Features
Weekly Update for June 16: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Rough Night” Films About Women Opening This Week Rough Night — Co-Written and Directed by Lucia Aniello In this edgy R-rated comedy, five best friends from college (played by Scarlett...
Fiction Is a Fine Line: Crowdfunding Picks
“Split” We’ve all heard that art is an imitation of life. Painters, writers, and filmmakers alike transpose what they see and feel onto their medium of choice. Personal experiences and...
Exclusive: Mother-Daughter Conflict Reaches a Boiling Point in “Beauty Mark” Clip
“You’re living in a dreamworld,” Angie (Auden Thornton, “Elementary”) tells her mother Ruth Ann (Catherine Curtin, “Orange Is the New Black”) in an exclusive clip from “Beauty...
WTF of the Day: Emmy Rossum Was Asked to Wear a Bikini Instead of Audition for a Role
Today in shudder-worthy news: “Shameless” star Emmy Rossum revealed her experience with sexual harassment during the audition process. In a roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter,...
Submit Now: Women and Hollywood’s First-Time Female Filmmaker Contest
In celebration and recognition of Women and Hollywood’s 10th anniversary, we are launching a short film contest for first-time female filmmakers. The objective of the contest is to help build the...
How You Can Be Involved in Women and Hollywood’s 10th Anniversary
2017 is the 10th anniversary of Women and Hollywood. We spend every day putting out information that we believe people need to know about how women are treated in the entertainment business. Lots of...
Exclusive: Sony Pictures Classics Co-President Tom Bernard Talks Supporting Women Directors
Michael Barker and Tom Bernard of Sony Pictures Classics were honored with the The Women In Film Beacon Award at last night’s Women in Film LA’s Crystal + Lucy Awards. Below is Bernard’s...
Save the Date: Women and Hollywood Is Celebrating Its 10th Anniversary
Women and Hollywood is celebrating its tenth anniversary this fall and we want you to be there! Founder and Publisher Melissa Silverstein will be hosting three different events — one in New...
Quote of the Day: Elizabeth Banks on the Importance of Taking Action to Effect Change in Hollywood
Elizabeth Banks’ feature directorial debut was a smash hit. “Pitch Perfect 2” grossed more than $184 million in the U.S. — one of the highest-earning woman-directed films ever. Now the...
Tony Awards 2017 Highlights: Bette Midler, Rebecca Taichman, Cynthia Nixon, & More
The personal overlapped with the political in last night’s Tony Awards — as is usually the case in the best award ceremonies. “Hello, Dolly!” star Bette Midler got one step closer to...
Quote of the Day: Reese Witherspoon on the Pressure Women Face to Stay in Their Lane
Reese Witherspoon is a bona fide movie star, but the Oscar-winning actress is also building an impressive resume as a producer. In a recent interview with Net-a-Porter Witherspoon reveals that she...
Weekly Update for June 9: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Megan Leavey” Films About Women Opening This Week Megan Leavey — Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Co-Written by Pamela Gray and Annie Mumolo “Megan Leavey” is both a story of war...
Guest Post: I Used an All-Female Crew to Shoot My Movie and Was Called Sexist
Guest Post by Rainy Kerwin Being on set of “The Wedding Invitation” with my all-female crew was the greatest experience of my life. Nope, we didn’t get into catfights. Nope, no one was...
Cross-Post: Parents in the Palais: An Open Letter to the Cannes Film Festival
The following has been reposted from agnès films with the authors’ permission. In response to reports of mistreatment from mothers and parents at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, agnès films’...
Sundance’s Pocket-Sized London Fest Lacks Women Directors But Screens Solid Female-Led Films
The fifth edition of Sundance: London came to a close this weekend. The festival, which cherry-picks a handful of films screened at its American parent festival each year to show across the pond,...
“Wonder Woman” Director Patty Jenkins Makes History
By now you know that “Wonder Woman” kicked ass at the box office. But here’s the cherry on top of the sundae: “Wonder Woman” helmer Patty Jenkins now holds the record for highest domestic...
Weekly Update for June 2: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Wonder Woman” Films About Women Opening This Week Wonder Woman — Directed by Patty Jenkins Today the first female superhero movie directed by a woman arrives on the big screen. Gal Gadot...
June 2017 Film Preview
“Wonder Woman” It’s June, but there’s no gloom here! The moment we’ve been waiting (literally years) for is here. Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” starts the month off with a bang,...
Rising Up: June’s VOD and Web Series Picks
“I Am Jane Doe” The release of “Wonder Woman” has Women and Hollywood reflecting on women who aren’t afraid to take charge of their situations. This month’s VOD and web series picks...
Guest Post: How Writing “The Women’s Balcony” Made Me Rethink My Relationship with Judaism
Guest Post by Shlomit Nehama My debut screenplay centers on the aftermath of an accident at a synagogue. The women’s balcony collapses, leaving the synagogue in shambles. When repairs are made...
“Wonder Woman” Helps Take a Piece Out of the Glass Ceiling for Women in Film
I’ve been tracking women working in Hollywood and the global film industry for ten years now. Way back when I first started writing for this blog having a woman direct a female-led superhero movie...
Fighting to Be Heard: Crowdfunding Picks
Even as women fight for their own spaces in Hollywood, it’s important to remember the kinds of stories about women that are typically told. Many of Hollywood’s female-centered stories focus on...
Quote of the Day: Patty Jenkins on the Pressure and Responsibility of Directing “Wonder Woman”
“I can’t take on the history of 50 percent of the population just because I’m a woman,” Patty Jenkins told The Hollywood Reporter in an in-depth interview published earlier today. The...
Quote of the Day: Jessica Chastain Calls Depictions of Women at Cannes “Quite Disturbing”
When we found out Jessica Chastain would be serving on the jury at Cannes this year, we knew the outspoken feminist would make a mark at the fest. Sure enough, the two-time Oscar nominated actress...
Guest Post: What It’s Like to Attend a Film Fest with a Newborn
Jennica Schwartzman with her daughter Winslow at the Bentonville Film Festival Guest Post by Jennica Schwartzman “And the Best Narrative award goes to: Jamaica Schwartzman…” My name is Jennica...
Quote of the Day: “Wonder Woman” Director Patty Jenkins on the Sexist Trickle-Down Effect in Film
Women don’t like superhero movies. That myth was one of the biggest obstacles Patty Jenkins faced as she directed the much-anticipated “Wonder Woman,” out June 2. In an interview with The...
Guest Post: Cannes Can’t Seem to Figure Out How to Accommodate Working Moms
Guest Post by Nanna Frank Rasmussen Working mothers are not very welcome at the Cannes Film Festival, it seems. This year at least two mothers attending the fest have spoken out about the major...
Weekly Update for May 26: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Berlin Syndrome” Films About Women Opening This Week Berlin Syndrome — Directed by Cate Shortland While holidaying in Berlin, Australian photojournalist Clare (Teresa Palmer) meets...
Summer 2017 Film Preview
“Girls Trip” By Joseph Allen and Kelsey Moore If the movies are any indication, then we are in for one hot yet refreshing summer. Some of the season’s biggest and action-filled flicks feature...
Cannes 2017: All Hail Jane Campion
Me with Jane Campion at Cannes Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 70th anniversary this year. Just remember that only one female director — Jane Campion — has won a Palme d’Or. She...
Just Four of the New Fall Broadcast TV Series Are Women-Created
Now that the May upfronts are over, the Big Five networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX, and NBC) have solidified their fall 2017–18 TV lineups. And CBS isn’t the only one failing women. Women and...
Quote of the Day: Helen Mirren Explains Why She’s a “Declared Feminist”
The self-described “Nastiest of all Nasty Women” recently gave the commencement address at Tulane University, and her speech was characteristically candid, hilarious, and feminist — Helen...
Industry Double Standards: The Success of “Everything, Everything” and Failure of “King Arthur”
Stella Meghie’s “Everything, Everything” is beating box office expectations. Guy Ritchie’s “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” is bombing. But let’s be real, Ritchie will still get his...
The Cannes Conundrum
I feel very conflicted writing about the Cannes Film Festival. It would be easy if I wrote reviews and I could just talk about the movies — whether I like them or not, and whether they suck or...
Guest Post: Why My New Film “AWOL” Is More Than a Love Story
Guest Post by Deb Shoval “AWOL” was a long time coming, the kind of fabled first feature film journey that humbles, challenges, and educates — the kind of experience one hopes to...
Weekly Update for May 19: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Everything, Everything” Films About Women Opening This Week Everything, Everything — Directed by Stella Meghie What if you couldn’t touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in...
The Personal Is Communal: Crowdfunding Picks
We all have that friend who constantly “knows how you feel.” You know what we’re talking about. Well, trust us, this group of crowdfunding picks really know how you feel. Each respective...
Quote of the Day: Ava DuVernay on the Privilege of Being Able to Say No
Ava DuVernay is dropping truth bombs yet again. The Hollywood Reporter recently brought together some of the top showrunners and producers in the business, and the resulting feature is full of...
New Research Shows Number of Women-Directed Films Screening at Fests Hasn’t Improved
If you attend a high-profile U.S. film festival, you are three times as likely to see a feature film directed by a man as you are to see one directed by a woman. And you are twice as likely to catch...
Guest Post: How a Short I Wrote Ended Up Being Directed by Robin Wright and Premiering at Cannes
Guest Post by Denise Meyers I am the antithesis of what a successful screenwriter looks like: I am 57, female, and live in the fly-over zone. I am also a great one for beating the odds, because on...
Infographic: Women Directors at Cannes 2017 #SeeHerNow
The 2017 Cannes Film Festival kicks off this Wednesday, May 17. While the high-profile fest is still nowhere near overall gender parity, the number of women directors has increased slightly from the...
Weekly Update for May 12: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Snatched” Films About Women Opening This Week Snatched — Written by Katie Dippold After her boyfriend dumps her on the eve of their exotic vacation, impetuous dreamer Emily Middleton...
“Snatched” Writer Katie Dippold Talks Writing Roles for Women Over 40
Katie Dippold has been a screenwriter for about a decade. She made a splash with 2013’s “The Heat,” but became a household name last year with the premiere of “Ghostbusters” — the...
Communal Spaces: May’s VOD and Web Series Picks
“Women in Sink” At times (after last week, in particular), the very idea of coexistence feels impossible under the Trump administration. Over the past few months, various groups have been told,...
Weekly Update for May 5: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“3 Generations” Films About Women Opening This Week Tomorrow Ever After — Written and Directed by Ela Thier “Tomorrow Ever After” Shaina (writer-director Ela Thier) is a historian...
Listen: Podcast with President of HBO Documentary Films Sheila Nevins
Sheila Nevins has won dozens of Emmy Awards. When the powerhouse exec offers insight and advice, you’ll want to listen. We can all benefit from Nevin’s wisdom thanks to the release of her new...
“Mr. Chibbs” Director Jill Campbell on the Enduring Appeal of NBA Star Kenny Anderson
Jill Campbell has worked as a producer, director, and writer on myriad documentaries, including “Dancing Across Borders,” “Bernal’s Picasso: When Art Met Science,” and “Out of Print.”...
Infographic: What You Need to Know About Women in Hollywood in 2017
“Arrival” Sometimes when you’re having a conversation — let’s say about how women are treated in Hollywood — it can be hard to come up with anything but generalizations. Even...
Tony Awards Stats Special: We Counted, So You Don’t Have To
Written by The Interval. The Tony Award nominations were announced this morning and, for the third year in a row, we did some counting to see how women fared at getting nominated for theater’s...
Guest Post: Producing Partners Discuss How Men Can Support Female Filmmakers
Guest Post by Ela Thier My new film, “Tomorrow Ever After,” got made because in addition to relying on women, I rely on the men I work with to act as my allies. I do it by offering information...
Weekly Update for April 28: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Below Her Mouth” Films About Women Opening This Week The Circle When Mae (Emma Watson) is hired to work for the world’s largest and most powerful tech and social media company, she sees it...