ALL POSTS
The Spec Scripts and Women
The folks over at Go Into the Story, the official Screenwriting blog of The Black List took a look at the gender divide in the world of spec scripts. Major props to Susana Orozco for doing...
Interview with Kai Cole – Producer of Much Ado About Nothing
When I saw Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing at South by Southwest in March, I was excited. I’ve long been a huge fan of Whedon’s work–his approach to fantasy and...
Watch This: Nine for IX Short Film Coach – Directed by Bess Kargman
As we previously reported, this summer ESPN will be airing Nine for IX–a series of films about women athletes directed by women. To say that we were excited would be an understatement. ESPN...
2014 Athena Film Festival Wants Your Submissions
The 2014 Athena Film Festival (co-founded by our own Melissa Silverstein), hosted at Barnard College, is seeking submissions for next year’s festival scheduled to take place from February...
Sam Taylor-Johnson Will Direct Fifty Shades of Grey
We’ve reported a lot about the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey adaptation. We were a little wary about the producing team, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, from The Social Network working...
Teaser Trailer: Frozen – Co-Directed by Jennifer Lee
Disney’s latest, Frozen, is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Snow Queen. The film follows Anna (Kristen Bell) who teams up with a mountain man (Jonathan Groff) to find her...
Two is Just Too Many Women for Spiderman to Deal With
I noticed on twitter some chatter earlier today about the fact that Shailene Woodley who is about to cover EW with her new film Divergent (which looks like it could be a real successor to The Hunger...
Oprah’s Next Chapter Looks at African American Women in Hollywood
Oprah’s Next Chapter on OWN consists of the iconic Oprah Winfrey sitting down with famous figures and having an intimate conversation. On this week’s episode, Oprah is sitting down...
Patton Oswalt On Rethinking Rape Jokes
Last week, Lindy West wrote an article for Jezebel about the rape threats she had been receiving after appearing on FX’s Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell to explain rape culture and the role...
Julie Taymor Receives Sackler Center First Award
Julie Taymor received the Sackler Center First Award, which recognizes women who are “first” in their field. The Center honored Taymor’s varied career including being the first...
New Trailer: Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
The latest trailer for Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has dropped. An adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s wildly popular YA series, the film follows Clary Fray (Lily Collins) a seemingly regular...
Barbra Streisand Receives Honorary Doctorate, Speaks Out For Women
Earlier this week, Barbra Streisand began her tour of Israel, starting out with receiving an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Upon receiving the degree, Streisand spoke...
EWA Launches Campaign to Support Women Directors in Europe
EWA (the European Women’s Audiovisual Network) has launched a European campaign to build awareness around women directors. The statistics (when there are any) in Europe are dismal with...
Cross Post: On Gender Parity
The issue of gender parity in the theater, and celebrating more female writers, has been on my mind for a while now. Part of that is just out of a sense of fairness....
2013 Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund Announces Spotlighting Women Documentary Awards
The 2013 grantees for the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund were announced. The fund gives money to feature length projects that highlight important social issues from around the world. The Kering...
Trailer Watch: Touchy Feely – Directed by Lynn Shelton
Lynn Shelton’s latest, Touchy Feely, premiered at Sundance earlier this year. We got a chance to speak with Shelton at the festival about the film, which focuses on Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt), a...
New Season of Call the Midwife to Be Directed Only by Women
Hurrah. How exciting. One of my favorite shows, Call the Midwife which airs on PBS here in the US is in production on its third season in England. Turns out as they were lining up...
Women and Hollywood Networking Event in London – July 4th
We’re organizing a public networking event in London! We’d love to see you. Please join Melissa Silverstein, Founder and Editor of Women and Hollywood and author of In Her Voice: Women...
Melissa McCarthy and the Definition of Success
This Sunday, The New York Times did a wonderful profile of Melissa McCarthy. She’s been well on her way to superstardom since her breakout performance in Bridesmaids. McCarthy is...
Guest Post: Here Comes Superman…Again
This weekend marked the release of Man of Steel, the sixth Superman movie to be released since Christopher Reeve donned that iconic costume in 1978. You read that right — SIX Superman...
Box Office Report: The Bling Ring Starts Off Hot
Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring opened in five locations this past weekend and grossed $210,000 for a per screen average of $42,000. Not surprisingly, the film played very well with women...
Guest Interview: Geoffrey S. Fletcher: Writer, Director of “Violet & Daisy”
It may be argued that the 2009 drama Precious remains one of the most distinguishing female-driven films to be released within the last decade. Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, the haunting...
Weekly Update June 14: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend The Bling Ring – Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola The Bling Ring may be the most anxiety producing film I...
Crystal + Lucy Awards Honor Laura Linney, Women of ‘Mad Men’ and More
Women in Film LA’s annual Crystal + Lucy Awards held earlier this week honored some amazing women and men who have championed women in their professional work as well as their personal lives....
Marti Noxon to Write Tomb Raider Reboot
Former Buffy The Vampire Slayer writer, Marti Noxon, has been brought in to write the script for MGM’s Tomb Raider reboot. Noxon most recently worked on an adaptation of The Glass Castle...
The Bling Ring – Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola
The Bling Ring may be the most anxiety producing film I have ever seen. I sat raptly watching it with deep concern over the state of young people today. Thankfully, I was with two young...
Trailer Watch: In A World… Written, Directed and Starring Lake Bell
Lake Bell’s directorial debut came out strong from Sundance with great reviews and winning the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Finally, we’ve now got a trailer for the film. This was one...
The Guardian Looks at the Lack of Gender Parity in UK Book Reviewing
Recently, The Guardian took on a pretty huge task. They assessed how many male and female reviewers as well as the authors were reviewed in the major UK book sections for a month in...
Amy Adams: A Lois Lane We Deserve
Reviews for the new re-imagining of Superman–Man of Steel–hit the internet earlier in the week. So far many are saying it’s a new version that is certainly worth checking out. But...
Trailer Watch: Haute Cuisine
Haute Cuisine is based on the true story of Daniele Delpeuche (Catherine Frot) and how she was appointed as the chef for Francois Mitterrand, the president of France. In Variety’s review of...
A Next Step Towards Gender Parity for Women Directors
A couple of months ago there was a big meeting at the DGA addressing the issue of the lack of opportunities for women directors. It took about a year to organize and was met with a positive...
Lauren Graham Adapting Her Novel into TV Series
Actress Lauren Graham (Parenthood, The Gilmore Girls) is adapting her bestselling debut novel, Someday, Someday, Maybe into a television series. Graham recently closed a deal with Ellen...
Trailer Watch: Teaser for Diana – Starring Naomi Watts
Check out the teaser trailer for Diana, starring Naomi Watts, as the iconic Princess Diana. The film focuses on the last two years of her life–looking at her activism and relationships with...
Women, Aging and Hollywood
In recent interviews, both Kim Cattrall and Susan Sarandon have both spoken about aging in Hollywood. Neither had good things to say about their experiences. Cattrall, who is in London starring in...
Trailer Watch: Red-Band Trailer for The To-Do List – Written and Directed by Maggie Carey
Maggie Carey’s The To-Do List is on our list of our most anticipated summer movies. The film stars Aubrey Plaza as Brandy, a recent high school graduate who decides to channel her scholastic...
Today’s Disconnect – Do Actresses Have Clout or Not?
Last week when I was in LA I read the following two articles on the same day. NY Times: On Newsstands, Allure of the Film Actress Fades and the Hollywood Reporter: Revenge...
Women Directed and Centric Films Playing at Human Rights Watch Film Festival
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival kicks off on June 13th with a great line up of women directed and centric films. Held in New York, the festival will be showing 18 documentaries and two fictional...
This is Not OK: Photoshopping Melissa McCarthy on The Heat UK Poster
Our most anticipated female centric movie of the summer, The Heat, is merely weeks away from its release. A U.K. promo image was unveiled for the film last week and Melissa McCarthy was looking very,...
Trailer Watch: Lifetime’s Anna Nicole – Directed by Mary Harron
The late Anna Nicole Smith has been one of the most fascinating and tragic celebrity figures. And Lifetime is telling her story. Anna Nicole, directed by Mary Harron, documents Anna Nicole...
Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara to Star in ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’
Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara are set to star in Don’t Mess With Texas. After a bidding war, Universal just made a deal for the script, written by John Quaintance and David Feeney, who...
Feminist of the Day: Joss Whedon on Lack of Female Superheroes
Joss Whedon has created some of our favorite female characters in his television and films. In a conversation with The Daily Beast, Whedon was asked why there’s such a lack of female...
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer Premieres Tonight on HBO
If one had any doubts about the vibrancy of international feminism today, one need only watch the new documentary Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer which premieres tonight on HBO to have those doubts fully...
The 2013 Tony Awards — Women Win Big
Even though I don’t get to the theatre as much as I used to, it will always remain my first love. And last night’s Tony Awards were a reminder to me of why I fell in love in the...
Weekly Update June 7th: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend Tiger Eyes If you are a woman of my age, you grew up reading Judy Blume She was your touchstone. Now this weekend the first of her novels to make it to the...
Kathleen Kennedy on How Far Women Have to Go in Hollywood
President of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy was profiled as one of USA Today’s Innovators and Icons. She talks about her history in the industry, her new position and about minorities in...
Trailer Watch: Netflix’s Orange is the New Black – Created by Jenji Kohan
Netflix is continuing to add to their growing original programming with Orange is the New Black created by Jenji Kohan (Weeds) and based on Piper Kerman’s memoir. It’s their first female...
Quote of the Day: Gina Torres on Hollywood Sexism and Sci-Fi
The ladies at The Mary Sue shared a quote from the awesome Gina Torres, star of Firefly and Suits, about the industry’s sexism and sci-fi. I walk into a room, and for this industry, I’m...
Trailer Watch: Blackfish – Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite
The official trailer for Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Sundance hit, Blackfish, was recently released. Intense is the only way to describe it. It feels a lot like The Cove about dolphins in...
Jennifer Lawrence to Produce/Star in Susanne Bier’s Rules of Inheritance
Jennifer Lawrence is taking it to the next level. She is set to star in and produce The Rules of Inheritance based on Claire Bidwell Smith’s memoir of the same title. The story centers...
AM Homes Takes the Women’s Prize for Fiction
In a year with some extraordinary books on the short list including the presumed favorite Hilary Mantel’s Bringing Down the Bodies, AM Homes has become the 5th American in a row to take home...
The Hobbit Gets Some Female Power with Evangeline Lilly
The next installment in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy is already being anticipated and Entertainment Weekly got a sneak peek at a brand new female character played by Evangeline Lilly....