ALL POSTS
A Season of Oscar Discontent
From my latest Forbes post on this weekend’s dispiriting Oscars: “For the first time in my adult life, I really don’t care about the Oscars. I’ve been watching the Oscars for as long as I...
Patti Smith on ‘Twilight’-Haters: “F*ck Them”
Patti Smith: singer, poet, artist, Twi-hard? We jest, but it’s certainly refreshing to see the punk goddess defend the success and popularity of the much-maligned “Twilight” movies. In a...
Quote of the Day: Goldie Hawn: “The Fear of Women’s Movies is Embedded in the Culture”
On the eve of an Oscar ceremony in which no film about a woman has a chance at taking home the most prized trophy in the film industry, Goldie Hawn says what we’re all thinking in a new interview:...
Former ‘House’ EP Katie Jacobs Goes Indie Route for New Medical Pilot
Between the traditional networks, Netflix and Amazon, Yahoo’s pick-up of NBC’s “Community,” and the proliferation of buzzy, slickly produced webseries like “High Maintenance,” it’s...
Watch: To the Academy and All People in the Film Business: We Need to Do Better
Each year, Women and Hollywood brings you a video that illuminates our feelings about the Oscar season. This year, three generations of the Athena Film Festival team took on that task to bring you,...
Nobody is All Right: Lisa Cholodenko’s ‘The Slap’
Watch: Pussy Riot Releases New English-Language Music Video “I Can’t Breathe”
Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina have released the group’s first song in English as a response to the killing of Eric Garner by NYPD officers last summer. “It’s getting...
Writer to Watch: Kristin Gore Penning Scarlett Johansson Thriller, HBO Comedy ‘Women in Space’
Former “SNL” and “Futurama” writer Kristin Gore is on a career upswing. The daughter of former Vice President Al Gore is currently working on a screenplay for Universal’s adaptation of...
Whoopi Goldberg to Co-Star in ABC Comedy as Football-Obsessed Ex-Cop
EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg is returning to scripted television. Goldberg, who has served as a host on “The View” for the last decade, will co-star in the sitcom “Delores & Jermaine,”...
The Big O: When Actresses Are Given Their Just Rewards — And It Feels So Good
Ten screenwriting contenders, all men. Eight best-picture nominees, each revolving around male characters. Five directing slots, and no women allowed. Oscar, you have done the ladies wrong. It’s...
Watch: ‘Hey Academy, I’m a Woman’ Mocks Male-Dominated Oscars
A new video directed by Leslie Korein and written by Kim Kalish offers a comic takedown of this year’s Oscars. As the video’s description notes, of 26 individual Academy Award nominees for...
Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt Reunite for Untitled Indie Drama
Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt will be joining forces for the third time in an as-yet untitled indie drama. Reichardt is set to write and direct the project. No details about the plot have...
Remembering Lesley Gore, Billboard-Topping Feminist
Amma Asante on Channeling the Warrior Queen to Make ‘Belle’
In the midst of the 2015 Berlinale, Amma Asante gave the closing speech at an International Women’s Film Festival Network (IWFFN) event on February 12. The director was candid about the...
Producer Gale Anne Hurd: Sexism Against Women Directors Hasn’t Changed Since the 80s
Superstar producer Gale Anne Hurd reflected on her three decades in the film and TV business in a Hollywood Masters interview yesterday. Most famous for her behind-the-scenes contributions to...
Oscar 2015 Spotlight: 6 Nominees You Should Know About
When this year’s Oscar nominees were announced, we noted that Academy voters had given us the whitest, malest, most deflating awards season in recent history. As an infographic from the Women’s...
Working Together to Make Change: The Film Fatales Panel at the 2015 Athena Film Festival
On Friday, February 6th, the Film Fatales hosteda panel discussion called “Working Together to Make Change” at the Athena FilmFestival. The panel offered an introduction to the Film Fatales: an...
Happy Monday: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Jane Curtin Return to Host SNL40’s ‘Weekend Update’
Among the highlights of the “Saturday Night Live” 40th-anniversary show last night was Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Jane Curtin returning behind the Weekend Update desk. (Fey and Poehler famously...
BET’s Female-Centered Slavery Miniseries ‘The Book of Negroes’ Premieres Tonight
Marielle Heller and Best Director Awardee Małgorzata Szumowska Among Berlinale 2015 Winners
Female filmmakers from around the globe were recognized for their work at the 2015 Berlinale, including Best Director co-winner Małgorzata Szumowska (“Body”), who tied with Radu Jude...
‘Fifty Shades’ Becomes Biggest Box-Office Opening in History for a Female Director
“Fifty Shades of Grey” likely won’t overtake Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s “Frozen” as the highest-grossing female-directed film of all time (the Disney fairy tale probably has that...
Weekly Update for February 13: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This WeekFifty Shades of Grey — Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson; Written by Kelly Marcel Forget the haters: the highest-profile woman-directed film of 2015 is a...
Watch: Jodie Foster’s Touching Tribute to Women Directors at the Athena Film Festival
Halle Berry Sells Her Action-Comedy Star Vehicle ‘Mother’ to Universal
Halle Berry hasn’t been in a comedy in just about forever, so it’s interesting that the Oscar-winning actress has been pitching an action-comedy as a star vehicle for herself. That project,...
Quote of the Day: A.O. Scott on the Diminishment of Films About Women
Movies about women make 20% more money than movies about men, but female protagonists continue to disappear from the big screen. Gender in the larger Oscar conversation has largely focused on the...
Trailer Watch: Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara Flee From a Drug Cartel in “Hot Pursuit”
First Winners of Women Cinematographers Grant Announced
Five female DPs have been selected as the first recipients of the Digital Bolex Grant for Women Cinematographers. The grant is the first of its kind, offering more than $10,000 in camera gear and...
Watch: Sundance’s Inspiring ‘She is a Best Director’ Celebrates Women
A new video released by the Sundance Film Festival makes a powerful case for the importance of female voices in film and television, including inspiring bits of wisdom from women spanning...
Trailer Watch: Shailene Woodley is the Chosen One — and a Major Badass — in “Insurgent”
Studio Launched to Create Webseries and Digital Shorts for Women of Color
A new studio has been launched to create digital content for women of color. HB Studios will kick off with “Women on Top,” a 14-minute documentary directed by Leigh Davenport, in which...
HBO’s ‘Togetherness’: Marriage — and Middle Age — From Both Sides
HBO’s Painfully Underrated Comedy ‘Getting On’ Renewed for Third and Final Season
HBO’s hospital comedy “Getting On” has never received the praise and attention it deserves from critics or audiences. The workplace sitcom stars a trio of veteran comediennes at the top of...
Amy Pascal Discusses Getting “Fired,” Explains Unequal Pay for Women Under Her Tenure
Amy Pascal has quite a busy producing schedule ahead of her, but her future projects didn’t stop her from being surprisingly candid at the Women in the World conference in San Francisco yesterday....
The Big O: Oscar-Nominated ‘Dragon 2’ Producer Arnold Aims to Make DreamWorks Soar Again
Bonnie Arnold has plenty of reasons to be animated of late. Not only was she named co-president of DreamWorks feature animation last month with fellow producer Mireille Soria, but the industry...
Gail Berman Signs First-Look Deal With Fox 2000
Gail Berman has become one of a handful of producers to sign first-look deals with Fox, joining the likes of James Cameron, Paul Feig, Ridley Scott, and Ben Stiller. Berman’s Jackal Group will...
Amy Pascal’s Next Female Films: ‘Ghostbusters,’ ‘Cleopatra,’ Another ‘Little Women,’ ‘Barbie’
Amy Pascal’s days as Sony Chair are numbered (the outgoing exec will officially step down in May), but her producing schedule for the next few years is already quite full. Pascal will stay on as...
Trailer Watch: Amy Schumer’s Love Life is a Hilarious ‘Trainwreck’
We’re great admirers of Comedy Central’s “Inside Amy Schumer,” so we’ve been dying to see “Trainwreck” since the project was first announced. Fortunately for us, and you, the movie is...
Trailer Watch: Romance Blooms and Cate Blanchett Is Super Evil in Stunning ‘Cinderella’
A new trailer for the live-action version of “Cinderella” has arrived, and we’re totally enchanted by the visuals, which manage to bring fairy-tale imagery to life. We’re also keen to see...
Ava DuVernay to Direct Civil Rights Drama for CBS; Sanaa Hamri to Direct Fox Dramedy
In the 2013–14 broadcast network television season, women comprised only 13% of directors — a fact that makes the news that Ava DuVernay and “Empire” EP Sanaa Hamri directors of pilots...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Willemiek Kluijfhout — ‘Sergio Herman: F*cking Perfect’
Willemiek Kluijfhout studied Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and attended the DutchFilm and Television Academy as a director. She has directed several highly acclaimed documentaries...
Festival Deals: Swanberg’s ‘Unexpected,’ Fontaine’s ‘Innocent,’ Muylaert’s ‘Second Mother’
A trio of wildly disparate women-directed films have recently found distribution at Sundance and Berlin. Kris Swanberg’s “Unexpected” has been picked up for US distribution by Film Arcade....
Idina Menzel and Michaela Watkins Book New Shows
Two of our favorite actresses are coming to the small screen. Broadway legend-turned-movie star Idina Menzel has signed on for the lead in “Happy Time,” a half-hour comedy project for the...
19% of SXSW Film Lineup Directed by Women
As we reported last week, a quarter of the films that will be in competition at SXSW 2015 (March 13–21) are directed by women. The percentage of women-helmed features being screened outside of...
Trailer Watch: New ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ Spot Deals With Fat Amy’s Wardrobe Malfunction
Gigs don’t get much more high-profile than performing for the President of the United States on his birthday. It’s possibly the single worst occasion to deal with a “commando situation”...
Feminism at the Rotterdam Film Fest: Sex Tourists, Mad Scientists, Psychopath Kidnappers
The last week of January saw one of thebiggest international festivals, the Rotterdam Film Festival, dedicate theentirety of one of its program sections to feminism. An array of directorsfrom all...
UK’s Directors Guild Elects Beryl Richards as New Chair
TV and short-film director Beryl Richards has been elected the new chair of Directors UK, the British analogue of the Directors Guild of America. Richards will take over from the outgoing Charles...
Study: Female Protagonists Continue to Disappear From Film
2014’s most popular release was the female-led “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1,” a film that boasts not only a teen-girl protagonist, but also counts among its prominent...
Inaugural WriteHer List Celebrates Women-Penned TV Scripts With Strong Female Characters
Women screenwriters only wrote 11% of the top 250 films last year and are outnumbered nearly 3 to 1 as writers and creators on television. To spotlight deserving scripts by women featuring strong...
Crosspost: What the F*ck is “F*ckable”?
The following post originally appeared on Heather Matarazzo’s blog and is cross-posted with permission of the author. Seriously, what the fuck is “fuckable”? I don’t know if I can answer...
Watch: Ava DuVernay’s ’60 Minutes’ Interview on Opening Doors and White Savior Films
We were upset (though unsurprised) when the Academy failed to recognize Ava DuVernay with a Best Director nomination for “Selma” last month. But the Oscar snub hasn’t resulted in the...
Marvel Comics Announces All-Female Avengers Team
Following news of Marvel’s first Muslim superheroine and the reimagining of Thor as a woman comes the announcement of an all-female Avengers team. “She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru, and...