News
Trailer Watch: Ava DuVernay’s “The 13th” Critiques Mass Incarceration
Director Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) has secured the Opening Night spot at this year’s New York Film Festival, which runs from September 30-October 16, for her documentary “The 13th.” And now...
“Bridget Jones’s Baby” Tops Foreign Box Office For Second Week in a Row
“Bridget Jones’s Baby” is still going strong in international market, despite a poor performance in the U.S. As Variety reports, the movie topped the foreign box office once again, earning...
Jane Pauley to Anchor CBS’s “Sunday Morning”
Your Sunday morning is about to get a female-friendly makeover. Jane Pauley will replace Charles Osgood as the anchor of CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” The New York Times reports. Osgood is retiring....
Freeform and Comedian Iliza Shlesinger Are Developing a Late-Night Show
Comedian Iliza Shlesinger may be entering another male-dominated field: late-night television. Freeform is developing a late-night series with Shlesinger as host, Variety reports. According to...
You’re Invited! USC Annenberg Hosts Diversifying Entertainment Event
Join Women and Hollywood founder and publisher Melissa Silverstein at “Transforming Hollywood 7: Diversifying Entertainment.” The all-day public event is being held on October 21 from 9 a.m....
Female-Led “Magnum P.I.” Sequel in the Works at ABC
ABC has picked up “Magnum,” a female-led sequel to the 1980s series “Magnum P.I.” for “a script commitment plus substantial penalty,” Deadline reports. The project, from Eva...
“Generation Startup” Directors on Pushing Boundaries and Starting Companies
“Generation Startup” directors Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser shared their thoughts on starting their own companies, why it’s important for young people to pursue their business dreams,...
Elite Zexer’s “Sand Storm” is Israel’s Oscar Pick
Another women-directed feature is joining the Oscar race. Israel has chosen to submit “Sand Storm” to represent the country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2017 Academy Awards,...
Jamie Lee Curtis to Direct an Episode of “Scream Queens”
The queen of screams herself is taking charge. “Halloween” actress Jamie Lee Curtis is set to direct an episode of Fox’s horror-comedy series “Scream Queens,” Deadline reports. Curtis acts...
Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson’s “Claire in Motion” Goes to Breaking Glass
Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired the North American rights to writer-director team Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson’s “Claire in Motion,” ScreenDaily reports. The film premiered at SXSW and...
Rosemary Myers on Exploring the Dark Heart of the Teenage Mind in “Girl Asleep”
Rosemary Myers is the Artistic Director of Windmill Theatre, an award-winning national performing arts company based in Adelaide, South Australia. Her directing credits for Windmill include the...
Trailer Watch: “Newtown” Doc Examines the Aftermath of Sandy Hook Tragedy
“I don’t think that any of us that were in there feel like anyone needs to know specifically what we saw,” says an interviewee in a newly released trailer for Kim A. Snyder’s “Newtown.”...
Open Road Acquires Reese Witherspoon Comedy Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Open Road Pictures has picked up the North American rights to “Home Again,” Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s directorial debut, Variety reports. The romantic comedy stars Reese Witherspoon. The story,...
Trailer Watch: “Hidden Figures” International Spot Shows More History
“I’m a negro woman, I’m not going to entertain the impossible,” says Janelle Monáe’s “Hidden Figures” character at the prospect of becoming an engineer. But as her colleague replies,...
Greece Submits Athina Rachel Tsangari’s “Chevalier” to the Oscars
The buddy comedy from hell may land a nomination at the Academy Awards. Greece’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2017 Oscars will be Athina Rachel Tsangari’s “Chevalier,”...
Two Women Directors Shortlisted for UK’s Biggest Film Bursary
The BFI and IWC Schaffhausen have revealed the shortlist of writers and/or directors competing for the inaugural IWC Filmmaker Bursary Award in Association with the BFI, and two of the four...
What Happens When Women Hit 40 in Hollywood
By now, we’re aware of the fact that Hollywood is ageist. As Women and Hollywood previously reported, a study released by the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at the University of...
Jenny Lumet Pens Pilot about Hate Crimes for CBS, Katie Couric Producing
“Rachel Getting Married” screenwriter Jenny Lumet has secured a put pilot commitment from CBS for her new drama about hate crimes, Deadline reports. The untitled character-based procedural...
“Better Things” Renewed for Season 2
“Better Things” is coming back for a second season, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. FX has renewed the comedy after airing only two episodes of the series. The show was created by...
Chelsea Handler On Changing Her Focus from Celebrity Gossip to Social Good
At Sunday’s kick-off of the Social Good Summit, hosted by Mashable and the United Nations Foundation in New York City, Chelsea Handler discussed the global impact she hopes her new Netflix series...
Bette Midler’s “Hello, Dolly!” Breaks Broadway Sale Records
Bette Midler has broken a record. As Deadline reports, her upcoming Broadway revival of “Hello, Dolly!” has already banked $9.08 million in ticket sales, and the show won’t even open...
Amanda Plummer Receives Oldenburg Fest’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Three-time Emmy-winner Amanda Plummer has received the Oldenburg International Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The actress accepted the honor on Friday September 16 at the German indie...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Kristina Kumrić — “Half A Man”
Kristina Kumrić has helmed several short fiction and documentary films. Her short documentary “Welcome to Igrane” won a special jury prize at the Vukovar Film Festival, and her short doc “i...
Women-Directed Films Dominate EFA Debut Film Nominees
Women directors are often shut out of awards conversations, nevermind nominations, but in a refreshing change of pace, female-directed films dominate the nominees for the European Film Awards’...
Felicity Jones to Receive BAFTA Britannia Award
Felicity Jones will be honored with BAFTA Los Angeles’ Britannia Award for British artist of the year, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The artist of the year award “pays tribute to a talented...
Karyn Kusama Books New Directing Job
Karyn Kusama has signed on to helm “Breed,” an upcoming horror film for Fox with a terrifying fertility-related premise. The project is based on a 2012 Chase Novak novel of the...
TIFF 2016 Deals: “The Bad Batch” and “Paris Can Wait” Find Homes
The Toronto International Film Festival wrapped up September 18, but the 41st edition of the fest continues to be a source of exciting film news. Both Ana Lily Amirpour’s follow-up to “A Girl...
Fan Favorite Sarah Steele Joins “The Good Wife” Spinoff
Sara Steele is on board for “The Good Wife” spinoff on CBS All Access, Deadline reports. As Women and Hollywood previously reported, the spinoff will focus on the characters of Diane Lockhart...
Trailer Watch: “Amanda Knox” Trial Gets the Doc Treatment
The Amanda Knox case had the world on edge, with viewers glued to the news. Was this young woman a murderer? Or trapped in a backwards justice system that punishes women for being sexual? “Either...
Andrea Savage Comedy Series Picked Up
“Episodes’” actress Andrea Savage has scored her own TV series. Cable network truTV has given a series order to “I’m Sorry,” a half-hour comedy Savage created and stars in. According to...
Fall TV Preview: Series By and About Women to Check Out
“Queen Sugar” By Kate Gardner and Rachel Montpelier Fall is here, and with it comes the most wonderful time of the year for television buffs. Some new and returning series are great, others less...
Katherine Dieckmann’s “Strange Weather” is HIFF’s Southampton Opening Night Film
Katherine Dieckmann’s “Strange Weather” will be the Southampton Opening Night at the Hamptons International Film Festival, which runs from October 6–10 this year, Variety has...
Pam Fryman Directs Her 500th Episode of TV
Pam Fryman is in the midst of directing her 500th episode of television. According to Deadline, Fryman now ranks among the directors with the highest number of small-screen credits to their name....
“Bridget Jones’s Baby” Tops International Box Office
Bridget Jones had a big opening weekend in international markets, topping out at $29.4 million. As Deadline reports, “Bridget Jones’s Baby” debuted at number one in 24 overseas markets this...
2016 Emmys Roundup: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sarah Paulson, Jill Soloway, and More
Sarah Paulson: ABC Last night’s Emmy’s ceremony was a wonderfully refreshing change of pace from #OscarsSoWhite and #OscarsSoMale. Julia Louis-Dreyfus made history at the 68th installment of the...
2017 WriteHer List Nominations Are Now Open
The nomination period for the 2017 WriteHer list is now open. WeForShe, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping balance the gender-landscape in television, founded the WriteHer list in 2015...
Kristen Bell Takes on the Gender Wage Gap
Kristen Bell, star of “Veronica Mars,” “Frozen,” and the upcoming sitcom “The Good Place,” partook in The Huffington Post’s new comedy sketch series “Celebs Have Issues,” which...
Fox Searchlight Finalizing “A United Kingdom” Buy Out of TIFF
Fox Searchlight is in final negotiations to buy the North American rights to Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom,” Variety reports. The film is based on the book “Color Bar” by Susan...
Can #FreeTheBid Lead to More Women Directing in Hollywood?
Back in July, we relayed some in-depth reporting done by Mashable that found that less than 9.7 percent of rostered directors on the AdAge Production Company A-List, from which ad agencies cull...
Trailer Watch: Rebecca Hall Mesmerizes as a Depressed Newscaster in “Christine”
Christine is an on-air reporter who is “always on the lookout for a positive human interest story.” Her boss has another approach to the news: “If it bleeds, it leads.” This tension is one...
New Tool Can Count Female Characters Onscreen
You’ve probably noticed that TV series and films feature a disproportionate number of male characters. The dearth of women onscreen has been proven by study after study. Those studies, and the...
“Miss Stevens” Director Julia Hart on the Need for Telling Female Stories
Interview by Laura Berger Julia Hart’s debut script “The Keeping Room” landed on the Black List and was made into a feature directed by Daniel Barber starring Brit Marling. She’s written...
AFI and 20th Century Fox Team Up To Boost Female Directors
At this point, through multitudinous pieces of research and multiple in-depth studies, it’s pretty clear that women are being shut out of directing jobs at the big studios. Now it’s time for the...
Mill Valley Film Festival Will Honor Nicole Kidman and Julie Dash
The Mill Valley Film Festival announced the complete lineup for the 39th iteration of the fest, which will run from October 6–16 this year and includes tributes to Nicole Kidman and...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Alanis Obomsawin — “We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice”
Alanis Obomsawin’s directing credits include “70 Years of Resistance,” “Rocks at Whiskey Trench,” “Is the Crown at War with Us?,” “Hi-Ho Mistahey!,” and “Trick or Treaty?” In...
Quote of the Day: Rebecca Hall Says Marvel is “Paying for Their Mistakes”
Earlier this spring, “Iron Man 3” director Shane Black revealed why Rebecca Hall’s character was seriously underutilized in the film, and now Hall has spoken on the subject as well. As Women...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Kelly Fremon Craig — “The Edge of Seventeen”
Kelly Fremon Craig started out writing sketch comedy and spoken word poetry in college, then landed an internship in the film division of Immortal Entertainment, where she read her first film script...
Sofia Vergara is TV’s Highest-Paid Actress
For the fifth year in a row, Sofia Vergara has been named the highest-paid actress in television. The “Modern Family” star took home nearly $43 million excluding management fees and taxes, Time...
Trailer Watch: “Moana” Takes to the Sea
It feels like we’ve been waiting forever for Disney’s “Moana,” and with this new, full-length trailer finally hitting, the reality is that she’s getting closer. “Moana,” Disney’s...
TIFF 2016 Deals: Films Starring Anne Hathaway, Cynthia Nixon, and More
A number of outlets are describing the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival as an unusually quiet and conservative year when it comes to film deals. Fortunately, not all movies are having...
Margot Robbie Signs First-Look Deal with Warner Bros.
Margot Robbie has signed a first-look deal with Warner Bros., The Hollywood Reporter writes. The deal will see Robbie developing and producing films through her LuckyChap Entertainment...