Women Writers
Lysa Heslov to Direct Adaptation of YA Hit “This Is Where It Ends”
“Served Like a Girl” director Lysa Heslov has booked her next project. She’ll follow up her award-winning doc about female veterans with an adaptation of Marieke Nijkamp’s hit YA novel...
Jennifer Garner to Topline Lena Dunham’s New HBO Series
Lena Dunham’s next TV project has found its star. Entertainment Weekly confirms that Jennifer Garner will lead “Camping,” a comedy about an outdoorsy weekend gone awry. Dunham is writing and...
Trailer Watch: Slaughterhouse Workers Fall in Love in Oscar Contender “On Body and Soul”
A new U.S. trailer has dropped for one of the year’s most celebrated romances — and undeniably its weirdest. “Is it possible that two people dream the same thing?” asks Maria (Alexandra...
WeForShe Announces 2018 WriteHer List
Get used to seeing these names. WeForShe has announced the 2018 WriteHer List, a curated collection of women-penned TV scripts that have been sourced from industry executive favorites. The list...
Jill Santopolo to Adapt Her Best-Selling Novel “The Light We Lost”
Jill Santopolo is set to adapt her best-selling romance “The Light We Lost” for the big screen, Variety reports. The author’s debut novel is a love story that kicks off on 9/11: two seniors at...
Kat Coiro Will Make Pilot Directorial Debut with Liz Meriwether’s “Daddy Issues”
Kat Coiro is making her pilot directorial debut. Deadline confirms that Coiro will helm “Daddy Issues,” the Fox comedy pilot produced by Liz Meriwether (“New Girl”) and written by and...
Trailer Watch: Krysten Ritter Seeks Answers in “Jessica Jones” Season 2
Jessica Jones’ tolerance for bullshit remains delightfully low in a new trailer for the second season of the Netflix hit. Deadpan as ever, the superhero (Krysten Ritter) is quick to take down...
Mary Harron’s Manson Family Pic Moves Forward, Set to Launch in Berlin
“American Psycho” director Mary Harron is one step closer to tackling one of the most infamous crimes in history. Matt Smith (“The Crown”) and Suki Waterhouse (“The White Princess”) have...
Trailer Watch: Diane Is Still Trying to Prove Herself in “The Good Fight” Season 2
“You came back from the dead,” Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) is told in “The Good Fight” Season 2. “You proved yourself — you don’t have to keep proving yourself over and...
Trailer Watch: Melissa McCarthy Goes Back to College in “Life of the Party”
Melissa McCarthy is older, wiser, and her vagina is “essentially a Google” when she re-enrolls in college in a new trailer for “Life of the Party.” The comedy sees the Oscar nominee playing...
Pilot News: Projects From Ava DuVernay, Amy Poehler, and More
Your new favorite show could be on the way. A number of promising-sounding projects have recently been ordered to pilot, including ones exec produced by “Selma” director Ava DuVernay and...
Isabel Coixet Wins Three Goya Awards for “The Bookshop”
Isabel Coixet was one of the big winners at this weekend’s Goya Awards, Spain’s counterpart to the Oscars. Per Screen Daily, Coixet took home prizes for best feature, best director, and best...
Nicole Kidman Joins Meryl Streep in Supporting The Writers Lab
Nicole Kidman doesn’t just talk the talk: she walks the walk. A couple of weeks after the actress called for Hollywood to treat women over 40 as the “potent, powerful, and viable” people they...
Weekly Update for February 2: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“A Fantastic Woman” Films About Women Opening This Week A Fantastic Woman Marina (Daniela Vega) and Orlando (Francisco Reyes) are in love and planning for the future. Marina is a young waitress...
Trailer Watch: Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Perfect Love Story Gets Turned Upside Down in “Irreplaceable You”
A newly engaged couple receive earth-shattering news in a new trailer for Stephanie Laing’s “Irreplaceable You.” Childhood sweethearts Abbie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Sam (Michiel Huisman) are...
Trailer Watch: A Female Firefighter Takes the Lead in “Grey’s Anatomy” Spinoff “Station 19”
Inspiring speeches, love triangles, jokes in high-pressure situations — “Station 19” has a lot in common with the series from which it originated, “Grey’s Anatomy.” The Seattle...
ABC Orders Comedy Pilots from Liz Meriwether and Kristin Newman
Liz Meriwether has yet another comedy pilot on the way. “Single Parents,” a single cam project from the “New Girl” creator/EP and J.J. Philbin, received a pilot order at ABC. This marks...
British Comedy Writers Launch Female-Led Production Company
Sick and tired of seeing one-dimensional female characters on-screen, four British comedy writers/performers have joined forces to launch Double Yay Productions. The company seeks to address the...
February 2018 Film Preview
“Annihilation” February is when many of us need a mid-winter pick-me-up. Luckily, there are plenty of theatrical releases this month that make for the perfect antidote to cabin fever. Kicking...
Lena Waithe’s “The Chi” Renewed for Season 2, Ayanna Floyd Davis Named New Showrunner
Showtime is making itself at home in “The Chi.” Shadow and Act reports that Lena Waithe’s sprawling Southside Chicago-set drama will receive a second season. Series writer Ayanna Floyd Davis...
TV Updates: Stephenie Meyer Adaptation, Pilots from Ilene Chaiken & Liz Meriwether in the Works
Another day, another batch of women-centric and created series announced. Projects from “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer and showrunners Ilene Chaiken (“The L Word”) and Liz Meriwether...
Roxanne Benjamin’s Feature Directorial Debut Acquired by Magnet Releasing
Writer-director Roxanne Benjamin’s first feature film has found a home. Variety confirms that Magnet Releasing, Magnolia Pictures’ genre arm, has obtained worldwide rights to Benjamin’s...
ABC Orders Diablo Cody Comedy Pilot, Three Female-Driven Dramas
Diablo Cody is headed back to television. After the premature cancellation of “One Mississippi,” the dramedy she co-created with Tig Notaro, ABC has ordered Cody’s pilot “Most Likely To.”...
Reboots on the Way: “Charmed,” “Cagney and Lacey,” and “Greatest American Hero”
“First Wives Club,” “Nancy Drew,” “Roswell” — it’s hard to keep up with all of the TV reboots in the works. In the past few days alone we’ve seen reports about three series...
Athena Film Fest Announces IRIS Screenwriting Lab Participants
Women accounted for just 10 percent of the writers behind 2017’s 100 highest-grossing films. The Athena IRIS Screenwriting Lab is designed to help improve this figure and get more female leaders...
Weekly Update for January 26: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Please Stand By” Films About Women Opening This Week Please Stand By (Also Available on VOD) A young autistic woman (Dakota Fanning) runs away from her caregiver in order to boldly go and...
Sundance: Sexual Abuse Drama “The Tale” Snagged by HBO
One of the best-reviewed and most talked about films out of Sundance 2018 has found a home. HBO Films secured the rights to Laura Dern-starrer “The Tale.” Variety broke the news. Written and...
“Big Sick” Scribe Emily V. Gordon to Adapt “The Nest” for Amazon
“The Nest” is coming to the big screen, and Oscar nominee Emily V. Gordon is set to take it there. “The Big Sick” screenwriter has signed on to pen a feature adaptation of Cynthia D’Aprix...
Cheryl Hines to Helm “Revenge Wedding”
Cheryl Hines is stepping behind the camera again. The Emmy-nominated “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress has signed on to direct “Revenge Wedding” for CBS Films, The Hollywood Reporter...
“Edge of Seventeen” Writer-Director Kelly Fremon Craig to Adapt “Wild Game”
Kelly Fremon Craig has booked her follow-up to “The Edge of Seventeen.” The Hollywood Reporter confirms that the writer-director is taking the reins on a feature adaptation of “Wild Game: My...
“Black-ish’s” Marsai Martin to Star in and Exec Produce Tina Gordon Comedy
Thirteen-year-old “Black-ish” star Marsai Martin just lined up her first producing credit. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress has signed on to star in and exec produce...
Margaret Atwood’s “MaddAddam” Trilogy Coming to TV
Yet another Margaret Atwood adaptation is coming to the small screen. A re-telling of the Canadian author’s “MadAddam” trilogy — consisting of “Oryx and Crake,” “The Year of the...
“Murphy Brown” Revival on the Way, Candice Bergen to Star
Murphy Brown will soon be back at the FYI desk. Deadline reports that CBS has ordered a 13-episode revival of Diane English’s “Murphy Brown.” The sitcom, which centers on Candice Bergen’s...
Trailer Watch: Regina King Seeks Answers in BLM-Inspired “Seven Seconds”
A trailer has dropped for Veena Sud’s new Netflix series, “Seven Seconds.” The drama sees “The Killing” creator tackling another crime story, this one centering on the aftermath of a black...
“Conviction” Co-Creator Liz Friedlander Directing ABC Crime Dramedy Pilot
Liz Friedlander is the first hourlong directing hire of the 2018–19 season. Deadline writes that the “Conviction” co-creator will helm and EP the pilot of ABC’s straight-to-series crime...
Trailer Watch: A Brooklyn Musician Moves Back to the Midwest in LAFF Winner “Becks”
“Thanks for coming out. Now I know how Beyoncé feels. Beyoncé still lives with her mom, right?” a musician asks her very modestly sized audience in a new trailer for “Becks.” Becks (Lena...
TV Actors and Writers Share Their Salaries Via Google Doc
Making salaries more transparent is a major step towards pay equality. Just look what happened when the world discovered the discrepancy between Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg’s compensation...
2018 Writers Lab for Women Screenwriters Over 40 Now Accepting Submissions
If you know or are a female screenwriter over age 40, this is for you: The Writers Lab’s 2018 program is accepting submissions. Produced by IRIS and New York Women In Film & Television...
Trailer Watch: A Line Is Crossed in “Mary Kills People” Season 2
Mary Harris believes in her work. “Death gives life meaning,” the secret euthanasia provider (Caroline Dhavernas, “Hannibal”) declares in the trailer for Season 2 of Lifetime’s “Mary...
Limited Series from “Erin Brockovich” Writer Susannah Grant on the Way at Netflix
Susannah Grant scored an Oscar nod for penning “Erin Brockovich,” and now the writer has found inspiration in another true story. Deadline reports that Netflix has given an eight-episode order...
CBS’ First 2018–19 Pilot Orders Are All from Female Creators
CBS has made its first pilot orders for the 2018–19 season and each of the three projects is from a woman creator. According to Variety, the network has tapped two comedies, Gloria Calderon...
Trailer Watch: Oprah Offers Words of Wisdom in “A Wrinkle in Time”
When Oprah Winfrey talks, everybody listens. The mogul and recent Cecil B. DeMille Award winner has a lot to say in the new trailer for Ava DuVernay’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” The big-budget...
Sundance Deals: Keira Knightley-Starrer “Colette” and Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace” Score Deals
Sundance kicked off a few days ago and the business side of the Park City fest is just heating up. The largest indie fest in the U.S. is hosting the world premieres of 100 films, many of which are...
Veena Sud Reuniting with Mireille Enos for New Feature
“The Killing’s” creator and leading lady are re-teaming for a new project. Mireille Enos is starring in “Between the Earth and the Sky,” a family drama from Veena Sud. Deadline reports...
Weekly Update for January 19: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Forever My Girl” Films About Women Opening This Week Mary and the Witch’s Flower — Co-Written by Riko Sakaguchi “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” Mary (Ruby Barnhill) is a plain,...
Trailer Watch: Alicia Vikander Embraces Her Destiny in “Tomb Raider”
“At some point we have to face up to who we are and who we’re meant to be,” Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is told in a new trailer for “Tomb Raider.” The bike courier is being urged to...
Agnès Varda Has a New Doc in the Works
One of the most influential filmmakers in French cinema is set to share her “own vision of art” with the world. Variety reports that Agnès Varda is working on a new, as-yet untitled documentary...
“Toy Story 4” to Be Penned by Black List Writer Stephany Folsom
Woody and Buzz are coming back, and Stephany Folsom is penning their next adventure. Disney-Pixar has hired the screenwriter to take over “Toy Story 4,” Variety reports. Rashida Jones and...
Lupita Nyong’o Will Celebrate Beauty With Children’s Book
Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o is no stranger to using her public platform to share and discuss issues that matter. She has consistently campaigned for more diverse female role models and...
Lea Thompson’s Feature Directorial Debut “Year of Spectacular Men” Acquired by MarVista
“Back to the Future’s” Lea Thompson has made her way to the director’s chair. Her directorial debut, “The Year of Spectacular Men,” premiered at last year’s LA Film Fest. According to...
Kristen Wiig to Star in Reese Witherspoon-Produced Comedy Series for Apple
Over the past year, Apple has been making its way into producing original content in order to compete with streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Now, it has just secured its first...