Features
What Happened to the Women Directors in Hollywood?
What Happened to the Women Directors in Hollywood? Part 2: The First Females to Crack the Directors Guild by Carrie Rickey This five-part Truthdig series by Carrie Rickey is published in...
Weekly Update for March 3: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Before I Fall” Films About Women Opening This Week Before I Fall — Directed by Ry-Russo Young; Written by Maria Maggenti What if you had only one day to change absolutely everything?...
Watch: Dr. Stacy Smith Gives TED Talk on Women’s Invisibility in Film
In her talk for TEDWomen 2016, Dr. Stacy L. Smith emphasizes how movies are much more than entertainment. “We can also be transported through storytelling [in film],” she observes....
Quote of the Day: Jessica Chastain Strives to Create More Inclusiveness and Empathy
Jessica Chastain has consistently used her platform to address Hollywood’s lack of inclusivity. Even while onstage accepting awards, the two-time Oscar nominee has spoken out about “the need to...
Quote of the Day: Julie Delpy on Why There Is No Female Counterpart to Kubrick
Opportunity is everything, to paraphrase Viola Davis’ 2015 Emmy speech. Based on MovieMaker’s interview with Julie Delpy, we’d say the “Lolo” director agrees. Speaking about her...
Tribeca 2017 Competition Lineup is Almost 40 Percent Women-Helmed
The Tribeca Film Festival has announced its 2017 lineup, and 12 of the 32 films screening in Competition sections are women-directed or co-directed, amounting to a respectable 38 percent. “As a...
March 2017 Film Preview
“Beauty and the Beast” Spring is in the air, and with it comes many promising women-led films. This March brings several big-budget women-centric releases to screens, including a beloved...
Highlights from Oscar Weekend 2017: Viola Davis, Maren Ade, and More
Now that we’ve caught our breath, we can all agree that the 2017 Oscars are going to go down in history. Wow. And yikes. We’re thrilled with “Moonlight’s” well-deserved win, but are...
What Happened to the Women Directors in Hollywood? Part 1: The Founding Mothers of Film
Print advertisement for Lois Weber’s “Too Wise Wives”: The Duluth Herald (Aug. 1921)/Wikimedia Commons by Carrie Rickey This five-part Truthdig series by Carrie Rickey is published in...
Weekly Update for February 24: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“The Girl with All the Gifts” Films About Women Opening This Week The Girl with All the Gifts (Also Available on VOD) A group of children is detained in a military base because they have...
Cross-Post: Why Melissa McCarthy Is a Better Return on Investment Than Tom Cruise
Melissa McCarthy in “Spy” The following has been reposted from Wealthsimple with permission of the author. What are the economics of being a woman in Hollywood? We dug into the data and found...
Here’s What We Do in the Aftermath: Crowdfunding Picks
“The Last Clinics” As we find ourselves (only) 30 days into America’s new administration, the majority of female-led crowdfunding projects across the web rightfully continue February’s...
Watch: Oscars 2017 Prove That Our Work in Hollywood Isn’t Done
For the last several years Women and Hollywood has used the opportunity of Oscar week to share a video that focuses on the representation of women both in front of and behind the scenes...
Guest Post: The Production Designer Gender Gap
Guest Post by Molly Hughes The Land of Oz. Wayne Manor. The Overlook Hotel. The Bates Motel. Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. These iconic sets have imprinted themselves on our...
2017 Diversity Report: Women and Minorities Still Woefully Underrepresented in Hollywood
“Television is looking up; it’s moving in the right direction,” Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA told the Los Angeles Times. “Film,...
Study: Number of Women Protagonists in Top 100 Films Climbed to 29% in 2016
This should brighten up your Tuesday a bit: Women made up 29 percent of the protagonists of the 100 top grossing films in 2016. According to the latest “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World”...
Weekly Update for February 17: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“XX” Films About Women Opening This Week XX (Anthology) — Directed by Roxanne Benjamin, Sofia Carrillo, Karyn Kusama, Annie Clark (St. Vincent), and Jovanka Vuckovic; Co-Written by Roxanne...
Quote of the Day: Beyoncé Wants a More Inclusive World for Her Kids
Most of the awards ceremonies of 2017 have been overtly political, and the Grammys on Sunday were no exception. Beyoncé used her platform to speak frankly about why inclusivity and representation...
Moving Forward: Crowdfunding Picks
“La Barracuda” This month’s crowdfunding projects are about women moving forward in their lives, usually in the wake of tragedy. Each of these projects, from a documentary examining immigration...
Guest Post: The Case for Gender-Balanced Crews
Guest Post by Tema L. Staig I run Women In Media, a networking group for above and below the line women — and the men who love making movies with them. We host regular networking events and...
Guest Post: How a Radical Idea from 1994 Finds Itself Right on Time in 2017
Guest Post by Audrey Evans They say timing is everything, but I never dreamed the timing of my lesbian sci-fi dramedy “Genesis: The Future of Mankind is Women” could be so dead-on and accurate...
Quote of the Day: David Oyelowo on the Oscars’ Long Path to Equality, Inclusivity
David Oyelowo is impressed with this year’s slate of Oscar nominations, but doesn’t think the Academy should pat itself on the back just yet. While promoting his new film, “A United...
Guest Post: Hollywood’s Changing Attitudes Towards Latina Actresses
Guest Post by Marlene Forte Not sure when I became the old broad on set, but here I am, in 2017, recurring on four TV shows as the mama to female leads who all happen to be Latinas! Twenty-five...
Quote of the Day: Megan Ellison Urges Hollywood to Spread the Wealth
Accepting the Visionary Award at the Producers Guild of America Awards, Annapurna Pictures’ founder Megan Ellison referred to herself as an outsider, albeit one who has received a lot of support...
Protesting Pressure: February VOD and Web Series Picks
“The Watermelon Woman” Whether they’re romantic comedies, suspenseful thrillers, or spoofs, each one of this month’s VOD and web series picks gives us a look at how women handle societal...
Weekly Update for February 3: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous” Films About Women Opening This Week This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous (Documentary) — Directed by Barbara Kopple (Opens in NY and LA; Available on...
Guest Post: Striving for Inclusivity as a Producer One Choice at a Time
Guest Post by Jennica Schwartzman The theater goes black. I’m watching the credits at the end of my latest film. It’s a private debut screening, and my first time watching “Parker’s...
New Research Shows Number of Women Directors Hasn’t Changed Over the Last Decade
Our sentiments exactly, Ava DuVernay: Democracy Now!/YouTube A new study from USC Annenberg’s Media, Diversity, & Social Change (MDSC) Initiative found that the past 10 years have seen little...
Quote of the Day: Octavia Spencer on Her Dream Role and Diversity
“Hidden Figures” just surpassed $100 million at the box office, and that’s just one of the many reasons Octavia Spencer has to celebrate. Spencer and her “Hidden Figures” costars, who...
A Tough Feminist Conversation at Sundance
There is a story circulating about a star-studded lunch that took place last week at Sundance in honor of women filmmakers and others attending the fest. The hosts were Glamour’s Cindi Leive and...
February 2017 Film Preview
“A United Kingdom” There may or may not be love in the air this February, but one thing is certain: there is an abundance of female-led horror on the screen. There are, of course, some lighter...
Weekly Update for January 27: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Films About Women Opening This Week Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Picking up immediately after the events of “Resident Evil: Retribution,” Alice (Milla...
Quote of the Day: DP Nancy Schreiber on Opening Doors for Other Women
Nancy Schreiber is set to make history. The veteran cinematographer will be the first woman to receive the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Presidents Award, Variety reports. In fact,...
Watch: Samantha Bee Discusses the Women’s March on “Full Frontal”
“Hey, how was your weekend?” Samantha Bee asked her audience on last night’s episode of “Full Frontal.” “Me, I didn’t do much — just went for a walk with a few friends.” This...
What Mary Tyler Moore Meant to Me
I’m a bit too young to have had “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” be about me and my life, but I do clearly remember watching, learning, and understanding what this woman meant to the world beyond...
Oscar 2017 Nominations: #OscarsSoWhite Gets a Slight Makeover
The 2017 Oscar nominations are in, and the more inclusive group of actors and films to receive nods suggests that the Academy’s decision to invite a diverse new class of members was, as expected,...
Weekly Update for January 20: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Starless Dreams” Films About Women Opening This Week Starless Dreams (Documentary) (Opens in NY) A haunting portrait of stolen childhood, “Starless Dreams” plunges us into the lives of...
Guest Post: What I Learned from Documenting the Aftermath of Sandy Hook
Guest Post by Kim A. Snyder Chronicling the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was without a doubt the most daunting endeavor I’ve ever undertaken in my twenty years as a...
Quote of the Day: Blake Lively Emphasizes the Value of Women’s Stories
It’s hard to remember a time when Blake Lively wasn’t a movie star. The actress first came on the scene in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” an ode to the importance of female...
Guest Post: Capturing History As It Happens in the Obama White House
Guest Post by Amy Entelis Shortly after Election Day 2016, CNN began filming inside the Obama White House to tell a story we thought had never previously been told: What is it like to work for the...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors Preview: Films About Pioneers, Dancers, and Nuns
“Step” The Sundance Film Festival kicks off January 19, and like all major fests, the program is rather overwhelming. There are lots of options, and plenty of projects worth checking out. We’ve...
Weekly Update for January 13: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Claire in Motion” Films About Women Opening This Week Claire in Motion — Written and Directed by Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson (Also Available on VOD) Three weeks after Claire’s...
2016 Celluloid Ceiling Study Shows Us That Women Still Aren’t Making Progress
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, co-director of “Kung Fu Panda 3,” 2016’s highest-grossing film with a woman director: channelAPA — Asian American Entertainment/ YouTube We here at Women and...
Why the Abortion Story Line on “Degrassi: Next Class” is So Groundbreaking
Guest post by Kelly Martinez “Yesterday, I was pregnant and now I’m not. And I’d like to talk about it. There’s so many things I wanna do in high school and being a mom is not one of them....
Weekly Update for January 6: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Underworld: Blood Wars” Films About Women Opening This Week Underworld: Blood Wars — Directed by Anna Foerster The next installment in the blockbuster franchise, “Underworld: Blood...
2016 Marks Record-Breaking Year at the Box Office, But Where Are the Women Directors?
2016 was a history-making year at the North American box office. Variety reports that ticket sales last year amounted to $11.4 billion — a new record for the industry, surpassing 2015’s...
Women Made Up 23% of the Protagonists in 2016’s Top 250 Grossing Films
Female-led films scored the top two spots at the domestic box office in 2016. A blue tang fish and a heroic rebel proved to be the most lucrative characters of the year. “Finding Dory,” whose...
20 Most Anticipated Films By and About Women of 2017
“Wonder Woman” By Rachel Montpelier and Kate Gardner As we say goodbye to the festering disappointment that was 2016 — and try to be cautiously optimistic that next year will be a little...
January 2017 Film Preview
“Underworld: Blood Wars” January is good month for fans of female-led action films. Both the “Underworld” and “Resident Evil” franchises are releasing their latest chapters. Even those...
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...
Best of 2016: Another Male Director With Little Experience Given a Big-Budget Project
Women and Hollywood is off this week. Please enjoy one of our top posts of the year. This piece is from June 21, 2016. In today’s dose of “Are you fucking kidding me?” another male director...