BY Women and Hollywood
Angela Bromstad’s Legacy at NBC — Women Writers on Community
Saw this link at Vulture (those guys and gals are really good) via the AV Club and it is such a good quote that it needs to be re-quoted verbatim. This is Dan Harmon, the creator of Community...
The Pornification of Lisbeth Salander
I have officially become angry at the latest poster to appear online for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. This one as you can see shows Rooney Mara with her breast exposed. The previous ones had...
Thelma and Louise — 20 Years On
In homage to its 20th anniversary, Shania Twain and Taylor Swift recreated a scene from the film that will open the Country Music Television Awards this evening. As Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon...
Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph and the Homeless Fart
Hysterical interview from the French junket for Bridesmaids. This dude hit the jackpot h/t Movieline
More Women Directed Films at Silverdocs
Got an email from some folks working with Silverdocs saying I left out many female filmmakers from my recent post, so here they are. Festival takes place June 20–26. SILVER SPECTRUM (in no...
Trailer Watch: Sarah’s Key
Goosebump city. Film opens July 22
The Hollywood Reporter’s Comedy Showrunners Roundtable: A Much Better Picture
At least this picture won’t make the heads of women writers across the country explode with anger. The Hollywood Reporter gained some sanity and includes two women in its showrunners panel on...
Forbes Names the 10 Most Powerful Female Authors
This is quite an interesting list and one thing I immediately noticed which is different from so many other lists is that it is a diverse list — five white women and five women of color. And...
Only One African American Woman Directed a Top Grossing Film in 2008
When you see these numbers it shows the difficult road women of color directors have ahead of them, but at least we have some numbers to looks at. Dr. Stacy Smith and Marc Choueiti recently released...
Trailer Watch: Jig Directed by Sue Bourne
Film opens June 17
Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour directed by Kerthy Fix
Feminism is alive and well — at least to me — as I watched the road movie Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour, a film that showed the band on a world tour that took place in 2004–2005....
Reese Witherspoon to Young Hollywood: Hide Your Sex Tape
Reese Witherspoon was awarded the MTV Generation award last night and the MTV Movie Awards (remember when they were the Video and Music Awards?) and she decided to use her moment to offer some advice...
Cross Post: Copycat Crime: That’s Flattery Not Mockery by Thelma Adams
Maybe someone should tell Jimmy Kimmel that he shouldn’t lead with his cleavage. But, then, a lot of people told Melissa Leo — after the fact — that she shouldn’t pay for her own...
Trailer Watch: Breaking Dawn Part 1
Film Opens November 19
Clicks of the Week
Here are some articles of note that didn’t make it to a blog post or a tweet. In The Director’s Chair: Catherine Hardwicke (NY Post) Exclusive: Maria Bello Talks BEAUTIFUL BOY, NBC’s PRIME...
Interview with Liz Garbus, Director of Bobby Fischer Against the World
Liz Garbus is a prolific documentarian. Her latest film, Bobby Fischer Against the World which premiered at Sundance is a fascinating look at chess champion Bobby Fischer and all his demons, will...
The 2nd Annual Lilly Awards to Be Handed Out On June 6 in NYC
This Monday, June 6, the 2nd annual Lilly Awards named for playwright Lillian Hellman will be awarded in NYC. “The Lilly Awards were created to recognize the extraordinary contributions made by...
Jane Goldman Talks X-Men
Not too many women are co-writers on $125 million flicks but Jane Goldman is. Check out her fantastic hair. I hope that she helped make the female characters more well rounded and less like...
A Eulogy for The Chicago Code
I watched the Chicago Code for Jennifer Beals. I watched it because she played the Chicago police superintendent which made her the highest ranking female on the force. I continued to watch it for...
Sexist Jackass of the Day: Writer VS Naipaul
Here’s what this jackass said at the Hay Festival in Britain: Women writers are different, they are quite different. I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by...
Mosquita y Mari and My Reincarnation Enter the Kickstarter Hall of Fame
Here’s some good news for women filmmakers. These two films both made their Kickstarter goals and My Reincarnation broke all crowd funding records on the site. Here’s what director Jennifer Fox...
Trailer Watch: The Whistleblower — Directed by Larysa Kondracki
The Whistleblower is a film that hits you right in the gut. It’s based on the true story of a real life whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac a cop from Nebraska who volunteered to go be a peacekeeper in...
Get Ready For The Help
This is the big women’s summer movie. I didn’t know that Kathryn Stockett who wrote the book was rejected by 60 literary agents. It has now spent 100 weeks on the hardcover best seller list and...
More On The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Here’s an R Rated International Poster
I do love all the conversations the trailer and posters have generated online. This film will be big. Yes, that is a safety pin and that is her boob. No way we would see an image like that here even...
Sexism Watch: Hollywood Reporter Showrunner Roundtable
Last week I posted a trailer from a new documentary about showrunners where I called attention to the fact that they did not include a single woman in the trailer. The site received a comment from a...
!Women Art Revolution directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson Opens in NYC Today
There are not many films that are able to show the development of a true revolution and Women Art Revolution is one of them. It shows how feminism affected women’s art and how art affected...
Take Two: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trailer
It clearly looks like the version that I posted yesterday was a bootleg and not a strategic marketing drop because the trailer has been pulled from You Tube. (If you didn’t see it yesterday you are...
Remember This Name — Whitney Cummings
So the TV lineups for next season are set and the writers and producers are getting to work trying to make their shows the ones that stick. One of the interesting things to note from the upfronts...
Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival: The Women
Here are the women directed films that will be screening at the Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival from June 20–26. Just a note, the opening, closing and centerpiece films are all directed by...
Trailer Watch: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Since this surfaced on the internet this weekend there have been rumors that it is not a bootleg but a deliberate marketing piece from Sony. All I have to say is that the film is called The Girl With...
Trailer Watch: I Don’t Know How She Does It
This looks pretty good. Will be released on September 16 in the US and UK.
Interview with Natalia Smirnoff — Writer and Director of Puzzle
Puzzle is the story of Maria del Carmen an average 50 year old woman whose role in life is to take care of her husband and two almost sons. When she discovers that she has immense talent for putting...
Thelma and Louise Turns 20
I can’t believe that it is 20 years since Thelma and Louise was released. We still have so much work to do. This is a movie that resonated with people in a profound way, it’s a movie that people...
Guest Review: A Chessmate Movie for Women By Aviva Kempner
One of the few times I played chess I lost in four moves. Humiliated I never tried again. After seeing Caroline Bottaro’s female empowering film, Queen to Play, I want to reconsider my easily...
Trailer Watch: Claire Danes in Homeland
Claire Danes takes the lead in the new spy show from the producers of 24. Will air on Showtime this fall.
Guest Post: My Exprience at the AFI Directing Workshop for Women by Amy French
On May 9th, an audience of six hundred people gathered at the Director’s Guild Theater in Los Angeles to ask the question, “Are women directors better suited to explore the subtle nuances of...
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Showrunners doc
It seems like we are making some progress on women creating TV shows but from the looks of this trailer, TV is only populated by men. Not a single female showrunner is in the trailer and not a single...
Bridesmaids Box Office Update
The news on The Bridesmaids box office week two is that it only dropped 20%. Think about that. According to box office mojo that 20% decline was less than recent comedies like The 40 Year Old Virgin...
Cannes Winners: The Women
The Cannes Film Festival concluded last evening and Poliss directed by Maiwenn won the jury prize (which is third place.) The film has been picked up Sundance Selects. None of the other films by...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Mariska Hargitay
Mariska founded the charity Joyful Heart Foundation which is up for a $500,000 Chase Community Giving Grant. Joyful Heart’s mission is to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault,...
The World’s Most Powerful Celebrity is Lady Gaga
Forbes has put out another one of its list, this year’s most powerful celebrity list. This list is not just about money. Here’s the methodology: The Celebrity 100, which includes film and...
Poster Watch: Sarah’s Key starring Kristen Scott Thomas
I loved this book and I cannot wait for the film. It opens here on July 22.
Bridesmaids Box Office Stays Strong
Just a little bit of news on the box office for Bridesmaids. Variety has reported that it beat Thor at the box office on Monday and Tuesday. As of yesterday, the gross was over $32 million which...
2011 Hollywood Writers Report — Women Make Up 24% of All Writers
The 2011 Hollywood Writers Report published by the Writers Guild of America, West was released yesterday, and the report, entitled Recession and Regression shows little progress for...
Get Ready for the Women’s World Cup
ESPN will debut a documentary series on June 25 to coincide with the beginning of the Women’s World Cup soccer tournament in Germany. Here’s the description: The short films will offer in-depth...
Jane Campion and Women Directors at Cannes
When Jane Campion shows up at Cannes people take notice, especially because she is the only woman to have ever won the Palme d’Or. Let’s say that again. The year is 2011 and only one woman has...
Hanging With The Topp Twins
The Topp Twins were in NYC last weekend for the opening of the documentary on their lives. Here’s my conversation with them and a glimpse of them singing Untouchable Girls after the screening....
Season Preview: ABC’s Lineup
Scandal — written by Shonda Rhimes (midseason) https://medium.com/media/4d27489cc07caf17804240a953eb5868/href Suburgatory — written by...
Season Preview: NBC’s Lineup
Smash — written by Theresa Rebeck (midseason) Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea — written by Julie Larson and Dottie...
Roseanne Pulls Back the Wizard’s Curtain on Network TV and it Ain’t Pretty
I have always loved Roseanne. I love her because she makes people uncomfortable (even me at times.) I love that she says what she believes, damn the consequences. Now, she can say whatever she wants...
Eve Ensler to Make Directing Debut With The Other Side Starring Jane Fonda
Vagina Monologue writer and V-Day activist Eve Ensler will be making her directorial debut on The Other Side a film that will also focus on the epidemic of rape in the Congo. In the...