have a thousand memories and not a single regret,” she says now. “That’s a quote from ‘Fiddler Jones.’ He ended up with a broken fiddle. That’s my favorite poem.”

And this totally cracked me up.

Her oldest friend Bruce Vilanch described their first conversation after she awoke from her coma:  “I had to explain who Sarah Palin was,” he said with an ironic laugh. “I told her it was a character Tina Fey does. I told her, ‘This is McCain’s running mate,’ and she gave me a look of complete horror.”

Hyler is now writing a book about her experiences.  Hopefully one day I will get my chance to meet her.  She’s an inspiration.

Miraculously, She’s Alive (Jewish Journal)
Hyler’s courage lauded with award (Variety)

I guess we should look at this moment as a glass half full moment.  Big congrats to Donna Langley the former president of production who recently returned from maternity leave to get promoted to a big new job co-chair of Universal Pictures.  Update: Langley is also the first British woman to run a studio.

While I think this is amazing and awesome, another woman with the ability to green light movies (and by the way if it weren’t for Donna Langley Mamma Mia never would have been made.  She was the one who championed it and made it happen and it has made potloads of money for the the studio), why was she made co-chair and Adam Fogelson made chair?

While this might be viewed as semantics because in all the press materials it is made to seem that they will be a team, every article has made it clear that Langley will report to Fogelson and he reports to Ron Meyer.

Here’s the quote from Meyer about Fogelson in Variety:

Adam is a natural leader with a unique ability to anticipate our audience, understand our business and collaborate with our filmmakers to give us a competitive advantage.

There is no quote about Langley’s leadership.

It’s not that they haven’t had a woman in the chair position before.  Stacey Snider was chairman of the studio for a number of years before she left to run Dreamworks.

So I guess my question is if Langley and Fogelson are going to be partners in running the studio operations, why don’t they have equivalent titles, and why is she reporting to him?

These things do matter.

Fogelson, Langley to top Universal (Variety)

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the folks who bring you the Academy Awards, have elected themselves a new president and not surprisingly, it’s a guy.  But I dug a little deeper and the numbers of women in leadership at the Academy is abysmal.

Tom Sherak was elected last night to succeed Sid Ganis as president. The only woman in leadership is Kathleen Kennedy who will be serving as a vice-president.

Only two women have been president of the Academy.  They include Bette Davis in 1941 for 2 months; and Fay Kanin from 1979-1983.  (They are only allowed to serve a maximum of 4 one year terms.) So really, only one woman has been president since 1927.

Pathetic.

This year there are a couple of women on the board of governors including:

Annette Bening
Martha Coolidge
Lynne Litmann
Dede Allen
Rosemary Brendenberg

So including Kennedy, women have 6 slots out of 43. That’s a woefully pathetic 14%.

No wonder they don’t give a shit about women.

Forbes has put together its first ever list on the top earning Hollywood women, and not surprisingly to me, half the top earners are over 40.

(PS this list is different from the list of highest earning women celebrities which came out earlier)

The list:

Number 1: Oprah Winfrey  $275 million

Number 2: Madonna $110 million

Number 3: Celine Dion $100 million

Number 4: Beyonce $87 million

Number 5: Stephenie Meyer $50 million

Number 6: Judge Judy $45 million

Number 7 (tie): Britney Spears $35 million

Number 7 (tie): Ellen Degeneres $35 million

Number 9: Tyra Banks $30 million

Number 10: Angelina Jolie $27 million

It’s so great that there are three women of color on the list.

Here how the list was compiled:

To compile the list of Hollywood’s 15 best-paid women, we looked at the top-earning actresses, writers, musicians and talking heads in the industry. We then talked to managers, agents and other Hollywood insiders to come up with estimates of their earnings between June 2008 and June 2009. For the sake of this list, we did not include musicians who perform in a group. So although the country band Sugarland earned $14 million, lead singer Jennifer Nettles could not be considered for the list.

Fired critics Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz

What’s wrong with these pictures?

One of the remaining movie review shows which peaked years ago when it starred Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert is At the Movies.  Before last season they replaced Ebert and Siskel’s replacement Richard Roeper with Ben Mankiewicz and Ben Lyons.  The pairing didn’t work at all.  So now they have changed hosts again and have clearly upped the knowledge level by hiring A.O. Scott of the NY Times and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune.

Critics A.O. Scott (left ) and Michael Phillips

Most of the movie sites are hailing the replacements but here’s my question: WHY DIDN’T THEY PICK A WOMAN?  I am so tired of women continuing to get passed by for these gigs.  Women filmgoers want more information before they make decisions about what movies to see, so wouldn’t it make sense to try and bring in a female voice and perspective to look at films that are opening?

Here are some options: Thelma Adams; Lisa Schwarzbaum; Manhola Dargis; Anne Thompson; Betsy Sharkey; Rachel Abramowitz; Karina Longworth; Stephanie Zackharek and that’s just off the top of my head.

Maybe that would be too much of a change.

Cinereach is an organization that gives out grants, funds productions in the area of social change.  They want to “facilitate the creation of films that challenge, excite, innovate, offer new perspectives and inspire action.”

They are teaming up with the Sundance Institute and will invest $1.5m over three years to help fund projects that the Institute has already been working with that are in need of emergency funding.

The project will also establish a Fellowship for emerging documentary and narrative directors committed to global cultural exchange and social impact. Fellows will be selected from existing Sundance Institute lab projects as well as projects specifically recruited by both organizations.

Here’s why this is important: Cinereach funds women.  Taking a quick look at their list of grantees women are everywhere as directors and as subjects.  And because their mission is to fund socially conscious cinema it makes sense that they would fund women because women are doing some great work raising awareness about important issues throughout the world.

This organization has only been around since 2006 and they are making a difference.

Cinereach and Sundance Unveil Three-year Grant Program (Indiewire)

Cinereach

Just an an FYI- I’m going to try and do some longer writing (ie the ever daunting book proposal) and other more time consuming projects, so there will be days when there will be no new postings on the site.

Since I do read lots of news each day I was thinking that instead holding links (to good articles and news) and posting them once a week, I will be posting them regularly through twitter.  So if you have not yet joined twitter you should.  Here’s the info: twitter.  Once you sign up here’s how to find me.

Have no fear this site is not going anywhere just thinking about how to take it to the next level.

Also, make sure you are signed up for the Friday newsletter because that is the way you get the info about films opening each weekend.

Happy July 4th for those of you in the US.  Here are some interesting stories to check out:

Women of the futurists- Galvanised by the violent energy of the futurist movement, women artists of the early 20th century wielded their brushes, needles and pens with unprecedented vigour (The Telegraph)

Sitcom actresses juggle family, careers (Hollywood Reporter)

Female playwrights set to take the West End by storm (The Guardian)

Do The Right Thing celebrates its 20th anniversary.  The Root looks at the film’s woman problem. Spike’s Woman Problem (The Root)

Director Jennifer Lynch Grilled (The Warp)

Stars are no longer a guarantee for box office success.  What does that mean for women? Little Love This Summer for A List Actors.  (LA Times)

We should all be so lucky to look like her at 50.  For Michelle Pfeiffer, Aging Gracefully Is Her Role (LA Times)

Looped: TV’s Rhoda Takes on the Trials of Tallulah (NPR)

Julie White in Transformers and Shakespeare in the Park: A Stage to Screen Transformation (NY Daily News)

I’m sure this is no shock to anyone but the new Forbes list of top earning actresses is out and while some women earn a ton of money from acting and endorsements, they make way les than their male peers.

The top female earner was Angelina Jolie with $27 million.  The top male earner was Harrison Ford at $65 million.  The top 10 actors earner earned $393 million compared with $183 million for actresses.

Right behind Jolie is Jennifer Aniston at $25 million, and surprisingly and happily Meryl Streep is third with $24 million.  I’m going to say that again.  Meryl Streep made $24 million last year.  A 60 year old female actress made $24 million.  How cool.  Even though Meryl has always been on top with nominations she has never been a big earner and now at 60 she is making some serious bucks.  It definitely helps that Mamma Mia! has earned over $603 million worldwide.

The only woman of color in the top 20 is Halle Berry who earned $7 million.

The list:

Angelina Jolie- $27 m

Jennifer Aniston- $25 m

Meryl Streep- $24 m

Sarah Jessica Parker- $23 m

Cameron Diaz- $20 m

Sandra Bullock and Reese Witherspoon- $15 m

Nicole Kidman and Drew Barrymore- $12 m

Renee Zellweger- $10m

Cate Blanchett- $8m

Anne Hathaway and Halle Berry – $7m

Scarlett Johansson- $5.5m

Kate Winslet- $2m

Hollywood’s Top Earning Actresses (Forbes.com)

Universal Pictures has picked up the comedy pitch Business Trip from writer Stacey Harman.  Benderspink, behind the Warner Bros. hit “The Hangover,” will produce the laffer about a group of women who go on a corporate trip but wind up doing anything but business while on company time. (Variety)

Reaper co-star Missy Peregrym landed the lead role on the Canadian cop drama Copper, which will air on ABC.  Billed as “Grey’s Anatomy” set in the world of rookie cops, “Copper” centers on Andy McNally (Peregrym), a newly minted cop fresh from the academy and the daughter of a homicide detective. (HR)

BBC Worldwide is co-producing a new Emma miniseries and a sequel to Judi Dench starrer Cranford for PBS’ “Masterpiece Classic” in early 2010.  Romola Garai (“Atonement”) stars in “Emma.  “Cranford 2,” will be presented in two hourlong installments, Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Francesca Annis and Eileen Atkins are resuming their roles.  Heidi Thomas, writer of the original adaptation, will pen the sequel.  (Variety)

Maya Entertainment has acquired U.S. theatrical and home entertainment rights to Mexican comedy Casi divas.  Written and directed by Issa Lopez, the film centers on four young women from different corners of Mexico who get caught up in the frenzy during a talent search for a lead role in a movie.  Film will be released in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and San Diego on Aug. 21, with a national expansion to follow.  (Variety)

Katherine Heigl is starring and producing the new romantic drama Life As We Know It.  Film is about two singles who are named as the guardians of their mutual friends’ oprhaned daughter (Empire)

Nora and Delia Ephron’s stage adaptation of book Love, Loss and What I Wore will have a 12-week Off Broadway run beginning in September.  Show will have three casts of five thesps each, including Tyne Daly, Rosie O’Donnell, Kristin Chenoweth and Rita Wilson. Casts will play stints of four weeks each.  Production is helmed by Karen Carpenter.  Show is based on Ilene Beckerman’s illustrated look at the outfits she wore during different phases of her life. A series of sartorial-themed anecdotes, the legit version takes its inspiration not only from the book but also from personal stories of the Ephrons’ friends.  Production begins previews at the Westside Theater Sept. 21 ahead of an Oct. 1 opening. Some proceeds of the run will go to charity Dress for Success, which provides professional clothes and job support for low-income women. (Variety)

Sheryl Lee Ralph has stepped into a lead role in the Broadway-aimed tuner adaptation of The First Wives’ Club.  Actress joins Barbara Walsh and Karen Ziemba as a trio of women who are all dumped by their husbands for younger women.  Francesca Zambello (“The Little Mermaid”) directs the musical, with score by Motown songwriters Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland and book by Rupert Holmes (“Curtains”).  “First Wives” plays at the Old Globe July 17-Aug. 23. Specifics for the Broadway run, produced by Paul Lambert and Jonas Neilson, remain to be confirmed.  (Variety)

The Academy blew the minds of pretty much everyone following the film business by doubling the Best Picture nominees starting this year.  So instead of five best picture nominees there will be ten.

The news was greeted with mixed emotions (as expected) but I am interested in thinking about whether having more films slots could help pictures about women and women filmmakers.

I emailed some people in the film business and here are their answers.  Hopefully I will get some more responses and I will add them to the post.

More importantly, what do you think about this big, big change?

Gale Anne Hurd, producer of The Terminator, The Abyss and Punisher: War Zone

I’m delighted the Academy has made this decision – now lesser known indie films, strong dramas or musicals, and even powerful commercial films (like this year’s STAR TREK) will receive the recognition they deserve with a nomination.

Thelma Adams, Film critic, US Weekly

This change clearly seems to be to the advantage of big films that have been overlooked of late — The Dark Knight, etc.  So I don’t think it’s a victory for women in film, but a triumph for big Hollywood over quality indies.  Will this help Kathryn Bigelow’s pummeling “The Hurt Locker?” I think not.

Martha Coolidge, director, Rambling Rose, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (disclaimer: she is on the Board of Governors of the Academy)

So my answer to you is “yes” this certainly increases the chances of films by and about women being nominated in the Best Picture category.  The number of Directors to be nominated has not been increased so I don’t think it effects that at all, except that any achievement by a woman helps every other woman.  So a woman’s movie nominated for Best Picture one year could increase the attention to another good one the next year getting more attention for both categories.

Sasha Stone, editor, Awards Daily

I think for the first time in decades there is a chance for more than one woman to get a film into the Big Ten.  Best Director, though, is still where all of the power lies and in that category no woman has won.  Can this change that?  It’s possible.  It looks likely that Kathryn Bigelow’s Hurt Locker is headed for one of the ten slots – she may get a Best Director nod but I don’t think you’d find anyone who would say she is the frontrunner, or even has a chance, to win.  That’s because most of us accept the bitter truth that these awards are still voted on by a majority of male voters.  So in that way, ten nominees isn’t going to change things. On the other hand, perhaps the wider opening for Best Picture contenders at all could open previously closed doors for women and other minorities.

What it mainly does is free up the Academy voter from having to make hard decisions.  For instance, last year it was The Reader vs. The Dark Knight.  Previously it was Dreamgirls versus Letters from Iwo Jima.  Since voters put down their pics in order of preference from 1 to 5, their top two, or maybe three are the only films that get attention.  They know this, which makes their decisions so difficult, so predictable and so boring. With more choices, smaller films or foreign films or even animated films that voters love could pop up on the list whether it’s been marketed as an Oscar movie or not.

Robin Swicord, Screenwriter (Little Women, Memoirs of a Geisha) and Director (Jane Austen Book Club)

I’m not sure what the effect will be on women.  What I hope  is that the onslaught of expensive Oscar campaigning may be somewhat reduced, since it should be fairly impossible for a studio to mount mega-million-dollar Oscar campaigns for every film that would be in possible contention in a wider field of nominees.  Reduced competitive “noise” may make it easier for a film without the support of a huge and costly Oscar campaign to come to the attention of voters.  (And yes, some of those may be films written by or directed by or starring women in lead roles.)  I also hope that a broader field of possible nominees will allow more action films and comedies to get the attention that some in these genres deserve.  And it may even change the Weinstein/Miramax-originated model of releasing “Oscar contenders” only in the fall and then doing a full-court press to position a handful of pictures as being Award-worthy.  It won’t be possible for schedulers to fit every Oscar-worthy film into a fall release in theatres if the field has widened to ten Best Picture nominees.  Personally I’d like to be able to go to the movies year-round and expect to see films of high quality.  We’ve driven audiences away from the habit of going to the movies regularly, by creating these weird little release windows for “summer movies” and “fall movies” and the February dumping ground for movies that distributors aren’t sure how to sell.  These release patterns make it difficult for studios and marketers to think in other terms, and I believe that has limited the development of movies that are truly original.  Here’s hoping the Academy’s Board of Governors did something brilliant.  I think it is possible that they have.

Twentieth Century Fox and Lakeshore Entertainment are remaking Girls Just Want to Have Fun, the 1985 teen comedy that starred Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker.  The studio has set Michelle Morgan to write a new version of the film, which centered on two girls who share a passion for dancing and the hit show Dance TV.  (Variety)

Liz Heldens, creator and exec producer of NBC’s upcoming drama Mercy, has inked a two-year overall deal with Universal Media Studios. (Variety)

Sunshine Cleaning helmer Christine Jeffs has signed to direct Wonderful Tonight for Castle Rock Entertainment which chronicles the relationship between a confirmed bachelor and a young woman, after their one-nighter leads to an unplanned pregnancy and a surprising love affair. (Variety)

Paramount has purchased Honey Pot, a pitch from screenwriter Liz Meriwether for a female-driven action comedy.  The plotline involves two women in the world of international espionage.  (HR)

Reese Witherspoon will star in Pharm Girl, an aspirational comedy centring on one woman’s odyssey through the drug industry.  Film is about a woman who gets a job at a pharmaceutical powerhouse and begins to see the underbelly of the industry as she rises through the company’s ranks. (HR)

Overture is developing Celeste and Jesse Forever, a romantic comedy that will star Rashida Jones. The film is about a divorcing couple who attempt to maintain their friendship while pursuing new relationships.  Jones co-wrote the screenplay with Will McCormack, and the film will be produced by Suzanne and Jenifer Todd’s Team Todd shingle. (The Wrap)

Daytime syndicated talk show Rachael Ray has been renewed through the 2011-12. (HR)

Diane Lane is set to star in Secretariat, the Disney film about the relationship between the 1973 Triple Crown-winning racehorse and his owner, Penny Chenery. Lane will play Chenery, a mother and housewife who knew little about horse racing when she took over her ailing father’s farm in Virginia. (Variety)

Joy Behar will have her own show on cable’s HLN.  The Joy Behar Show will star the comedian and TV personality in a talk and interview hour airing nightly at 9 p.m. ET, says HLN, formerly known as Headline News. It will premiere this fall, with the popular Nancy Grace Show as lead-in.   (USA Today)

Here are some pieces of interest:

Director Susan Seidelman answers questions for NY Magazine

Jezebel takes on the romantic comedy

Film’s new fall guy: Women A disturbing trend surfaces at film fest; more scenes of sexual violence and degradation (Toronto Star)

Reality TV Hates Women (Newsweek)

The Woman in Charge of Reality Shows at Spike TV (NY Times)

Girls on Film: A Desire for Varied Female Protagonists is Not a Political Agenda (Cinematical)