BY Casey Cipriani
Eleanor Catton’s “The Luminaries” Coming to Television
Eleanor Catton’s award-winning novel “The Luminaries” is being adapted for TV, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Working Title Television will produce the series for the BBC. Catton will adapt...
Trailer Watch: Ellen Page’s “Gaycation” Returns for Season 2
Season 1 of Viceland’s “Gaycation” featured Ellen Page and Ian Daniel, her gay best friend, traveling to Jamaica, Brazil, Japan, and the U.S. to explore LBGTQ communities around the world. In...
Refinery29 Launches Women-Directed Film Series
Refinery29’s Shatterbox Anthology short film series highlighting female filmmakers has launched. On August 28, the first of 12 short films, a documentary called “Watching You, Watching Me,”...
Books by Nine-Year-Old Journalist Hilde Lysiak Being Made into a TV Series
Paramount Television and Anonymous Content have snatched up the rights to an upcoming book series from tiny journalist Hilde Lysiak, Variety reports. The nine-year-old reporter Lysiak made news...
Toni Collette to Star in “Unit Zero” from “Black-ish” Team
Toni Collette will star in and executive produce ABC’s “Unit Zero,” Deadline reports. The series, an action dramedy, comes from “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris and producer Lindsey...
Amazon Acquires Creepy Australian Drama Series “The Kettering Incident”
Amazon Prime Video has acquired the U.S. rights to the first season of the Australian drama “The Kettering Incident” from BBC Worldwide, Variety reports. The series stars Elizabeth Debicki...
Three Women Shortlisted to Direct “Captain Marvel”
Three outstanding female directors are on the short list to direct “Captain Marvel,” the first female-led superhero movie from Marvel Studios. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that those...
Trailer Watch: Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom” Looks Award Worthy
“Belle” director Amma Asante’s next film, “A United Kingdom” will make its world premiere September 9 during the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, then make its way to London...
Women Leading the Way in NBC Universal DreamWorks Merger
NBC Universal has announced the new structure for their senior management team for their acquisition of DreamWorks Animation and women are taking some important roles. As TheWrap reported, Bonnie...
Watch: “Pitch” Inspires Kids to Believe Women Can Do Anything
If you see it, you can dream it, and you can become it. So it will come as no surprise when, after “Pitch” premieres on Fox on September 22, more little girls everywhere will want to start...
First Project from Alicia Vikander’s Vikarious Productions Begins Filming
Production has begun on the first film to come out of Oscar winner Alicia Vikander’s new company Vikarious Productions. “Euphoria,” the English-language directorial debut of Swedish writer and...
Trailer Watch: Kate Winslet Designs Fabulous Revenge in “The Dressmaker”
Revenge is best served while wearing a fabulous dress. Kate Winslet stars as Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage in the Australian dark comedy “The Dressmaker,” from director Jocelyn Moorhouse. Tilly is...
Trailer Watch: Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” 25th Anniversary Remaster
“Daughters of the Dust” Julie Dash’s landmark film “Daughters of the Dust” has been remastered and a new trailer has just been released in anticipation of the film’s 25th anniversary...
Elizabeth Banks’ WhoHaHa Comedy Platform Launches “Cannabis Moms Club”
Elizabeth Banks’ comedy platform WhoHaHa has launched a new web series called “Cannabis Moms Club,” about stay-at-home moms who love smoking weed. “Cannabis Moms Club” was created by Kai...
Joan Collins and Pauline Collins Road Comedy Gets International Distribution
“The Time of Their Lives,” the road trip comedy starring Joan Collins and Pauline Collins, has received distribution via Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in the U.K., Australia, France, and...
Former CBS Boss Nina Tassler Working with Liz Tigelaar on Showtime Series
Former CBS Entertainment chair Nina Tassler is developing a series for Showtime, Variety reports. Less than one year after leaving CBS, Tassler has “The Middlesteins” in the works at Showtime....
How Alpha Violet Supports Female Talent
Virginie Devesa, the co-head of the Paris-based sales agency Alpha Violet, is at the Locarno Film Festival this week in search of new filmmaking voices and has her eye out for films made by women....
Trailer Watch: Halle Berry is On a Mission to Save Her Son in “Kidnap”
Don’t mess with a mom and her minivan. In “Kidnap,” Oscar winner Halle Berry plays Karla McCoy, a woman determined to find her son after he’s kidnapped from a park. A new trailer for the...
Watch Today: Women’s Leadership in Theater Conference Live Stream
The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco is hosting a Women’s Leadership Conference today that you can watch live. The conference, as BroadwayWorld reports, “emerged from a...
Zooey Deschanel Directing “New Girl” Season Six Premiere
Zooey Deschanel, star of Fox’s “New Girl,” will be making her directorial debut by helming the season premiere of the comedy, now heading into its sixth season. As Entertainment Weekly...
Melora Hardin To Star in Freeform Pilot “Issues”
Melora Hardin, who played Tammy Cashman on “Transparent,” is now set for the Freeform pilot “Issues,” Deadline reports. The pilot, created by Sarah Watson (“Parenthood”), “was...
Trailer Watch: “Quit Staring At My Plate” Takes a Woman to Her Breaking Point
Croatian director Hana Jusic’s debut feature, “Quit Staring At My Plate,” will play in competition the Venice Days section of the Venice Film Festival. The new trailer for the film highlights...
Kristen Stewart Gets Candid About Anxiety and Relationships
Having started acting at nine years old, Kristen Stewart has had to grow up in the public eye. That could give anyone anxiety, but the pressures placed on young women in particular can absolutely...
Trailer Watch: “Girl Asleep” Captures Teenage Angst and Imagination
Being a teenager is seriously rough, and the filmmaking debut of theater director Rosemary Myers captures the angst perfectly in the new trailer for “Girl Asleep.” The Australian comedy stars...
“Hidden Figures” Eyes Potential Awards Season Qualifying Run
Good news for fans of female-centric movies, inclusive casts, and the history of space travel: Deadline reports that “Hidden Figures,” the true story of the black women involved in the space...
New DGA Study on First-Time TV Directors Reveals Only 19% Were Women
Credit: DGA The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has released the results of an annual study on the gender and ethnic diversity of directors who received their first assignments in episodic TV and...
Trailer Watch: “Generation Startup” Shows the Harsh Realities of Entrepreneurship
90 percent of startups fail, but the subjects of Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser’s documentary “Generation Startup” are trying to be some of the few that succeed. The new doc follows six...
Ava DuVernay Talks Making History
Ava DuVernay: THR “Selma” director Ava DuVernay cannot be stopped. No one is going to tell her what to do. And thank goodness. Not only does the director have an abundance of projects coming up,...
Nia Long Joins Idina Menzel for Lifetime’s “Beaches” Remake
Nia Long is set to join Idina Menzel in Lifetime’s remake of “Beaches,” Deadline reports. Long will play Hillary to Menzel’s CC. The 1988 original starred Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey...
Trailer Watch: “American Honey” Wants You to “Dream Baby Dream”
A new trailer for Andrea Arnold’s “American Honey” has been released, and it features Bruce Springsteen’s “Dream Baby Dream” and new voiceover narration describing the...
Soledad O’Brien Taking Over “Matter of Fact” Political Magazine Series
Soledad O’Brien is taking over in the second season of political magazine show “Matter of Fact,” Variety reports. She’ll step in as an anchor and producer, and the program will be renamed...
Eva Longoria Signs Deal with Universal
Eva Longoria has signed a two-year, first-look deal with Universal Pictures for her company UnbelEVAble Entertainment, Deadline reports. The first project on the slate is “My Daughter’s...
Anna Paquin Joins Netflix’s “Alias Grace”
Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Anna Paquin (“The Piano,” “True Blood”) is joining the Netflix miniseries “Alias Grace,” based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the...
Jill Soloway Bringing a Musical Comedy to Amazon
Jill Soloway will executive produce a musical comedy for Amazon, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The series will follow “a woman’s search for love and self-discovery in Los Angeles.” The idea...
Trailer Watch: The Aliens of “Arrival” Are Revealed to Amy Adams
Human beings have often misunderstood one another throughout history. Whether we speak the same language or not, miscommunications have led to catastrophic events. So imagine the pressure Amy...
Patricia Arquette Headlining Colette Burson’s “Permanent”
Patricia Arquette, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her 12-year long role in “Boyhood,” will star in the coming-of-age comedy “Permanent.” The film was written and will be...
Carrie Preston Joins TNT Pilot “Claws”
Carrie Preston, who starred in “The Good Wife” and “True Blood,” is set to co-star in TNT’s “Claws,” a new pilot from Rashida Jones and Will McCormack’s Le Train Train and...
“Making a Murderer’s” Directors on Shocking Developments in the Case
The filmmakers behind Netflix hit “Making a Murderer” released a statement on Friday addressing the new developments in the case they profiled in the 10-part series. According to Variety, the...
Watch: “Broad City’s” Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer Present Awards for Sexism
The women of “Broad City,” Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, have revealed the categories for the first Golden Probe Awards, a satirical skewering of both awards shows and the sexism that plagues...
Quote of the Day: Felicity Jones on the Respect “Rogue One” Has for Women
Felicity Jones is about to have an amazing fall/winter of 2016. In addition to leading “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the first spinoff film of the franchise, she’ll appear alongside Tom...
Trailer Watch: “Hidden Figures” Introduces the Black Women Who Got Us into Space
“We go from being our father’s daughters, to our husbands wives, to our baby’s mothers,” says Janelle Monáe’s character in the new trailer for “Hidden Figures.” But that’s no longer...
Trailer Watch: “Long Way North” Heroine Sets Out on a Frigid Quest
Shout! Factory Films has announced a release date for the animated film “Long Way North” and unveiled a new trailer in anticipation. The film, according to its official synopsis, is set in the...
“Walking Dead” Director Jennifer Chambers Lynch to Helm Horror Film
Jennifer Chambers Lynch has helmed episodes of “The Walking Dead” and is pretty much guaranteed to have creepy in her DNA — David Lynch is her father. So it’s fitting that she’ll...
Disney’s “Elena of Avalor” Renewed for Second Season
Disney has renewed “Elena of Avalor,” their Latina Princess TV series, for a second season, Variety has revealed. As we previously reported when the series first premiered, the series is infused...
Frankie Shaw Gets Showtime Pilot
Showtime has ordered a pilot for Frankie Shaw’s “SMILF,” Deadline reports. The series is based on her short of the same name that won the Short Film Jury Award at Sundance last year. The...
Trailer Watch: “Rogue One” Reveals Your Favorite Villain
The familiar, heavy breath of Darth Vader is a lingering presence over the end of the new trailer for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” but our female lead, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) seems...
Sundance Announces 2016 Fellows
Sundance has announced the 12 independent artists who will be awarded the 2016 Sundance Institute/Time Warner Foundation Fellowships and seven of them (58 percent) are women. As a release details,...
Pat Benatar Musical Heading to Broadway
A new musical based on the music of Pat Benatar is heading to the stage. According to Deadline, the musical will focus on the professional and personal accomplishments of Benatar and her...
Emily Carmichael to Direct “Lumberjanes” for 20th Century Fox
Indie filmmaker Emily Carmichael will direct “Lumberjanes” for 20th Century Fox, TheWrap has reported. According to the site, “Lumberjanes” is considered “a female version of ‘The...
“Star Trek: Discovery” Will Feature a Female Lead
Bryan Fuller revealed more details about the upcoming “Star Trek” series “Star Trek: Discovery,” which is set to air on CBS’ All Access, while at the TCAs this week. The series, The...
Academy Announces 2016 Film Scholars
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced Dr. Donna Kornhaber and Dr. Ellen Christine Scott as 2016 Academy Film Scholars. The Film Scholars program, which was established in...