BY Women and Hollywood
Study Shows That More Plays Written by Women Are Being Staged
One month ago the women responsible for bringing “Fun Home” to the stage made history at the 69th annual Tony Awards. Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron became the first all-female writing team to win...
Sundance Launches New Resource Map for Female Filmmakers
There are dozens of grants, workshops, blogs, archives, film festivals, resource lists and mentoring programs out there for female filmmakers, but finding the ones relevant to you can be a...
Karen McCullah and Tamra Davis Team Up for R-Rated, ‘Bachelorette’-Style Comedy
Screenwriter Karen McCullah and director Tamra Davis have announced their next project: a R-rated comedy about four female friends, one of them pregnant, who end up stranded overseas and pursued by...
Kevin Feige Deflects Like Crazy to Avoid Answering Why Marvel Still Hasn’t Made a Superheroine Film
From 1998’s “Blade” to today’s release of “Ant-Man,” Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment have made 36 films. Only one of them, 2006’s “Elektra,” has a female protagonist. At...
Zoe Kravitz Was Told She Was Too “Urban” to Get an Audition for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
In news that would be funny if it weren’t so sad, Zoe Kravitz revealed in an interview that she was denied an audition for a minor role in “The Dark Knight Rises” because “they weren’t...
Trailer Watch: Amy Berg Tackles Cult Leader and Child Rapist Warren Jeffs in ‘Prophet’s Prey’
Prolific filmmaker Amy Berg has yet another movie set for release in 2015. It was only last month that the Academy Award nominee debuted the documentary “An Open Secret” and her first narrative...
Seven New ‘Twilight’ Shorts Directed by Female Filmmakers Keep the Franchise Alive
This Monday, the seven finalists in a “Twilight” short film competition presented their work to a theater full of fans and industry insiders. Back in October of 2014, Lionsgate, the studio...
Trailer Watch: Sarah-Violet Bliss’s SXSW Winner ‘Fort Tilden’ Is All About the Journey
Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers’ feature directorial debut, “Fort Tilden,” made a big splash at the 2014 SXSW, where it scored the Grand Jury Prize. The comic tale — of two young...
2015 Emmy Nod Favorites: ‘Bessie,’ ‘Transparent,’ ‘Olive Kitteridge,’ Amy Schumer, Black Actresses
The Emmys are usually as staid as the entertainment industry gets, with the same group of people getting nominated and winning for the same roles year after year. There are a lot of old favorites...
Carly Simon Memoir Hitting Shelves in November 2015
Singer-songwriter Carly Simon is writing a memoir. While many outlets have giddily speculated that the inspiration for “You’re So Vain” will be revealed in the book, Simon’s description of...
Athina Rachel Tsangari Named Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 2015 Filmmaker in Residence
Greek-born director Athina Rachel Tsangari has been named Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 2015 Filmmaker in Residence. Tsangari’s features include “The Slow Business of Going” (2000),...
Catherine Hardwicke To Direct New YA Adaptation: ‘Stargirl’
Catherine Hardwicke is getting back into the YA game with an adaptation of Jerry Spinelli’s 2000 bestseller “Stargirl.” The “Twilight” director reportedly sign on to helm after reading...
Locarno Film Festival Announces 2015 Lineup with Few Women Directors
The lineup for the 68th edition of the Locarno Film Festival has been unveiled, and the program is sorely lacking in female-helmed features. Only two of the 16 titles, or 13 percent, in the...
Claire Denis, Agnieszka Holland to Judge Inaugural TIFF Competition for Int’l “Directors’ Cinema”
Acclaimed directors Claire Denis, Agnieszka Holland and Jia Zhangke will make up the three-person jury for the Toronto International Film Festival’s inaugural Platform category, a new program...
Comedy Club in Phyllis Diller’s Hometown Raising Funds for an Exhibit Dedicated to the Comedian
A comedy club in Lima, Ohio, is raising money to launch a museum exhibit honoring trailblazing stand-up comic Phyllis Diller. Lima was Diller’s hometown. Limaland Comedy is hosting the third...
Meet ‘The Nightly Show’s’ Robin Thede, Late Night’s First Black Woman Head Writer
‘Tig’ Offers an Intimate Look at the Comic’s Darkest Moments and Unexpected Joys
Overnight success in the Internet age is often equal parts skill, timing and luck. Or, in the case of comic Tig Notaro, really bad luck. While well known in comedy circles, Notaro wasn’t a...
Trailer Watch: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler Throw the Party of a Lifetime in ‘Sisters’
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have called a wrap on their Golden Globe hosting duties, but mercifully it won’t be long until we see them partner up on another grand stage — the big screen. A...
Trailer Watch: Jennifer Lawrence Falls in Love, Shoots a Gun, Tries to Get What She Wants in ‘Joy’
Finalists Announced for ‘The Next (Female) MacGyver’ Competition
Twelve finalists have been announced in The Next MacGyver competition. A joint initiative of the National Academy of Engineering and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the contest hopes to offer...
‘Citizenfour’ Director Laura Poitras Suing US Government Over “Kafkaesque Harassment”
From 2006 to 2012, documentarian Laura Poitras has been detained at the border more than four dozen times, often for hours. Despite never being charged with a crime, the Oscar-winning...
Lena Dunham to Launch Lenny, a Newsletter for Young Women, Where “There’s No Such Thing as TMI”
Lena Dunham is teaming up with Jenni Konner, her production partner and “Girls” co-showrunner, to launch Lenny, a weekly newsletter for young women. In an interview with Buzzfeed, Dunham...
‘Downton Abbey’ Actress Michelle Dockery to Star in TNT Drama ‘Good Behavior’
Now that “Downton Abbey” has announced that its upcoming sixth season will be its last, Michelle Dockery is seeking new leading roles. The erstwhile Mary Crawley has landed a TNT drama called...
New ‘Suffragette’ Poster Art Released on Emmeline Pankhurst Day
On the occasion of Emmeline Pankhurst Day, devoted to the political activist who played a pivotal role in securing British women the right to vote, official “Suffragette” poster art has been...
How Girl Power Made This Year’s Comic-Con the Best in Recent Memory
Comic-Concarried me away this year — sometimes quite literally. As I exited Hall H on Sunday and was swept into a direction I didn’t mean to go by a wave ofthousands, I thought about my...
Five Most Girl Power Moments from Comic-Con 2015
Despite the rampant misogyny in some nerd circles, it’s increasingly clear that girl power and feminism is a pretty great way to sell a movie or TV, since most of us prefer to live in the 21st...
Female Membership in Academy’s Board of Governors Rises by 6% for 2015–2016
Though 40% of this year’s candidates to join the Academy’s Board of Governors were women, female membership increased by only 6% after ballots were tallied. The 51-member Board — made up...
Guest Post: Directing Young Men as a Female Filmmaker
A few years ago, if you had told me that myfirst feature would follow three ten-year-old boys growing up in Palo Alto in1985, I probably wouldn’t have believed you — especially since one is...
Film in Development About Real-Life African-American Women NASA Mathematicians
Here’s the kind of news we’d like to hear more of: Currently in the works is a film about the first group of black women mathematicians at NASA who helped the moon landing happen. Producer Donna...
Trailer Watch: Kate Winslet Asserts Her Independence (and Innocence of Murder) in ‘The Dressmaker’
Kate Winslet commands the screen with sass and midcentury flair in “The Dressmaker,” director Jocelyn Moorhouse’s Aussie dramedy about a sophisticated couturier who returns to her...
Weekly Update for July 10: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Tangerine It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown, and Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn’t been...
Watch: New ‘Mockingjay — Part 2’ Teaser Released
New details from the land of Panem have been coming in waves this week, as the stars and creators of “The Hunger Games” franchise revealed teasers and thoughts in a Comic Con panel. A new...
Trailer Watch: Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette Are Inseparable Besties in ‘Miss You Already’
Fresh off the news that Catherine Hardwicke will direct a $50 million romantic epic set in China comes the trailer for a different kind of romance helmed by the “Twilight” director, “Miss You...
Winners Announced For the HBO Diverse and Emerging Writers Fellowship, Six Women Chosen
Back in February we reported that HBO was launching a writing fellowship to find diverse and emerging writers. This week, the premium cable network announced the names of the nine aspiring writers...
Women in the Director’s Chair and Whistler FF Launch 4-Month Intensive For Female Directors
The Whistler Film Festival and Women in the Director’s Chair are teaming up to launch WIDC: Story & Leadership, a four-month intensive for women screen directors focusing on fiction feature...
Trailer Watch: Saoirse Ronan Leaves Ireland Behind for ‘Brooklyn’
“Brooklyn” received rave reviews out of Sundance, with many critics suggesting that the romantic drama may end up a serious contender come awards season. Our colleagues at The Playlist offered...
Guest Post: The Challenges of Making Docs About Women and Why It’s So Crucial to Overcome Them
When I began work on “In The Game” almost six years ago, I assumed that in terms of funding and distribution it would be like shooting into an open goal. It was a film that was going to look at...
Susan Sarandon Takes on Politics in New TV Series ‘Graves’
Susan Sarandon’s career has spanned over 40 years, but she’s never been a series regular on a television series — until now. Sarandon has appeared in shows like “The Big C,” “30...
Melissa Leo to Star in ‘The Most Hated Woman in America’ for Netflix
Melissa Leo is coming to Netflix. The Oscar winning actress, who can currently be seen on Fox’s “Wayward Pines,” will play Madalyn Murray O’Hair in the streaming service’s upcoming “The...
‘Game of Thrones’ Star Maisie Williams is Unstoppable — and Wants All Girls to Feel That They Are Too
Arya Stark is easily one of the most beloved characters in the “Game of Thrones” universe: Maisie Williams’ portrayal of the indomitable youngest Stark daughter has always stood out among the...
Guest Post: How ‘Mad Women’ Helped Me Appreciate My Female Perspective as A Cinematographer
Since I started my cinematography career, I am often asked “what it means to be a woman cinematographer.” After rephrasing the question as “what it means to be a cinematographer” I simply...
Ellen Page to Star As a U.S. Marine in ‘Lioness’
The trend of women-in-war films continues. Just two weeks ago we observed that there’s a real demand for female-centered war stories. Yesterday brought news that Ellen Page will be following in...
Why Do Sitcoms Keeping It Real Offend You?
Theother night, at a bar I was far too tired to be at, I was talking to a writerfriend (of a friend) about the ever-talked about problem of diversity inHollywood. You see, bar conversations in...
Pride, Protest and Questioning Convention: Crowdfunding Campaigns
In a media-centric society where women’svoices are often drowned by a deluge of mainstream, male-dominated narratives,it is all too easy for any alternative story to slip underneath our radar. The...
Guest Post: So, Where Are The Women Onscreen?
The topic of women’s representation on the silver screen — as in: it’s terrible — is having a moment this year. A big one. Everyone seems to be talking about it, like Maggie...
Trailer Watch: Mia Wasikowska Moves Into a Haunted House with Jessica Chastain in ‘Crimson Peak’
“Ghosts are real. That much I know. I’ve seen them all my life.” So begins the spooky trailer for “Crimson Peak,” a gorgeous-looking gothic horror starring Mia Wasikowska as Edith, a...
Impact Partners Launches Fellowship for Emerging Documentary Producers at DOC NYC 2015
Impact Partners, a film fund and advisory service that funds independent socially-conscious cinema, has announced the launch of a new annual Emerging Documentary Producers Fellowship. Five...
Angelina Jolie Options Book on Catherine the Great
The Sony hack revealed that Angelina Jolie has a Cleopatra movie in the works, but it’s looking like Jolie may be adding another legendary female ruler to her resume. The “Unbroken”...
Lifetime Renews ‘UnReal’, a Second Season Confirmed for the Critically Acclaimed New Drama
Women and Hollywood’s TV critic Sara Stewart concluded her glowing review of Lifetime’s “UnReal” by saying that she hoped the first season of the show “is a big enough hit that Lifetime...
Anna Faris Wants to Start a Girl’s Club
In a Hollywood Reporter story featuring CBS’ female showrunners and actresses, “Mom” star Anna Faris spoke out about changing the competitive, cut-throat world that actresses are forced to...
Quote of the Day: Sandra Bullock Condemns Open Hunting Season on Women
People magazine recently named Sandra Bullock the World’s Most Beautiful Woman in 2015, and “The Blind Side” actress has used the press surrounding this announcement and her upcoming role in...