It’s been a good week for women-driven sports films. A few days ago it was announced that Netflix is working on a pic about the World Cup-winning 1999 U.S. Women’s Soccer team. Now, we’ve learned that 101 Studios is producing, financing, and distributing a film centered on The Red Rose Crew, a group of women rowers, and their journey to the World Rowing Championships. The project will be based on Daniel J. Boyne’s biography “The Red Rose Crew: A True Story Of Women, Winning, and The Water,” a press release confirmed.
Alexis Ostrander will direct the pic, marking her first narrative feature film, and Laura Hansen will adapt Boyne’s book. The duo originally brought the project to 101 Studios.
“In 1975, a group of inspiring women rowed their way to international glory, battling sexual prejudice, bureaucracy, and male domination to usher in a new era for competitive sports,” the source details. “Dubbed the ‘Red Rose Crew,’ a team of eight dedicated rowers from across the country — including soft-spoken MIT professor Gail Pearson, competitive lead rower Carie Graves, and teenage coxswain Lynn Stillman — banded together, determined to prove themselves at the World Rowing Championships.” The description continues, “Under the guidance of legendary Harvard men’s crew coach Harry Parker, who initially doubted that women could withstand the rigors of hard training, the team not only achieved unprecedented success, they also made history.”
Ostrander and Zoë Kent will executive produce the adaptation via their A to Z Productions banner. “Maze Runner” franchise producers Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lindsay Williams will also EP.
“There aren’t nearly enough stories celebrating women in sports and, for so many reasons, this feels like the perfect time to be inspired by the Red Rose Crew and everything they overcame,” said Hansen. “I’m so honored to help bring this pioneering, unconventional sisterhood to life with Alexis and the rest of our amazing team.”
Ostrander added, “I’m excited to be working with 101 Studios and have a partner that is championing such an empowering story. I was drawn to this group of unsung heroes and how their struggles and triumphs still hold water today. Their camaraderie, perseverance, and steadfast belief in themselves inspire me, and I can’t wait for the world to fall in love with them.”
An alumna of Ryan Murphy’s Half initiative, Ostrander has helmed the doc “Defining Beauty: Ms. Wheelchair America” and episodes of many series, including “Light as a Father,” “Supergirl,” “Riverdale,” and “American Horror Story.” She received a Daytime Emmy Award nod for directing the former’s pilot. Ostrander has participated in the Warner Brothers Emerging Film Directors and TV Directors Workshop and the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, and earlier this year she made the Alice Initiative’s Emerging Female Directors list.
