Women Writers
Update: Five Female Playwrights Will be on Broadway This Fall
Here is an update to yesterday’s post about Theresa Rebeck’s play opening on Broadway. It seems that there will be several female written plays opening on the great white way this fall. Great...
Riding the Bridesmaids Wave
Women in Hollywood are finally feeling a little love after the unexpected success of Bridesmaids. The film has now grossed $140 million and counting and for the first time in a long time women’s...
Trailer Watch: Season 2 Preview of The Big C
Show stars Laura Linney and some guests stars this year include Cynthia Nixon, Parker Posey and Gabourey Sidibe. The Big C was created by Darlene Hunt and the showrunner is the amazing Jenny Bicks....
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...
Guest Post: Fighting Fish — The Story of Making an Ultra-Low-Budget Indie by Annette Apitz
A very wise woman said to me after I finished my first feature film, “Congratulations. With independent films, you really have to will them into existence.” Making my first feature film was...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Nia Vardalos
I had the opportunity to meet Nia Vardalos recently at an event in LA and she was so impressive. She has written a terrific piece about the horrible homophobic comments that 30 Rock Tracy Morgan star...
Trailer Watch: Pariah — Written and Directed by Dee Rees
No release date yet. Focus says Winter 2011.
The Lilly Awards: Saving Women From Disappearing in Theatre
The Tony Awards are on Sunday night. There are very few female nominees. Even the NY Times is starting to think this is a problem. (Note to NY Times theatre writers and reviewers — don’t...
Talking 20 Years of Thelma and Louise
Here’s my interview on the BBC Scotland’s Movie Cafe on the 20th Anniversary of Thelma and Louise. If you don’t want to listen to the whole show, start at 34 minutes in.Movie Cafe It will be...
The Hollywood Reporter’s Comedy Showrunners Roundtable: A Much Better Picture
At least this picture won’t make the heads of women writers across the country explode with anger. The Hollywood Reporter gained some sanity and includes two women in its showrunners panel on...
Forbes Names the 10 Most Powerful Female Authors
This is quite an interesting list and one thing I immediately noticed which is different from so many other lists is that it is a diverse list — five white women and five women of color. And...
Jane Goldman Talks X-Men
Not too many women are co-writers on $125 million flicks but Jane Goldman is. Check out her fantastic hair. I hope that she helped make the female characters more well rounded and less like...
Trailer Watch: I Don’t Know How She Does It
This looks pretty good. Will be released on September 16 in the US and UK.
Bridesmaids Box Office Stays Strong
Just a little bit of news on the box office for Bridesmaids. Variety has reported that it beat Thor at the box office on Monday and Tuesday. As of yesterday, the gross was over $32 million which...
2011 Hollywood Writers Report — Women Make Up 24% of All Writers
The 2011 Hollywood Writers Report published by the Writers Guild of America, West was released yesterday, and the report, entitled Recession and Regression shows little progress for...
Season Preview: ABC’s Lineup
Scandal — written by Shonda Rhimes (midseason) https://medium.com/media/4d27489cc07caf17804240a953eb5868/href Suburgatory — written by...
Season Preview: NBC’s Lineup
Smash — written by Theresa Rebeck (midseason) Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea — written by Julie Larson and Dottie...
Eve Ensler to Make Directing Debut With The Other Side Starring Jane Fonda
Vagina Monologue writer and V-Day activist Eve Ensler will be making her directorial debut on The Other Side a film that will also focus on the epidemic of rape in the Congo. In the...
Private Practice Takes on Abortion Again
This past week, Private Practice created by Shonda Rhimes stood up again for a woman’s right to choose. This episode was written by Jennifer Cecil and Barbie Kligman. Here’s what happened. A...
Angelina Jolie’s Directorial Debut Gets a Name and a Date
Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, a love story set in Bosnia War in the 90s finally has a title — In the Land of Blood and Honey. The other news is that it will be released on December 23rd...
Bridesmaids is a Big Fat Hit!
Women took up the mantle and went to see the film. The gross was about $24.5 (UPDATE — $26.2) million about $10 million more than predicted. I don’t know who does the predicting on these...
Save the Future for Women in Comedy — See Bridesmaids
How did we get to a place in 2011 where the female Hollywood comedian is on the endangered species list? My god we have three female Supreme Court justices, we’ve had three female secretaries of...
Guest Post: The First Grader by Ann Peacock
We LOVE it, but there’s no money for movies about Africa. This refrain was repeated over and over again as I trundled around town pitching the story to anyone who would stand still long enough to...
Weinstein Co. Picks Up Meryl Streep Film The Iron Lady
Looks like we will have a Meryl Streep film in Oscar contention this year. At Cannes, the Weinstein Co. has secured the US rights for the film. Film is written by Abi Morgan and directed by...
Guest Post: Hooray For The Movie Bridesmaids by Cory Kahaney
Here we go again…my phone is ringing because some funny laaaady is getting lots of attention. In this case it’s ladies, and the movie is Bridesmaids. Someone is doing a piece on why this all...
Pilot Pickups: Fox and NBC
Here are the women created and written shows that got pick ups in the last two days. Note that all four of the shows picked up by NBC are written by women and all will star women. NBCUp All...
Women Can Create Shows — The 2011–2012 Pilot Season
As pilot season winds down and the shows get series pickups in the next couple of weeks, Neely Swanson took a look at the female writers creating pilots this year for Deadline and found that there...
Why Bridesmaids Matters
This feels like another cultural watershed moment for women on screen. A big studio comedy that is about women. We all know the difficulties women in comedy have faced. Gone are the days of Goldie...
Guest Post: Getting Prom to the Big Screen by Katie Wech
Like many opportunities in life, it happened so fast I could have easily missed it. I was sitting in an executive’s office at Disney, when suddenly he said, almost in passing, “I’ve been...
Trailer Watch: Another Earth
This is co-written and starring Brit Marling. Opens July 20
Trailer Alert: Bridesmaids (The Dirty Version)
2 more weeks until Bridesmaids. I’m going to see it next week and I am psyched. This has potential cross over for male and female audiences. Here’s what Russ Fischer said on /Film: “This movie...
Trailer Watch: Monte Carlo — Co-written by Maria Maggenti
Film Opens July 1
Trailer Watch: The Imperialists Are Still Alive! — Written and Directed by Zenia Durra
Films Opens on April 15 and will also be on VOD
Circumstance — Written and Directed by Maryam Keshavarz Closes New Directors/New Films
This evening Maryam Keshavarz’ Sundance award winning film will close the New Directors/New Film series in NYC. I spoke with Maryam this week and the full interview will be available when the film...
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....
Rashida Jones Writes Film So She Can Have Decent Role
Women directors have long been writing their own material in order to give them opportunities to direct. Now women actors are taking up the pen in order to get themselves decent roles...
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.
Jane Eyre — Review
The moment you see Jane running through the Moors breathless you are sucked into her world. Jane Eyre is played by Mia Wasikowska, in another stellar performance (The Kids Are All Right,) proving she...
More Good News on Bridesmaids
This film is shaping up to be the one of the movies I am most looking forward to seeing this year. Now I know that it is a movie about a wedding, and I have said that I would be perfectly fine with...
Women at the Movies This Weekend — February 25, 2011
Women’s Films Now PlayingThe Other WomanOrgasm Inc. — directed by Liz Canner (doc) When We LeaveThe Roommate From Prada to NadaTrue GritBhutto (doc)The WoodmansThe Tempest — written and...
No Shocker — Hollywood is Sexist and Ageist
I spend a lot of time talking about the plight of women directors, but make no mistake it is just as bad for women writers. The latest statistics show that only 10% of the top 250 grossing films...
Meryl as Maggie
They are on week two of filming. Film is directed by Phyllida Lloyd and written by Abi Morgan. Footage will be screened at Cannes. No US distributor yet.
Trailer Watch: Yelling to the Sky Written and Directed by Victoria Mahoney
This film is going to Berlin and South by Southwest.
The Susan Smith Blackburn Finalists
This is the 33rd year of the awards that honor the most outstanding English written play by a woman. Julia Cho won the award in 2010. The 2011 nominees are (descriptions below):Lisa...
ABC Family Goes All Girl
Three new shows were given the green light yesterday and they all focus on young women. The good news is that the Jennifer Weiner (yes, the best-selling author) created show The Great State of...
Bridesmaids Poster
While I pretty much never want to see another wedding movie ever, I might just be interested in this one. I think the poster is very different. Those women look ready to rumble. The film is written...
Focus Features Buys Pariah in Two Picture Deal With Dee Rees
Big news. A woman gets a seven figure deal. Focus Features the the studio that released The Kids Are All Right to great box office and critical success including its multiple Oscar nominations this...
Interview with Feo Aladag — writer and director of When We Leave
When We Leave, Germany’s entry for the Academy Awards, is written and directed by Feo Aladag. It is a powerful film that tells the story of a young Turkish German woman who leaves her unhappy and...
Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss Take on Hellman’s The Children’s Hour
I have to say this is one of my favorite plays and Hellman is one of my favorite female writers. I remember when I got to Graduate school and had to read a ton of plays (yes, I have a degree in...
A Look at the Oscar Nominations
I held my breath this morning as the best picture nominations were read. It wasn’t until I heard the 10th, the one that named Winter’s Bone as a nominee that I was finally able to exhale. If I...
Wonder Woman is Revived and Other Women Getting Pilot Gigs
Bob Greenblatt, the new chief at NBC, is aggressively stepping up his pilot pickups for next season and he’s hired several women writer/creators. He has also revived that recently deceased David E....