Yesterday, Owen Gleiberman was appointed chief film critic at Variety. We congratulate him on the position, and consider him a great writer, but his hiring has capped off a bothersome trend we’ve seen occurring within the past month. We’ve noticed (as others have) that many major jobs at film or entertainment publications recently have gone to men.
In April, Indiewire hired two new male film writers after it was purchased by Penske Media Corporation, the same umbrella company that owns Variety, Deadline, and TV Line. Rolling Stone hired another man to take over for the one who left for Indiewire. Two men were given prominent editorial roles at Film Society of Lincoln Center and its magazine, Film Comment. Add those to Glieberman’s hiring and that’s six men who have been offered important positions in the film media world within four weeks.
It’s presumed that Glieberman is taking over the job of Justin Chang, who was offered a new job as film critic at the L.A. Times. Before Chang took the gig, it was held by a woman, Betsy Sharkey, who resigned last May to pursue a book project.
When these announcements were made, emails and DMs came into Women and Hollywood from female film writers who are not only flabbergasted by the trend, but are struggling to move up or even find jobs themselves. Few will go on the record, but the sentiment of frustration is always the same.
“I love reading Justin Chang, Owen Gleiberman, and Eric Kohn,” Carrie Rickey, former critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer told W&H. “Yet we all know from scanning Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes that male reviewers are less receptive to movies by women filmmakers. The movie world is already tilted against female directors. The dudeocracy makes the playing field even less even.”
“When I started getting texts about Variety’s hire of Owen Gleiberman, on top of Justin Chang’s at the LAT, and David Ehrlich’s at Indiewire, I would have done a spit take. But I have no more spits to give,” a freelance female film critic told us anonymously. “The bias is as clear in this field as in directing, cinematography and so many others. It does a great disservice to criticism and, as gatekeepers, to the work of women artists. And it would be so easy to change, one hire at a time.”
“I was one of several women laid off from the same film publication last year, all of whom were replaced by men,” another female film writer told us. “All I can say is that I’m disappointed. Female film critics are few and far between. It feels like every day I hear about another male critic getting hired. It would have been nice to see some chances taken.”
That got us thinking about how few female film critics are actually out there, and how tough it is for women not only in the actual Hollywood machine, but in the Hollywood media as well. Some sites are devoted to women, and feature a majority of women on their writings staffs, such as BitchFlicks, and the entire staff of Elle’s Film & TV section is female, outside of the sole film reviewer. (Esquire and Forbes have only men.) There are many women writing for Bright Wall Dark Room as well. And let’s not forget the Alliance of Women Film Journalists which has a terrific list of women critics and writers.
We reached out to Diana Drumm, who runs the Twitter account @FemaleFilmCritics to dig up a list of female critics around the country. The list below is made up of women who, as far Diana can find, are either full-time, staff film critics, or who write film criticism in addition to reportorial pieces, or are freelance critics. The list is extensive, though by all means not conclusive. And unlike the men hired this month, many of them are not staffers with the job stability that the trades might offer (as opposed to a fledgling website).
The list is international and is made up of female film and TV critics and reviewers, editors, and columnists. But we at Women and Hollywood encourage you to seek out them all for a read. To get on the list you need to be employed by an outlet or are a freelance writer who has regular outlets where you work.
Female Film/TV Critics and Film/TV Writers :
Melissa Anderson, Village Voice
Mallory Andrews, Movie Mezzanine
Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press
Angelica Jade Bastien, RogerEbert.com
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
Laura Berger, Women and Hollywood
Paula Bernstein, Filmmaker Magazine
Monica Castillo, Village Voice
Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News
Casey Cipriani, Bustle, W&H, Refinery29
Sherilyn Connelly, Village Voice
Joanna Connors, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com plus others
Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Laura DeMarco, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Miriam Di Nunzio, Chicago Sun-Times
Serena Donadoni, Village Voice
Molly Eichel, Philadelphia Enquirer
Justine Elias, RogerEbert.com
Lucy Feldman, Wall Street Journal
Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
Pam Grady, San Fransisco Chronicle
Alisha Grauso, Film School Rejects
Ellen Gray, Philadelphia Daily News (TV)
Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International
Tina Hassannia, Movie Mezzanine
Lauren Humphries-Brooks, We Got This Covered
Wendy Ide, The Observer, Screen International
Caryn James, Wall Street Journal
Mary Ann Johanson, Flick Filosopher
Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle
Inkoo Kang, MTV (TV Critic)
Gwyneth Kelly, The New Republic
Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
Ellen Killoran, Forbes, Maxim
Crystal Shaw King, Ebony, Refinery29
Yasmin Kleinbart, The Young Folks
Tomris Laffly, Film School Rejects, Film Journal Int’l
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
Sheri Linden, L.A. Times, THR
Kristen Lopez, CinemaSentries, Film School Rejects
Melissa Maerz, EW (TV Critic)
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
Melanie McFarland (TV)
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post
Liz Shannon Miller, Indiewire (TV)
Mary Angelica Molina, Remezcla
Caitlin Moore, Washington Post
Kate Muir, The Times of London
Emma Myers, Film Comment, Brooklyn Magazine, and Vice Broadly
Lisa Nesselson, RogerEbert.com
Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press
Emily Nussbaum, The New Yorker (TV Critic)
Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper
Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com
Joanne Ostrow, Denver Post (TV Critic)
Willa Paskin, Slate (TV Critic)
Gail Pennington, St Louis Post-Dispatch (TV Critic)
Katelyn Mae Petrin, St. Louis Riverfront Times
Kristy Puchko, @pajiba/@CBR etc.
Jamie Righetti, Film School Rejects
Sarah Rodman, Los Angeles Times
Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post
Lisa Schwarzbaum, freelance
Catherine Shoard, The Guardian
Justine Smith, RogerEbert.com
Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Kristi Turnquist, The Oregonian
Helen T. Verongos, The New York Times (TV)
Katie Walsh, L.A. Times, Tribune News Service, Playlist
Elizabeth Weitzman, NY Daily News
Hillary Weston, Criterion
Alissa Wilkinson, Christianity Today
Lauren Wissot, Filmmaker Magazine
Susan Wloszczyna, RogerEbert.com
April Wolfe, L.A. Weekly, Village Voice