Women Producers
Hunger Games Producer Nina Jacobson to Adapt Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch
Nina Jacobson, producer of The Hunger Games and Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series, has picked up another hit book — Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch. Praised for its “Dickensian” scope,...
Producer Gigi Pritzker Lands $50 Mil in Financing
Prolific producer Gigi Pritzker (Drive, The Way Way Back, Ender’s Game) has just secured $50 million to finance future film projects. As the founder of OddLot Entertainment, Pritzker has in the...
Tina Fey to Produce and Star in Black Comedy About War
Tina Fey isn’t one to play it safe, so it isn’t a total surprise that she’ll next focus her lovably acerbic wit on mining humor from war. Fey will produce and star in the black comedy Taliban...
Sarah Polley, Lucy Walker, Barbara Kopple Win at Cinema Eye Awards
Sarah Polley, Lucy Walker, and Barbara Kopple were honored at the seventh annual Cinema Eye Honors, which “recognize and honor exemplary craft and innovation in nonfiction film.” Polley won the...
Saving Mr. Banks Producer Alison Owen on Making a Film About Disney with Disney
Alison Owen is one of the most successful independent producers working in the UK. Her incredibly diverse list of credits includes Elizabeth, Shaun of the Dead, Jane Eyre (2011), and, most recently,...
Hunger Games Producer Nina Jacobson on Creating a Female-Centric Blockbuster
This weekend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire became the highest-grossing November release ever with a box-office take of $161 million — $30 million over its production budget. Though star...
LFF Interview with Gabrielle Tana — Producer of Philomena and The Invisible Woman
Gabrielle Tana’s name made two notable appearances at the London Film Festival — through her New York-based shingle Magnolia Mae, she is the producer (with her partner Carolyn Marks...
Nahnatchka Khan and Reese Witherspoon Team Up on Happily Ever After
Disney has picked up Happily Ever After from Don’t Trust the B creator, Nahnatchka Khan. Reese Witherspoon is on board to star and produce the project through with her Pacific Standard partner,...
14 Women are in The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 50 Showrunners of 2012
The Hollywood Reporter recently named their Top 50 Showrunners of 2012 for both comedy and drama. 14 of the 50 showrunners named were women. And women made up 4 of the 11 on the Showrunners to Watch...
Rebel Wilson Sells Comedy to Universal
I’m sure you are thinking that Women and Hollywood has become Rebel Wilson’s unofficial fan page. We kind of are, but we can’t help but be super excited that Rebel Wilson is blowing up. The...
Women Directors Are Way More Successful in the Indie World
As we embark on the fall festival season, Dr. Martha M. Lauzen has published another one of her vitally important studies tracking the progress of women working behind the scenes on movies. In...
The Adrienne Shelly Foundation Announces 2012 Grant Recipients
The Adrienne Shelly Foundation announced their five new grant recipients for 2012. The five grants are awarded in conjunction with other organizations/ institutions including: Columbia University,...
New Trailer for Sparkle written by Mara Brock Akil
Film hits screens on August 17th. MTVNPlayer Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog New ‘Sparkle’ trailer features Cee Lo Green, Whitney Houston (EW)
Producer Janet Yang to Receive 2012 Asian American Media Award
Tonight, on the opening night of the 2012 Asian American International Film Festival, Asian CineVision will award Janet Yang with the 2012 Asian American Media Award. Yang is a deeply respected...
13 Women Included in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film
Yesterday, Filmmaker Magazine released its “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” showcasing new and emerging talent in independent film. Within the 25 selections, 37 individuals are...
The Invisible War
There are some movies that just gut you. They just hit you hard and twist until you are a spent rag ready to get up and fight against all the injustices that have just been witnessed. The Invisible...
Kathleen Kennedy Named Co-Chair of Lucas Films
Uber Hollywood producer Kathleen Kennedy was named co-chair of Lucasfilm and apparent successor to George Lucas as he moves towards his retirement. Kennedy who worked with her husband and producing...
Interview with Tanya Wexler — Director of Hysteria
Hysteria first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and it recently screened at Tribeca. It opens in the US tomorrow, Friday, May 18. Women and Hollywood: This movie feels very contemporary in...
Another Missed Opportunity — Francis Lawrence Hired to Direct Catching Fire
There are not many times where people have enough juice to make change in a lumbering system that is so resistant to it. But the gig of directing Catching Fire, the second film in The Hunger Games...
Guest Post: A Wake Up Call
March may have been Women’s History Month, but we should be working actively all year to have more women’s work on film and on stage. We cannot accept the lowly statistics without activism....
Producer Watch: Nina Jacobson at the Premiere of The Hunger Games
Nina Jacobson has been around Hollywood for a while. She’s one of a handful of women to run a studio having run Buena Vista Studios at Disney until 2006. She’s about to come on everyone’s...
Sundance 2012: Interview with Amy Ziering — Producer of Invisible War
Amy Ziering is the producer of ‘The Invisible War’ directed by Kirby Dick and winner of the Sundance 2012 Documentary Audience Award. I spoke to Amy about feminist filmmaking, how she and Kirby...
What Bigelow Effect? Number of Women Directors in Hollywood Falls to 5 Percent
The Oscar nominations this morning give us another year where there are no women directors included in the list. This year we won’t see Kathryn Bigelow up on the stage giving out the best director...
Great Interview With Glenn Close
A really great homage to her whole career on the eve of the Oscar nominations. She willed Albert Nobbs into existence. She is the star, the producer, the co-writer and she also write the lyrics to...
A View from the Trenches: Is Estrogen My Last Hurdle to Success?
I blame my Midwestern roots for my optimistic views and somewhat naivé outlook on my career in Hollywood. Hard work reaps rewards so any hurdle I saw was positive because it made me a better...
The Invisible War: New Poster
Haunting- Film Premieres at Sundance. Here’s the trailer. I love the tag line. The battle ground is your barracks. These are women dedicating themselves to serving the US and they are being raped...
Circumstance Producer Karin Chien Takes on the Producers Guild
There has been a bit of a controversy last week over the Producer’s Guild nominees. Karin Chien, the producer of Circumstance learned that her film was disqualified from the PGA Awards because the...
Guest Post: Women War & Peace: Bosnian Women Testify for Change By Pamela Hogan
For eight years as a founding producer of PBS’s award-winning international documentary series WIDE ANGLE, I made it my mission to expand coverage of under-reported global women’s issues. I’m...
Women Comedy Creators Soar This Season on TV
Something is happening on TV and we need to acknowledge it. First, all the new shows that are breaking out this season are comedies. That hasn’t happened for a long time. Second, those comedies...
The Bridesmaids Effect
Can one successful film about women really change Hollywood’s mind about women? Could it be that Bridesmaids is really the movie to usher in a new era of change where the films that came before...
Why Being Visible Matters
Who knew aside from folks on the inner world of documentary film that Ken Burns had an equal partner on his most recent epic documentary series? Not me. But it seems that he has a female partner...
Pink Ribbons, Inc. — Directed by Léa Pool
Next week starts the annual pinkification of cancer — breast cancer awareness month. Now I don’t want to take anything away from any woman who is figuring out a way to fight and survive this...
Moneyball Producer Rachael Horovitz: A Lesson in Perseverance
In 2009, after years of work and days before production was scheduled to begin, the plug was pulled on Moneyball which at that time was supposed to be directed by Steven Soderbergh and to star Brad...
Guest Post: Money and Independent Film, Climbing the Financing Mountain by Elizabeth Dell
There was a time when all I wanted to do was make my first movie. And when sweat, tears and a lot of luck turned into a movie, all I could think about was getting it out into the...
Producer’s Corner: Adele Romanski — The Myth of the American Sleepover by Serena Donadoni
It’s been three years since producer Adele Romanski was in the blue collar suburbs just north of Detroit with writer and director David Robert Mitchell trying to capture the fleeting moments of...
Producers Corner: Jami Gertz and Stacey Lubliner Talk About A Better Life
Actress Jami Gertz and former agent Stacey Lubliner set up a production company Lime Orchard Productions in order to produce films about the human condition. Their first film out of the gate as...
LA Film Festival: Somewhere Between — Directed by Linda Goldstein Knowlton
Producer Linda Goldstein Knowlton who produced one of my favorite films ever — Whale Rider — steps behind the camera to direct a film for her daughter Ruby whom she adopted from China....
An Unpublished Laura Ziskin Interview
I have no idea why this interview was not published by The Hollywood Reporter, but it wasn’t. This interview was conducted last September and has some really good points about women and the...
Wendi Deng Murdoch Becomes a Producer
Rupert Murdoch’s wife Wendi is venturing into producing with the new film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan based on the best selling book by Lisa See. Ms. Deng Murdoch read the book several years ago...
Guest Post: Step One: Finding the Right Producer by Zoje Stage
In 2008, I won a Fellowship in Screenwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts. As I left the party in my strapless black dress and uncomfortable shoes I had one thought: “Please dear gods...
In Memoriam: Laura Ziskin
While most producers names are not known, Laura Ziskin is not one of them. Yesterday, at 61 she lost her battle with breast cancer. She was a woman who came into the business like other women in the...
Trailer Watch: Pariah — Written and Directed by Dee Rees
No release date yet. Focus says Winter 2011.
Interview With Sarah Siegel Magness: Producer of Judy Moody And the Not Bummer Summer
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer opens today. It’s a great hoot for the young — both boys and girls. Producer Sarah Siegel Magness answered some questions about being a producer in...
Will Kathryn Bigelow Be The First Out of the Gate With a Bin Laden Movie?
I imagine that Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal are pretty psyched today regarding the prospects for their upcoming film which has long been rumored to be about the attempt to capture Bin Laden. In...
Christine Vachon on the State of the Cinema
Listen to prolific producer Chistine Vachon talk about the state of the current cinema at this year’s SF International Film Festival. She says the state of current cinema may not be happening in...
Meg Ryan to Make Directing Debut
Here’s another actress looking for her next act. Meg Ryan is going to direct Into the Beautiful from a script by Anne Meredith. Variety says it is a contemporary “Big Chill.” Wendy Finerman...
Preview for The Killing
This show is created by Veena Sud who did Cold Case and it is based on a Danish show. The show stars Mireille Enos (Big Love) and the pilot was directed by Patty Jenkins who directed Charlize Theron...
Melissa Rosenberg to Write and Produce Earthseed
Melissa Rosenberg the writer who wrote all five of the Twilight screenplays has been tapped by Paramount to write the script for Earthseed the first of what I’m sure the studio hopes is a trilogy....
Debra Martin Chase to Produce Sparkle Remake at Sony
Producer Debra Martin Chase has teamed up with The Game showrunners and creators Mara Brock Akil and her husband Salim Akil to produce a remake of the 1976 film Sparkle which originally starred Irene...
Winter’s Bone Q and A
Here’s the Q and A from the Athena Film Festival with Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini and moderated by IndieWIRE’s Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. People are asking some great questions.
Three Vie for Next Female Franchise
Variety reported yesterday that three Oscar nominated young actresses Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin and Jennifer Lawrence are all in the race to play the lead in The Hunger Games based on the...