BY Rachel Montpelier
Nancy Meyers Lines Up Next Project, Set to Write and Direct Netflix Pic
Get ready for more kitchen inspo: Nancy Meyers is making a movie for Netflix. According to Deadline, she has inked a deal to write, direct, and produce an as-yet untitled ensemble comedy for the...
Billie Piper to Topline and Exec Produce Netflix Adaptation of Terri White’s “Coming Undone”
From “Yerma” to “I Hate Suzie” to “Rare Beasts,” Billie Piper is no stranger to portraying characters navigating inner turmoil, public scrutiny, and family trauma....
Pick of the Day: “You Won’t Be Alone”
In reviews and ads, “You Won’t Be Alone” is being marketed as a horror pic — which isn’t untrue, but also isn’t exactly accurate. It’s more of a dark...
Trailer Watch: Karen Gillan Must Fight Herself to the Death in “Dual”
When Sarah (Karen Gillan) discovers she’s dying, she does what many others in her situation have done before: she decides to clone herself so that, when the time comes, her double can pick up...
Inclusion Initiative: Little Growth for Women Musical Artists in Last Decade But WOC Saw Spike in 2021
H.E.R., Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Doja Cat are among the most-nominated artists at this Sunday’s Grammy Awards. But in the music industry overall, women artists are severely...
Trailer Watch: Anne Is at the Center of a Love Triangle in “Gentleman Jack” Season 2
In Season 2 of “Gentleman Jack,” Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) and Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) have tied the knot and settled down together at Shibden Hall. But, as a new trailer for the...
Pick of the Day: “Pachinko”
An epic story relayed in Korean, Japanese, and English, Apple TV+’s “Pachinko” is — like many of the best stories of recent years — both universal and highly specific....
Pick of the Day: “Finding Kukan”
Here are a few factoids about “Kukan,” the 1941 documentary about China during Japan’s WWII invasion and occupation: Its title is a term that refers to perseverance in the face of...
Trailer Watch: Trans Artists Revisit Troubling History and Reclaim Their Stories in “Framing Agnes” Doc
In “Framing Agnes,” “No Ordinary Man” co-director Chase Joynt stages reenactments with fellow trans artists to revisit studies conducted at the UCLA Gender Clinic in the 1950s....
Women and Nonbinary Filmmakers Directed Over Half of Full Frame 2022’s Official Selections
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the Official Selections for its 25th edition, to be held online April 7-10. Of the 37 films featured in the NEW DOCS and Invited Program...
“CODA,” “Hacks,” and “Maid” Win Big at WGA Awards
“CODA” continued its hot streak, while “Hacks” and “Maid” received some much-deserved love at the WGA Awards Sunday night. Writer-director Siân Heder won the...
Apply Now: The Chimaera Project’s TO.GET.HER Finishing Fund for Women & Non-Binary Filmmakers
The Chimaera Project, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and non-binary filmmakers, has announced the Call for Entries for its 2022 TO.GET.HER film production finishing funds program....
Pick of the Day: “Life & Beth”
There are some experiences in life that color everything that follows: a heartbreak, a humiliation, a success, a surprise. Amy Schumer’s new show, “Life & Beth,” portrays its...
Biopic About Olympic Boxer Nicola Adams Set at Lionsgate, Helena Coan to Direct
Today in It’s About Time news: the first woman to secure the Commonwealth, European, World, and Olympic boxing titles is getting a biopic. “Hear Me Roar,” a coming-of-age story...
Trailer Watch: Life Gets a Little More Complicated for Jessie and Tom in “Starstruck” Season 2
“Starstruck” is back — and Jessie (Rose Matafeo) and Tom (Nikesh Patel) are back together. A trailer has dropped for Season 2 of the HBO Max rom-com series, created and co-written...
Pick of the Day: “Phoenix Rising”
During the rise of #MeToo in 2017, “Westworld” actress Evan Rachel Wood spoke out about being raped and abused. She reiterated those claims the following year in testimony before Congress...
Number of Women & POC Leads/Co-Leads Held Steady in Top Films of 2021, According to New Research
The good news: judging from last year’s box office reports, the number of female and people of color leads/co-leads in popular films hasn’t really decreased during the pandemic. The bad...
Teaser Watch: Anne Lister and Ann Walker Embark on Married Life in “Gentleman Jack” Season 2
When we last saw Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) and Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) — at the end of “Gentleman Jack’s” first season, nearly three years ago — they had just taken...
Ida Rodriguez Joglar Receives Athena Film Fest’s Breakthrough Award for First Feature “Kili Big”
Gearing up for its live and virtual launch tomorrow, March 11, the 2022 edition of Athena Film Festival (AFF) has unveiled its awardees and grant recipients. Ida Rodriguez Joglar, Kelsie Mason Ramos,...
Projects from Robin Roberts, Kristen Lappas, & More Added to ESPN’s Title IX Anniversary Programming
Fifty/50, ESPN’s previously-announced initiative celebrating Title IX’s 50th anniversary, has unveiled its current programming lineup. As we reported last fall, Dawn Porter (“John...
Shonda Rhimes’ Next Netflix Show Will Be White House Murder Mystery “The Residence”
Having explored the sexcapades of Regency England and the scams and lies of Anna Delvey, Shonda Rhimes is turning her attention to foul play at the White House. The woman behind “Bridgerton” and...
Lydia Dean Pilcher Bringing Dawn Prince-Hughes’ Memoir “Songs of the Gorilla Nation” to the Screen
As a feature director, Lydia Dean Pilcher has showcased the true stories of women fighting for safer working conditions (“Radium Girls”) and serving as intelligence officers for Britain...
Apply Now: First Flights and Goldfinch’s Female Voices Short Film Fund
Filmmaking incubator First Flights and entertainment financier/production house Goldfinch are teaming up to support a woman artist as she creates a short film. A press release has announced the...
Pick of the Day: “Fresh”
Your mileage may vary on “Fresh.” A rom-com-horror hybrid exploring the modern dynamics of power, dating, gender, and sex via a pretty twisted allegory, it’s sure to be polarizing...
Santa Barbara Film Fest 2022 Women Directors: Meet Nancy Svendsen – “Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest”
After two decades in leadership positions in various facets of the healthcare industry, Nancy Svendsen became an independent filmmaker based in Northern California, beginning with the short...
Isabel Castro’s Sundance Doc “Mija” Heads to Disney, FX Acquires Scripted Content Dev Rights
“Mija,” a music documentary from director Isabel Castro, has secured distribution and a potential narrative adaptation. Worldwide rights to the Sundance 2022 title have been nabbed by...
Mary J. Blige to Exec Produce Lifetime Movie Inspired By Her Song “Real Love”
Mary J. Blige is expanding her relationship with Lifetime. After starring in and executive producing the network’s “Betty & Coretta” and exec producing “The Clark Sisters:...
Tiffany Johnson & Kiana Moore’s Fashion Fair Doc “The Beauty of Blackness” Lands at HBO Max
In honor of Women’s History Month, HBO Max has acquired a documentary tracing the creation, rise, and continued significance of Fashion Fair, the first cosmetics brand specifically designed for...
“CODA,” “Power of the Dog,” “Eternals,” & “Zola” Among Latest ReFrame Stamp Recipients
ReFrame is recognizing “Black Widow,” “CODA,” “The Power of the Dog,” “Nomadland,” and 24 other films for their gender-balanced casts and crews....
Freya Mavor Directing Anthology Film “Kink,” Thalissa Teixeira to Star in First Segment
Actress Freya Mavor (“The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun”) will explore the role sexuality plays in learning about oneself in her feature directorial debut. She is helming...
Jazmin Jones Directing “Seeking Mavis Beacon” Doc, Neon Signs on as Producer
Since the ’80s, Mavis Beacon has helped millions of people learn how to type. She is one of the most prominent Black women in technology. But she isn’t real — or at least the woman...
Trailer Watch: Youn Yuh-Jung Is the Center of a Sprawling Family Saga in Apple’s “Pachinko” Adaptation
When Sunja is born, it is predicted that “she will thrive.” As we learn in the new trailer for Apple TV+’s adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s 2017 novel “Pachinko,”...
Schuyler Helford’s Teen Parenthood Comedy “Unplanned in Akron” Receives Pilot Order at CBS
Schuyler Helford previously created the web series “Cybriety” and “Indoorsy,” and now she has a network show in the works. Her multi-cam comedy about teen parents,...
Pick of the Day: “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America”
For the most part, the documentary “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” is made up of archival footage, photographs, and recordings. The few talking head interviews included were filmed decades...
Julie Plec and Amy Chozick’s “Girls on the Bus” Adaptation Ordered to Series at HBO Max
“The Girls on the Bus” are headed to a new destination. A press release announced that Julie Plec and Amy Chozick’s show — inspired by a chapter of the latter’s 2018...
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Renewed for Fifth and Final Season Ahead of Season 4 Premiere
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will kick off its fourth season tomorrow, February 18, and it’s already been renewed. Production is now underway on the fifth and final season of the Prime...
Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny’s Bestseller “State of Terror” Being Adapted for the Big Screen
Hillary Clinton is making her way to the big screen — via her work as an author. According to a press release, the entertainment company Madison Wells (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) has...
Trailer Watch: A Malevolent Force Threatens to Tear a Family Apart in “You Are Not My Mother”
In Kate Dolan’s feature directorial debut, “You Are Not My Mother,” a woman goes missing — and she’s not quite herself when she returns. A new trailer for the horror pic has...
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s” Melissa Fumero & Vanessa Ramos Reuniting for Netflix Workplace Comedy
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” collaborators Melissa Fumero and Vanessa Ramos are teaming up for another comedy. The respective star and writer-producer of the recently concluded law enforcement...
Sundance Winners “Aftershock” and “Leonor Will Never Die” Land Distribution
Two more Sundance 2022 selections have found homes. Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee’s documentary “Aftershock” and Martika Ramirez Escobar’s drama “Leonor Will Never Die”...
Mindy Kaling to Set Up Own Book Line, Adapt Material for Film Under New Deal with Amazon
Mindy Kaling is well on her way to mogul-dom. The actress, writer, and producer has inked a new deal with Amazon Publishing and Amazon Studios that will see her curating her own literary line,...
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez to Receive GLAAD’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award
GLAAD is honoring “Pose” star Michaela Jaé Rodriguez for her “promotion of LGBTQ acceptance.” According to Deadline, Rodriguez is set to receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award...
Trailer Watch: Daisy Edgar-Jones’ New Relationship Takes a Horrifying Turn in Mimi Cave’s “Fresh”
Disillusioned by dating — the constant swiping through apps, the awkward conversations, the slim pickings — Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones, “Normal People”) is about ready to give up...
Teona Strugar Mitevska to Direct Film About the “Real” Mother Teresa
Teona Strugar Mitevska is bringing the “real” Mother Teresa to the screen. Her next film will be “a story depicting five days in the life of a 44-year-old ambitious woman, just at the...
Quote of the Day: Emma Thompson on Baring It All in “Leo Grande” & Struggling with Body Image
In “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” — which recently premiered at Sundance and is screening at the Berlinale — there’s a powerful scene in which a 50-something woman...
Alice Rohrwacher Now in Production on “La Chimera,” Drama Set in World of Archeological Looting
“Happy as Lazzaro” director Alice Rohrwacher is working on her next film. Production is now underway on “La Chimera,” which the filmmaker describes as “the story of a...
Trailer Watch: A Missing Person Case Brings Three Women Together in Berlinale Pic “Robe of Gems”
Natalia López Gallardo’s feature directorial debut revolves around a missing person case — and the three women whose lives collide because of it. A trailer has arrived for “Robe of...
Berlinale 2022 Women Directors: Meet Natalia López Gallardo – “Robe of Gems”
Natalia López Gallardo is a Mexican-Bolivian film director, writer, editor, and occasional actress. She has edited films by Lisandro Alonso, Carlos Reygadas, and Amat Escalante, among other...
“Master,” “The Janes,” & More to Screen at 2022 Athena Film Festival
The 12th annual Athena Film Festival (AFF) has unveiled its lineup. To be held in-person March 11-13 at Barnard College in New York City and virtually March 11-20, the fest will celebrate women...
USC Annenberg Study: Women Film Directors Making Gains but Racial Disparities Persist
Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative have released their latest “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair” report and it offers a rare piece of pandemic-era good news:...
Francesca Gregorini to Direct Anna Nicole Smith Biopic “Hurricana”
Last month, news broke that Ursula Macfarlane is working on a documentary about Anna Nicole Smith. Now there’s word that another story about the late model is on the way, also from a woman...