Features, Films, News, Women Writers

Best of 2016: The Dudeocracy of Film Writers

Pauline Kael:

Women and Hollywood is off today. Please enjoy one of our top posts of the year. This piece is from May 5, 2016.

Yesterday, Owen Gleiberman was appointed chief film critic at Variety. We congratulate him on the position, and consider him a great writer, but his hiring has capped off a bothersome trend we’ve seen occurring within the past month. We’ve noticed (as others have) that many major jobs at film or entertainment publications recently have gone to men.

In April, Indiewire hired two new male film writers after it was purchased by Penske Media Corporation, the same umbrella company that owns Variety, Deadline, and TV Line. Rolling Stone hired another man to take over for the one who left for Indiewire. Two men were given prominent editorial roles at Film Society of Lincoln Center and its magazine, Film Comment. Add those to Glieberman’s hiring and that’s six men who have been offered important positions in the film media world within four weeks.

It’s presumed that Glieberman is taking over the job of Justin Chang, who was offered a new job as film critic at the L.A. Times. Before Chang took the gig, it was held by a woman, Betsy Sharkey, who resigned last May to pursue a book project.

When these announcements were made, emails and DMs came into Women and Hollywood from female film writers who are not only flabbergasted by the trend, but are struggling to move up or even find jobs themselves. Few will go on the record, but the sentiment of frustration is always the same.

“I love reading Justin Chang, Owen Gleiberman, and Eric Kohn,” Carrie Rickey, former critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer told W&H. “Yet we all know from scanning Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes that male reviewers are less receptive to movies by women filmmakers. The movie world is already tilted against female directors. The dudeocracy makes the playing field even less even.”

“When I started getting texts about Variety’s hire of Owen Gleiberman, on top of Justin Chang’s at the LAT, and David Ehrlich’s at Indiewire, I would have done a spit take. But I have no more spits to give,” a freelance female film critic told us anonymously. “The bias is as clear in this field as in directing, cinematography and so many others. It does a great disservice to criticism and, as gatekeepers, to the work of women artists. And it would be so easy to change, one hire at a time.”

“I was one of several women laid off from the same film publication last year, all of whom were replaced by men,” another female film writer told us. “All I can say is that I’m disappointed. Female film critics are few and far between. It feels like every day I hear about another male critic getting hired. It would have been nice to see some chances taken.”

That got us thinking about how few female film critics are actually out there, and how tough it is for women not only in the actual Hollywood machine, but in the Hollywood media as well. Some sites are devoted to women, and feature a majority of women on their writings staffs, such as BitchFlicks, and the entire staff of Elle’s Film & TV section is female, outside of the sole film reviewer. (Esquire and Forbes have only men.) There are many women writing for Bright Wall Dark Room as well. And let’s not forget the Alliance of Women Film Journalists which has a terrific list of women critics and writers.

We reached out to Diana Drumm, who runs the Twitter account @FemaleFilmCritics to dig up a list of female critics around the country. The list below is made up of women who, as far Diana can find, are either full-time, staff film critics, or who write film criticism in addition to reportorial pieces, or are freelance critics. The list is extensive, though by all means not conclusive. And unlike the men hired this month, many of them are not staffers with the job stability that the trades might offer (as opposed to a fledgling website).

The list is international and is made up of female film and TV critics and reviewers, editors, and columnists. But we at Women and Hollywood encourage you to seek out them all for a read. To get on the list you need to be employed by an outlet or are a freelance writer who has regular outlets where you work.

Female Film/TV Critics and Film/TV Writers :

Thelma Adams

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

Mallory Andrews, Movie Mezzanine

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press

Miriam Bale

Dana Barbuto, Patriot Ledger

Nikki Baughan, Screen Daily

Angelica Jade Bastien, RogerEbert.com

Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

Nikki Baughan

Abbey Bender, Village Voice

Laura Berger, Women and Hollywood

Paula Bernstein, Filmmaker Magazine

Catherine Bray, Variety

Emily Buder, No Film School

Teo Bugbee, MTV

Monica Castillo, Village Voice

Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times

Jen Chaney, Washington Post

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News

Casey Cipriani, Bustle, W&H, Refinery29

Diana Clarke, Village Voice

Lesley Coffin, The Mary Sue

Devan Coggan, EW

Sandy Cohen, AP

Sherilyn Connelly, Village Voice

Joanna Connors, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com plus others

Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Laura DeMarco, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Yohana Desta, Mashable

Miriam Di Nunzio, Chicago Sun-Times

Serena Donadoni, Village Voice

Amber Dowling, The Wrap (TV)

Lauren Duca

Molly Eichel, Philadelphia Enquirer

Lynn Elber, AP (TV)

Justine Elias, RogerEbert.com

Vanessa Erazo, Remezcla

Kate Erbland, Indiewire

Lucy Feldman, Wall Street Journal

Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter

Julia Felsenthal, Vogue

Caroline Framke, Vox

Abby Garnett, Village Voice

Pam Grady, San Fransisco Chronicle

Alisha Grauso, Film School Rejects

Ellen Gray, Philadelphia Daily News (TV)

Leah Greenblatt, EW

Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International

Angie Han, Slash Film

Rachel Handler, MTV

Tina Hassannia, Movie Mezzanine

Lauren Hoffman, Cosmopolitan

Linda Holmes, NPR

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Jane Horwitz, Washington Post

Lauren Humphries-Brooks, We Got This Covered

Wendy Ide, The Observer, Screen International

Caryn James, Wall Street Journal

Mary Ann Johanson, Flick Filosopher

Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle

Inkoo Kang, MTV (TV Critic)

Rebecca Keegan, L.A. Times

Allison Keene, Collider

Gwyneth Kelly, The New Republic

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Laura Kern, Film Comment

Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

Ellen Killoran, Forbes, Maxim

Crystal Shaw King, Ebony, Refinery29

Kristen Yonsoo Kim, Complex

Anna Klassen, Bustle

Yasmin Kleinbart, The Young Folks

Genevieve Koski

Tomris Laffly, Film School Rejects, Film Journal Int’l

Christina Lee

Maggie Lee, Variety

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com

Sheri Linden, L.A. Times, THR

Kristen Lopez, CinemaSentries, Film School Rejects

Violet Lucca, Film Comment

Melissa Maerz, EW (TV Critic)

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Melanie McFarland (TV)

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post

Jenni Miller, Bust

Liz Shannon Miller, Indiewire (TV)

Nell Minow, Beliefnet

Mary Angelica Molina, Remezcla

Caitlin Moore, Washington Post

Kate Muir, The Times of London

Emma Myers, Film Comment, Brooklyn Magazine, and Vice Broadly

Kimber Myers, The Playlist

Alison Nastasi, Flavorwire

Farran Nehme, New York Post

Perri Nemiroff, Collider

Lisa Nesselson, RogerEbert.com

Amy Nicholson, MTV News

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press

Emily Nussbaum, The New Yorker (TV Critic)

Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper

Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com

Joanne Ostrow, Denver Post (TV Critic)

Willa Paskin, Slate (TV Critic)

Gail Pennington, St Louis Post-Dispatch (TV Critic)

Katelyn Mae Petrin, St. Louis Riverfront Times

Nichole Perkins

Kristy Puchko, @pajiba/@CBR etc.

Kiva Reardon

Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly

B. Ruby Rich, Film Quarterly

Katey Rich, Vanity Fair

Jamie Righetti, Film School Rejects

Carrie Rickey

Joanna Robinson, Vanity Fair

Tasha Robinson, The Verge

Sarah Rodman, Los Angeles Times

Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post

Michelle Ruiz, Vogue

Mo Ryan, Variety

Sonia Saraiya, Salon

Lisa Schwarzbaum, freelance

Catherine Shoard, The Guardian

Alissa Simon, Variety

Anna Smith, Elle UK

Justine Smith, RogerEbert.com

Dana Stevens, Slate

Sara Stewart, New York Post

Sasha Stone, Awards Daily

Amy Taubin, Film Comment

Ella Taylor, NPR

Elaine Teng, The New Republic

Anne Thompson, Indiewire

Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Kristi Turnquist, The Oregonian

Helen T. Verongos, The New York Times (TV)

Pilot Viruet, Flavorwire (TV)

Katie Walsh, L.A. Times, Tribune News Service, Playlist

Sarah Ward

Max Weiss, Baltimore Magazine

Elizabeth Weitzman, NY Daily News

Amy West, IB Times

Hillary Weston, Criterion

Alynda Wheat, People

Erin Whitney, ScreenCrush

Alissa Wilkinson, Christianity Today

Alison Willmore, Buzzfeed

Lauren Wissot, Filmmaker Magazine

Susan Wloszczyna, RogerEbert.com

April Wolfe, L.A. Weekly, Village Voice

Jen Yamato, Daily Beast

Deborah Young, THR

Emly Yoshida, The Verge

Stephanie Zacharek, TIME

Lara Zarum, Village Voice


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