BY Women and Hollywood
Women and Hollywood is Looking for Interns for 2017
Women and Hollywood is looking for two interns for the first half of 2017. The positions will begin on January 2, 2017 and end on June 30, 2017. Applicants must be willing to commit to six months...
Universal’s 2017 Slate Has Only One Female Director
Universal Pictures has solidified their 2017 slate of movies, and there are some high-profile, tentpole projects included, but there’s one huge problem: of the 15 movies Universal will release in...
“Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema” Explores Film’s Female Trailblazers
Book excerpt from the introduction of “Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema” by Cheryl Robson “Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema” (Supernova Books, 2016) is not just a book about women working...
Sexism Watch: Max Landis Trashes Female-Led “Arrival”
Screenwriter bro Max Landis is at it again. After the “Victor Frankenstein” screenwriter spent a good part of last winter insulting “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” for its female...
Producer Adrienne Biddle on the Mother-Daughter Relationship in “The Monster”
Guest Post by Adrienne Biddle I’ve thought a lot about why I gravitate towards the projects director Bryan (Bertino) and I work on. I’m not entirely sure either of us consciously went into our...
This Year’s Class of New York Film Critics Circle Members Are All White Men
It seems insane that, with all of the warranted uproar these days over diversity, inclusion, and representation, that a prestigious film critics association would completely ignore what’s been...
Guest Post: How I Went from Editor to Director
Guest Post by Melissa Kent I have edited more than 20 features and TV movies with credits that include “The Virgin Suicides,” “Four Christmases,” “The Age of Adaline,” and “American...
Stella Meghie on Who and What Inspired “Jean of the Joneses”
Interview by Eboni Boykin Stella Meghie has a blind script deal at Warner Brothers, a pilot in development with John Wells Productions, a comedy optioned by BET, and a deal to pen a feature script...
Book Excerpt: “Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in Media Production”
by Erin Hill There’s a myth in Hollywood that women did not participate in much of film history except as actors or, more rarely, as screenwriters, because they were pushed out from behind the...
A White Man Is Directing Sony Pictures’ Live-Action “Mulan”
Diversity, inclusion, and sexism continue to feature prominently in conversations, scholarship, and headlines about Hollywood, but here we are with the news that a white man will direct a...
Guest Post: My First Year Running a Production Company
Guest Post by Devin Shepherd A little over a year ago, I started Wild Obscura Films, a production company, with my business partner, Nora Unkel. We focus on narrative, female-driven content created...
Chantal Akerman: May Her Memory Be for a Blessing
Guest Post by Jenni Olson “Chantal Akerman committed suicide yesterday.” That was all I could manage to write in my journal on the evening of October 6, 2015. It was also my 53rd birthday that...
Guest Post: How to Be an Ally — Tips for Men Working with Women in Film Production
by Graham Sheldon The entertainment industry has a massive problem. Women are rarely behind the camera, and it isn’t for lack of interest or effort on their parts. I consider myself lucky to...
“Audrie & Daisy” Director Bonni Cohen Talks Cyberbullying and Sex Crimes
Interview by Diana Martinez Since co-founding Actual Films in 1998, Bonni Cohen has produced and directed an array of award-winning films, including “The Island President,” “Inside...
Solution for Hollywood’s Woman Director Problem: Demand More from Agencies
Guest Post By Rachel Feldman It’s about time that gender equality for directors in Hollywood has become news. It’s taken decades of pushing this story uphill, but the film and television...
“Miss Stevens” Director Julia Hart on the Need for Telling Female Stories
Interview by Laura Berger Julia Hart’s debut script “The Keeping Room” landed on the Black List and was made into a feature directed by Daniel Barber starring Brit Marling. She’s written...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Elite Zexer — “Sand Storm”
Interview by Eboni Boykin and Laura Berger Elite Zexer’s previous short films are “Take Note,” which won the Best Fiction Film Award at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, and...
“As I Open My Eyes” Writer-Director Leyla Bouzid on Arab Women and Revolution
Interview by Siân Melton Leyla Bouzid is a Tunisian born and raised filmmaker. She studied French literature at the University of Paris and film directing at La Fémis. Her shorts...
Watch: Women & Hollywood Founder Melissa Silverstein Talks Gender Equality
Earlier this summer, Women and Hollywood’s Founder and Editor-in-Chief Melissa Silverstein spoke at the Natalie Miller Fellowship event in Melbourne, Australia. The Fellowship, named in honor of...
“White Girl” Writer-Director Elizabeth Wood on Her Controversial New Film
Interview by Diana Martinez After a few years of making experimental and documentary films, Elizabeth Wood received a screenwriting fellowship to Columbia, where she earned her MFA. One of...
Sex Scenes At a Size 22
Guest Post by Jen Ponton As an actress taking on your first lead role in a movie, there are a lot of things you need to be prepared to do: show up every day, be a good leader, know what you’re...
Never Too Old to Dream Big: Going From Mom to Movie Maker with No Fear
Guest Post by Caytha Jentis As I’m about to complete “The Other F Word,” my fourth production since deciding to become a filmmaker in my early forties, I’ve decided to reflect on...
“Women Who Score” Made History for Female Composers
Composer Nan Schwartz: Gino Mifsud/AWFC Guest Post by Penka Kouneva On August 19, 2016, I had the honor of conducting my music in a concert titled “Women Who Score: Soundtracks Live.” This event...
New BBC Film Poll Sorely Lacking Both Women Directors and Critics
BBC Culture has released a list titled “The 21st Century’s 100 Greatest Films,” for which it polled 177 film critics from around the world. The resulting list of films is unsurprisingly,...
Women and Hollywood is Hiring a Social Media Intern
The Women and Hollywood team is looking for a new Social Media intern. The internship will begin October 1, 2016. The intern will be responsible for helping to grow and nurture the Women and...
San Francisco Film Society Announces Doc Film Fund Finalists
The San Francisco Film Society has announced the ten finalists for the 2016 SFFS Documentary Film Fund awards, which support feature-length documentaries in post-production. Six of the ten projects...
What I Learned Starting a Female Film Fest in the Middle of the Country
Guest Post by Justina Walford “But we already have a women’s organization for film.” I was building a three-day film festival of female-created films in Dallas, and to a few, that seemed...
Molly Bernstein on Her New Doc About Photographer Rosamond Purcell
Interview by Freja Dam Molly Bernstein directed, produced, and edited “Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay.” She has written and directed documentary profiles of other...
Serbian Actress Mirjana Karanović on Her Directorial Debut “A Good Wife”
“A Good Wife”: Karlovy Vary Interview By Tina Poglajen Mirjana Karanović has been one of the most instantly recognizable faces of the cinema of the countries of ex-Yugoslavia at least since...
The Queer and Not-So-Queer History of Early Hollywood Revealed in New Book “Girls Will Be Boys”
Laura Horak tells of a time when cross-dressed women and lesbians roamed the screen in “Girls Will Be Boys: Cross-Dressed Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema, 1908–1934.” Here, Horak...
“Into the Forest” Writer-Director Patricia Rozema on Her Sister-Centric Survival Story
Interview by Freja Dam Patricia Rozema’s first feature, “I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing,” won the Prix de la Jeunesse and was runner-up for the Camera d’Or at the 1987 Cannes Film...
Why Female Screenwriters Shouldn’t Get Depressed by WGA Stats
Guest Post by Rebecca Norris Are you a female screenwriter who is depressed by the latest Hollywood statistics that seem to suggest women are becoming more marginalized in Tinseltown, rather than...
Nanfu Wang on Activism, Sex Work, and Human Rights in “Hooligan Sparrow”
Interview by Diana Martinez Nanfu Wang was born in a remote farming village in Jiangxi Province, China. Wang is a recipient of the Sundance Documentary Fund and the Bertha Britdoc Journalism Fund...
Fighting for Female DP’s in “Shooting Women: Behind the Camera, Around the World”
An excerpt from the preface for “Shooting Women: Behind the Camera, Around the World” by Harriet Margolis, Julia Stein, and Alexis Krasilovsky. Preface by Alexis Krasilovsky. Every couple of...
Seeking Our Story: Mary Pickford and the Feminist Foundation of Hollywood
Pickford on the set of “Little Annie Rooney” Guest Post by Samantha Shada For five years I passed the signs on Venice at National; the only billboard sized image in Los Angeles with a woman...
How Can We Help the Working Mothers of Hollywood? Raising Films Has a Plan
Diane Keaton in “Baby Boom” Guest Post by Sophie Mayer Raising Films is a campaign for parent-filmmakers — and it’s urgently needed. While writing “Political Animals: The New Feminist...
Why We Should Care About the 2016 National Film Registry
“A League of Their Own” Guest Post by Haley Beasley and Zeyn Faddoul of Women in Film & Video DC Human identity remains paramount in its potential as an agent for societal change. Works in...
How Finding a Filmmaking Partner Changed My Career
Guest Post by Siobhan Devine Making an independent film takes a village, and that’s pretty much the only part that everyone likes to talk about; that two days or three weeks of crazy madness and...
Women and Hollywood is Looking for Interns
Women and Hollywood is looking for two interns for the remainder of 2016. The positions will begin on July 1 and end on December 31. Applicants must be willing to commit to six months for 15 hours...
Casting for Quentin Tarantino-Produced Film Calls for “Whores”
Quentin Tarantino: Georges Biard/Wiki Commons Consider this your daily dose of “Are you fucking kidding me?!” At the end of last week, a Los Angeles-based agency put up a casting call on Facebook...
Seeking Our Story: Growing Up with Catherine Hardwicke’s “Thirteen”
“Thirteen” Guest Post by Angela Trott Catherine Hardwick will be appearing in person at this event, see details below. Catherine Hardwicke (b. 1955) grew up in McAllen, Texas on the border...
A Creative Woman’s Journey
Guest Post By Amirose Eisenbach A mix of hard work, luck, and timing has allowed me to have a very fruitful and exciting career in entertainment for the last decade. From Warner Bros., to Fox, and...
Listen: Podcast with Maxine Peake
British actress Maxine Peake talked to Women and Hollywood about taking on one of the most sought after, challenging roles in history — Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Peake spoke with us about her...
The Dudeocracy of Film Writers
Yesterday, Owen Gleiberman was appointed chief film critic at Variety. We congratulate him on the position, and consider him a great writer, but his hiring has capped off a bothersome trend we’ve...
Read Women and Hollywood Now on Medium
After five great years on Indiewire and the end of the blog network, Women and Hollywood has moved to a new home on Medium. You can read us here: https://blog.womenandhollywood.com/ A couple of...
Weekly Update for April 22: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week The Meddler — Written and Directed by Lorene Scafaria (Opens in LA and NYC) Susan Sarandon is every young woman’s nightmare — a mom with nothing...
Cast Set For Sally Wainwright’s Brontë Sisters Drama ‘To Walk Invisible’
“Happy Valley” creator Sally Wainwright is making a one-off BBC drama based on the Brontë sisters and she has set her cast. Emily Brontë, who wrote “Wuthering Heights,” will be played by...
Trailer Watch: The King and the President Cross Paths in Liza Johnson’s ‘Elvis & Nixon’
It takes a lot of chutzpah to send the President of the United States a letter that reads, “I can and will do more good if I am made a Federal Agent at large” — especially when such a...
Tribeca Film Fest Awards Rachel Tunnard, Ingrid Jungermann, Priscilla Ananay and More
Tribeca Film Festival has announced the award winners for its 15th annual run. The fest is still running until April 24, and you can read all of our interviews with female filmmakers at Tribeca...
Marielle Heller To Helm Feature Film Adaptation of HBO Gay Rights Doc
Marielle Heller’s star continues to rise. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that the “Diary of a Teenage Girl” helmer will write and direct a feature film adaptation of “The Case Against...
Cannes Classics Highlights Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds and Women of Old Hollywood
Though the Cannes Film Festival made some additions to its Competition, Un Certain Regard and special screenings this morning, absolutely zero of them are films made by women. So we turn instead to...