ALL POSTS
Wendi Deng Murdoch Becomes a Producer
Rupert Murdoch’s wife Wendi is venturing into producing with the new film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan based on the best selling book by Lisa See. Ms. Deng Murdoch read the book several years ago...
A Class Act: Julie Taymor Appears Onstage at the Opening of Spiderman
After being thrown under the bus and fired several months ago and not being paid for her work (she is now in arbitration with the show to get back pay), Julie Taymor was welcomed onstage following...
Guest Post: Step One: Finding the Right Producer by Zoje Stage
In 2008, I won a Fellowship in Screenwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts. As I left the party in my strapless black dress and uncomfortable shoes I had one thought: “Please dear gods...
Trailer Alert: Damages Season Four
Last time I checked this show stars Glenn Close. Can’t tell from this video. Show will air only on Direct TV (no network crossover like there was with Friday Night Lights), Show returns on...
Guest Post: Fighting Fish — The Story of Making an Ultra-Low-Budget Indie by Annette Apitz
A very wise woman said to me after I finished my first feature film, “Congratulations. With independent films, you really have to will them into existence.” Making my first feature film was...
In Their Own Voices: The Female Tony Winners
Frances McDormand — she won for best actress in a play for Good. I love the denim jacket. Sutton Foster — best actress in a musical — she won for Anything Goes Nikki M....
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
This is the panel entitled “New Faces of Indie Film” that the Film Society at Lincoln Center hosted this past Saturday to celebrate the opening of their new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. If...
Natalie Portman Talks Microenterprise
This is how women get out of poverty and support their families. Way to use your superpowers for good.
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Nia Vardalos
I had the opportunity to meet Nia Vardalos recently at an event in LA and she was so impressive. She has written a terrific piece about the horrible homophobic comments that 30 Rock Tracy Morgan star...
Cross-Post: Super 8 & Spielberg’s Chick Issue by Thelma Adams
If Super 8 is truly a mash note to Steven Spielberg, as my husband says, then it also echoes some thing I detest about SS. He’s horrible on the women issue. His immediate reaction to the opposite...
In Memoriam: Laura Ziskin
While most producers names are not known, Laura Ziskin is not one of them. Yesterday, at 61 she lost her battle with breast cancer. She was a woman who came into the business like other women in the...
Tony Awards Winners: The Women
It was a sucky season for women creatives (meaning playwrights and musical creators) at the Tonys this year. Don’t only take my word for it. Here’s another piece by Princeton academic Jill Dolan...
Trailer Watch: Pariah — Written and Directed by Dee Rees
No release date yet. Focus says Winter 2011.
The Lilly Awards: Saving Women From Disappearing in Theatre
The Tony Awards are on Sunday night. There are very few female nominees. Even the NY Times is starting to think this is a problem. (Note to NY Times theatre writers and reviewers — don’t...
Interview With Sarah Siegel Magness: Producer of Judy Moody And the Not Bummer Summer
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer opens today. It’s a great hoot for the young — both boys and girls. Producer Sarah Siegel Magness answered some questions about being a producer in...
Talking 20 Years of Thelma and Louise
Here’s my interview on the BBC Scotland’s Movie Cafe on the 20th Anniversary of Thelma and Louise. If you don’t want to listen to the whole show, start at 34 minutes in.Movie Cafe It will be...
Martha Coolidge Talks Valley Girl and Female Directors
Martha Coolidge will be in NYC this weekend for a Saturday screening of Valley Girl at the opening of the new film center at Lincoln Center. The film is presented by director Kevin Smith who picked...
The Help: Featurette
I know that people have issues with this film (I am planning on reading the book before it’s release in August) but I am down with any movie where Viola Davis talks about making invisible women...
WIF’s 2011 Women In Film Crystal + Lucy Awards To Be Awarded June 16
Hotter than hot Melissa McCarthy will host the annual Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in Los Angeles on June 16. Awardees are: Annette Bening (for excellence in film), Nina Tassler (for...
Hillary Clinton Supports Women’s Sports As the US Women Prepare for the World Cup
Sports are a part of pop culture and this is an exciting year as the US women get ready to head to Germany to try and take back the World Cup trophy. Mind you if they played as bad as they played on...
Angela Bromstad’s Legacy at NBC — Women Writers on Community
Saw this link at Vulture (those guys and gals are really good) via the AV Club and it is such a good quote that it needs to be re-quoted verbatim. This is Dan Harmon, the creator of Community...
The Pornification of Lisbeth Salander
I have officially become angry at the latest poster to appear online for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. This one as you can see shows Rooney Mara with her breast exposed. The previous ones had...
Thelma and Louise — 20 Years On
In homage to its 20th anniversary, Shania Twain and Taylor Swift recreated a scene from the film that will open the Country Music Television Awards this evening. As Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon...
Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph and the Homeless Fart
Hysterical interview from the French junket for Bridesmaids. This dude hit the jackpot h/t Movieline
More Women Directed Films at Silverdocs
Got an email from some folks working with Silverdocs saying I left out many female filmmakers from my recent post, so here they are. Festival takes place June 20–26. SILVER SPECTRUM (in no...
Trailer Watch: Sarah’s Key
Goosebump city. Film opens July 22
The Hollywood Reporter’s Comedy Showrunners Roundtable: A Much Better Picture
At least this picture won’t make the heads of women writers across the country explode with anger. The Hollywood Reporter gained some sanity and includes two women in its showrunners panel on...
Forbes Names the 10 Most Powerful Female Authors
This is quite an interesting list and one thing I immediately noticed which is different from so many other lists is that it is a diverse list — five white women and five women of color. And...
Only One African American Woman Directed a Top Grossing Film in 2008
When you see these numbers it shows the difficult road women of color directors have ahead of them, but at least we have some numbers to looks at. Dr. Stacy Smith and Marc Choueiti recently released...
Trailer Watch: Jig Directed by Sue Bourne
Film opens June 17
Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour directed by Kerthy Fix
Feminism is alive and well — at least to me — as I watched the road movie Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour, a film that showed the band on a world tour that took place in 2004–2005....
Reese Witherspoon to Young Hollywood: Hide Your Sex Tape
Reese Witherspoon was awarded the MTV Generation award last night and the MTV Movie Awards (remember when they were the Video and Music Awards?) and she decided to use her moment to offer some advice...
Cross Post: Copycat Crime: That’s Flattery Not Mockery by Thelma Adams
Maybe someone should tell Jimmy Kimmel that he shouldn’t lead with his cleavage. But, then, a lot of people told Melissa Leo — after the fact — that she shouldn’t pay for her own...
Trailer Watch: Breaking Dawn Part 1
Film Opens November 19
Clicks of the Week
Here are some articles of note that didn’t make it to a blog post or a tweet. In The Director’s Chair: Catherine Hardwicke (NY Post) Exclusive: Maria Bello Talks BEAUTIFUL BOY, NBC’s PRIME...
Interview with Liz Garbus, Director of Bobby Fischer Against the World
Liz Garbus is a prolific documentarian. Her latest film, Bobby Fischer Against the World which premiered at Sundance is a fascinating look at chess champion Bobby Fischer and all his demons, will...
The 2nd Annual Lilly Awards to Be Handed Out On June 6 in NYC
This Monday, June 6, the 2nd annual Lilly Awards named for playwright Lillian Hellman will be awarded in NYC. “The Lilly Awards were created to recognize the extraordinary contributions made by...
Jane Goldman Talks X-Men
Not too many women are co-writers on $125 million flicks but Jane Goldman is. Check out her fantastic hair. I hope that she helped make the female characters more well rounded and less like...
A Eulogy for The Chicago Code
I watched the Chicago Code for Jennifer Beals. I watched it because she played the Chicago police superintendent which made her the highest ranking female on the force. I continued to watch it for...
Sexist Jackass of the Day: Writer VS Naipaul
Here’s what this jackass said at the Hay Festival in Britain: Women writers are different, they are quite different. I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by...
Mosquita y Mari and My Reincarnation Enter the Kickstarter Hall of Fame
Here’s some good news for women filmmakers. These two films both made their Kickstarter goals and My Reincarnation broke all crowd funding records on the site. Here’s what director Jennifer Fox...
Trailer Watch: The Whistleblower — Directed by Larysa Kondracki
The Whistleblower is a film that hits you right in the gut. It’s based on the true story of a real life whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac a cop from Nebraska who volunteered to go be a peacekeeper in...
Get Ready For The Help
This is the big women’s summer movie. I didn’t know that Kathryn Stockett who wrote the book was rejected by 60 literary agents. It has now spent 100 weeks on the hardcover best seller list and...
More On The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Here’s an R Rated International Poster
I do love all the conversations the trailer and posters have generated online. This film will be big. Yes, that is a safety pin and that is her boob. No way we would see an image like that here even...
Sexism Watch: Hollywood Reporter Showrunner Roundtable
Last week I posted a trailer from a new documentary about showrunners where I called attention to the fact that they did not include a single woman in the trailer. The site received a comment from a...
!Women Art Revolution directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson Opens in NYC Today
There are not many films that are able to show the development of a true revolution and Women Art Revolution is one of them. It shows how feminism affected women’s art and how art affected...
Take Two: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trailer
It clearly looks like the version that I posted yesterday was a bootleg and not a strategic marketing drop because the trailer has been pulled from You Tube. (If you didn’t see it yesterday you are...
Remember This Name — Whitney Cummings
So the TV lineups for next season are set and the writers and producers are getting to work trying to make their shows the ones that stick. One of the interesting things to note from the upfronts...
Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival: The Women
Here are the women directed films that will be screening at the Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival from June 20–26. Just a note, the opening, closing and centerpiece films are all directed by...
Trailer Watch: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Since this surfaced on the internet this weekend there have been rumors that it is not a bootleg but a deliberate marketing piece from Sony. All I have to say is that the film is called The Girl With...
Trailer Watch: I Don’t Know How She Does It
This looks pretty good. Will be released on September 16 in the US and UK.