BY Rachel Montpelier
Kelly Fremon Craig to Direct Adaptation of Judy Blume Classic “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”
An “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” movie is finally on the way. In the almost 50 years since the iconic young adult novel was first published, author Judy Blume has famously...
Watch: Rachel Bloom Provides Sex Ed in “Her Shorts” Series
In one of her new shorts, made in partnership with Planned Parenthood and Refinery29, Rachel Bloom hosts the game show “Is This Normal?” Competing for cash and special prizes including...
Annie Weisman’s Remake of Australian Drama “Sisters” Snags Put Pilot Commitment at Fox
Get ready to discover even more “Sisters.” An American remake of the Australian family drama about three half sisters is in the works, Deadline reports. Written by Annie Weisman, the...
Exclusive: Margarethe von Trotta to Be Honored with Retrospective at NYC’s Quad Cinema
Coinciding with the release of her latest film, “Searching for Ingmar Bergman,” the Quad will celebrate the work of Margarethe von Trotta with a retrospective. In a Women and Hollywood...
Trailer Watch: Gina Rodriguez Is Gloria the Badass in Catherine Hardwicke’s “Miss Bala”
“After my parents died, I didn’t really think I was gonna be able to come back to Tijuana,” Gloria (Gina Rodriguez) tells her best friend in the trailer for “Miss Bala,...
Quote of the Day: Shonda Rhimes on Why Women Should Brag
Thanks to Imposter Syndrome, the societal expectation that they be humble and polite, and the patriarchy’s general dismissal of their accomplishments, women can find it hard, even distasteful,...
Gina Welch Developing TV Adaptation of Carmen Maria Machado Story Collection for FX
Carmen Maria Machado’s stories of haunted prom dresses, Faustian weight-loss surgeries, and a “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” populated by “doppelgängers, ghosts, and...
Experimental Filmmaker Marie Losier Will Receive MoMA Retrospective
The Museum of Modern Art is recognizing the work of French artist and experimental filmmaker Marie Losier. From November 1-11 the museum will host “Marie Losier: Just A Million Dreams,”...
Melora Walters’ “Waterlily Jaguar” to Open DTLA Fest, Feature Lineup Is 68% Women-Directed
The 10th Annual DTLA Film Festival promises to be a memorable one for women filmmakers. A press release has announced that the fest will screen 30 features, 68 percent of which are from women...
Natalie Portman, Lena Waithe, & More Get Political at Variety’s Power of Women Lunch
With the midterm elections fast approaching, He Who Shall Not Be Named in the White House, and an accused sexual abuser being the newest Supreme Court Justice, the stakes are very high in American...
Bruna Papandrea Giving Holly Ringland’s “Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” the TV Treatment
Another day, another TV project from Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories. Last week we reported the company would be adapting Signe Pike’s “The Lost Queen” for the small screen, and now Made...
Weekly Update for October 12: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Kindergarten Teacher – Written and Directed by Sara Colangelo (Also Available on Netflix) Unfulfilled with her work in the classroom and her home life with...
Brenda Hampton Series About Teen on Autism Spectrum Lands Pilot Order from Disney Channel
Disney Channel wants to hang out with “The A Girl.” Deadline confirms the network has given a pilot order to Brenda Hampton’s single-cam comedy about two unlikely friends, one of...
Bruna Papandrea Developing Signe Pike’s Historical Epic Novel “The Lost Queen” for TV
Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories plans to adapt yet another book for the small screen. Since this spring the company has announced it will be bringing Allison Pearson’s “How Hard Can It...
Tribeca Announces Through Her Lens’ 2018 Participants
Tribeca Film Festival and Chanel have partnered once again for Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program. A mentorship program “created to provide a balance of...
Time’s Up UK Donates £1 Million to Support Sexual Harassment and Abuse Survivors
The Justice and Equality Fund, the UK counterpart to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, has drawn £1 million (about $1.3 million USD) in order to make its first major donations. Only eight...
DGA Report: Women-Directed Eps Up 14% in 2017-18, POC-Directed Eps Stagnant
The good news: women directed 25 percent of all TV episodes in the 2017-18 season and people of color helmed 24 percent, up from last year’s 21 and 22, respectively. The bad news: in terms of...
WeForShe Accepting Nominations for 2019 WriteHer List
Industry professionals, this is for you: WeForShe is accepting nominations for its fifth annual WriteHer List, a curation of the best women-written, women-driven pilot scripts out there. The...
Keira Knightley and More to Celebrate Women in Film with London Fest Group Photo
About 70 women in the film industry are expected to gather at the London Film Festival (LFF) Friday in celebration of the contributions women have made in the field. According to The Guardian,...
Trailer Watch: A New Lawyer Tries to Free Steven Avery in “Making a Murderer” Part 2
Part 1 of “Making a Murderer” presented the conviction, exoneration, and second conviction of Steven Avery — as well as the conviction of his nephew, Brendan Dassey — for the...
Trailer Watch: Florence Pugh Is a Double Agent in “The Little Drummer Girl”
Florence Pugh (“Lady Macbeth”) is an aspiring actress who lands the role of a lifetime in upcoming miniseries “The Little Drummer Girl”: double agent. As the show’s new...
Tanya Wexler to Direct Adaptation of Upcoming Western Comic “Girl With No Name”
Another gun-slinging, ass-kicking anti-heroine has arrived on the scene. “Girl With No Name,” a woman-driven Western comic universe, was unveiled at New York Comic Con on Friday. A...
New Study Finds Women-Driven Superhero and Sci-Fi Stories Empower Girls
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: representation matters. A major reason — if not the major reason — “Wonder Woman” and “Hidden Figures” are...
Trailer Watch: “House of Cards” Season 6 Sees Mutiny in Claire Underwood’s Administration
Being the first woman president of the United States was never going to be easy. But, as Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) can attest in the trailer for “House of Cards'” sixth and final...
Weekly Update for October 5: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Hate U Give – Written by Audrey Wells (Opens in Select Theaters; Opens Everywhere October 19) “The Hate U Give”: Erika Doss/20th Century Fox Starr...
Paul Feig’s New Powderkeg: Fuse Program Producing Six Shorts from Women Directors
Paul Feig is, once again, using his power and status to support women. The “Simple Favor” director is hosting an incubator for women filmmakers via his and Laura Fischer’s digital...
Upcoming Docuseries “Ink & Paint” Will Spotlight Unrecognized Women of Disney Animation
The New York Times has been writing better-late-than-never obits for some of history’s most notable, yet previously ignored, women. Now Deadline reports that Disney is set to give its...
WIF LA and Ghetto Film School Join Forces to Support Young WOC Filmmakers
Women in Film Los Angeles (WIF LA) and non-profit filmmaking program Ghetto Film School are working together to support up-and-coming women filmmakers of color. According to Variety, the two orgs...
Suzan-Lori Parks to Accept Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award
2018 continues to be a banner year for Suzan-Lori Parks. News broke this summer that the playwright and screenwriter would pen a Billie Holiday biopic and now The New York Times has confirmed Parks...
Whitney Cummings Working on #MeToo-Themed Comedy for Amazon
Whitney Cummings will explore college in the #MeToo Era for her next TV project. Deadline reports the multi-hyphenate is joining forces with “Precious” director/”Empire”...
Trailer Watch: RBG Uses Her Anger to Reform the Law in “On the Basis of Sex”
“One interviewer told me they hired a woman last year and what in the world would they want with two of us?” an exasperated young Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Felicity Jones) tells a mentor in...
Trailer Watch: Faith Drives a Wedge Between a Daughter and Mother in Nijla Mu’min’s “Jinn”
Seventeen-year-old Summer (Zoe Renee, “The Quad”) is having a hard time connecting with her mother, Jade (Simone Missick, “Luke Cage”), in the trailer for “Jinn.”...
Emma Watson Pens Letter to Woman Who Died Due to Ireland’s Anti-Abortion Law: “Rest in Power”
In 2012 Savita Halappanavar died in Ireland after suffering a septic miscarriage. The 31-year-old Indian-born dentist was under medical supervision for seven days and could have survived had doctors...
Weekly Update for September 28: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD WANTS YOUR INPUT Women and Hollywood strives to provide resources that are helpful to our readers and our community. We would be grateful if you took a few moments to participate...
Trailer Watch: An Unjust Prison Stint Tears a Family Apart in “The Sentence”
In the trailer for upcoming documentary “The Sentence,” a young girl receives a phone call from her mother. Before they are connected, an automated recording plays: “This call is...
ReFrame Is Accepting TV Submissions for Gender Equality Stamp
Having already bestowed its stamp of approval to 34 films, ReFrame is now setting its sights on the television landscape. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ReFrame is asking for TV submissions for...
Bella Heesom’s Play “Rejoicing At Her Wondrous Vulva” Being Adapted for TV
Good news, “Fleabag” fans: another UK woman-written play is getting the TV treatment. Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind “Killing Eve,” is developing Bella...
Trailer Watch: No One’s Telling Prez Claire Underwood What to Do in “House of Cards” Season 6
Claire Underwood isn’t pulling any punches in the final season of “House of Cards” — which is pretty much par for the course. A trailer for Season 6 has dropped and sees the...
Trailer Watch: Hilary Swank Is Determined to Help Helena Bonham Carter in “55 Steps”
“Nobody knows more about what that medicine does to me than I do,” psychiatric facility patient Eleanor Riese (Helena Bonham Carter) informs her lawyer, Colette Hughes, about her...
Variety’s Power of Women: LA to Honor Natalie Portman, Tiffany Haddish, Lena Waithe, & More
Variety’s Power of Women: Los Angeles luncheon is just around the corner. This year’s edition, taking place October 12 at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons, will celebrate philanthropic...
Josie Rourke’s “Mary Queen of Scots” Named AFI Fest’s Closing Night Film
It’s official: AFI Fest 2018 will both begin and end with women-directed, women-driven biopics. As previously reported, Mimi Leder’s RBG film “On the Basis of Sex” will open...
Felicia D. Henderson-Penned “PANK” Series Receives Script Commitment at ABC
Felicia D. Henderson is taking to ABC to give PANKs (Professional Auntie No Kids) their due. Deadline reports the network has given the Henderson-written “PANK” a script commitment with...
Mimi Leder’s RBG Biopic “On the Basis of Sex” to Open AFI Fest
The Year of RBG continues. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Mimi Leder’s highly anticipated Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic, “On the Basis of Sex,” will make its world premiere as AFI...
Zoë Kravitz to Topline Gender-Flipped “High Fidelity” Series
Zoë Kravitz will soon be making Top Five lists and tracking down her ex-lovers. Variety reports the “Big Little Lies” actress has been tapped to star in the gender-swapped series...
The Met Is Finally Commissioning Operas by Women
Today in this-is-2018-WTF?! news, the Metropolitan Opera has announced several new ventures intended to draw in audiences, including commissioning women to write operas for the first time ever. Yep,...
Chloé Zhao Will Direct “The Eternals” for Marvel
Chloé Zhao has booked one hell of a follow-up to indie darling “The Rider.” Variety confirms the Cannes award-winning director will next helm “The Eternals” for Marvel. Zhao...
Weekly Update for September 21: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD WANTS YOUR INPUT Women and Hollywood strives to provide resources that are helpful to our readers and our community. We would be grateful if you took a few moments to participate...
Trailer Watch: Director Kim Snyder Returns to Newtown for “Lessons from a School Shooting”
Father Bob Weiss’ church hosted the funerals of eight of the children who died during the Sandy Hook Massacre in December 2012. Like the rest of the Newtown, Connecticut community, he has been...
Michelle Nader and Morgan Murphy’s Sisters Comedy “Danny Issues” Goes to Fox as Put Pilot
Michelle Nader and Morgan Murphy, formerly writer-producers on “2 Broke Girls,” are working on another project about two flawed women with a tight bond. Deadline reports Fox has given a...
Trailer Watch: KiKi Layne Is Determined to Save Her Man in “If Beale Street Could Talk”
“Fonny, there’s something I gotta tell you,” Tish (newcomer KiKi Layne) says to her boyfriend over the phone. But, as the next shot of “If Beale Street Could...
Reed Morano Signs Overall Deal with Amazon Studios
Reed Morano is taking her considerable talents to Amazon. Variety reports the director-cinematographer-producer has inked an overall deal with Amazon Studios that will see her creating original...