Women Writers
Women and Hollywood to Submit Names for Fox Writers Intensive
Women and Hollywood has been given the opportunity to recommend five writers for the Fox Writers Intensive (FWI). This needs to happen very quickly, as the whole process needs to be completed by...
50% of Amazon’s Next Pilots Created by Women; Tig Notaro, Anna Camp, Christina Ricci to Headline
Three days after “Transparent” put Amazon on the Emmy map with five wins, including a Best Director prize for creator Jill Soloway and a Best Actor award for Jeffrey Tambor, the streaming site...
New ‘Mary Poppins’ Movie Being Developed By Disney
Mary Poppins is set to teach a whole new generation of children the power of imagination. Disney is reportedly developing a “Mary Poppins” sequel (of sorts), set about 20 years after the...
Natalie Portman Criticizes Stereotypical Female Characters at TIFF
“Black Swan” star Natalie Portman criticized the lazy tropes Hollywood screenwriters use to define female characters during a candid interview at a TIFF fundraising gala last week. The...
TIFF 2015 Preview: Under the Radar Films By and About Women You Shouldn’t Miss
This year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is filled with bona fide stars of the screen and filmmaking worlds. With performances by Julianne Moore (“Freeheld,”...
Telluride: Meryl Streep: “There is Something Wrong That There Are So Few Women [Directors]”
Six Up-and-Coming Women Writers Awarded $30,000 Rona Jaffe Awards
Two poets, a memoirist and three fiction writers have been named the winners of this year’s Rona Jaffe Awards. Each writer will win a $30,000 cash prize. The honorees are Meehan Crist, Vanessa...
Anne Hathaway to Headline and Produce Alien Invasion Sci-Fi Comedy Based on Black List Screenplay
Anne Hathaway has signed on to star in and produce “The Shower,” about a baby shower that gets party-crashed by alien invaders. The sci-fi comedy — which is being compared to...
Amy Schumer and Jennifer Lawrence Writing Comedy Screenplay Together
While on the press tour for the final “Hunger Games” movie, Jennifer Lawrence revealed that she and Amy Schumer, who first met just a couple of months ago, have been working on a comedy...
Kari Lizer’s Girls’ Soccer Comedy ‘Dream Team’ Sold to ABC
TV comedy vets Kari Lizer and Bill Wrubel have received a pilot production commitment from ABC for their new single-cam series set in the world of girls’ soccer. Written and EP’d by Lizer and...
Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers Developing Divorce Comedy for ABC With ‘Trophy Wife’ Creators
Divorced women may be TV’s next big trend. Lifetime has renewed Marti Noxon’s “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce,” starring Lisa Edelstein, while Sarah Jessica Parker will make her...
Win an Online Master Class with BAFTA-Winning Director Amma Asante
BAFTA-winning director Amma Asante is offering three emerging women directors the opportunity to take part in a master class with her. Asante helmed the wondrous period romance “Belle” and the...
Trailer Watch: A Family and a Nation Face Crises in Natalie Portman’s ‘A Tale of Love and Darkness’
Patti Smith’s Memoir ‘Just Kids’ to Become Showtime Miniseries
Patti Smith will adapt her 2010 memoir “Just Kids” as a Showtime miniseries. The singer/artist/punk poet laureate will produce and pen the limited series with “Penny Dreadful” showrunner...
The 5 Women We’re Excited to See This August
It’s been a much-better-than-usual summer for women on screen. We’ve had females leading smart comedies (“Spy,” “Trainwreck”), inspiring blockbusters (“Inside Out,” “Mad Max: Fury...
Lena Waithe’s Black Coming-Of-Age Drama Gets Showtime Pilot Order
An untitled coming-of-age drama from “Dear White People” producer Lena Waithe has received a pilot order from Showtime. The Chicago-set series is being described as a relevant, timely and...
Upcoming Sony Releases: Jennifer Lawrence’s ‘Passengers,’ Jodie Foster’s ‘Money Monster’ and More
After a calamitous summer, Sony has nowhere to go but up and forward. And so the studio has revealed the release dates for its slate through 2017. While most of what the studio has in store is...
‘The Mindy Project’ Season 4 Gets Premiere Date, Will Feature Alt-Reality Episode, Female Friendship
The fourth season of “The Mindy Project” on Hulu will find Mindy Kaling’s self-absorbed but dedicated Dr. Mindy Lahiri pregnant and wondering what would have happened if she’d never met...
‘Louie’ Actress Pamela Adlon to Headline FX’s First Female-Led Comedy Series
After co-starring in nearly every season of FX’s “Louie,” Pamela Adlon has landed her own series. “Better Things” will star Adlon as “a working actor with no filter trying to earn a...
12 Screenwriters Announced for Meryl Streep’s Women Over 40 Writers Lab
Four months ago, Meryl Streep announced that she would fund a script-development program for female screenwriters over 40. The Writers Lab has named its first 12 participants, who will take part in...
‘Empire’ Creator Lee Daniels Developing Drama About Girl Band
Following the mega-success of “Empire,” Fox has bought another series from writer-director Lee Daniels: a drama about the tensions within a cobbled-together girl band. The Atlanta-set...
Salim and Mara Brock Akil Sign Deal With Warner Bros. TV
Husband-and-wife team Salim and Mara Brock Akil have signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. TV. The Akils’ partnership with the studio will take effect in May 2016, upon which Brock Akil will...
Christina Applegate to Star as Unconventional Psychologist in Family Dramedy by Kathleen Robertson
Christina Applegate is apparently eyeing another return to TV. The “Vacation” actress is currently attached to star in the Lionsgate TV dramedy “Your Time Is Up,” a family saga centered on...
Trailer Watch: Brie Larson Flees Her Kidnapper With Her Young Son in ‘Room’
A teaser trailer for “Room,” Brie Larson’s first starring vehicle since “Short Term 12,” now has a teaser trailer. An adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s best-seller, “Room” finds a young...
Chloe King to Adapt Erotic Thriller ‘The Girl in 6E,’ About Agoraphobic “Web-Cam Girl”
Chloe King has been tapped to bring the best-selling erotic thriller “The Girl in 6E” to the big screen. Written by A.R. Torre (the open pen name of Alessandra Torre), the novel is about an...
Tig Notaro to Team Up With Diablo Cody on Semi-Autobiographical Amazon Pilot
After being the subject of a Netflix documentary and releasing her own HBO stand-up special (out August 22), Tig Notaro will star in an Amazon series based in part on her (recently turbulent) life....
Guest Post: Why You Should Consider Embracing the Punk Rock Ethos by Editing Your Doc Yourself
Jessica Yu. Ondi Timoner. Naomi Kawase. What do these names all have in common? Yes, they’re all successful female documentarians. But theyhave something else in common. Something you may not...
The Groundbreaking Gyno-Humor of Amazon’s Realistic Rom Com ‘Catastrophe’
“Catastrophe,” the Amazon sitcom by Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney about a bi-continental couple dealing with an accidental pregnancy resulting from a casual hookup, has been called “the best...
Angelina Jolie to Direct Netflix Film About Female Cambodian Human Rights Activist
Angelina Jolie has announced her fifth narrative feature since 2011’s “In the Land of Blood and Honey.” The actress-turned-filmmaker will direct a Netflix drama based on Cambodian human...
Melissa Rosenberg and Liz Friedman Board Patricia Cornwell Movie Adaptation
Author Patricia Cornwell’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta has had a difficult time making the transition from page to screen. But two recently hired writers may speed up the forensic pathologist’s leap to...
Emma Thompson on the Climate for Women in Hollywood: “I Think It’s Still Completely Sh*t, Actually”
Emma Thompson was characteristically blunt when asked recently about sexism and ageism in the film industry. “It is in a worse state than I have known it, particularly for women,” the “Saving...
New ‘Suffragette’ Poster Art Released on Emmeline Pankhurst Day
On the occasion of Emmeline Pankhurst Day, devoted to the political activist who played a pivotal role in securing British women the right to vote, official “Suffragette” poster art has been...
Guest Post: Directing Young Men as a Female Filmmaker
A few years ago, if you had told me that myfirst feature would follow three ten-year-old boys growing up in Palo Alto in1985, I probably wouldn’t have believed you — especially since one is...
Winners Announced For the HBO Diverse and Emerging Writers Fellowship, Six Women Chosen
Back in February we reported that HBO was launching a writing fellowship to find diverse and emerging writers. This week, the premium cable network announced the names of the nine aspiring writers...
Carol Leifer to Adapt Her Memoir ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying’ for TV
Four-time Emmy nominee Carol Leifer will turn her life writing TV comedy into, well, a TV comedy. The stand-up comedienne AND “Modern Family” and “Devious Maids” writer will adapt her 2014...
Emmy-Winning Screenwriter Abi Morgan to Adapt Reese Witherspoon-Produced ‘Ashley’s War’
Abi Morgan — the Emmy- and BAFTA-winning screenwriter behind “The Iron Lady,” “Shame,” “The Hour,” “The Invisible Woman” and the upcoming “Suffragette” (and that’s just...
Claire Denis to Team Up With Zadie Smith for Futuristic Space Adventure
French film icon Claire Denis will direct an untitled sci-fi adventure set in a “future that seems like the present” based on a screenplay by Zadie Smith and her husband Nick Laird. The project...
Trailer Watch: Amy Schumer Answers “What’s Your Number?” in New ‘Trainwreck’ Spot
In less than a month, Amy Schumer’s “Trainwreck” will make its long-awaited debut in theaters. Now an extended TV spot for the raunchy rom com has arrived with some new footage to help tide us...
2015 Kilroys List Spotlights 53 Works by Women and Trans Playwrights Deserving Production
Last year, The Kilroys — a self-described “gang of playwrights and producers in LA who are done talking about gender parity and are taking action” — launched a list of 46 plays by...
6 of Top 10 Movies This Weekend Feature Female Protagonists
Pixar’s brilliant “Inside Out” opened at #2 this weekend with a $91 million domestic (and $132 million worldwide) haul at the box office. But the big story isn’t that “Inside Out” is...
‘Power Rangers’ Actress Amy Jo Johnson to Make Directorial Debut With Fatherhood Comedy
Amy Jo Johnson, who’ll always be affectionately remembered as the Pink Power Ranger by a certain generation of fans, will make her feature directorial debut with the indie comedy “The Space...
‘Maleficent’ Sequel to Bring Back Original Screenwriter Linda Woolverton
Linda Woolverton, the screenwriter behind many of Disney’s biggest feminist hits (“Maleficent,” Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” “Beauty and the Beast”), has signed on to pen...
Stowe Story Labs, Tangerine Entertainment Launch New Fellowship for Women Writers, Directors, Producers
Stowe Story Labs, a nonprofit that brings together emerging screenwriters, filmmakers and creative producers from around the world with industry mentors, is currently accepting applications for its...
‘Bob’s Burgers’ Writers Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux to Pen Female ’21 Jump Street’ Film
Two brains are better than one, so Sony’s betting that four brains are better than two. After hiring “Broad City” writers Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs to develop the female “21 Jumps...
Trailer Watch: Meryl Streep Stops Running Away from Family Drama in New Spot for ‘Ricki & the Flash’
“I came out here because I wanted to help you,” Ricki (Meryl Streep) tells her recently divorced daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer). The new trailer for “Ricki and the Flash” emphasizes Ricki’s...
Nicole Perlman to Adapt Hugh Howey’s Sci-Fi Bestseller ‘Wool’
Nicole Perlman, co-writer of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” has lined up her next project. Perlman will adapt Hugh Howey’s self-published runaway bestseller “Wool,” in which a few rebellious...
Helen Estabrook to Produce Film Adaptation of Eliza Kennedy’s Cold-Feet Comedy ‘I Take You’
Helen Estabrook (“Whiplash”) will team up with Tobey Maguire to adapt Eliza Kennedy’s debut novel, “I Take You,” for the big screen. Published on May 5, the book centers on an successful...
Watch: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Tells Girls and Women to “Forget About Likability”
Nigerian novelist and outspoken feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has an intensely devoted following, which famously includes Beyonce. The “Americanah” author’s critical acclaim and public...
Quote of the Day: Simon Pegg Complains “Men Tend to Write Women as Their Fantasy”
Simon Pegg recently confessed something he said is likely to get him into trouble. “I think women write men better than men write women,” the actor contended. “Men tend to write women as...
Shonda Rhimes’ First Book, ‘Year of Yes,’ to Arrive in November
Thank Shonda Rhimes for taking care of this year’s Christmas list. TV’s most powerful writer has penned her first book, titled “Year of Yes,” about the 12 months when she accepted...
You Know Things Are Bad for Women When We’re Cheering a Studio for Making a Writing Group Only 78% Male
Two women have been added to the brain trust for the planned expansion of the “Transformers” franchise. Christina Hodson and Lindsey Beer are the first female writers to join the group....