BY Rachel Montpelier
“Stargirl” Gets Season 2 Renewal, Will Move to The CW
“Stargirl” is getting a second season — and a new home. According to Variety, the story of Courtney Whitmore, aka Stargirl, will move to The CW from the streamer DC Universe (DCU)...
Stefani Robinson to Make Feature Screenwriting Debut with “Black Mozart” Biopic
Stefani Robinson has explored the surreality of the Black experience in contemporary America with “Atlanta,” and gone on wacky adventures with a motley crew of vampires with “What...
Gabrielle Union & Freida Pinto Developing TV Adaptation of Tanisha C. Ford’s “Dressed in Dreams”
Gabrielle Union and Freida Pinto are joining forces to bring Tanisha C. Ford’s memoir, “Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion,” to television....
Trailer Watch: “Wynonna Earp” Is Back Home and Taking on the Demons in Season 4
Game on, bitches: “Wynonna Earp” is back. A trailer has dropped for Season 4 of the cult Syfy show and sees the titular character returning to Purgatory and reuniting with her crew...
Academy Invites 819 New Members, 45 Percent Are Women and 36 Percent POC
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the organization behind the Oscars, has invited 819 artists and execs from 68 countries to join. A press release announcing the 2020 class...
Rights to Brit Bennett’s “The Vanishing Half” Snagged by HBO in Seven-Figure Deal
Brit Bennett’s “The Vanishing Half” has been out for less than a month, and already the bestseller has a TV adaptation on the way. As Deadline reports, “HBO won a wild...
Beyoncé’s New Visual Album “Black Is King” Coming to Disney+
Mark your calendars: Beyoncé’s next visual album will hit Disney+ on July 31. According to a press release, “Black Is King,” “reimagines the lessons of ‘The Lion...
Pick of the Day: “Babyteeth”
The slog of long-term illness can do weird things to people — not just those who are actually sick, but their loved ones, as well. Shannon Murphy’s “Babyteeth,” the story of a...
Pick of the Day: “Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth”
Shortly before I watched “Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth,” Jeanie Finlay’s documentary about a trans man embarking upon pregnancy and parenthood, “Harry Potter” author...
Ava DuVernay, Whoopi Goldberg, & More Elected to Academy Board, Number of Women & POC Hits New High
Ava DuVernay, Whoopi Goldberg, and “A Star Is Born” producer Lynette Howell Taylor are among the 16 people who have been elected or reelected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and...
Women In Film’s Hire Her Back Campaign Calls for Gender & Racial Equality as Productions Resume
The COVID-19 crisis and recent Black Lives Matter protests have laid bare the racial, class, and gender disparities that exist in law enforcement, healthcare, labor, and well, everywhere. As...
Cicely Tyson to Receive Peabody Career Achievement Award
Cicely Tyson will soon have a Peabody to add to the honorary Oscar, three Emmys, and Kennedy Center Honors prize on her mantel. The iconic actress is this year’s recipient of the Peabody...
WGAW Inclusion Report: Underrepresented Writers Making Gains, but Systemic Discrimination Persists
In the past year, underrepresented writers — including women, people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people over age 55 — have made strides in movies and...
Weekly Update for June 5: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films You Can Watch from Home
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Shirley – Directed by Josephine Decker; Written by Sarah Gubbins Towards the beginning of “Shirley,” an unwanted house guest tells Shirley...
Oprah Winfrey to Host Televised Town Hall Addressing America’s Systemic Racism
As demonstrations against racism and anti-Black police brutality continue in the U.S. and around the world, Oprah Winfrey is using her platform to inspire frank conversation, and hopefully inspire...
Pick of the Day: “Judy & Punch”
Writer-director Mirrah Foulkes has described “Judy & Punch” as a “bat-shit crazy origin story about the Punch and Judy puppet show.” After seeing it, I’d attest to...
Kelly Sallaway, Meghan Duffy, and Sharon Houston Named Propelle Accelerator Finalists
Propelle, the new female-focused accelerator program from Everywoman Studios and Realscreen magazine, has announced the three finalists for its inaugural edition. A press release confirmed that Kelly...
Tyler English-Beckwith Wins Leah Ryan’s Fund For Emerging Women Writers
Playwright Tyler English-Beckwith has received Leah Ryan’s Fund For Emerging Women Writers for her play “Mingus.” A press release describes the work as a “smart, dynamic, and...
Julia Bacha and Leslie Tai Among Keep The Lights On COVID-19 Doc Fund Recipients
Documentary studio XTR, Wavelength Productions, and Park Pictures have teamed up to help doc projects that have been affected by the pandemic. According to Deadline, the orgs’ have presented a...
Women in Tennis Doc “Unraveling Athena” Lands at Shout! Studios
“Unraveling Athena: The Champions of Women’s Tennis,” a documentary exploring the lives, careers, and struggles of some of history’s finest female tennis players, has been...
Salima Koroma Directing Black Wall Street Documentary
Another project examining the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre is in the works. Deadline confirms “Bad Rap” director Salima Koroma is helming and executive producing a documentary about Black...
Penny Lane to Direct Quibi Docuseries “What We Keep,” Cynthia Erivo Exec Producing
Cynthia Erivo and Penny Lane are making their way to Quibi. According to a press release, the latter is directing “What We Keep,” a docuseries about people’s most prized...
“Surviving R. Kelly’s” dream hampton to Direct and EP Tulsa Race Massacre Docuseries
dream hampton, executive producer of the award-winning, change-making “Surviving R. Kelly,” is working on another docuseries unearthing a horrific injustice that has been long ignored....
Weinstein Accuser Sarah Ann Masse and Alexa Polar Collaborating on #MeToo-Themed Drama
Sarah Ann Masse — actress, comedian, and one of the many, many women preyed upon by Harvey Weinstein — will star in a feature drama examining Hollywood’s systems of misogyny and...
Cannes 2020: Charlie Buhler & Jenna Lyng Adams’ Pandemic Thriller “Before the Fire” Goes to Dark Sky
An extremely prescient thriller written and directed by women has secured North American distribution. According to Deadline, Dark Sky Films nabbed the rights to “Before the Fire,” a...
Lifetime and Variety Team Up to Celebrate Women on Frontlines of COVID-19 Crisis
Variety and Lifetime have joined forces for a special honoring “the brave women serving on the frontlines of the pandemic.” A press release has announced “Lifetime Presents...
Trailer Watch: Abortion Rights Activists in Ireland Fight to Repeal “The 8th”
Two years ago, Ireland voted to repeal the 8th amendment, the 1983 law that granted fetuses the same right to life as their mothers, in a historic referendum. Now Maeve O’Boyle, Lucy Kennedy, and...
Trailer Watch: After an Assault, Michaela Coel Focuses on Friends and Work in “I May Destroy You”
Michaela Coel turns her attention to her friendships, work, and activism in the new trailer for “I May Destroy You.” Although its tone is lighter than the previously released teaser, the...
Pick of the Day: “I Will Make You Mine”
“I Will Make You Mine” “explores the experience you have when you are confronted by your past,” writer-director-star Lynn Chen explains in her director’s statement....
Kino Lorber to Virtually Release Sue Williams’ “Denise Ho – Becoming the Song”
A doc about Cantopop icon and pro-democracy activist Denise Ho is heading to Kino Lorber’s virtual cinema platform, Kino Marquee. A press release announced that Kino Lorber has secured North...
Pick of the Day: “Military Wives”
In her review of 2018’s “A Star Is Born,” NPR’s Linda Holmes wrote, “if you happen to have notes at the end of the film that remind you that you did, for all the analysis you may attempt...
Pick of the Day: “Homecoming”
At this moment in time, watching a thriller like “Homecoming” is a fairly cathartic experience. The new season, like its first, is chock-full of destructive corporate greed, elaborate...
Martyna Majok’s Play “Queens” Being Developed as HBO Drama
Martyna Majok is bringing one of her plays to HBO. The network has put a series adaptation of the Pulitzer-winning playwright’s “Queens” into development, Deadline reports. Majok...
Vicky Jenson to Direct Musical Fantasy “Spellbound” for Skydance Animation
Vicky Jenson will unite a kingdom in her next animated pic. The “Shrek” and “Shark Tale” filmmaker is set to helm “Spellbound,” a musical fantasy. Per Deadline,...
“My Salinger Year” Lands at IFC Films, Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley Star
“My Salinger Year,” the story of Joanna Rakoff’s experiences working for J. D. Salinger’s agent in the ’90s, has secured distribution. IFC Films has acquired the U.S. rights...
S.J. Clarkson to Direct Sony Pic Featuring Mystery Female Marvel Character
Spider-Man and Venom won’t be the only Marvel characters to get their own Sony movie. According to Variety, a “secret” movie following a female Marvel character is in the works....
Submit Now: Women In Film, ReFrame, and IMDbPro’s Curbside Shorts Filmmaking Challenge
Women In Film LA, ReFrame, and IMDbPro have launched a contest for women and nonbinary filmmakers who have been keeping creative during quarantine. Per a press release, the Curbside Shorts Two-Minute...
Trailer Watch: Gun Control Activists Fight for Change in Cheryl Horner McDonough’s “Parkland Rising”
“More people died at our school than died at Columbine. Think about that,” gun control activist and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting survivor David Hogg says in the...
Trailer Watch: Affairs Dominate Hannah’s Personal and Professional Lives in “The Split” Season 2
Everyone’s favorite family of divorce attorneys is back — and at a new firm. A trailer for the second season of Abi Morgan’s “The Split” has arrived, and sees the Defoes...
Francesca Gregorini to Direct Tennis Pic “The Match” for Inclusive Production Co. Four Daughters
Another day, another announcement of a women-centric sports film. Alexis Ostrander is directing a movie about The Red Rose Crew rowers, Netflix is working on a pic about the World Cup-winning 1999...
FemmePower Productions Introduces New Platform for Queer Content
FemmePower Productions, a queer femme-led company, is launching a new platform to help meet your “queerantine” needs. A press release announced that FemmePower TV and its lineup of queer...
“The Good Fight” Renewed for Fifth Season at CBS All Access
“The Good Fight” will continue. Deadline reports the “Good Wife” spinoff has been renewed for Season 5 at CBS All Access. Season 4, now dropping new episodes on Thursdays,...
The Story of the Red Rose Crew Rowers Is Headed to the Big Screen, Alexis Ostrander to Direct
It’s been a good week for women-driven sports films. A few days ago it was announced that Netflix is working on a pic about the World Cup-winning 1999 U.S. Women’s Soccer team. Now,...
Rita Coburn to Direct Doc About Trailblazing Opera Singer Marian Anderson for PBS
Rita Coburn has signed on to helm another documentary about a pioneering woman of color. The “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” filmmaker is directing a doc chronicling the life and work of...
Survey: Underrepresented TV Writers Face Discrimination at Twice the Rate of Overrepresented Scribes
The Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity (TTIE) has released its second “Behind-the-Scenes: The State of Inclusion and Equity in TV Writing” report. A survey of 333 working TV writers who identify...
Sofia Coppola Bringing Edith Wharton’s “The Custom of the Country” to Apple
Sofia Coppola has lined up another costume drama — which also happens to be her first episodic television project. The “Beguiled” and “Marie Antoinette” filmmaker is...
Agnès Varda’s Complete Filmography to Be Released as Criterion Collection Box Set in August
The complete works of one of cinema’s most influential voices will soon be available on disc. A press release has announced The Criterion Collection is releasing a 15-disc Blu-ray set...
Series Adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s “The Lying Life of Adults” in the Works at Netflix
The English translation of “The Lying Life of Adults” won’t be out until September 1, but Netflix is already working on a series adaptation. The streamer, alongside Italian...
Trailer Watch: John Lewis Gets in “Good Trouble” in Dawn Porter’s New Documentary
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just — say something!” John Lewis instructs a cheering crowd in Dawn Porter’s upcoming documentary. “Do...
Queen Latifah’s “Equalizer” Reboot, “Silence of the Lambs” Sequel “Clarice” Get CBS Series Pickups
Two women-driven dramas are among CBS’ first series orders for the 2020-2021 broadcast season. The Hollywood Reporter confirms the Queen Latifah-led “Equalizer” reboot and...
“Younger” Spinoff Led by Hilary Duff in Development
Liza Miller’s work bestie may soon be taking center stage. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a “Younger” spinoff centering on Hilary Duff’s character is now in “early...