ALL POSTS
Sarasota Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Deborah Kampmeier — ‘SPLit’
Deborah Kampmeier is an award-winning filmmaker and theater director. Kampmeier’s first feature film, “Virgin,” won several awards and was nominated for two 2004 Independent Spirit Awards. Her...
Judi Dench Makes History at 2016 Olivier Awards
Judi Dench won her eighth Olivier Award at this weekend’s ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London. Dench has now won more Oliviers than any performer ever. The Oliviers, England’s equivalent...
‘Pushing Daisies’ Star Anna Friel Has a New Crime Series Headed to Netflix
Netflix has acquired exclusive worldwide streaming rights to crime drama “Marcella,” starring “Pushing Daisies” alum Anna Friel. The series premiered on ITV in the U.K. last night. Friel...
EPIX to Air Wanda Sykes Comedy Event
Wanda Sykes is teaming up with EPIX for “What Happened… Ms. Sykes?” The one-hour Original Comedy Event — whose title is a nod to a Maya Angelou quotation about Nina Simone — will...
Women at the Box Office: ‘Eye in the Sky’ and ‘My Name is Doris’ Push Ahead
It’s been a good week for women-centric films at the box office. “Eye in the Sky” and “Hello, My Name is Doris” are rising steadily in the box office, out-performing their estimated...
‘One Big Happy’ Creator Liz Feldman Signs Deal With CBS
“One Big Happy” creator and exec producer Liz Feldman has inked a two-year overall deal with CBS TV Studios. The “2 Broke Girls” scribe will develop new projects for network, cable and...
Trailer Watch: Animal Rights Evolve in Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker’s ‘Unlocking the Cage’
A trailer has arrived for “Unlocking the Cage,” Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker’s eye-opening Sundance animal rights doc. “When you imprison a chimpanzee, the chimpanzee understands that...
Women in Film and The Black List Team Up To Launch TV Lab for Women Writers
Women in Film, Los Angeles and The Black List have announced a new episodic television lab for women writers. Eight non-professional writers will be invited to join the lab. The joint venture is now...
Weekly Update for April 1: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week No Home Movie (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Chantal Akerman “No Home Movie” is a portrait of director Chantal Akerman’s relationship with...
Live-Action Movie About Snow White’s Sister, Rose Red, In Development At Disney
Disney has another live-action feature in the works, this one focusing on Snow White’s sister. The studio is set to tell the story of Rose Red, a character that appeared in Grimms’ fairy tales....
Trailer Watch: Nancy Buirski Honors a Great in ‘By Sidney Lumet’
A trailer has arrived for “By Sidney Lumet,” a heartfelt tribute from one director to another. Emmy award-winner Nancy Buirski (“Afternoon of a Faun”) premiered her documentary about the...
Trailer Watch: Amy Schumer Takes the Throne as Khaleesi of Comedy in ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ Season 4
Season 4 of “Inside Amy Schumer” premieres later this month — the same week that Season 6 of “Game of Thrones” kicks off. Riffing on the highly anticipated return of the HBO series, a...
EWA Teams with Women in Motion at Cannes
The European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA) is teaming up with Cannes’ “Women in Motion” program to host events highlighting women’s achievements in film at the 2016 Cannes Film...
Humor Saves the Day (and the Marriage): ‘Catastrophe’ Returns
The wait is over: Season 2 of Amazon’s blissfully filthy-mouthed comedy “Catastrophe” premieres on Amazon Prime next Friday, and once again you will find yourself wishing it had three times as...
2016 Lucille Lortel Awards Nominations Announced
The nominations for the 2016 Lucille Lortel Awards have been announced. The awards honor the best in New York off-Broadway theater. Women are nominated in every category excluding lighting and sound...
Noelle Valdivia and Corinne Kingsbury Sell Comedy Series Set in the Afterlife to TV Land
Noelle Valdivia (“Masters of Sex”) and Corinne Kingsbury (“The Newsroom”) have sold a half-hour comedy series, tentatively titled “Elsewhere,” to TV Land. Given the premise, it sounds...
‘Scream Queens’ Star Keke Palmer to Release a Memoir and Self-Help Guide
Keke Palmer has signed a book deal. The “Scream Queens” star will release an inspirational memoir and self-help guide via Simon & Schuster. The book, titled “I Don’t Belong to You: Quiet...
Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘Les Blancs’ Receives London Stage Revival
London’s National Theatre has mounted a revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1970 play “Les Blancs” (“The Whites”). Hansberry, who died in 1965, is best known as the playwright behind the...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Paul Feig to Add Equity Clause to Future Film Contracts
Paul Feig continues to act as a much-needed champion for women in film. The “Ghostbusters” director and co-writer said that he would add an equity clause to his future film contracts that would...
29% of Films at SF Film Festival Women-Directed; Mira Nair To Receive Prestigious Award at the Fest
About 29% of the films in the lineup for the 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival are directed by women. Of the 173 films showing at the festival, 50 are directed by women. As previously...
Trailer Watch: Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart Fight Crime in ‘Electra Woman & Dyna Girl’
There’s new superheroes in town — ones who talk about kegels and eat slushies. A trailer has arrived for the film reboot of the children’s show “Electra Woman & Dyna Girl.” YouTube...
April 2016 Film Preview
There are plenty of opportunities to catch a female-centric and/or women-directed film in April. The month kicks off with “God’s Not Dead 2,” starring Melissa Joan Hart. The former teen witch...
Sundance Selects Acquires Nicole Garcia Period Drama Starring Marion Cotillard
Sundance Selects has acquired the U.S. rights to Nicole Garcia’s period drama “From the Land of the Moon.” Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard stars in the film, which is based on Milena...
2015 Vida Count: WOC, LGBTQ and Women with Disabilities Underrepresented in Publications
The 2015 VIDA Count was released Wednesday and though the figures demonstrate small gains overall, the picture looks different for women of color, LGBTQ women and women with disabilities. VIDA dubbed...
Julia Roberts to Produce and Star in Adaptation of ‘Fool Me Once’
Julia Roberts is set to star in the film adaptation of best-selling author Harlan Coben’s new novel “Fool Me Once.” Roberts will also produce the film with her partners at Red Om, Lisa Roberts...
Male Directors Outnumber Female Directors 5 to 1 in Spain
A recent report from CIMA, the Spanish Association for Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media Professionals, found that women directors of narrative features were outnumbered by male directors...
Naomi Watts in Talks to Star in ‘The Glass Castle’ Alongside Brie Larson
Naomi Watts is in negotiations to star in “The Glass Castle” alongside Oscar-winner Brie Larson. Watts would play Larson’s eccentric mother in the much anticipated big-screen adaptation of...
Sofia Coppola to Remake ‘The Beguiled,’ Kidman, Dunst and Fanning in Talks to Star
Sofia Coppola will reportedly write and direct a star-studded remake of “The Beguiled,” a 1971 drama starring Clint Eastwood. Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning are in talks to star....
Guest Post: My Peek Under the Niqab — A Muslim Filmmaker’s Journey Breaking Her Own Stereotypes
In 2009, I quit my job as Gulf Correspondent for The Washington Post and decided to pursue filmmaking full-time. I had become a journalist to tell realistic stories about the Arab world, having...
Marilynne Robinson To Receive Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction
Marilynne Robinson will receive this year’s Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. The annual prize honors “an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished not only for...
‘Jane the Virgin’ Star Gina Rodriguez to Receive CinemaCon Female Star of Tomorrow Award
Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez is about to add yet another award to her rapidly expanding collection: The “Jane the Virgin” star has been named as the 2016 recipient of the CinemaCon Female...
Emerging Pictures to Release Valerie Weiss’ Bipolar Drama ‘A Light Beneath Their Feet’
Emerging Pictures will release “A Light Beneath Their Feet,” a coming-of-age drama helmed by Valerie Weiss (“Losing Control”) and written by Moira McMahon (“Private Practice”). The film...
Emmanuelle Bercot on Portraying the Juvenile Justice System in Cannes 2015 Opener ‘Standing Tall’
Multi-hyphenate Emmanuelle Bercot is one of the few French film talents able to seamlessly shift between acting, directing and writing. Much of her work has debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, from...
BAMcinématek To Present Tribute to Chantal Akerman
BAMcinématek has announced it will present a tribute to filmmaker Chantal Akerman called Chantal Akerman: Images Between the Images. Akerman’s career began in the 1960s when she told intimate,...
Rita Moreno to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Gasparilla Film Festival
The Gasparilla Film Festival has announced that Rita Moreno will be bestowed with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The fest will run from March 30 through April 3 and celebrates its 10th anniversary...
Announcing New Weekly Feature: Women Filmmaker Wednesdays
Women and Hollywood is always looking for engaging ways to celebrate women in the film industry and we’re incredibly excited to announce the launch of a brand new social media campaign. Because...
Casting Call Creators on Their Viral Video That Exposes Sexist Industry Practices
There’s no denying that women have faced sexism in the entertainment industry since its inception, but actresses in particular have it especially tough as a result of ridiculous standards of...
Emily Schwend Wins Prestigious Yale Theater Prize, Both Runners-Up Are Women
Playwright Emily Schwend has won the 2016 Yale Drama Series prize for her play “Utility,” a family drama set in Texas. Schwend will receive $10,000, publication by Yale University Press and a...
Why Imaginary Deaths Matter To Real-World Queer Women
While real-life terrors continue to abound for LGBT people, the question often arises why we should care about anything that happens in the make-believe world of entertainment. Who cares, the...
Women at the Box Office: Wonder Woman Wins the Weekend
“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” may have broken records this weekend, but it was Wonder Woman who stole the show. The DC Comics action-packed superhero film wherein the Dark Knight of...
How Women of the Studio Era Took Control in ‘Independent Stardom’ Excerpt
First and foremost, I was motivated to write “Independent Stardom” by the talented women who are the subjects of my book, the female stars of Classic Hollywood in the 1930s. From a young age, I...
Weekly Update for March 25: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 — Written by Nia Vardalos Written by Academy Award-nominee Nia Vardalos, who stars alongside the entire returning cast of...
Women and POC Survive The Apocalypse: March 2016’s VOD and Web Series Picks
This month’s web series and VOD picks show the incredible range of content that women are contributing to the entertainment industry through alternative routes. For fans of dystopian series such...
Julia Roberts Will Produce and Star in Film Adaptation of ‘Wife 22’
Julia Roberts is reportedly attached to produce and star in an adaptation of best-selling author Melanie Gideon’s novel “Wife 22.” Gideon previously wrote three YA novels and a memoir....
Guest Post: Women of the West Offer New Perspectives on the American Stage
From John Wayne movies to the plays of Sam Shepard, the story of the American West has always been presented as a distinctly male experience. Cowboys and Indians, outlaws and frontiersman, ranchers...
WGA Report Shows Little Progress For Women and Minority Writers
Yesterday the Writers Guild of America released a diversity report that sadly shows how little progress has been made for women and minority writers in film and TV. The report, titled “Renaissance...
Seeking Our Story: Personal Filmmaking with Allison Anders’ ‘Gas Food Lodging’
Allison Anders (b. 1954) began life in rural Kentucky. By age four her father abandoned the family and her mother packed up her five daughters to move to Los Angeles. After enduring abuse from a...
Listen: Women and Hollywood Podcast #26 — ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ Star and Writer Nia Vardalos
In 2002, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” opened on 108 screens, and thanks to major word-of-mouth buzz, went on to earn a domestic gross of $241 million. The film was made for $5 million. Fourteen...
Amandla Stenberg To Star in Black Lives Matter-Inspired ‘The Hate U Give’
“Hunger Games” alum Amandla Stenberg will star in the film adaptation of “The Hate U Give,” an upcoming YA novel inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. HarperCollins’ Balzer &...
Trailer Watch: Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt Leave ‘Nothing Left Unsaid’
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has made a name for himself outside of his famous Vanderbilt family, but now his relationship with his socialite mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, is being explored in Liz...
Lake Bell To Write, Direct, Produce and Star in ‘What’s the Point?’
In a world… where female filmmakers can thrive, Lake Bell will emerge victorious. Bell will write, direct, produce and star in “What’s the Point? (And Other Fair Questions About Marriage).”...