Television
New “American Girl” Live-Action Special Will Depict The Civil Rights Movement
A new “American Girl” live-action special will be set during the civil rights movement, Deadline reports. “Melody, 1963: Love Has to Win, an American Girl Story” centers on a 10-year-old...
Diablo Cody Will Americanize Caitlin Moran’s “Raised By Wolves” for ABC
Diablo Cody is set to introduce U.S. audiences to more snarky, precocious, and hilarious teen girls. The “Juno” screenwriter and Oscar winner has teamed up with Berlanti Productions...
Toni Collette to Star in “Unit Zero” from “Black-ish” Team
Toni Collette will star in and executive produce ABC’s “Unit Zero,” Deadline reports. The series, an action dramedy, comes from “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris and producer Lindsey...
Amazon Acquires Creepy Australian Drama Series “The Kettering Incident”
Amazon Prime Video has acquired the U.S. rights to the first season of the Australian drama “The Kettering Incident” from BBC Worldwide, Variety reports. The series stars Elizabeth Debicki...
BBC Commissions Series from “Suffragette” Screenwriter Abi Morgan
Emmy winner Abi Morgan is working on a new series for BBC, “The Split.” The project was announced by Charlotte Moore, BBC’s director of content, during a panel discussion at the Edinburgh TV...
Watch: “Pitch” Inspires Kids to Believe Women Can Do Anything
If you see it, you can dream it, and you can become it. So it will come as no surprise when, after “Pitch” premieres on Fox on September 22, more little girls everywhere will want to start...
Elizabeth Banks’ WhoHaHa Comedy Platform Launches “Cannabis Moms Club”
Elizabeth Banks’ comedy platform WhoHaHa has launched a new web series called “Cannabis Moms Club,” about stay-at-home moms who love smoking weed. “Cannabis Moms Club” was created by Kai...
Former CBS Boss Nina Tassler Working with Liz Tigelaar on Showtime Series
Former CBS Entertainment chair Nina Tassler is developing a series for Showtime, Variety reports. Less than one year after leaving CBS, Tassler has “The Middlesteins” in the works at Showtime....
“Anne of Green Gables” Series Coming to Netflix
Your favorite loquacious redhead is coming to Netflix. The streaming service has picked up “Anne,” an eight-episode series based on Canadian author L.M. Montgomery’s much-loved “Anne of...
Trailer Watch: “Audrie & Daisy” Doc Tackles Sex Crimes and Cyber Bulling
Netflix has released a heartbreaking trailer for “Audrie & Daisy.” The documentary chronicles the lives of two underage teen girls in the aftermath of being sexually assaulted and having the...
Zooey Deschanel Directing “New Girl” Season Six Premiere
Zooey Deschanel, star of Fox’s “New Girl,” will be making her directorial debut by helming the season premiere of the comedy, now heading into its sixth season. As Entertainment Weekly...
Melora Hardin To Star in Freeform Pilot “Issues”
Melora Hardin, who played Tammy Cashman on “Transparent,” is now set for the Freeform pilot “Issues,” Deadline reports. The pilot, created by Sarah Watson (“Parenthood”), “was...
All Eight Disney/ABC Diversity Program Writers Get Staff Jobs
All eight writers selected for the year-long Disney|ABC Writing Program have secured staff jobs on series for the 2016–17 television season, Shadow and Act reports. Three of the writers are women:...
New DGA Study on First-Time TV Directors Reveals Only 19% Were Women
Credit: DGA The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has released the results of an annual study on the gender and ethnic diversity of directors who received their first assignments in episodic TV and...
Great Expectations: August Web Series and VOD Picks
“Aroha Bridge” It’s funny-in-a-sad-way to think about how your plans change as you grow up. Remember your goals when you were a high school student? An undergrad? A fresh-out-of-college young...
Helen McCrory to Star in Six-Part Political Thriller
Helen McCrory has signed on to star in “Fearless,” a six-part series from “Homeland” writer and EP Patrick Harbinson. The project is being produced by Mammoth Screen for ITV and is scheduled...
Soledad O’Brien Taking Over “Matter of Fact” Political Magazine Series
Soledad O’Brien is taking over in the second season of political magazine show “Matter of Fact,” Variety reports. She’ll step in as an anchor and producer, and the program will be renamed...
Eva Longoria Signs Deal with Universal
Eva Longoria has signed a two-year, first-look deal with Universal Pictures for her company UnbelEVAble Entertainment, Deadline reports. The first project on the slate is “My Daughter’s...
Anna Paquin Joins Netflix’s “Alias Grace”
Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Anna Paquin (“The Piano,” “True Blood”) is joining the Netflix miniseries “Alias Grace,” based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the...
Jill Soloway Bringing a Musical Comedy to Amazon
Jill Soloway will executive produce a musical comedy for Amazon, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The series will follow “a woman’s search for love and self-discovery in Los Angeles.” The idea...
Carrie Preston Joins TNT Pilot “Claws”
Carrie Preston, who starred in “The Good Wife” and “True Blood,” is set to co-star in TNT’s “Claws,” a new pilot from Rashida Jones and Will McCormack’s Le Train Train and...
“Making a Murderer’s” Directors on Shocking Developments in the Case
The filmmakers behind Netflix hit “Making a Murderer” released a statement on Friday addressing the new developments in the case they profiled in the 10-part series. According to Variety, the...
Watch: “Broad City’s” Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer Present Awards for Sexism
The women of “Broad City,” Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, have revealed the categories for the first Golden Probe Awards, a satirical skewering of both awards shows and the sexism that plagues...
Disney’s “Elena of Avalor” Renewed for Second Season
Disney has renewed “Elena of Avalor,” their Latina Princess TV series, for a second season, Variety has revealed. As we previously reported when the series first premiered, the series is infused...
Rihanna To Receive MTV’s 2016 Vanguard Award
MTV has announced Rihanna as the 2016 recipient of their highest honor, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. A press release attributes Rihanna’s win to her “decade-long impact on music,...
Frankie Shaw Gets Showtime Pilot
Showtime has ordered a pilot for Frankie Shaw’s “SMILF,” Deadline reports. The series is based on her short of the same name that won the Short Film Jury Award at Sundance last year. The...
Emmy Winner Tracy Droz Tragos on Her New Doc “Abortion: Stories Women Tell”
Tracy Droz Tragos is an award-winning independent filmmaker. Tragos’ “Rich Hill” explored rural poverty and won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival....
“Star Trek: Discovery” Will Feature a Female Lead
Bryan Fuller revealed more details about the upcoming “Star Trek” series “Star Trek: Discovery,” which is set to air on CBS’ All Access, while at the TCAs this week. The series, The...
Jennifer Lopez to Play “The Cocaine Godmother” in HBO Film
Jennifer Lopez plays an NYPD detective on NBC’s “Shades of Blue,” but she’s taking on the role of a high-profile criminal in a new as-yet-untitled project for the small-screen. Variety...
Tig Notaro Breaking Ground at Amazon
Comedian Tig Notaro is gearing up for the premiere of her Amazon series “One Mississippi“ by speaking about the project at the TCA press tour this week. The series, The Hollywood Reporter via...
Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell Launch House Productions
Two powerful women in entertainment are joining forces. As Screen Daily reports, former Film4 head Tessa Ross and ex-Working Title TV chief Juliette Howell are launching a TV and Film production...
FX is Taking Major Steps Towards Hiring People of Color and Women
FX isn’t proud of their track record when it comes to hiring women and people of color behind the scenes. DGA research shows that in the 2014–15 TV season, only 12 percent of FX’s directors...
Trailer Watch: Netflix’s “Project MC2” Highlights Young Women of STEM
If you have Netflix and kids, you may want to check out the series “Project MC2.” Season 1 is already up, and Season 2, for which a new trailer has just been released, premieres quite soon. The...
Trailer Watch: Maura Asks to Be Called Mom on “Transparent”
Viewers will be reunited with the Pfefferman family in just over a month, and fortunately “Transparent” fans have a newly released trailer for Season 3 of the series to tide them over until it...
“Lizzie McGuire” Creator Terri Minsky Gets New Series Order on Disney Channel
The Disney Channel has ordered to series a new coming-of-age series called “Andi Mack” from “Lizzie McGuire” creator Terri Minsky, TV Line reports. “The single-camera sitcom,” the site...
Greta Gerwig Taking Over “Little Women” Screenwriting Duties from Sarah Polley
Indie film star Greta Gerwig is taking over the screenwriting duties for Sony Pictures’ adaptation of “Little Women,” The Tracking Board reports. As we previously reported,...
Natalie Portman and Marta Kauffman Team Up for HBO Miniseries
Natalie Portman has signed on for her first major TV role. The Oscar winner is teaming up with “Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman for a miniseries at HBO. Deadline reports that Portman will...
Kyra Sedgwick Takes the Lead in ABC’s “Ten Days in the Valley”
2017 is shaping up to be a big year for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” actress Kyra Sedgwick. Not only will her directorial debut “Story of a Girl” debut on Lifetime after making the rounds of the...
Lily Tomlin Wins SAG Life Achievement Award
Lily Tomlin is adding another honor to her esteemed career. The actress has been named the 53rd recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award, which recognizes those who embody the “finest ideals of...
The Team Behind “Gossip Girl” and “The O.C.” To Write YA Murder Mystery Film for Netflix
The team behind “Gossip Girl” and “The O.C.” have signed on to another teen-centric project. Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz will pen an adaptation of “13 Minutes,” a British YA novel...
“Pussy Valley,” “Dirty Girls Social Club,” and “Teresa” Being Developed By Starz
Starz has a number of female-fronted projects in development. The network behind “Outlander” is working on “Pussy Valley,” an hour-long drama centered on five pole dancers in Mississippi;...
Teaser Watch: Issa Rae Hits the Town and Gets Rejected in “Insecure”
HBO has unveiled a teaser trailer for “Insecure,” the premium cable network’s eagerly awaited new half-hour comedy series from Issa Rae. The “Awkward Black Girl” YouTube breakout created...
Rose McGowan and SeriesFest Launch Script Competition For Women-Centric Content
Rose McGowan wants to see more episodic content “about, for, and featuring women.” That’s why the actress and director’s production company, Damage Inc. Productions, has teamed up with...
“Queen Sugar” Gets Early Season 2 Renewal
This September, OWN will debut the series premiere of “Queen Sugar,” a new family drama created by Oprah Winfrey and “Selma” director Ava DuVernay. Yesterday OWN announced that it has...
Nahnatchka Khan Lands Her Own Production Deal at 20th Century Fox TV
“Fresh Off the Boat” creator Nahnatchka Khan has secured her own production deal at 20th Century Fox TV, Variety reports. The multiyear deal will see Khan creating, writing, developing, and...
Trailer Watch: Nicole Byer Finds Her Voice as a Comedian in “Loosely Exactly Nicole”
A hilarious trailer has been released for “Loosely Exactly Nicole,” a new MTV comedy starring actress and comedian Nicole Byer (“Girl Code”). The clip kicks off with Byer, who is playing a...
Quote of the Day: “Bad Moms’” Mila Kunis on How Female-Led Films Are Judged Differently
Mila Kunis stars in “Bad Moms,” in which she plays a worn out mom who is tired of the pressures on mothers to be “perfect.” In some sense, Kunis is also sick of those same pressures put on...
Matt Damon Learns His Lesson and Takes Initiative to Increase Diversity
After causing a disastrous diversity scandal on the most recent iteration of his reality show “Project Greenlight,” it seems like Matt Damon has learned his lesson and is taking steps to address...
“Beaches” Remake Starring Idina Menzel Coming to Lifetime
Broadway powerhouse and star of Disney’s “Frozen” Idina Menzel has signed on to headline a Lifetime TV movie, a contemporary remake of the 1988 Gary Marshall-directed movie “Beaches,”...
New Mermaid Drama Headed to Freeform
Rebecca Thomas’ live-action version of “The Little Mermaid” starring Chloë Grace Moretz is currently in pre-production, but it looks like we’ll soon be seeing mer-folk on-screen in another...
Netflix Renews “Chelsea” and “Lady Dynamite” for Second Seasons
Netflix has renewed two of our favorite funny women. As Deadline reports from the TCA’s, Chelsea Handler’s talk show “Chelsea” and Maria Bamford’s comedy “Lady Dynamite” have both been...