Best of 2016: The Dudeocracy of Film Writers

Women and Hollywood is off today. Please enjoy one of our top posts of the year. This piece is from May 5, 2016.

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 seen occurring within the past month. We’ve noticed (as others have) that many major jobs at film or entertainment publications recently have gone to men.

In April, Indiewire hired two new male film writers after it was purchased by Penske Media Corporation, the same umbrella company that owns Variety, Deadline, and TV Line. Rolling Stone hired another man to take over for the one who left for Indiewire. Two men were given prominent editorial roles at Film Society of Lincoln Center and its magazine, Film Comment. Add those to Glieberman’s hiring and that’s six men who have been offered important positions in the film media world within four weeks.

It’s presumed that Glieberman is taking over the job of Justin Chang, who was offered a new job as film critic at the L.A. Times. Before Chang took the gig, it was held by a woman, Betsy Sharkey, who resigned last May to pursue a book project.

When these announcements were made, emails and DMs came into Women and Hollywood from female film writers who are not only flabbergasted by the trend, but are struggling to move up or even find jobs themselves. Few will go on the record, but the sentiment of frustration is always the same.

“I love reading Justin Chang, Owen Gleiberman, and Eric Kohn,” Carrie Rickey, former critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer told W&H. “Yet we all know from scanning Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes that male reviewers are less receptive to movies by women filmmakers. The movie world is already tilted against female directors. The dudeocracy makes the playing field even less even.”

“When I started getting texts about Variety’s hire of Owen Gleiberman, on top of Justin Chang’s at the LAT, and David Ehrlich’s at Indiewire, I would have done a spit take. But I have no more spits to give,” a freelance female film critic told us anonymously. “The bias is as clear in this field as in directing, cinematography and so many others. It does a great disservice to criticism and, as gatekeepers, to the work of women artists. And it would be so easy to change, one hire at a time.”

“I was one of several women laid off from the same film publication last year, all of whom were replaced by men,” another female film writer told us. “All I can say is that I’m disappointed. Female film critics are few and far between. It feels like every day I hear about another male critic getting hired. It would have been nice to see some chances taken.”

That got us thinking about how few female film critics are actually out there, and how tough it is for women not only in the actual Hollywood machine, but in the Hollywood media as well. Some sites are devoted to women, and feature a majority of women on their writings staffs, such as BitchFlicks, and the entire staff of Elle’s Film & TV section is female, outside of the sole film reviewer. (Esquire and Forbes have only men.) There are many women writing for Bright Wall Dark Room as well. And let’s not forget the Alliance of Women Film Journalists which has a terrific list of women critics and writers.

We reached out to Diana Drumm, who runs the Twitter account @FemaleFilmCritics to dig up a list of female critics around the country. The list below is made up of women who, as far Diana can find, are either full-time, staff film critics, or who write film criticism in addition to reportorial pieces, or are freelance critics. The list is extensive, though by all means not conclusive. And unlike the men hired this month, many of them are not staffers with the job stability that the trades might offer (as opposed to a fledgling website).

The list is international and is made up of female film and TV critics and reviewers, editors, and columnists. But we at Women and Hollywood encourage you to seek out them all for a read. To get on the list you need to be employed by an outlet or are a freelance writer who has regular outlets where you work.

Best of 2016: The Dudeocracy of Film Writers

Female Film/TV Critics and Film/TV Writers :

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