ALL POSTS
October 2021 Television Preview
From narratives of independent women striving to find a foothold for themselves to coming-of-age narratives, fall TV has much to offer. Kicking off the month is Molly Smith Metzler’s “Maid”...
Kasi Lemmons to Direct Whitney Houston Biopic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” Naomi Ackie to Star
Just a few weeks after the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect” hit theaters there’s word that another female music icon is getting her own feature film. “Harriet” and...
Cannes 2021 Women Directors: Meet Anaïs Volpé – “The Braves”
Anaïs Volpé is a self-taught screenwriter, filmmaker, and editor. In 2016, she self-produced “Heis,” a cross-media project which has been screened at international festivals and won the Jury...
Cynthia Erivo Will Lead Remake of “The Rose” for Searchlight
Cynthia Erivo will follow-up her portrayal of the Queen of Soul by playing a rock goddess. Hot off her depiction of Aretha Franklin in National Geographic’s “Genius: Aretha,” the...
Chloé Zhao, Issa Rae, & Emerald Fennell Among THR’s 2021 Women in Entertainment Power 100
Recent Oscar-winners Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell, multi-hyphenates Issa Rae and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, activist and author Stacey Abrams, and moguls Oprah Winfrey and Shonda Rhimes are just a few...
May 2021 Television Preview
Get ready to update your watchlist: there are tons of television projects by and about women to check out this month, including shows from Tina Fey, Wanda Sykes, and Ziwe Fumudoh, Kelly Oxford’s...
Trailer Watch: Cynthia Erivo and Suzan-Lori Parks Tell the Queen of Soul’s Story in “Genius: Aretha”
“There will never be another one like me,” says Cynthia Erivo in a new trailer for “Genius: Aretha.” The third season of the National Geographic anthology series sees the...
Pick of the Day: “How It Feels To Be Free”
Black women have been the backbone of social justice movements throughout history. PBS’ new “American Masters” entry, “How It Feels To Be Free” tells the story of six of...
New Series Created By and About Women in 2021
Back to Resources » December The Silent Sea – Created by Park Eun-kyo and Choi Hang-yong (Netflix) Kitz (Netflix) With Love – Created and Written by Gloria Calderón Kellett (Amazon...
Weekly Update for December 18: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Ma Rainey knows her worth. As played by Viola Davis in the screen adaptation of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s...
Black List 2020: Sophie Dawson’s Cannibal Story “Headhunter” Receives Most Votes
The 2020 Black List is here. Now in its 16th edition, the annual survey highlights Hollywood execs’ favorite unproduced — or “on the verge of being produced” —...
Weekly Update for December 4: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Nomadland – Written and Directed by Chloé Zhao “Nomadland” is a marvel. A master class by rapidly ascending writer-director...
Writer to Watch: Akilah Green of “A Black Lady Sketch Show”
“It made sense at the time,” Akilah Green notes about abandoning her law career to pursue comedy full time. As a lawyer, she represented huge corporations like Starbucks and Delta Airlines, and...
Trailer Watch: Elle Lorraine’s “Bad Hair” Has a Mind of Its Own
“I can’t fault you for doing whatever it takes to get where they keep trying to keep us from getting. In a perfect world, a woman would be able to wear her hair the way she wants...
Black Actors Make History at the 2020 Emmy Awards
Black Lives Matter — that was among the main takeaways from last night’s Emmy Awards. From the winners’ speeches to the winners themselves, Black voices were recognized, amplified,...
Teaser Watch: Elle Lorraine Deals with Some Truly “Bad Hair” in Hulu’s Horror Satire
“You’re not tender-headed, are you?” a hairdresser (Laverne Cox) asks her customer in the new teaser for “Bad Hair.” Anna (Elle Lorraine, “Insecure”), the...
Weekly Update for August 7: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films You Can Watch from Home
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN COMING TO STREAMING/VOD I Used to Go Here – Written and Directed by Kris Rey A former professor and crush beckons Gillian Jacobs back to her old stomping grounds in “I Used...
Alicia Keys & Yoruba Richen Teaming Up for PBS Doc About Trailblazing Black Female Entertainers
Alicia Keys and Yoruba Richen are joining forces on “How It Feels To Be Free,” an “American Masters” documentary spotlighting six pioneering Black female entertainers. Richen...
Numa Perrier Developing Erotic Thriller Series “Toxic” for Macro Television Studios
Numa Perrier will follow up “Jezebel,” her portrait of a cam girl, with a thriller series about a couple who connect primarily via titillation. Deadline reports the actress and filmmaker...
Women of Color Directing All of “Boomerang” Season 2, New Trailer Drops
Dime Davis, Tiffany Johnson , and Katrelle N. Kindred are joining “Boomerang.” The trio — all of whom are women of color — are directing the entirety of the BET...
Weekly Update for February 28: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Invisible Man Trapped in a violent, controlling relationship with a wealthy and brilliant scientist, Cecilia Kass (Elizabeth Moss) escapes in the dead of night and...
“Hustlers,” “Little Women,” “Booksmart,” and More Earn ReFrame Stamps
Of the top 100 films of 2019, 26 received the ReFrame Stamp, a badge that denotes a production was made with a gender-balanced, inclusive cast and crew. This marks a new record, and a 30 percent...
Weekly Update for February 21: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Emma. – Directed by Autumn de Wilde; Written by Eleanor Catton (Opens in Limited Release; Opens in Wide Release March 6) Jane Austen’s beloved comedy about finding...
Weekly Update for February 14: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Photograph – Written and Directed by Stella Meghie When famed photographer Christina Eames unexpectedly dies, she leaves her estranged daughter Mae Morton (Issa...
Radha Blank’s Sundance Winner “The 40-Year-Old Version” Lands at Netflix
Radha Blank’s banner week continues. Just days ago her feature directorial debut, “The 40-Year-Old Version,” landed her the Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic at Sundance Film Festival,...
Sundance: Women Sweep Major Directing Awards
The 2020 edition of Sundance Film Festival has come to a close. An awards ceremony was held Saturday in Park City, and “of the 28 prizes awarded … to 25 films – comprising the work of...
Women Directors Call On DGA to Update Parental Leave Policy in Open Letter
Ava DuVernay, Greta Gerwig, Reese Witherspoon, Brie Larson, and Lena Waithe are among the Hollywood heavyweights joining filmmaker Jessica Dimmock in urging the Directors Guild of America (DGA) to...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Radha Blank – “The 40-Year-Old Version”
Radha Blank is performer, writer, and director. A Helen Merrill Award recipient, Blank’s acclaimed play “Seed” was deemed “fresh, lively…and poetic” by the Huffington...
Sundance 2020 Preview: #MeToo Stories, a Gloria Steinem Biopic, Biased Technology, & More
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival kicks off Thursday and its slate is packed with titles by and about women. Women and Hollywood has put together a rundown of some of the buzziest films screening in...
DGA Awards: Mati Diop, Alma Har’el, and Melina Matsoukas Nominated for First-Time Feature Film
The Directors Guild of America has announced more nominees for the 2020 DGA Awards. Not a single woman is in the running in the Feature Film category. More encouragingly, women account for three of...
The 2019 Black List Has Been Unveiled
As 2019 wraps up, it’s time to look onward. The Black List has unveiled its 2019 edition, offering a peek at what stories we’ll — hopefully — get the chance to see on the big...
Women Make Up 46 Percent of Sundance 2020’s Competition Directors
The Sundance Film Festival has bested its ratio of women filmmakers for the third year in a row. Its 2020 competition lineup is 46 percent women-directed or co-directed, as compared to 2019’s...
Weekly Update for November 27: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Ximei (Documentary) – Directed by Gaylen Ross and Andy Cohen (Opens in NY November 29) “Ximei” Ximei is a young peasant woman from rural Henan Province who...
“One Day at a Time’s” Gloria Calderón Kellett Inks History-Making Overall Deal with Amazon Studios
Gloria Calderón Kellett will soon be joining Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lena Waithe, and Amy Sherman-Palladino at Amazon. The “One Day at a Time” co-creator and co-showrunner has signed a...
Variety’s 2020 Directors to Watch List Includes Mati Diop, Shannon Murphy, & More
As the year winds down and awards season heats up, Variety is looking onward and celebrating rising talents. The trade just announced its 2020 Directors to Watch list, and of 10 filmmakers featured,...
Melina Matsoukas Signs First-Look Deal With FX Productions
Melina Matsoukas’ banner year just got even better. Her feature directorial debut, “Queen & Slim,” hits theaters next week, and now comes word that she has inked a first-look...
GLAAD Report: Number of LGBTQ Series Regulars on Broadcast TV Reaches All-Time High
The LGBTQ presence on broadcast TV is growing. Per Variety, GLAAD has released its annual “Where We Are on TV” report and found that the number of LGBTQ characters represent 10.2 percent of...
November 2019 Film Preview
Awards season kicks into high gear this November. A host of films by and about women — prestigious biographical films, Oscar hopefuls, and blockbusters alike — are set to premiere. One...
Apply Now: Ghetto Film School’s AT&T Mentorship Content Lab
Los Angeles teens with filmmaking aspirations, this one’s for you. Nonprofit filmmaking program Ghetto Film School is now accepting applications for its AT&T Mentorship Content Lab, which...
Melina Matsoukas’ “Queen & Slim” Will Open AFI FEST 2019
Melina Matsoukas is returning to the American Film Institute (AFI). According to a press release, the AFI alumna’s feature directorial debut, “Queen & Slim,” will make its world...
Trailer Watch: An Act of Self-Defense Turns a Couple into Folk Heroes in “Queen & Slim”
One Tinder date ends up changing two people — and the world — forever in the latest trailer for “Queen & Slim.” After going out to dinner, Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith,...
Lisa Taddeo Bringing Her Bestseller “Three Women” to Showtime
Lisa Taddeo’s No. 1 New York Times bestseller “Three Women” is coming to the small screen. In a competitive bidding war for the highly esteemed nonfiction book, Showtime landed the...
Trailer Watch: Robin Thede Introduces “A Black Lady Sketch Show”
HBO just dropped a trailer for a sketch comedy that’s not male, stale, and pale. Created by “The Rundown’s” Robin Thede, “A Black Lady Sketch Show” puts women of...
Jada Pinkett Smith to Receive MTV’s Trailblazer Award
Jada Pinkett Smith is heading from the red table to the MTV Movie and TV Awards. The “Red Table Talk” host and “Girls Trip” actress will receive the Trailblazer Award at the...
“Queen Sugar” Announces Additional Women Directors for Season 4
Lacey Duke, C. Fitz, Pratibha Parmar, Deborah Kampmeier, and Stacey Muhammad will be among the ranks of “Queen Sugar’s” all-women directors. A press release has announced that these...
Inside Out 2019 Directors: Meet Neelu Bhuman – “Transfinite”
Neelu Bhuman was born in the South Indian small town of Madanapalle. As an independent artist filmmaker, they explore social and political themes as they play out in close relations. Their films...
Melina Matsoukas to Receive AFI’s Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal
Two-time Grammy winner, frequent Beyoncé collaborator, and “Insecure” director and exec producer Melina Matsoukas has been named as the 2019 recipient of the Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni...
Peabody Award Nominations: “Killing Eve,” Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette,” & More
“Killing Eve” is up for a major honor stateside. The BBC America spy thriller dominates this year’s BAFTA TV nominations, and now word comes that the Sandra Oh-starrer is in the...
“Boomerang” Renewed for Season 2
Lena Waithe’s got the Midas Touch. BET has renewed “Boomerang” for a second season, Deadline reports. Created by Waithe and Ben Cory Jones (“Insecure”), the comedy is...
Janelle Monáe to Star in Lionsgate Film
The good news: Janelle Monáe is starring in a film. The bad news: exceedingly few details about the project are known. She’s signed on to topline an upcoming Lionsgate movie from activist...
Weekly Update for February 22: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Firebrand – Written and Directed by Aruna Raje (Available on Netflix) “Firebrand” follows the life of a successful lawyer who herself is a sexual assault victim...