Features
Weekly Update for January 24: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Run and Jump — Directed by Steph Green and Written by Ailbhe Keogan Oscar-nominated director Steph Green’s feature debut is the first great film of 2014....
TV: The Staying Power of Veronica Mars
In the past year, Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas’ procedural about a high-school girl (Kristen Bell) who became a private investigator, has been back in the news cycle repeatedly. That’s not...
The Big O: The Truth Behind Emma Thompson and Oscar Isaac’s Oscar Snubs? Lack of Tragedy
When this year’s Oscar nominations were announced, there were a few surprising omissions on the ballot, especially in the acting categories. You wouldthink, for instance, that the 6,000 or so...
Infographic: Women in Filmmaking at Sundance
Though the 2014 lineup at the Sundance was disappointingly low on women directors, the festival remains committed to advancing the ranks of women directors in the industry. Two years ago, Sundance...
Capturing Truth through Fiction in South Africa
The story of how I found my way to film is a funny one. I was living in Paris, and I had no money. I was working as a waitress and a babysitter, pretty much doing everything I could to feed myself....
To Sue Or Not to Sue: What History Teaches Us About Equality in Hollywood
When the Director Guild of America’s Women’s Steering Committee was officiallyestablished in 1979, women comprised just 0.5% of episodic TV directoremployment. One half of one percent! According...
Weekly Update for January 17: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Band of Sisters (doc) — Written and Directed by Mary Fishman “I did exactly what the church asked me — and now, the church is looking at me like, where have...
Sundance Women Directors: Lynn Shelton on the Question that Shapes Her Work and the Beauty of Sundance
Laggies director Lynn Shelton is best known as the writer-director of the acclaimed comedy Your Sister’s Sister, starring Emily Blunt, which screened at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Her 2009...
What Happened to the Women Directed Films from the Sundance Class of 2013?
The 2013Sundance Film Festival was notable for the number of women directors,particularly in the U.S. Dramatic and Documentary Competitions — where halfwere female filmmakers. As Sundance 2014...
An Oscar-Nominated Director Gets Real About How Women Are Treated in Hollywood
The following is cross-posted from Lexi Alexander’s blog with permission from the author. Editor’s Note: The post below is very important. This is a woman director standing up for herself and...
Weekly Update for January 10: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films Directed By and About Women Opening The Truth About Emanuel — Written and Directed by Francesca Gregorini Emanuel (Kaya Scodelario), a troubled girl, becomes preoccupied with her...
TV: A Preview of Girls’ Third Season from TCA
Lena Dunham’s Girls, which returns to HBO for its third season on Sunday night, can be difficult to see as simply a television show. When it premiered in 2012, the series, which follows the lives...
The New DGA/Studio Agreement: Nothing New for Women
Yesterday, the DGA voted by “an overwhelming margin” to ratify a new contract between its members and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). DGA President Paris Barclay...
The Big O: Will the Academy’s Love of Female Ensembles Help August: Osage County?
What is almost over but has only just begun? The seeminglyendless race for the Oscars, of course. With the Golden Globes ceremony onSunday and Academy Award nominations being announced next...
An Open Letter to Martin Scorsese
Dear Mr. Scorsese- Your letter to your daughter Francesca came to my attention and I just had a few comments in response. First, I apologize for not seeing The Wolf of Wall Street. There was a time...
Women-Directed Films in 2014 Will Be Few and Far Between (Updated)
Movie-lovers interested in films by women directors won’t have much reason to go to the mutliplex this year. In 2013, only three films from female filmmakers — Frozen, Carrie, and Black...
What the F@#- is Cancer and Why Does Everybody Have It?
I’ve been around a bit in this business. I came up throughthe ranks of production and then moved into post, all the while writingand working towards helming a film of my own to make my life...
What It’s Like to Be a Woman Director in a Country with a Tiny Film Industry
I’m often askedwhat it’s like to be a woman working in the film industry. My answer? Depends on the context. While I am aware of the dismal statistics on gender inequality in Hollywood and what...
Women and Hollywood January 2014 Film Preview
January is for December movies. That’s the conventional knowledge in Hollywood, where the first two months of the year are reserved as dumping grounds for stinkers while audiences catch up on the...
Make Her as Likeable as Possible and Other Advice Filmmakers Should Ignore
My narrative feature, Vino Veritas, opens with a wife and husband arguing. Lauren, a former globe-trotting photojournalist and adventurer, expresses her extreme dissatisfaction with her current...
The Most Anticipated Films of 2014
2013 was a great year for a few key female players in Hollywood (congrats to Jennifer Lawrence and Sandra Bullock), but for most women who work in the film industry, it was another 365 days of...
The Big O: Remembering 2013’s Top Female Film Moments
I have always been a list-maker. After all, they come in handy when it comes to remembering what groceries to buy, what clothes to pack and what chores to nag my husband about. But unlike many film...
The High and Low Points of 2013
This was a very interesting year for writing about issues related to women in entertainment. On the one hand, I feel very hopeful and think we may have hit a tipping point with the box-office...
Weekly Update for End of 2013: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films Directed by and About Women Opening Let’s Ruin It with Babies — Written, Directed, and Starring Kestrin Pantera Channing has it all: a beautiful home, a rock-star lifestyle, and a...
TV Superlatives of 2013
All this week, Women and Hollywood will run our own “Best of” lists to honor and celebrate the year’s best women-directed and women-centric movies and TV shows. See our previous posts on the...
Best Women-Directed Films of 2013
All this week, Women and Hollywood will run our own “Best of” lists to honor and celebrate the year’s best women-directed and women-centric movies and TV shows. See our previous posts on the...
The Big O: Looking at the Women of Oscars Past, Present, and Future
The Oscar derby often offers interesting, if disturbing, insights into how women are treated in the world of film. As the year draws to a close, let’s review what happened the last time Hollywood...
Most Popular Women and Hollywood Posts of 2013
All this week, Women and Hollywood will run our own “Best of” lists to honor and celebrate the year’s best women-directed and women-centric movies and TV shows. See our previous posts on the...
Best Women-Centric Films of 2013
All this week, Women and Hollywood will run our own “Best of” lists to honor and celebrate the year’s best women-directed and women-centric movies and TV shows. See our previous post on the...
Best Women Directed Documentaries of 2013
All this week, Women and Hollywood will run our own “Best of” lists to honor and celebrate the year’s best women-directed and women-centric movies and TV shows. With Hollywood in the grips of...
Infographic: Women and Hollywood — Better Luck Next Year…Or Next Decade
Change is the keyword in Hollywood these days. A globalizing marketplace, the exportation of work from Los Angeles to every other corner of the world, the replacement of celluloid by digital, and the...
Infographic: Women and Hollywood – Better Luck Next Year…Or Next Decade
Change is the keyword in Hollywood these days. A globalizing marketplace, the exportation of work from Los Angeles to every other corner of the world, the replacement of celluloid by digital,...
Weekly Update for December 13: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Saving Mr. Banks — Written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith A perfectly cast Emma Thompson plays Mary Poppins writer P.L. Travers, who is locked in a epic, 20-year...
Crosspost: Heroines of Cinema: An A to Z of Women in Film in 2013
It’s at times like these that twenty-six letters seems awfully few. Not that this list is intended as an encyclopedia. Instead, please see it as a mere sample of the films worth seeing, the...
TV: Why You Should Watch Nashville
The ratings for Nashville, ABC’s drama about the personal and professional tribulations of artists on all rungs of the career ladder in the titular city’s country music scene, aren’t exactly...
Death Walks in High Heels: The Silent Avenger of Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45
In recent years there has been a surge of renewedappreciation for the rape-revenge film and, surprisingly, most of thesechampions have been women. The genre was validated to some extent (albeit...
Weekly Update for December 6: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Expecting — Written and Directed by Jessie McCormack After years of struggling to conceive with her husband, Lizzie (Radha Mitchell) has given up hope of having a...
A Look Back at November’s Women-Directed Movies
Frozenhad already made history when it opened on November 22 for an exclusive 5-dayrun at El Capitan, Disney’s restored movie palace in Hollywood. ScreenwriterJennifer Lee directed Frozen...
Wonder Woman Casting Suggests Hollywood’s Never Giving Diana Prince Her Own Movie
I don’t want to see a Wonder Woman movie, but I desperately want one to exist. As a child of the eighties and nineties who grew up on TV rather than comic books and only knew Lynda Carter from...
Director Anna Condo: “Cosmetic Surgery is Ruining Cinema”
Casting is key. Without great characters, there can be no great story. And without great actresses, there can be no great films. I remember clearly the day I watched an actress “act.” Icould...
Why is Everyone Pointing at Me?
2008 was a watershed year for me. I was nominated for my eleventh Emmy — for a composition I had created in three days for a science-fiction show. But what was most remarkable to me about the...
A Frozen/Fire Holiday Weekly Update for November 27: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Frozen — Co-Directed and Written by Jennifer Lee: I was hugely surprised by how much I loved Frozen, which is written and co-directed by Jennifer Lee. It is about...
5 TV Women to be Thankful for This Thanksgivukkah
Writing about women and popular culture can be an exercise in enormous frustration, given how few women are in positions of power in the entertainment industry, how few of them get the funding and...
The Double Standards for TV’s Male and Female Politicians
Bad-boy politicians are nothing new in popular culture. Mr. Smith was lamenting the sorry state of our politics and Joe Tynan was getting seduced by a lobbyist long before I was born. And television...
In Praise of Hollywood’s Working Actresses
For years, when anyone asked whatadvice we had for aspiring actors, our knee-jerk response was, “Don’t do it!” But now, as we look back on careers that add up to almost four decades, we have...
Directing the Future Panelists Are Beating the Odds
According to an oft-cited statistic, women comprise only 9%of directors in the film industry. But the participants of the “Directing theFuture” panel at Pepperdine University School of Law’s...
Latest Forbes Post: Year End Roundtables and Best of Lists Highlight the Lack of Gender Diversity in Films
Here’s my latest Forbes Post: The awards season is another time of the year where you can literally feel the gender disparity of behind the scenes personnel in the film business. While the summer...
AFI: Roundup of the Women-Directed Foreign Language Oscar Entries
This year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Filmwill be chosen from a field of 76 entries, with each feature submitted to theAcademy by its respective country. Sixteen of these...
5 Things Melissa Rosenberg Should Do with Her Jessica Jones Show for Netflix
It was terrific to get the news last week that Marvel, which has devoted its big-screen franchises to the adventures of white dudes in Spandex and body armor, would not just be producing four new...
The Big O: When it Comes to Oscar Dames, Dench Rules
According toRodgers and Hammerstein, there is nothing like a dame. According toOscar, few dames are grander than Judi Dench. Of the 14 Academy Award-nominated actresses who have held the lofty...
The Strong Women in Thor The Dark World
We’restill a long way off from a female-led superhero film. There’s just no wayaround it — even if the studios started working on it now, it would be pushingit to get it out by 2015. So...