News
Olivia Cooke to Topline “Vanity Fair” TV Adaptation
“Bates Motel” alumna Olivia Cooke is following in Reese Witherspoon’s footsteps: she’ll take on the role of Becky Sharp in an upcoming Amazon Studios and ITV adaptation of William Makepeace...
Teaser Watch: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn Can’t Get into the Holiday Spirit in “A…
Teaser Watch: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn Can’t Get into the Holiday Spirit in “A Bad Moms Christmas” The baddest and most delightfully brash moms are back. The first teaser has...
Veteran TV Director Gail Mancuso to Helm Her First Feature Film
Gail Mancuso’s name probably sounds familiar to you — chances are you’ve seen at least a couple episodes she’s helmed during her 25-year career as a television director. Now, as Deadline...
Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner May Write “Toni Erdmann” Remake
“Girls” collaborators Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner are in “early talks” to write Paramount’s English-language remake of the Oscar-nominated German dark comedy “Toni Erdmann,”...
Trailer Watch: Lake Bell Explores Whether Love Is Sustainable in “I Do… Until I Don’t”
“My new project will propose that love is not sustainable,” a filmmaker (Dolly Wells, “Doll & Em”) tells an audience in the first trailer for “I Do… Until I Don’t.” “Will you...
Sarah Jessica Parker Acquires First Book for Her Imprint
Sarah Jessica Parker is making her mark on the literary world. The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress has a new job title: she’s the editorial director of SJP for Hogarth, her own book imprint....
Study: Women and People of Color Are Being Shut Out of Theater Jobs
Probably more than any other entertainment field, the theater prides itself on being a haven for everyone, for being progressive, and for continuously pushing the envelope. So it’s extra...
Eileen Myers Signs Overall Deal With Sony TV, Sells Female-Led Drama to Showtime
TV producer and scribe Eileen Myers has inked an overall deal with Sony Pictures TV. Myers has penned episodes of series such as “Big Love,” “Hung,” and “Masters of Sex.” Deadline...
Abigail Disney’s Fork Films Offers Grants to 14 Women-Directed Docs
Abigail Disney is spreading some magic — and money. The “Armor of Light” director and grandniece of Walt Disney is the CEO and President of Fork Films, a film production company that has...
Teaser Watch: Jessica Williams Enters the NYC Dating World in “The Incredible Jessica James”
Jessica Williams won’t suffer fools gladly in the first teaser for “The Incredible Jessica James.” The spot sees the “Daily Show” alumna cutting a bad Tinder date short (“I’m going to...
The Kilroys Publishes List Spotlighting Women Playwrights of Color
The Kilroys, an independent collective in Los Angeles, has released its annual list of “new plays by women deemed worthy of production,” The New York Times reports. This year’s installment...
Petra Volpe’s Tribeca Winner “The Divine Order” Acquired by Kino Lorber and Zeitgeist Films
We’re currently in desperate need of stories about resistance. Given the current political climate in the U.S., the need is especially great for female-led stories of resistance. Fortunately Kino...
Guest Post: How — and Why — I Made a Movie That Tackles Mental Health
Guest Post by Angela Cohen Why do we go to the movies? Maybe it’s to escape, to relate, live vicariously, feel less alone, or get inspired. Why do I make movies? I want people to love, laugh,...
Guest Post: Why I Produced a Documentary About Getting Girls into Classrooms Around the World
Guest Post by Martha Adams How can the 130 million girls missing from classrooms around the world get the education they deserve? That’s all I wanted to ask the three Imams sitting across from me...
Jennifer Lopez to Topline and Produce Rom-Com “Second Act”
Jennifer Lopez is returning to romantic comedies. The “Shades of Blue” actress and multi-hyphenate has signed on to star in and produce STXfilms’ “Second Act,” a rom-com about a woman over...
Women Directors Win Big at LA Film Festival
Women-directed films accounted for 46 percent of the films screening at this year’s LA Film Festival. The level playing field resulted in women directors dominating the fest’s awards ceremony....
Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” Poised to Become Top-Grossing Live-Action Film Directed by a Woman
Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” is poised to make herstory yet again. The Gal Gadot-led superheroine film is quickly approaching a milestone: it’s about to become the top-grossing live-action...
Barbra Streisand and Yvonne Rainer Film Retrospectives Announced
Film retrospectives will honor two icons of the stage and screen this summer in New York City. An exhibition celebrating Oscar-winning actress and singer Barbra Streisand, called “Simply...
Gillian Jacobs, Vanessa Bayer, and Phoebe Robinson to Star in Clubbing Comedy “Ibiza”
Gillian Jacobs is going to Spain with “SNL” alumna Vanessa Bayer and “2 Dope Queens” podcast co-host Phoebe Robinson. The three will star in the Netflix comedy film “Ibiza,” per The...
Gaming Company Ubisoft Launches Fellowship for Female Screenwriters
Are you a female gamer with filmmaking ambitions? If so, gaming company Ubisoft has introduced the perfect fellowship for you. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Ubisoft’s film division will...
New York State Senate and Assembly Pass TV Diversity Bill
The New York State Senate and Assembly have passed new landmark legislation: the TV Diversity Bill. Spearheaded by State Senator Marisol Alcantara and Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, the bill would...
“Queen Sugar” Season 2 Premiere Scores Series-High Ratings Among Women Aged 25–54
All hail the “Queen.” The second season premiere of OWN’s “Queen Sugar” drew 2.3 million viewers as well as a 0.7 18–49 rating and a 2.09 rating among women 25–54 on Tuesday night. As...
Exclusive: “This Is Us” Star Milana Vayntrub Shares Her Refugee Story in “Lives of Women”
“I think that my refugee experience was very different than a lot of people coming to this country now,” says Milana Vayntrub in an episode of Indigenous Media’s new digital portrait series...
Watch: Trans Stars Speak Out in “Why Hollywood Needs Trans Actors”
Elle Fanning-starrer “3 Generations” and Eddie Redmayne-led “The Danish Girl” are just two recent movies starring cis-gender actors playing trans characters. Both films sparked controversy,...
Study: CAA Finds That Diverse Films of All Budgets Fare Better at Box Office
A recent study and corresponding database from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) found that diversity does, indeed, sell. As the Los Angeles Times writes, the research suggests that racially inclusive...
Oprah Winfrey, Ava DuVernay, & Reese Witherspoon Make THR’s Most Powerful People in Entertainment…
Oprah Winfrey, Ava DuVernay, & Reese Witherspoon Make THR’s Most Powerful People in Entertainment List Ava DuVernay: The Hollywood Reporter/YouTube Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Ava...
Ana Asensio’s SXSW Winner “Most Beautiful Island” Acquired By Orion and Samuel Goldwyn
Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films have snagged the North American rights to SXSW winner “Most Beautiful Island,” Deadline reports. Directed, written, produced by, and starring Ana Asensio,...
Common Sense Media Unveils “Positive Gender Representations” Seal
Since 2003, Common Sense Media has suggested suitable children’s entertainment to parents and educators. In addition to rating TV series and movies based on age-appropriate content and the...
Patty Jenkins Working on Treatment for Next “Wonder Woman” Film
“Wonder Woman” has grossed over $578 million worldwide — so far — so it comes as no surprise that a sequel is being developed for the Gal Gadot-led blockbuster. But earlier this...
Interview: Costume Designer Stacey Battat Talks Creating the Fashions of “The Beguiled”
“The Beguiled”: Ben Rothstein/Focus Features Costume designer Stacey Battat’s latest film is “The Beguiled,” which happens to be her fourth collaboration with filmmaker Sofia Coppola....
Trailer Watch: Lily Collins Battles Anorexia in Marti Noxon’s “To the Bone”
A young woman battles her body and her nihilism in the first trailer for Marti Noxon’s “To the Bone.” “I just don’t see the point,” Ellen (Lily Collins, “Rules Don’t Apply”) tells...
“One Day at a Time” Co-Showrunner Gloria Calderon Kellett Signs Deal with Sony TV
If “this is it” for “One Day at a Time” co-showrunner Gloria Calderon Kellett, then she must be having a ball. The co-creator and EP of the updated Norman Lear series has inked an overall...
Trailer Watch: A Possessed Doll Finds New Friends to Torment in “Annabelle: Creation”
“Sister, you always say that even though we can’t see God we can feel His presence,” a young girl (Talitha Bateman, “The 5th Wave”) tells a nun (Stephanie Sigman, “Narcos”) in a new...
Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in Talks to Star in Paul Feig’s “A Simple Favor”
Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively may be teaming up for a murder mystery. Deadline reports that the actresses are in talks to star in “A Simple Favor,” a project being set up at Lionsgate. Paul...
Trailer Watch: Isabelle Huppert Tries to Reclaim Her Singing Career in “Souvenir”
Isabelle Huppert has gone from a rising star to a factory worker in “Souvenir.” A trailer for the French-language drama has been released, and it suggests that a comeback may be in store for...
Cheryl Dunye, Aurora Guerrero, & DeMane Davis Among Directors of “Queen Sugar” Season 2
Season 1 of Ava DuVernay’s “Queen Sugar” was helmed entirely by female directors. As she explained in a Los Angeles Times profile, that was no accident — and Season 2 will be no...
LAFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Arnold — “Fat Camp”
Jennifer Arnold is an Emmy-nominated director whose credits include documentaries “A Small Act,” “The Diplomat,” and “Tig.” She’s been an advisor at Outfest, Film Independent, Women in...
Mireille Enos-Starrer “Never Here” Acquired by Vertical Entertainment
Vertical Entertainment has snagged the U.S. rights to the Mireille Enos thriller “Never Here,” Deadline reports. The film, which made its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June...
America Ferrera, Emmy Rossum, and More Discuss Onscreen Nudity and Gender Pay Gap in Roundtable
America Ferrera in THR’s Comedy Actress Roundtable: THR “I think we should be equal opportunity P and D,” Emmy Rossum stressed during The Hollywood Reporter’s Comedy Actress Roundtable....
Jennifer Arnold’s “Fat Camp” Snagged by BET
Jennifer Arnold’s “Fat Camp” has found a home just days before its world premiere at the LA Film Festival (LAFF). A press release announced that the comedy has been acquired by BET with plans...
Penelope Bagieu’s Feminist Graphic Novel “Brazen” Headed to TV
A feminist, women-created animated series is on the way. “Brazen,” Penelope Bagieu’s graphic novel about rebellious, independent women throughout history, will be adapted for TV, Variety...
Trailer Watch: A Woman Re-Lives Her Murder in “Groundhog Day”-esque “Happy Death Day”
“Groundhog Day” is serving as major inspiration for a second time this year. Ry Russo-Young’s “Before I Fall” saw its teen protagonist re-living the day she died — and reevaluating...
Glenn Close to Topline Amazon Zombie Pilot “Sea Oak”
Looks like Glenn Close has a fondness for stories about the undead. Earlier this year the Emmy winner starred in zombie sci-fi film “The Girl with All the Gifts,” and now comes word that...
LAFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Leena Pendharkar — “20 Weeks”
Leena Pendharkar is an award-winning writer and director working in film, television, and new media. Her first feature film, “Raspberry Magic,” about a young girl’s connection to nature,...
Announcing the Athena Advertising Awards
The Athena Film Festival has partnered with The 3% Movement to launch the Athena Advertising Awards, a press release has announced. This new venture celebrates advertising that depicts strong, bold...
LAFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Leyla Nedorosleva — “Two Four Six”
Leyla Nedorosleva is an independent filmmaker based in Moscow, Russia. Her short film “1919” screened in competition at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. In 2009 Nedorosleva founded Concordius, a...
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...
“Maudie” Director Aisling Walsh on Relationships, Perseverance, and Bringing Maud Lewis to Life
“Maudie” was such an unexpected delight. With terrific performances from Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke, “Maudie” brings us into the lives of Maud and Everett Lewis, two people who come...
Sophie Brooks’ Zosia Mamet-Starrer “The Boy Downstairs” Acquired by FilmRise
Sophie Brooks’ debut feature has found a home. FilmRise has acquired exclusive North American distribution rights to “The Boy Downstairs,” a press release has announced. “Girls’” Zosia...
Trailer Watch: John Boyega Is the Scapegoat in Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit”
“I assume this is about what went on at the motel?” John Boyega’s character, Dismukes, asks during an interrogation in the new spot for “Detroit.” It’s obvious he wants to cooperate with...
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...