BY Women and Hollywood
Guest Post: What “Roma” Gets Right About Motherhood
Guest Post by Cristina Escobar “Roma” became the first film from Mexico to win the “foreign” language category at the Oscars on Sunday, and also nabbed best director and cinematography...
Emma Thompson Takes a Stand
Emma Thompson is heralding a major moment in the #TimesUp movement. Earlier this month word came that the Oscar winner had exited Skydance’s upcoming animation feature “Luck.” The...
Book Excerpt: “The Legendary Independent Female Filmmakers Everyone Should Know”
The following is excerpted from Michele Meek’s “Independent Female Filmmakers: A Chronicle Through Interviews, Profiles, and Manifestos,” which is available now. In January 1982,...
Black Women Make History at Oscars 2019
A record number of women took home statuettes at last night’s Academy Awards. Though they were shut out of a number of categories — most notably, Best Director — women won 15...
Guest Post: The Enduring Legacy of Joan Micklin Silver’s “Between the Lines”
Guest Post by Maya Montañez Smukler Joan Micklin Silver’s 1977 film “Between the Lines” captures a precious moment when 1960s social idealism struggled against 1970s careerist...
2019 Athena IRIS Screenwriting Lab Participants Announced
The Athena Film Festival has selected this year’s Athena IRIS Screenwriting Lab cohort. Eight women-written projects have made the cut. Their scribes will attend the Lab, a script development...
You’re Invited: Join W&H at Berlinale 2019 for Talk About Women Creating Change in the Biz
If you’re attending the Berlin International Film Festival this year, then make sure to mark February 9 on your calendar. That day Women and Hollywood — along with Time’s Up,...
Oscar Noms 2019: Another All-Male Directing Category
The 2019 Oscar nominations have been announced, and we can still count every woman who has ever been nominated for Best Director on one hand: Lina Wertmüller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Kathryn...
Sundance 2019 Preview: Films About Late Night Writers, Cliques, Toni Morrison, and More
Sundance 2019 begins this Thursday, January 24, and will be screening plenty of buzzy women-driven and women made films. As always, Women and Hollywood has put together some of the festival...
Guest Post: Why My Sisters and I Shared Our Story of Childhood Sex Abuse in a Documentary
Guest Post by Desirae Brown In the fall of 2007 we were at the peak of our careers. All five of us, including our brothers Gregory and Ryan, had attended Juilliard, capturing the attention of The New...
Book Excerpt: “Writing the TV Drama Series”
The following is excerpted from the 4th edition of Pamela Douglas’ “Writing the TV Drama Series,” which is available now. Recently, a student on the verge of graduating asked me...
Women in Animation President Marge Dean Pens Open Letter About Skydance and John Lasseter
This letter has been reprinted with permission from Women in Animation (WIA). Dear friends and colleagues, Last week’s announcement regarding the hiring of John Lasseter by Skydance has sent...
In Loving Memory of Nancy Schwartz Sternoff
It’s not a big stretch to say — actually, it’s the truth — that there would be no Women and Hollywood without the love and mentorship of Nancy Schwartz Sternoff, who recently...
Guest Post: Hollywood, Resolve to Make 2019 the Year of Inclusive Hiring Targets
Guest Post by Gillian Thomas and Melissa Goodman It’s a new year, and that means it’s awards season — or more specifically, the season for a slew of award nomination announcements devoid...
Golden Globes 2019: Sandra Oh, Glenn Close, & Regina King Call for Equality
The 2018 Golden Globes saw attendees wearing black in support of #TimesUp. This year’s red carpet was decidedly more colorful, but winners’ calls for equality kept last year’s...
Report: Black Male Directors Made Major Gains in 2018, Number of Women Plateaued Again
The good news: The number of black directors working on top-grossing films reached a 12-year high in 2018. Sixteen black helmers, including “Black Panther’s” Ryan Coogler and...
Women in Film LA and Women and Hollywood Launch Campaign in Support of Women Directors
On this weekend of the Golden Globes, where again not a single female has been nominated for best director, and as Academy Awards nominations open this Monday, January 7, Women and Hollywood and...
2018 Celluloid Ceiling Report: Number of Women Directors on Top 250 Films Falls to 8%
New year, same story. Dr. Martha Lauzen and the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film has released a new report, “The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on...
Guest Post: How Making a Doc Series Helped Me Preserve My Identity
Guest Post by Oluwaseun Babalola Creative content, like film or television, is integral to identity and cultural preservation. Have you ever heard of “Cool Japan”? It’s a reference to...
2018’s Best Films By and About Women
Many of our favorite films saw female characters claiming or reclaiming their power: Mary Stuart set her sights upon the English throne, and two ladies-in-waiting realized winning Queen Anne’s...
Guest Post: Mira Nair’s Groundbreaking Career, from Bollywood to Hollywood
Guest Post by Amardeep Singh I’ve been fascinated by director Mira Nair since I first saw her 1991 film “Mississippi Masala,” a drama about the romance between an Indian immigrant (Sarita...
2018’s Best Documentaries By and About Women
Women and Hollywood’s top documentaries of 2018 feature a Nobel-winning activist, a filmmaker investigating her stolen project, and a world-renowned pop singer. Inspiring, heartbreaking, and...
2018’s Best TV Created By and About Women
2018 offered plenty of buzzy, zeitgeist-y television series about and from women. Dark and stylish, “Killing Eve” and “Sharp Objects” were among the year’s must-sees,...
Trailer Watch: Cybill Shepherd Hits the Road and Falls in Love in “Being Rose”
“Since my husband died, I’ve been like a ghost,” Cybill Shepherd admits in the trailer for “Being Rose.” Her character, Rose, is isolated, unhappy, and missing her...
Golden Globes Nominate Zero Women Directors. Again.
It seems another Time’s Up red carpet protest is in order. The Golden Globe nominations have been announced and, even for a Hollywood awards ceremony, they are very male and, in many...
Guest Post: Why the History of Women’s Filmmaking Is Important Now
Guest Post by Shelley Stamp “Why haven’t I heard about this history?!” That’s what people ask when I tell them about the “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers” collection I curated for...
“Capernaum” Director Nadine Labaki Discusses the Film’s Chaos and Empathy
Interview by Zoë Elton Lebanese filmmaker-actor Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” (“Chaos”) represents a bold departure from her earlier work, such as “Caramel,”...
Debra Granik on “Leave No Trace” and How “The Script Interrogates You”
Interview by Zoë Elton Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace” traverses the lives of a father and daughter who have been living off the grid for years in the woods outside Portland....
Ava DuVernay Signs $100 Million Overall Deal with Warner Bros. Television
It’s official: Ava DuVernay is now a mogul. The award-winning multi-hyphenate has inked her first studio pact and it’s massive. DuVernay signed a $100 million production and development...
2019 Indie Spirit Award Noms: Women Outnumber Men in Best Director Category
Women directors have been largely absent from the Best Director conversation in Oscar forecasts, but female filmmakers made a major impression on voters for the 34th annual Film Independent Spirit...
Ita O’Brien Is Transforming the Way Film, TV, and Theater Handle Sex Scenes
One of the many conversations #MeToo and Time’s Up have inspired has to do with the nature of creative arts professions. If you work in film, television, theater, or a related field, chances...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Green and Anna Moot-Levin – “The Providers”
Interview by Beandrea July Laura Green’s shorts have played at numerous festivals, including Palm Springs Shortfest, Aspen Shortsfest, Sarasota Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival,...
DOC NYC 2018 Preview: Immigration, Trans Rights, Ursula K. Le Guin, and More
DOC NYC kicks off on Thursday, and will have tons of women-centric and women-directed offerings. We’ve put together a few of the titles that have piqued our interest — just a few. This...
Guest Post: How I Branched Out from “Ethnic Friend” to Leading Lady in “Unlovable”
Guest Post by Charlene deGuzman Growing up Filipino-American in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I never saw any movie stars that looked like me. I rarely saw anyone Filipino on-screen, and if I did, they...
You’re Invited: W&H’s Melissa Silverstein Will Be Special Guest in Gloria Steinem Play
Women and Hollywood’s Founder and Publisher is set to serve as Special Guest in “Gloria: A Life,” an interactive play about iconic feminist Gloria Steinem. On November 15 Melissa...
A Year of Reckoning in Hollywood
I’m not going to say his name because he doesn’t deserve shit. He was one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood, and now he’s one of the most reviled men in the business...
Submit Your Script to the 2019 Athena IRIS Screenwriting Lab
The Athena IRIS Screenwriting Lab is accepting scripts for its 2019 edition. If you’re a female-identifying writer with a feature-length screenplay centering on at least one woman in a...
Join Women and Hollywood for a #MeToo Panel Discussion at Hamptons Film Fest
The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is commemorating the #MeToo movement. It’s been nearly a year since the Harvey Weinstein stories broke and #MeToo became part of our everyday...
Guest Post: How I Sought to Improve Black Representation with My First Feature “Solace”
Guest Post by Tchaiko Omawale Being a Black female filmmaker, I carry the privilege and responsibility of creating the things I wish I had seen when I was growing up. My two favorite movie genres...
Join Today’s National Walkout in Support of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez
In solidarity with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, who have accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, a national walkout has been organized. At 1pm EST...
Provide Women and Hollywood Feedback by Taking This Survey
Women and Hollywood needs your input. We strive to provide resources that are helpful to our readers and our community. In order to ensure we are as beneficial to our community as possible, we would...
Women and Hollywood Is Here for Your Consulting Needs
Over the last decade Women and Hollywood has created a community of people dedicated to supporting content created by and about women. Our community includes press, influencers, activists,...
Guest Post: How I Founded an Art House Cinema and Made Supporting Women a Priority
Guest Post by Lawren Desai My son was still in diapers when I founded an art house cinema. I wrote my business plan during nap time and showed up to construction with a stroller. This was in 2010:...
You’re Invited: Join Women and Hollywood at the Women Sports Film Fest in San Francisco
If you’ll be in the Bay Area next week, you should swing by the 3rd Annual Women Sports Film Festival (WSFF). Women and Hollywood is co-presenting the fest, whose mission is to advance gender...
Apply for a Free Ticket to Join the Women & Hollywood Community at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit
Women and Hollywood is proud to be on the steering committee for TheWrap’s Power Women Summit, which will be held on November 1 and 2 in Los Angeles. The summit will be the largest gathering of...
Research: Losses for Women Onscreen and Off in 2017-18 TV Season
Despite the premieres of series such as “Vida,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and “Killing Eve,” the 2018-17 TV season...
Les Moonves Out as Chairman and CEO of CBS, Still Not Taking Accountability
It’s official: Les Moonves is no longer the chairman and CEO of CBS. “As part of the settlement, he and CBS are donating $20 million to one or more organizations that support the #MeToo...
TIFF Becomes Latest Fest to Sign the Gender Parity Pledge
Women and Hollywood — alongside 5050×2020, Le Deuxieme Regard, and TIME’S UP — is excited to report that the Toronto International Film Festival has signed the Gender Parity Pledge....
TIFF 2018 Preview: Women Directors Tackle War, Police Dramas, LGBTQ Love, & More
We’re just 2 days away from the 2018 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. We’ve assembled a list — by no means exhaustive — of some of the women-directed titles...
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EWA Pens Open Letter to Venice Film Festival About Lack of Women Directors
European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA) has shared an open letter to Paolo Baratta, President of the Venice Biennale, about the lack of women-directed films screening in Venice International...