BY Women and Hollywood
Elaine May to Receive WGA’s Lifetime Achivement Award
Elaine May has been named the 2016 recipient of the Writers Guild of America’s lifetime achievement award. She will be presented with the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement at the...
Join Us at the Women and Hollywood/The Director List Sundance Meet-Up
Please come, mingle, and network at Women and Hollywood and The Director List’s Sundance meet-up on Wednesday, January 27. We’re gathering at the No Name Saloon on 447 Main from...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Siân Heder – ‘Tallulah’
Siân Heder writes and produces on the acclaimed Netflix series "Orange is the New Black," for which she has received multiple WGA nominations. Her first short film,...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Nanfu Wang – ‘Hooligan Sparrow’
Nanfu Wang is an independent filmmaker based in New York City. Wang was born in a remote farming village in Jiangxi Province, China. Realizing that she wanted to help tell the stories of people who...
Sundance 2016 Preview: Eagle Huntresses, Toddler Kidnappers, Other Festival Gems By and About Women
January hasn’t been a great — or even remotely good — month for films by and about women in theaters, as our January Film Preview proves. But tomorrow marks the beginning of the...
Chicken & Egg Pictures Announces Recipients of Its Inaugural Breakthrough Filmmaker Award
Documentary filmmakers Kristi Jacobson, Julia Reichert, Yoruba Richen, Elaine McMillion and Michèle Stephenson have been named the five recipients of Chicken & Egg Pictures’...
Celebrities Speak Out As #OscarsSoWhite Protest Grows
Women and Hollywood generally focuses on gender issues in the entertainment business. But the fight against racism and the fight against sexism cannot and should not be separated, and so it is our...
Women and Hollywood is Not Going Away
News hit this morning that Penske Media has bought Indiewire. This was quite a surprise; I am just beginning to digest it. While the news is early, my understanding is that the blog network will be...
Quote of the Day: Marielle Heller on How Male and Female Directors Are Perceived Differently
Marielle Heller recently received some well-deserved love from the DGA for her critically acclaimed directorial debut, "The Diary of a Teenage Girl." Heller, who also penned the script for...
Sundance Selects Acquires Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman’s Anthony Weiner Doc
Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman’s doc portrait of Anthony Weiner documentary has found a buyer in Sundance Selects days ahead of the film’s January 24 premiere at the 2016 Sundance...
Netflix News: Updates on ‘Kimmy Schmidt,’ ‘Jessica Jones,’ ‘Orange/New Black,’ ‘Grace & Frankie’
Netflix dropped several news bombs over the weekend at the Winter TCAs. Here’s the latest updates on four of our favorite (female-centric, female-created) shows: "Unbreakable Kimmy...
All-Female Ebert Fellows Cohort Announced for Sundance 2016
The recipients of the third annual Roger Ebert Fellowship for Film Criticism have been announced, and all three aspiring film critics this year are young women: Hunter Harris, Sara Alexandra Pelaez...
Anne Hathaway’s Next Two Sci-Fi Action Films to Take Place During Baby Shower, Nervous Breakdown
Anne Hathaway is making a big move into genre both on screen and behind the scenes. The Oscar-winning actress and writer-director Jac Schaeffer are close to making the sci-fi action-comedy...
Tina Fey and Ronda Rousey Team Up for Paula Pell Comedy
"Sisters" is a bona fide sleeper hit: Since its release opposite "Star Wars" four weeks ago, the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler vehicle has racked up $94 million worldwide. No wonder,...
Kylie Bunbury to Star in Fox Drama About MLB’s First Female Pitcher
Kylie Bunbury has been cast as the lead in "Pitch," Fox’s just-picked-up drama about the major leagues’ first pitcher. The series will focus on a young female baseball...
Weekly Update for January 15: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week The Lady in the Van (Opens in Los Angeles and New York) The film tells the true story of Alan Bennett’s (Alex Jennings) strained friendship with Miss Mary...
Support Women Filmmakers at Cannes- 2015
Celebrate Women Filmmakers at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival
Meryl Streep to Lead Master Class at Berlinale 2016
Meryl Streep will host a master class with 300 emerging film professionals at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival. Participants were chosen from a pool of more than 2,700 applicants....
Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot to Star in ‘The Midwife’
French stars Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot will star in "The Midwife." Written and directed by Martin Provost, the film will center on Claire (Frot), an extraordinarily talented...
Rutina Wesley to Star In Ava DuVernay’s TV Series ‘Queen Sugar’
Former "True Blood" star Rutina Wesley has landed a starring role in Ava DuVernay’s upcoming OWN series "Queen Sugar." The drama, based on a novel of the same name by...
Why “Carol” Failed to Become the Lesbian ‘Brokeback’
Well, that’s that. Lesbians will not have their “Brokeback Mountain” this year after all. That’s because “Carol,” perhaps the most critically acclaimed mainstream film of all time...
Strategies for Success: Event with Creative England
Creative England and Women and Hollywood hosted an evening for representatives from across the industry, including BBC Films, Women in Film & TV, Warner Brothers, BAFTA, Silver Salt Films and...
Anxiety and Alzheimer’s on Film: January 2016’s Crowdfunding Picks
This month’s crowdfunding post focuses on filmmakers tackling topics rarely discussed in mainstream film. “From Away” highlights racism in an idyllic town, “MNSTR” dramatizes the feeling of...
Melissa Leo to Star in Showtime Comedy About Stand-Up in the ’70s
Melissa Leo has joined the cast of Showtime’s newly greenlit "I’m Dying Up Here," an upcoming dark comedy about stand-up in the ’70s. Leo will play a...
Juliet Stevenson Set to Star in Polly Steele’s Intergenerational Drama About Mothers and Daughters
Four-time BAFTA nominee and theater vet Juliet Stevenson will likely star in Polly Steele’s "Let Me Go." The drama, an intergenerational story about mothers and daughters tracing back...
Women-Directed Films from Major Studios 2009-2013
Women-Directed Independent Features
Trailer Watch: Sarah Jessica Parker Reconnects With an Italian Ex in ‘All Roads Lead To Rome’
Sarah Jessica Parker is back with another rom com. A trailer has been released for writer-director Ella Lemhagen’s "All Roads Lead To Rome," and as the film’s title suggests,...
Rashida Jones Brings Back Slapstick With TBS’s ‘Angie Tribeca’
"Surely you can’t be serious?" "I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley." Whether you’ll take to the new TBS comedy "Angie Tribeca" depends, I expect,...
2016 Oscar Noms Announced; ‘Brooklyn,’ ‘Room,’ ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ to Compete For Best Picture
2016 won’t go down as the most homogeneous (i.e., exclusionary) year in recent Oscar history. Three female-centric films ("Brooklyn," "Room" and...
Netflix Reboots Post-Divorce Family Sitcom ‘One Day At A Time’ With Rita Moreno-Led Latino Cast
Netflix has given a 13-episode direct-to-series order to a reboot of Norman Lear’s "One Day at a Time," the classic sitcom that ran from 1975 to 1984. The new version will...
2016 DGA Nods for Angela Bassett, Jill Soloway, Amy Schumer, Dee Rees, Sofia Coppola, and More
A handful of familiar names — among them Angela Bassett, Amy Schumer, Jill Soloway and Sofia Coppola — received DGA Awards nominations for their directing work this year. Also nominated...
Netflix Buys Sian Heder’s ‘Tallulah,’ Starring Ellen Page and Allison Janney
Sian Heder’s feature directorial debut "Talluhlah" has found a home prior to its world premiere at Sundance just over a week away. Netflix is reported to have spent somewhere in the...
Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ EDA Winners: ‘Carol,’ ‘Mad Max,’ Kristen Stewart and More
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists has unveiled the winners of the 2015 EDA Awards. As expected, "Carol" won big. The period romance, written by Phyllis Nagy and starring Cate Blanchett...
Athena Film Festival’s 2016 Lineup Released; Dawn Porter’s ‘Trapped’ Will Open Fest
Remember when "Room," "Carol" and "Brooklyn" were in the Oscar conversation?* This award season — like most award seasons — has been another chilly winter...
Trailer Watch: Julia Roberts and George Clooney Take On Wall St. in Jodie Foster’s ‘Money Monster’
A trailer has arrived for Jodie Foster’s much anticipated "Money Monster." The star-studded drama focuses on a TV personality, financial guru Lee Gates (George Clooney), who is taken...
Guest Post: Submitting Like a Man: My Year Resubmitting Scripts As A Dude
This is the first installment of the blog Submitting Like A Man (SLAM), created by writer Mya Kagan. The project examines what happens when Mya resubmits scripts to previously rejected...
Zeitgeist To Release Marcie Begleiter’s Doc About Artist Eva Hesse
Marcie Begleiter’s directorial debut, a documentary about sculptor Eva Hess, has been acquired. Zeitgeist Films will distribute "Eva Hesse." The film chronicles...
Trailer Watch: Elaine May’s PBS Portrait of Director Mike Nichols
One of Mike Nichols’ best-known collaborators has helmed a documentary about the Oscar-winning director and one of his most beloved films. Elaine May has directed an "American...
How Samatha Bee’s New Late Night Show is Tackling Gender Diversity Behind the Scenes
Samantha Bee and her team for her new talk show, "Full Frontal," are putting their money where their mouths are. "The talent is out there, so late-night shows need to stop saying,...
Study: Women Directors’ Ranks Increased in 2015, But Only to 1998 Rates
Female filmmakers enjoyed a slight bump last year in their representation in the film industry, with women directors and those in other key roles (writers, producers, executive producers, editors and...
Susanne Bier’s TV Adaptation of ‘The Night Manager’ Changes the Protagonist From a Male to a Female
"We have to start stealing the men’s roles," urged Helen Mirren back in August 2015. Angelina Jolie’s role in 2010’s "Salt" was originally written for a man, as...
Elite Zexer’s Sundance Competitor “Sand Storm” Acquired by Beta Cinema
Two weeks ahead of its world premiere at Sundance 2016, the Israeli family drama "Sand Storm" has landed a distribution deal. Written and directed by first-timer Elite Zexer, the...
Golden Globes 2016 Wrap-Up: Cheers to Taraji P. Henson and Rachel Bloom, Jeers to Ricky Gervais
The overwhelming majority of the honorees at the 2016 Golden Globes were, as expected, white men. And Ricky Gervais was, as expected, mean-spirited and dreadfully glib as opposed to delightfully...
BAMcinématek Launches 18-Film “Witches’ Brew” Program
The Brooklyn Academy of Music will devote its late February programming to exploring cinema’s witches. The 18-film "Witches’ Brew" series will span decades, genres and...
HBO to Air 17 Docs in Spring 2016; Subjects Include Nora Ephron, Mavis Staples, Gloria Vanderbilt
Writer Nora Ephron, filmmaker Laurie Anderson, singer Mavis Staples, heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, Cuban LGBT activist Mariela Castro (Fidel’s niece) and a 18-year-old Pakistani woman...
Ingrid Escajeda to Write, Exec Produce New Drama About Korean-American Celebrity Chef
Ingrid Escajeda is on board to write and executive produce "On the Line," a one-hour drama in development at Fox inspired by chef Sang Yoon, best known as the chef and proprietor...
Emma Watson Launches Feminist Book Club, See Our Reading Recommendations
Emma Watson has chosen the first selection for her newly launched feminist book club, "Our Shared Shelf." The book club will see the "Noah" star — and fellow readers —...
Weekly Update for January 8: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This WeekThe Forest – Co-Written by Sarah Cornwell When her twin sister disappears in Japan, a young American named Sara (Natalie Dormer) becomes determined to find...
Apply for the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Directors Fellowship
The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center will accept applications for its 18-month fellowship for early-career theater directors on January 11-15. The National Directors Fellowship is the...