December 11, 2007

Interview with Sarah Fain, Executive Producer of Women's Murder Club

Over the last six weeks of the writer's strike most of the voices have been male since they do make up 80% of the writer's guild. Women & Hollywood asked Sarah Fain, Executive Producer of the new ABC drama Women's Murder Club (ABC, 9pm) to talk about being a female writer in the TV business and how the strike has affected her and her show.

Women & Hollywood: You're in the middle of your first season on the Women's Murder Club and you are now on strike for the foreseeable future. How do you think this will effect the momentum of the show?

Sarah Fain: It's hard to say. At this point, there are so many possible scenarios. The strike could hurt us, it could help us, it could have a totally negligible impact, depending on how long we're out and what ABC's development looks like. It's something I really try not to think about (which doesn't mean it's not a good question-- I'm just trying to live in a certain amount of denial). I can tell you that we have a really great fan base, which pleases me to no end. And we all love working on the show. I've worked with some pretty fantastic groups of people, but our team on WMC is something special. So I hope we all get at least five years out of it.

W&H: Women are 20% of the writer's guild membership, and in TV they make up about 27% of the writers. Why do you think it is still so hard for women writers to break into Hollywood?

SF: Depressing numbers. Yikes. Liz (my writing partner) and I talked a little bit about this whole woman-writer thing in Written By a couple months ago. It was a bit of a relief, because it's something we've been hesitant to talk about with any degree of candor for a long time. And I'll still be somewhat restrained, because we're not sitting in my living room bullshitting with martinis and cigarettes. Although I don't smoke anymore. And I don't drink nearly enough. And my living room's a mess.

Anyhoo-- there's no question that there's a certain amount of sexism in this town. Probably in every town and every industry. For the most part, we just let it roll gracefully off our backs. I think if you're not willing to do that, it's harder to succeed. Which is screwed up and sad, but true. It's just harder for women-- and it's not like it's easy for men. Why is it harder for women to break in? I wish I had a good, specific answer for that. But it's all so subtle. I will say that I think it's getting easier. There are great men out there who really don't operate that way-- like Joss Whedon and Shawn Ryan, both of whom we've been fortunate enough to work for. And there are a lot of amazing women role models. People like Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, Barbara Hall, and Yvette Lee Bowser. They made it easier for us, and hopefully we'll make it easier for the folks who come around next.

W&H: Most of the voices we've heard about the strike has been male comedy writers. Can you let us know why you support this strike? Since women have fewer positions as writers do you think the strike will have a more adverse effect on women?

SF: This strike sucks for everyone. I think most of the voices out there have been male comedy writers because there are just so MANY of them. Throw a dart in this town and you'll hit a male comedy writer. Or the model/actress he's standing next to (read: hitting on). And I say that with love. There are many male comedy writers I adore. But you're seeing them on the news because... well, they like to talk. A lot. It can be annoying. But the issues are the same for all of us. We all have a lot to lose-- as do the actors, directors, and crews.

W&H: Most people don't know the term showrunner. Can you explain a bit about what you do and how in TV the Executive Producers are writers where in film they are not.

SF: Showrunners are basically the people who carry the vision of the show and make sure that vision is being implemented throughout the process of creating a series-- in the scripts, in casting, in the directing, editing, music, etc. Since Women's Murder Club is our first show, we're lucky to have Scott Gemmill as our co-showrunner. Which is extremely handy, because there's a lot to do, and we can all split things up when it gets nuts. On any given day, a we'll be in the writers' room (hopefully) approving story ideas, giving notes on outlines and scripts, re-writing, sitting in casting or approving casting tapes, making notes on cuts or sitting in editing, taking notes calls from studio and network executives, approving production choices in any number of arenas (sets, wardrobe, props, etc.), toning directors, and managing whatever crisis happens to arise. It's pretty much the best job there is-- never boring, always engaging, creative, and of course insanely stressful.

The difference between being a feature writer and a television writer is pretty huge. The entire structure of television is about educating writers in the process of making a show (at least it should be), so that they can be producers and showrunners. You start out as a Staff Writer, then move up the ranks through Story Editor, Executive Story Editor, Co-Producer, Producer, Supervising Producer, Co-Executive Producer, and Executive Producer. Each title basically indicates an increased level of experience-- not just as a writer, but as someone who can also produce a show. In television, the writers are in charge. We hire directors, and they are expected to execute our vision. In features, writers are less empowered. Once a film script is sold, writers are significantly less involved in the production process. It's safe to say that they're usually not involved at all. Film is a director's medium. TV is a writer's medium.

W&H: TV is much more receptive to women's voices than film is; and ABC is the most female friendly network outside of Lifetime. Why is TV a more welcoming medium for women's voices and women leads?

SF: I can't speak to film, but in television... it's all about the numbers. ABC has only gradually moved into its current female friendly state of being. It took shows like Desperate Housewives for anyone (but Lifetime) to realize that there was a goldmine in shows that particularly appeal to women. And ABC has been extraordinarily successful in tailoring their programming to the fairer sex. It's cynical, perhaps, but it's really all about money. They make shows that appeal to women, women watch the shows in large numbers, they make advertising dollars. What I will say about ABC in particular is that across the board, their shows don't talk down to women-- which is probably why we watch them.

W&H: What advice can you give a person struggling to break into the TV writing game in Hollywood?

SF: Succeeding as a television writer is, in some ways, a war of attrition. It takes time to break in. So if you're not willing to give it three to five years, you might as well go home. And even in three to five years, you may not get anywhere. The harsh truth is that it's all a crapshoot. I've been really lucky, and worked really hard. I'm not sure which was more important-- the luck or the hard work. I wouldn't have made it without both.

I definitely recommend getting into a writers' group. It's important to keep producing material, to keep improving. It keeps you motivated and helps you develop a thick skin. Which you're gonna need. Getting to know writers is crucial. When Liz and I first stared trying to get into tv, our old agent told us to make friends with as many successful television writers as we could. At the time, I was Lauren Holly's second assistant, which basically entailed brushing her dogs' teeth and making pedicure appointments. Liz was making $9000 a year writing young adult books. We thought our agent was insane. How were we supposed to meet successful television writers? Like, what, is there some corner in Brentwood where all the television writers hang out? And then we met one tv writer (just happened to be Bob Fisher, who eventually co-wrote Wedding Crashers), then another, then another... and now everyone I know is a tv writer, and all I want to know is where's the corner with the nice, single, professor-types?

Great and honest interview in the Washington Post with Gabrielle Union star of the new film Last Holiday
Some quotes:

In Hollywood, you play a mom and instantly, you've got osteoporosis. I didn't want to age myself.

I'm lobbying Congress [about funding for rape crisis centers], advocating for breast cancer awareness. . . . I'm busting my [heinie], why are you assassinating my character? When I'm about the only one saying anything about our community? . . . Why do we subscribe to a crabs-in-the-barrel mentality? If I was getting arrested, if I had kids I don't take care of, if I was walking outside without my underwear, I'd get it, I deserve it. . .

A fact of birth puts me behind the eight ball. . . . The biggest roadblock is ignorance and getting people to change their minds about who can play what. Hollywood panders to the 18-to-34 crowd. That demographic doesn't care about race and the package it comes in. They care about the hottest chick. They just like hot chicks. . . . I was talking to my girlfriends, and we were talking about how no woman of color has her own show. Except America Ferrera and "Ugly Betty." . . . Reality TV looks more like America than movies do. But as bad as [African American actresses] have it, Latinas, Asians, Middle Easterners or anyone who's a combination of that has it way worse. . . . If a movie is under $10 million, then it's a black movie. "Bad Boys II" had only one white guy, but no one said it was a black movie. No one asks the cast of "Lord of the Rings," "How does it feel to be in a movie that doesn't represent what America really looks like?" (Washington Post)

Gabrielle Union, Relishing Her Latest Holiday Treat

More Awards
NY Film Critics
Best Actress: Julie Christie, "Away from Her"
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Best First Film: Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"
Best Animated Film: "Persepolis," directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi

Bahamas International Film Festival
Dramatic Prize- "The Iron Ladies of Liberia" by Daniel Junge and and Siatta Scott Johnson
New Vision award - "I'm Through with White Girls" by Jennifer Sharp.
Lifetime Achievement Award- Daryl Hannah
Rising Star Award- Naomie Harris

Broadcast Film Critics nominations (supposedly largest critics org, with 200 TV, radio and online critics.)
PICTURE
Atonement
Juno

ACTRESS
Amy Adams — Enchanted
Cate Blanchett — Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie — Away From Her
Marion Cotillard — La Vie en Rose
Angelina Jolie — A Mighty Heart
Ellen Page — Juno

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett — I’m Not There
Catherine Keener — Into the Wild
Vanessa Redgrave — Atonement
Amy Ryan — Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton — Michael Clayton

ACTING ENSEMBLE
Hairspray
Juno

DIRECTOR
no women!!!

WRITER
Diablo Cody — Juno
Nancy Oliver — Lars and the Real Girl

ANIMATED FEATURE
Persepolis

YOUNG ACTRESS
Nikki Blonsky — Hairspray
Dakota Blue Richards — The Golden Compass
AnnaSophia Robb — Bridge to Terabithia
Saoirse Ronan — Atonement

COMEDY MOVIE
Hairspray
Juno

FAMILY FILM (LIVE ACTION)
August Rush
Enchanted
The Golden Compass
Hairspray

PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Tin Man

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
La Vie en Rose
The Orphanage

SONG
Come So Far — Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley — Hairspray
Do You Feel Me — Anthony Hamilton — American Gangster
That’s How You Know — Amy Adams — Enchanted

News

"Sandra Bullock is attached to star in comedy "One of the Guys," which she's producing with Todd Garner for 20th Century Fox. Project is based on a pitch by brothers Tom and Tim Mullen. Story is about a woman who throws her all-male circle of friends into chaos when she embraces her feminine side." (Variety)

Sounds like another male slanted movie that just happens to have a woman as the lead. These are the scripts our top-tier female actresses have to choose from. Yuck.

December 10, 2007

Women Dominate the Weekend Box Office
I'm going to put a positive spin on the supposed flop of The Golden Compass at the box office. I did see the film yesterday and enjoyed it very much. Dakota Blue Richards is fantastic as Lyra, a girl destined for greatness, which we hardly ever see at the movies. I think that kids will like it, all the political stuff will go over their heads and they will enjoy the polar bear fights. Hopefully it will be given some chance over the next couple of weeks to get an audience. Film made $26.1 million domestically and did quite well overseas raking in $55 million.

While no one can say if the church boycott made any difference in the grosses (I think people really wanted this movie to fail for some sick and bizarre reason- is it hatred for Michael Lynne after he kicked ass for several years with Lord of the Rings which no other studio would do?)

One of the things about this whole issue that makes me crazy is the wanting to have it both ways about movies. Do films make an impact in people's lives, or are they just movies designed for escapism and entertainment? I believe that some films are made to put forward a certain message. Those movies are usually smaller. I don't believe that a studio investing upwards of $180 million is stupid enough to make an anti-church movie. They were looking to make a broad based movie based on a very popular book. People need to get over themselves and take the movie for what it is - a fantasy. I mean a girl saving the world? Got to be a fantasy cause it sure ain't any reality I've seen.

Enchanted held on to the number 2 slot with $10.7 million for a total of $83.9 million in three weeks. Juno also kicked butt with an average of $60,000 per screen in limited release at seven locations. The theatre where I was yesterday was packed with people wanting to see Juno. Atonement also did very well with a $25,000 per screen average.

Are manly men back in vogue? (Did they ever go away?)
The LA Times ran a piece yesterday attempting to analyze the return of the manly men - like Indiana Jones, Rambo, John McLaine (Die Hard) to the big screen.

Writer Peter Rainer pushes a political connection between Reagan and George W. Bush

I don't want to overplay the parallels between the Reagan and George W. Bush years, but might the backwash of a colossally unpopular war have something to do with the fact that so many of our movies are -- how can I say this politely? -- atavistic?

Gee Peter, you think? Maybe one should pick up Susan Faludi's new book which discusses the return to masculinity since the towers came down. Rainer also goes on and talks about slasher films and modern masculinity but he never mentions once is women and how this retro machoness and acceptable and exulted warrior behavior effects women.
Screen test(osterone) (LA Times)

More Awards
New York Film Critics Online
Actress - Julie Christie, "Away from Her"

Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett," I'm Not There"
Breakthrough Performer - Ellen Page, "Juno"
Debut Director - Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"
Foreign Language - (tie) "Persepolis"
Animated - Persepolis"

LA Film Critics Association
Actress - Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Supporting Actress- Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Foreign Film- "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,"

Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Assn.
Actress- Julie Christie, "Away from Her"
Supporting Actress- Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Breakthrough performance- Ellen Page, "Juno"
Screenplay- Diablo Cody, "Juno"

Boston Critics
Actress- Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Supporting Actress- Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"

News
Debra Winger will be honored at the Texas Film Hall of Fame awards to be held March 7 in Austin, TX. Winger will accept the Tiffany & Co. Star of Texas Award on behalf of the cast and crew of "Urban Cowboy," which was set and shot in Texas. (Indiewire)

Mary Olive Smith's "A Walk to Beautiful" won the top prize at the International Documentary Association (IDA) Distinguished Documentary Achievement Awards on Friday night in Los Angeles. It is described as the story of "five courageous women in Ethiopia who have suffered from devastating childbirth injuries and have been shunned by their family and villages." (Indiewire)

December 7, 2007

This Weekend in Theatres

Busy weekend at the box office. I encourage everyone to get themselves to the theatres this weekend to see at least one of the several female-centric films. Some of them are quite good and enjoyable.

Options include:
The Golden Compass (which I have not yet seen)- this film really needs our support. Here's why. It is a potential franchise film starring a girl which happens rarely, and if it tanks the person who will most probably get the blame is Nicole Kidman and I am sick and tired of her getting shitted on for her films not living up to bullshit box office expectations. The religious freaks are also out for the film because the book preaches atheism so they are trying to organize a boycott. The film opens on over 3500 theaters so everyone should be able to see it.

Other new films that should be on your list:
Juno- 8 theatres
Atonement- 32 theatres
Grace is Gone

Still playing
The Savages
Margot at the Wedding
Enchanted
August Rush

Grace is Gone - review
Another film that I saw an enjoyed was the new John Cusack starrer, Iraq film, Grace is Gone. In this film John Cusack has finally grown up. He plays Stanley Phillips, husband of Grace, a soldier deployed in Iraq left at home to raise his two daughters aged 8 and 12. Cusack at first acts like he is in the army himself with short commands to his kids and rousing troop-like cheers to inspire his staff at work. In fact he still wants to be in the army, and would have been, had he not been kicked out for his terrible eyesight.

One morning the doorbell rings and his family is changed forever. His army-like facade of life crumbles instantly. He is truly lost and is unable to fathom a life without his wife, especially because he feels at a loss at being able to raise, let alone communicate with, his two daughters.

In order to delay telling anyone, and to give his girls one more chance to be kids, he puts them in the car and asks them where they wants to go. They wind up at a Disney like theme park several days drive away. Shelan O'Keefe, a local Chicago girl, makes her feature debut as Heidi the 12-year-old on the cusp of growing up yet still very girl-like. She is the family caregiver and worrier, who has been having trouble sleeping due to the anxiety she feels when her mom is away. The younger daughter Dawn, played by another Chicago girl Gracie Bednarcyzk, is more care-free than her older sister. Yet she deeply misses her mom and each day at the same time her watch alarm beeps and she pauses from whatever she is doing to take a moment to connect with her mom a world away.

Most of the images of war that we see are pictures of men deployed, and men coming home to their families. This film shows the other side of the coin, how men and their families deal with women in combat. Film was written and directed by James C. Strouse. I thought it was quite moving.

Atonement- review
I love a good British period piece and Atonement is a good British period piece that has been getting quite a lot of Oscar buzz. It's probably going to get one of the five best picture nominations. Everyone seems to be talking about the romance between rich girl Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie (James McAvoy), son of the housekeeper who works for Cecilia's family.

But the story of Atonement is not the story of the lovers, it is the story of Briony, Cecilia's highly imaginative and talented younger sister, who on one very hot evening spins a tale that devastates all three of them forever and causes Briony to seek atonement throughout the rest of her life.

Because Keira is a huge star and James is being groomed to be huge, of course, they are going to be put forward in all the ads for the film. But persoanlly, I think that Keira is overrated, her acting is at times stiff, and through the whole movie I couldn't get the images of another couple of lovers Kristen Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes from the English Patient out of my mind. Forbidden love needs to be hot and Keira just doesn't seem to have the heft (probably because she weighs as much as a bird) for it which could be due to the fact that she is still only 21.

The film is based on the Ian McEwan novel with a screenplay by Christopher Hampton and is directed by Joe Wright who also worked with Knightley on Pride & Prejudice and the new Chanel commercials.

Another films I saw that opens this week is The Walker, Paul Schrader's third film in his "lonely man" trilogy which began with American Gigolo and continued with Light Sleeper. The description "lonely man" trilogy totally pisses me off, can you imagine a woman director talking about her trilogy of "lonely woman" films? Firstly, no one would ever let a woman make one lonely woman films let alone three, so Schrader should really get over himself.

The film stars Woody Harrelson as a "walker" of rich powerful women in contemporary Washington DC. I went to see the film because of his co-stars which include Lauren Bacall, Lily Tomlin and the seldom seen lately Kristin Scott Thomas. The story turned out to be a lot more interesting than I expected and Harrelson is quite good as the gay society man who knows and protects everyone's secrets but who gets thrown to the wolves when the going gets tough.

News
Women in Film and TV UK gave out their annual awards this week to J.K. Rowling and producer Alison Owen (Brick Lane)
WIFTV Honors Rowling, Owen (Variety)

Slamdance, the hipper version of Sundance, which runs concurrently to it announced its selections.

Film by and about women in the fest include:
Narrative Feature Competition
"Jetsam," North American Premiere (UK) Written/Directed by Simon Welsford
Starring Shauna Macdonald and Alex Reid
An amnesiac woman is washed up on a beach and attacked by a man who washed up next to her. On the run from this stranger, she pieces her life back together, uncovering a world of spies, obsession and betrayal.

"Portage," US Premiere (CANADA) Written/Directed by Matthew Miller, Ezra Krybus, Sascha Drews
In this sensual, intense drama, a quartet of teenage girls embark on a canoe trip with a male guide. After his accidental death, they find themselves trapped in the wilderness and have to fend for themselves to find their way back to safety.

"Under the Snow," North American Premiere (SPAIN) Written/Directed by Candela Figueira and Maitena Muruzabal
Following the unusual connection made between four workers at different stages of their lives, capturing factory life in a way rarely seen: personal, flirtatious, introspective.

Documentary Feature Competition
"Circus Rosaire," (USA) Written/Directed by Robyn Bliley
For nine generations the Rosaire family has entertained audiences all over the world with their legendary animal acts. However, the circus industry is changing and attendance has dramatically declined. The Rosaire's livelihood and future are at risk as they struggle to continue the family tradition.

"My Mother's Garden," World Premiere (USA) Written/Directed by Cynthia Lester
The story of one woman's extreme attachment to material objects and how her estranged children reunite to help her let go.

"Neo-Lounge," (CHINA) Written/Directed by Joanna Vasquez
Arong An Italian aristocrat, a Bulgarian jazz singer, a Colombian coroner, a French hair salon entrepreneur, all together for a short moment in time at Beijing 's hippest nightspot Neo-Lounge.

"Sync or Swim," World Premiere (USA) Written/Directed by Cheryl Furjanic
A splashy look at a marginal sport: U.S.A. 's top synchronized swimmers endure rigorous training and overcome unthinkable obstacles to compete for Olympic glory.

"View From the Bridge: Stories from Kosovo," World Premiere (USA/KOSOVO) Written/Directed by John Ealer and Laura Bialis Peace
Told through the first person stories of Serbs, Albanians and Roma (Gypsies), this documentary juxtaposes the nightmares and dreams of Kosovars as it portrays a society trying to build a future while inextricably bound to the past.

Narrative Special Screening Features
"Goodbye Baby", World Premiere (USA) Written/Directed by Daniel Schechter
When Melissa Brooks discovers she can't afford college she moves to New York City and gets a job as a waitress at a comedy club. Living with her eccentric older brother, she enters a love triangle while trying to muster the nerve to get on stage and perform.

Documentary Special Screening Features
"Frontrunner," World Premiere (USA) Written/Directed by Virginia Williams
A woman's heroic, relentless run for the Presidency of Afghanistan.

Interview with Jennifer Vendetti whose film Billy the Kid opens today at the IFC in NY.

Halle Berry will receive a film achievement award at the Desert Palm Film Festival in January.

There is another film professional in the Fiennes family, director Martha who has a new film, Chromophobia coming out in England.
The Price of Being a Fiennes (The Telegraph)

December 6, 2007

Interview with Tamara Jenkins writer and director of The Savages

Women & Hollywood: What made you write this film?

Tamara Jenkins: Little impulses go into writing. People think there is a light bulb moment. When it comes to writing it is a slow accumulation of obsessions or repetetive thoughts and things that haunt you. I had my own personal experience with two family members with dementia who lived their last days in a nursing home. I also had a simultaneous desire and interest to write about grown up siblings and they merged into this screenplay.

W&H: Did you always intend to direct the screenplay?

TJ: Yes

W&H: What do you want people to walk out of the theatre thinking?

TJ: To feel a sense of connection with the subject matter. Once the film started screening I realized it was a subject lots of people are dealing with but also don't talk about -- it's sort of on the margins of discourse because its so uncomfortable almost taboo. An interesting by product has been that people have started sharing their experiences and that's been amazing. One of the things that is nice when you make a movie is that there is a sense of community, a sense of connection, that you are not alone out there.

W&H: Why did it take you 8 years between films? (her first film was the cult hit- The Slums of Beverly Hills)

TJ: It was a combination of things. My first film was the first time I had ever dealt with the world of commerce. Before that I was in film school and before that I did theatre. I was making art in an isolated way and entering the world of commerce was very strange for me. There was a huge learning curve in terms of holding onto your own intentions and getting enormous input, comments and pressure and negotiating that minefield is complicated and tricky. I personally don't think I am cut out for all this. It's not a natural fit. (Impressive that a director would actually admit this.) I'm older now and I've learned how to deal with it but its still not easy for me.

I made my movie and afterwards got sucked up into other projects that never transpired one of which was a film based on the life of Diane Arbus. I worked with a producer who ended up making a totally different movie with a totally different director on the subject matter. He owned the rights and I was invited to work on it and devoted many years to it. I call that period the Bermuda triangle period. But, in a kind of weird way it prepared me for this. The disappointment was very profound and made me very fierce. When I found my way to this story I was very protective in a way that was inspired by professional disappointment.

W&H: Do you and your fellow female directors ever talk about it being harder for women directors?

TJ: All the women I know bristle that every time we go to a film festival and if you wear a bra you are subjected to a women in film panel. They don't want to be a part of a ghetto or special Olympics. There is no denying if you look at the numbers it's pretty grim. What are we going to say? Yup it sucks- it's still depressing. I wonder if there is a weird post-feminist self loathing that occurs in regards to feminism & film making?

W&H: What advice would you offer a young woman who wants to be a director?

TJ: In a weird way I would tell her to learn how to write because I really think there is power there. Materials and scripts are gold and there is not a lot out there. If you can find your voice as a writer with the intention of making your own thing I think that's important and could create an environment where you could find yourself directing. I feel that writing has saved my life many times in all different ways. I think that personal storytelling is really interesting and hopefully you are interested in being a filmmaker not because they want to straddle a dolly and act macho but because you have something to say.

The Savages is currently in limited release. Here is W&H review:
The Savages

News
The National Board of Review handed out its awards yesterday. Female winner include: Best Actress, Julie Christie for Away from Her; Best Supporting Actress, Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone; best original screenplay, a tie between Diablo Cody for Juno and Nancy Oliver for Lars and the Real Girl and Ellen Page won the breakthrough actress award. Body of War co-directed by Ellen Spiro won best documentary. Award ceremony will be in January.

Diablo Cody: From Stripper to Screenwriter (LA Times)

December 5, 2007

Women in Entertainment - Hollywood Reporter/Lifetime Power Breakfast

The Hollywood Reporter publishes an annual issue about the status of women in the entertainment business to coincide with its annual power breakfast. While its great that women are celebrated and acknowledged once a year, what pisses me off is that there is no sense of history.

A USA Today story reports that women at the event were commenting on the lack of potential female Oscar nominees this year.

Last year, I felt there were so many phenomenal women's roles, like Helen Mirren (The Queen) and Penelope Cruz (Volver). That category was just overflowing," offered Grey's Anatomy's Elizabeth Reaser, a Spirit Award nominee for her role in Sweet Land. "I don't know about this year so much. Nothing's coming to mind, and that's just sad.

Strong roles for women in film is cyclical with an up year followed by a couple of down years. Last year was stronger than usual but even in a stronger than usual year, if you follow the prognosticators closely they had the same women on the list precisely because the list is always so short. This year potential nominees include: Julie Christie, Marion Cotillard, Helena Bnham Carter, Laura Linney, Ellen Page, Keira Knightley, Angeline Jolie, and Amy Adams.

There's no denying that this is a down year and it seems to be getting worse. So again I put forward the question- why is it so hard to make movies with female leads?

Here are a couple of my theories:

1- Women do not go to the theatres on opening night in big numbers, and since box office is the only thing that matters, why should a studios make movies that star, or are geared to women if they don't buy tickets on the opening weekend.

2- Movies with women leads are not easily transferable overseas. Films that do best overseas star men, are action films and have little dialogue. Also, Muslim countries won't see movies with women and those markets are growing.

For more theories, you'll have to wait for the book I am writing. (If you are interested in talking to me for my book drop me an email)

In case you're fuzzy last year the nominees were: Penelope Cruz; Judi Dench; Helen Mirren (winner); Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet. The year before the nominees included: Judi Dench, Charlize Theron, Felicity Huffman, Keira Knightley and the winner was Reese Witherspoon.

The USA Today story tries to wrap a nice bow on the piece:

Future female roles may prove more promising. Tilda Swinton revealed that she and the just-attached Jude Law will be taking on a retelling of the Macbeth saga (Come Like Shadows), most likely to be shot this spring in Iceland. And (Jodie) Foster is looking forward to the 2008 release of Nim's Island, a family adventure.

WTF?? Neither one of those interests me and neither one gives me any confidence that future films roles may prove more promising. Really stupid observation.

At the breakfast Sherry Lansing presented Jodie Foster with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. They both recalled the days when hardly any women worked in the business. Foster was as self-deprecating as usual denying her power (I'm starting to get tired of it- embrace it - you are the shit!)

For her part, Foster was modest about receiving the leadership award. "I'm not sure why I'm here today," she said. "I'm not powerful. I'm fragile, unsure, and I struggle to get there -- wherever there is. I've been in this business for 42 years; there's no way to do that and not be as nutty as a fruitcake," Foster quipped.

Queen Latifah and John Travolta (who played a woman this year) gave keynote addresses and the event's co-sponsor Lifetime put out a call to the women in the room to work more at the network.

Susanne Daniels, Lifetime's president of entertainment had a good quote:

Seeing how far we've come reminds us that we've got a way to go," she said, noting that there's "a celluloid ceiling," (thank you Martha Lauzen) not a glass ceiling. "The description is apt because it's not easy to see a dent.

Power Breakfast (Hollywood Reporter)

Building on the discussion above there is another interesting piece in the Hollywood Reporter package which takes a look at the lack of strong women in film and the growing strong women on TV.

Why women should be relegated to minor or cliched roles is puzzling, given that women are reaching new levels within society at large. As Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal points out, "We could soon have a woman president. And wouldn't that be awesome?"

OK, Amy you are one of the only women who can actually make a difference. Step Up! Will Hillary Clinton in the White House help women in film? Hardly, her husband's presidency coincides with the rise of the "chick flick."

Nikki Rocco, president of distribution at Universal is at least honest:

Like it or not, she says, it is the males who go out to the movies on a Friday night, when all too often young females stay in with their friends -- as Rocco says she did when she was younger. Because of that, she says, "we are targeting mostly males and hoping females come along. But the films that open the biggest are, without a doubt, films that are driven by the male audience.

Here is one of the most important points which people are in denial of:

With women in retreat onscreen, it was perhaps inevitable there would be a parallel retreat behind the scenes. And that has been remarkable in an industry where, until just a couple of years ago, one could safely say women were on the rise and indeed appeared poised to share studio leadership on an equal basis with men.

Women are disappearing in front of and behind the scenes.

If this were true throughout Hollywood, one might believe there has been a "backlash" against women in Hollywood, to use the title of an earlier Faludi book. But what complicates this argument is that the very opposite seems to be true in television. If strong women are disappearing from movie screens and are in retreat within the studios, they are doing better than ever in television.

I do believe there is a backlash in film. TV is much more forward thinking than films. They have to deal with advertisers who know that women are customers and viewers. (which film people can't deal with).

Read the full piece. It's one of the best written this year.
Power Shift

Tube Tonight
The American Cinematheque Tribute to Julia Roberts airs. Seems to me she's a bit young for a tribute of this kind. (8pm, AMC)

December 4, 2007

Power 100 List
Today out in Hollywood, The Hollywood Reporter in partnership with Lifetime, hosts its annual breakfast honoring women working in Hollywood. It's the one day of the year where Hollywood stops and recognizes the under appreciated, and underemployed women. I'm sure all the speeches will talk about how great everything is for women and how far women have come in the business - but we all know the real story- it sucks to be a woman in Hollywood, especially on the movie side of the equation.

The breakfast coincides with the release of the Power 100 list.
Here are the top 10:
1. Anne Sweeney, co-chairman, Disney Media Networks; president, Disney-ABC Television Group
2. Amy Pascal, chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group; co-chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment
3. Nancy Tellem, president, CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group
4. Stacey Snider, co-chairman and CEO, DreamWorks SKG
5. Judy McGrath, chairman and CEO, MTV Networks
6. Oprah Winfrey, chairman, Harpo Inc.
7. Dana Walden, chairman, 20th Century Fox Television
8. Nina Tassler, president, CBS Entertainment
9. Bonnie Hammer, president, USA Network and Sci Fi Channel
10. Shari Redstone, president, National Amusements; vice chairman, CBS Corp., Viacom and Midway Games

Read the rest of the list: Power 100 List

Katherine Heigl- Movie Star Feminist
Heigl best known as Dr. Izzie Stevens on the ABC hit Grey's Anatomy jumped to the top tier of female film actresses with her role in this past summer's smash hit, Knocked Up. As the cover girl of the January issue of Vanity Fair, she reveals that she thought that Knocked Up was

"a little sexist. It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women? Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.”

Her pricetag has gone up from $300,000 for Knocked Up (Judd Apatow- don't you think you should give her a bonus or buy her a house or something since you have made millions off the film?)

Can't wait to read the full piece. The writer of the piece is feminist author Leslie Bennetts.

Early Hollywood Films Tackle Social Issues
The Museum of Modern Art in NY this week is featuring early Hollywood films that focused on social issues. This was the time in Hollywood when women writers and directors were plentiful. Several of the films feature screenplays by Jeane Macpherson who worked regularly with Cecil B. DeMille. Other women featured at MOMA include: Julia Crawford Ivers; Elizabeth Pickett; Helen Holmes.

Have you ever heard of any of these women? Probably not. We need to take back our history.

A four DVD boxset with even more films including a 1916 one by Lois Weber entitled Where Are My Children which was about abortion is now available.

Info on the MOMA screenings: Social Issues in American Film 1900-1934
Buy the box set: Social Issues in American Film 1900-1934
Listen to the Steven Higgins, curator of the film series at MOMA, on the Leonard Lopate Show:
Steven Higgins

News
Sucks to be bought by a multi-national corporation. 65 of Oxygen's employees are losing their jobs in the transition which is 25% of the employees.

DVDs Out This Week
I never heard of this film but it looks quite interesting.
Antonia- Wide-eyed with the collective dream of turning their all-girl rap group into a viable enterprise, four Sao Paulo friends (Negra Li, Cindy Mendes, Leilah Moreno and Jacqueline Simão) embark on an all-or-nothing quest to succeed in a cutthroat industry. Along the way, they sacrifice everything -- including their close friendship -- to overcome preconceived notions about their abilities, as well as the poverty, violence and sexism surrounding them. (Netflix)

Battlestar Galactica: Razor- if you missed it on Sci-Fi over the Thanksgiving weekend, you can now get it on DVD with added scenes and commentaries.

December 3, 2007

Juno- one of my favorite movies of the year
I have not been to a movie recently that immediately when it ended I wanted to see again because I missed too many lines laughing. I was pretty desperate to like this film and I am usually diappointed, but not this time. Make no mistake - this film is one of the best and freshest movies I've seen this year.

The film is about Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) who finds herself pregnant after an afterschool experiment with fellow outcast Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). In a star making performance Ellen Page, best known for a role in X-Men 3, shines as the quirky, smart girl who is caught up in every 16 year old girl's potential nightmare.

I really can't do justice by quoting any of the one-liners here but what makes this film so different is first, that it's about a girl, and second that it doesn't judge her for being pregnant. Yeah, it sucks and she knows it, but the film doesn't send her off to the school for pregnant girls or have her parents go crazy, it has them all deal with the issue. When she tells her father and step mom about the pregnancy her father says "I didn't think your were the kind of girl who would get pregnant" and she responds, "Dad, I don't know what kind of girl I am." Awesome.

Unlike in Knocked Up, the other pregnancy movie which is basically from the sperm's perspective, Juno does actually deal with abortion. As Juno looks at the ads in the phone book she calls the Women Now clinic "to procure a hasty abortion" because they "help women now."

She does back out out of the abortion and she and her best friend Leah decide to find a couple to adopt the baby from ads in the Pennysaver. They sit on a bench drinking huge blue slurpees looking at the pictures in the Pennysaver of couple looking for a baby.

I also loved how her stepmom, played by Allison Janney, goes with her to her sonogram and when the technician judges Juno, Janney just shuts her down and stands up for Juno.

I can't wait to see it again.

Here are a couple of stories about the film. The first on Ellen Page and the second on Diablo Cody. How refreshing to read film stories that feature female players.
Grounded in Indie Angst, Ellen Takes a Mainstream Comic Leap in Juno (LA Times)

The freshness and frankness of Diablo Cody continues to stun me. As a newcomer in Hollywood she quickly realized that women are treated like crap, and she is unafraid to point that out. I think that Juno is totally original she has become a flavor of the month because she is such an anomoly as a female screenwriter, but also for the fact that she used to be a stripper which every single article mentions.

Some quotes from the NY Times profile:

As with her history as a do-me feminist, she makes no apologies for what she said. “I actually think everything is prostitution. We’re kind of constantly bartering with our dignity in life,” she wrote in an e-mail message after the lunch, adding that she always thought it was hilarious when strippers would draw the line at certain activities. “Same goes for people’s ideas, talents, emotions, etc. There’s a price on everything.”

She said she would like to direct at some point, partly because she loathes the way women are portrayed in most contemporary films.

“The attitude toward women in this industry is nauseating,” she said. “There are all sorts of porcine executives who are uncomfortable with a woman doing anything subversive. They want the movie about the beautiful girl who trip and falls, the adorable klutz.”

Off the Stripper Pole and Into the Movies (NY Times)

Visibility Matters
The women over at After Ellen have taken a page out of the Speechless campaign and created their own set of videos reminding the writers and Hollywood in general how few queer women there are on TV.
Visibility Matters

European Film Awards
The 20th annual European Film Awards were handed out this weekend. The abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days won for best picture and Helen Mirren won for The Queen (hasn't she gotten enough awards already for this?)

Other awards given out this weekend International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam include: Tamar Varom's To See If I'm Smiling, about women in the Israeli army, which won both the Silver Wolf competition and the festival's audience award; and Elizabeth Rocha Salgado Senses, Doors of the Soul won the won the Stimuleringsfonds Documentary Award 2007 for her film about obsessions. (Indiewire)

Lifetime Film Winners
Liliana Greenfield-Sanders of New York and Jessica Marie Sutherland of Berea,Ohio, have been named the inaugural winners of the Lifetime Movie Network Student Filmmaker Competition. The pair will be honored Tuesday in Los Angeles at the 2007 Women in Entertainment Power 100 Breakfast,hosted by Lifetime Networks and The Hollywood Reporter. Greenfield-Sanders’ first-place film,“Anna,”will premiere Dec. 11 on Lifetime Movie Network and also will be webcast on Lmn.tv. (Hollywood Reporter)


News
Eva Green plays the witch queen in The Golden Compass opening Friday.
All About Eva (The Guardian)

Olivia Williams had a Hollywood moment a decade ago- remember her in Rushmore? She's much happier on the stage in London.
No Regrets

Oscar winner Jessica Yu has a new film out - The Protagonist.
Jessica Yu's Protagonist Examines Extreme Obsession


Tube Tonight
The Closer offers a two hour episode where Brenda goes to Atlanta for the holidays. Anytime Kyra Sedgwick is on I am psyched. (8pm, TNT)

Saving Grace is back with four new episodes. (10pm, TNT)

November 30, 2007

Hollywood Actresses Paychecks
The Hollywood Reporter holds its annual Women in Entertainment breakfast next Tuesday. In anticipation of that event, they released an annual survey/accounting of how well (or not well) the top women in film are doing. While the money these women make is way more than any of us will ever see, they still don't rank in the same universe with the guys, and women will never get over the hump until they prove they can open movies in Hollywood's ass-backwards economic formula.

Interesting quote:
"But even though actress salaries seem to be bigger than ever, the news this year is not how large the paychecks of Hollywood's hottest female stars have become, it is how low they are prepared to go to fill in their schedules." (Do guys have to lower their salaries as much?)

Top 10 highest paid actresses:
1. Reese Witherspoon -- $15 million-$20 million
2. Angelina Jolie -- $15 million-$20 million
3. Cameron Diaz -- $15+ million
4. Nicole Kidman -- $10 million-$15 million
5. Renee Zellweger -- $10 million-$15 million
6. Sandra Bullock -- $10 million-$15 million
7. Julia Roberts -- $10 million-$15 million
8. Drew Barrymore -- $10 million-$12 million
9. Jodie Foster -- $10 million-$12 million
10. Halle Berry -- $10 million

Also note that the all the actresses are in their 30s to early 40s.

Sliding Scale: Salaries of Hollywood's Leading Ladies (Hollywood Reporter)

Movies This Weekend
It's the week after Thanksgiving and there are few wide releases opening. Those people in NY and LA should check out The Savages and Nina's Heavenly Delights. I liked the Savages, but loved Nina's Heavenly Delights. Very fun and light.

Also opening of interest is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Julian Schnabel's meditation on Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a catastrophic stroke at the age of 43 and suffered from lock-in syndrome where his brain was fully functional and nothing in his body worked except for one eye. This man was able to dictate a book by blinking out letters for months. An extraordinary film of courage and the power of imagination.

50 Smartest People in Hollywood
EW has thrown out the model of the power list and this year picks the 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. At number 1 is Judd Apatow, the man who makes it acceptable for young men to be schlubs and smoke pot all day, just as long as they get the girl who works to support their pathetic lives. I did find Knocked Up funny at times, but I think this trend of men acting like arrested teenagers in movies is sad and regressive and potentially dangerous.
Here is the criteria for getting on the list: 50 Smartest People in Movies (EW)

Women on the List
6. Meryl Streep, actor
15. Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment
26. Stacey Snider, CEO of DreamWorks SKG
30. Jodie Foster, actor/director
31. Kathleen Kennedy, producer
32. Thelma Schoonmaker, editor
33. Angelina Jolie, actor
38. Diablo Cody, screenwriter
39. Mary Zophres, costume designer
43. Beth Swofford, agent at CAA
45. Cate Blanchett, actor
47. Amy Powell, senior vice president of interactive marketing at Paramount
49. Sarah Polley, actor/writer/director

13 out of 50 - better than most lists from Hollywood. Interesting that Meryl Streep is higher than the most powerful woman in Hollywood, Amy Pascal.

Sundance unveiled the rest of its lineup - films to be screened out of competition.
Movies by and about women include:

"The Guitar" / USA, Director: Amy Redford; Screenwriter: Amos Poe
The life of a woman is transformed after she is diagnosed with a terminal disease, fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she throws caution to the wind to pursue her dreams. Cast: Saffron Burrows, Isaach De Bankole, Paz De La Huerta. World Premiere

"Incendiary" / UK, Director and Screenwriter: Sharon Maguire
A spirited young mother juggles grief and love in the aftermath of a dramatic terrorist attack in London. Cast: Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor, Matthew MacFadyen. World Premiere

"Merry Gentleman / USA, Director: Michael Keaton; Screenwriter: Ron Lazzeretti
After fleeing an abusive marriage, a young woman sets off to start a new life. When she finds herself an unwitting witness to a murder she stumbles into a curious friendship with a depressed hit man. Cast: Kelly Macdonald, Michael Keaton. World Premiere

"A Raisin in the Sun" / USA, Director: Kenny Leon; Screenwriter: Paris Qualles
After moving to Chicago's South Side in the 1950s, a black family struggles to deal with poverty, racism, and inner conflict as they strive for a better life. Adapted for the screen from Lorraine Hansberry's play, this is a moving portrait of dreams deferred. Cast: Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sean Patrick Thomas. World Premiere

"Savage Grace" / USA, Director: Tom Kalin, Screenwriter: Howard A. Rodman
The true story of the beautiful and charismatic Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland, heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Their only child is a failure in his father's eyes, and as he matures and becomes increasingly close to his lonely mother, the seeds for tragedy are sown. Cast: Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne. U.S. Premiere

"Towelhead" (FKA "Nothing is Private") / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Alan Ball
The life of a 13-year-old Arab-American girl is illuminated as she navigates her way through the confusing and frightening path of adolescence and sexual awakening. Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Toni Collette, Summer Bishil. U.S. Premiere

"U2 3D" / USA, Directors: Catherine Owens, Mark Pellington
A 3-D presentation of U2's global "Vertigo" tour. Shot at seven different shows, this production employs the greatest number of 3-D cameras ever used for a single project. World Premiere (Editor's Note: A shorter version of "U2 3D" screened as a work-in-progress at the Cannes Film Festival in May.)

"Kicking It" / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Susan Koch
The lives of homeless people are changed forever through an international soccer competition. This film follows six players as they set off for Cape Town, South Africa to play in the Homeless World Cup. World Premiere

"Birds of America" / USA, Director: Craig Lucas; Screenwriter: Elyse Friedman
Three siblings couldn't be more different, or more neurotic. But when they find themselves converging at the family manse, they become surprisingly indispensable to one another. Cast: Matthew Perry, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Foster. World Premiere

"Half-Life" / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Jennifer Phang
As troubling signs of global cataclysms accelerate, a brother and sister react to their father's desertion and the powerful presence of their mother's new boyfriend. World Premiere

"Reversion" / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Mia Trachinger
In a world in which the past, present and future simultaneously unfold, a woman whose genetic mutation leaves her devoid of morality struggles to preserve her romance with the man she loves. World Premiere

"The Broken" / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Sean Ellis
On a busy London street a woman sees herself driving by in her own car. Stunned, she trails the mystery woman as events take an eerie turn into a living nightmare. Cast: Lena Heady, Richard Jenkins, Asier Newman. World Premiere

News
The case against using the Jane Austen paradigm for all female characters.
Jane Austen Must Die! (Sirens Magazine via Alternet)

The catfight bitchslap of Cashmere Mafia versus Lipstick Jungle will begin in earnest next year. (If they don't get this writers strike settled it will get way too much press cause there will be no new episodes of other shows around) Brooke Shields in doing press for the show says that women should not apologize for being successful and wanted it all. Do we really need Brooke Shields to remind us?
Shields says new show will remind women they need not apologize for their success (AP via Macleans)

Keira Knightley opens next week in Atonement
Keira Knightley shines in Atonement (AP via Yahoo)

A lot of pressure is on Dakota Blue Richards who toplines the $180 million The Golden Compass opening next week.
Dakota Blue Richards: The 13-year-old poised to conquer the world (The Telegraph)

Desperately Seeking Susan to shut (BBC)

Tube Tonight
Hidden Plague - Ashley Judd is very smart about using her celebrity for good. In this special she examine HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. (10pm, National Geographic)

Sunday
Tin Man- a six hour mini series spins a new take on the Wizard of Oz starring Zooey Deschanel

November 29, 2007

In Praise of Cold Case
I know I've said this before but its worthy of a repeat -- Cold Case, the CBS detective drama (Sunday, 9pm) is turning out to be the most feminist show on TV.

The episode this past weekend took place in 1982 and was about a serial date rapist; before the term date rape existed when women were dismissed by their family, friends and the police as having asked for it.

This episode was handled so well that after it was over I thought to myself that I bet a woman wrote and directed it. I was right. Episode was written by Executive Producer Veena Sud and directed by the highly esteemed film director Agnieszka Holland (Copying Beethoven, Europa, Europa). (Women film directors are becoming regular TV directors since there are so few opportunities in film for them- that's another story)

I decided to check out the other senior staff (thanks to tivo) and was shocked and delighted to discover that of the 9 people listed under producer, consulting producer, co-exec producer and exex producer (in TV terms that means the writing team) 7 of them are women. Yes yo read it right -- 7 out of 9 writers/producers are women. I have never seen that before. We need to support this show with all our might. And it's not just because they are women, it's because they write women so well.

Put This on the List
Just got some info on a film opening next March- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. Set in 1939 London, McDormand plays a fired governess who finds herself befriended by an American actress and singer played by Adams.

The Sundance Film Festival unveiled its lineup yesterday.
Fest will host 51 first time filmmakers. Women in the lineup include:

Documentary Competition:
"An American Soldier," Director and Screenwriter: Edet Belzberg
Uncle Sam wants you! A compelling exploration of army recruitment in the United States told through the story of Louisiana Sergeant, First Class Clay Usie, one of the most successful recruiters in the history of the U.S. Army. World Premiere

"American Teen," Director and Screenwriter: Nanette Burstein
This irreverent cinema verite chronicles four seniors at an Indiana high school and yields a surprising snapshot of Midwestern life. World Premiere

"Flow: For Love of Water," Director: Irena Salina
Water is the very essence of life, sustaining every being on the planet. FLOW confronts the disturbing reality that our crucial resource is dwindling and greed just may be the cause. World Premiere

"The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo," Director and Screenwriter: Lisa F. Jackson
Jackson travels to remote villages in the war zones of the Congo to meet rape survivors, providing a piercing, intimate look into the struggle of their lives. World Premiere

"Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)," Director: Ellen Kuras; Co-Director: Thavisouk Phrasavath; Screenwriters: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
The epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Kuras has spent the last 23 years chronicling the family's extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic, and emotional film. World Premiere

"The Order of Myths," Director: Margaret Brown
In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated...and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether. World Premiere

"Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," Director: Marina Zenovich; Screenwriters: Marina Zenovich, Joe Bini, P.G. Morgan
This film examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States. World Premiere

"Slingshot Hip Hop," Director: Jackie Reem Salloum
The voice of a new generation rocks and rhymes as Palestinian rappers form alternative voices of resistance within the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. World Premiere

"Traces of the Trade: A Story From The Deep North," Director: Katrina Browne; Co-Directors: Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray; Screenwriters: Katrina Browne, Alla Kovgan
History finally gets rewritten as descendants of the largest slave-trading family in early America face their past, and present, as they explore their violent heritage across oceans and continents. World Premiere

"Trouble the Water," Directors: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal
An aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, armed with a video camera, show what survival is all about when they are trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, and seize a chance for a new beginning. World Premiere

Dramatic Competition:
"Downloading Nancy," Director: Johan Renck; Screenwriters: Pamela Cuming, Lee Ross
The tale of an unhappy wife whose online search for someone to put her out of her misery results in a torturous love affair. Cast: Maria Bello, Jason Patric, Rufus Sewell, Amy Brenneman. World Premiere

"Frozen River," Director and Screenwriter: Courtney Hunt
Set in rural upstate New York on a Mohawk Reservation bordering Canada, a mother left to care for her teenage son finds herself lured into the world of illegal immigrant smuggling. Cast: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott, Michael O'Keefe, Mark Boone, Jr. World Premiere

"Good Dick," Director and Screenwriter: Marianna Palka
The tale of a lonely girl drawn from her isolated life and solitary apartment by a doting young video store clerk who strives to capture her affections. Cast: Jason Ritter, Marianna Palka, Tom Arnold, Mark Webber, Martin Starr, Eric Edelstein. World Premiere

"Phoebe in Wonderland," Director and Screenwriter: Daniel Barnz
Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a little girl takes her already dysfunctional family down the rabbit hole when she seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher. Cast: Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Bill Pullman, Campbell Scott, Peter Gerety. World Premiere

"Sugar," Directors and Screenwriters: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who last teamed up for "Half Nelson," chronicle the journey of Dominican baseball star Miguel "Sugar" Santos recruited from his native country to play in the U.S. minor leagues. Cast: Algenis Perez Soto. World Premiere

"Sunshine Cleaning," Director Christine Jeffs; Screenwriter: Megan Holley
Struck by financial hardship, an ambitious mother and her unmotivated sister become entrepreneurs in the field of biohazard removal and crime scene clean-up. Cast: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn, Alan Arkin. World Premiere

World Cinema Documentary Competition:
"Alone in Four Walls (Allein In Vier Wanden) / Germany, Director: Alexandra Westmeier
Adolescent boys struggle to grow up in a home for delinquents in rural Russia where life behind bars may be better than the release to freedom. North American Premiere

"The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins" / New Zealand, Director and Screenwriter: Pietra Brettkelly
Vanessa Beecroft is obsessively determined to adopt Sudanese twin orphans. Her consuming passion drives her marriage to a breaking point and fuels her controversial art, raising troubling questions about exploitation, culture clash, and the imposition of the West on Africa. World Premiere

"Dinner With The President" / Pakistan, Directors and Screenwriters: Sabiha Sumar and Sachithanandam Sathananthan
From on-the-street interviews to audiences with religious leaders to dinner with the President of Pakistan, the film takes the temperature of a culture on issues from politics to women's rights. U.S. Premiere

"pUUJEE" / Japan, Director and Screenwriter: Kazuya Yamada
Against the backdrop of a magnificent but harsh natural landscape, a Japanese photojournalist encounters Puujee, a young girl who tames wild horses on the Mongolian plains.

"The Women of Brukman" (Les Femmes de la Baukma) / Canada, Director and Screenwriter: Isaac Isitan
Amidst Argentina's financial collapse, workers take over a Buenos Aires men's clothing factory and continue producing clothing on a self-management model. As the formerly poor become business managers, their lives are changed forever. U.S. Premiere

World Cinema Dramatic Competition are:
"Megane" (Glasses)/ Japan, Director and Screenwriter: Naoko Ogigami
Taeko's southern vacation becomes a life-changing experience when she discovers a unique beach community unified by surprising and perhaps odd traditions in this comedic film. Cast: Satomi Kobayashi, Mikako Ichikawa, Ryo Kase, Ken Mitsuishi, Masako Motai. North American Premiere

"Mermaid" (Rusalka) / Russia, Director and Screenwriter: Anna Melikyan
The fanciful tale of an introverted little girl who grows up believing she has the power to make wishes come true. She must reconcile this belief with reality when, as a young woman, she journeys to Moscow and grapples with love, modernity and materialism. Cast: Masha Shalaeva, Evgeniy Ciganov, Maria Sokolova, Nastya Doncova. International Premiere

"Riprendimi" (Good Morning Heartache) / Italy, Director: Anna Negri; Screenwriters: Anna Negri, Giovanna Mori
A modern young couple with a new baby are forced to deal with the almost comedic pain of breaking up while being the subject of a documentary that quickly crosses professional lines into their private lives. Cast: Alba Rohrwacher, Marco Foschi, Valentina Lodovini, Stefano Fresi, Alessandro Averone. World Premiere

"Strangers" / Israel, Directors and Screenwriters: Erez Tadmor, Guy Nattiv
An Israeli man and a Palestinian woman meet serendipitously during the carefree atmosphere of the World Cup finals in Germany, drawing them out of the stark reality of their lives and into a passionate affair. Cast: Liron Levo, Lubna Azabal, Dominique Lollia, Patrick Albenque, Abdallah el Akal, Roger Dumas. International Premiere

News
Interview with Laura Linney
Anything but Typical (LA Times)

Can Enchanted beat the dreaded post Thanksgiving drop off? Disney is working to make sure this doesn't happen. Some quotes from how they sold the film upon its release:

"Disney worried that focusing on the fairy-tale romance between Giselle (Amy Adams) and Robert (Patrick Dempsey) would scare off male moviegoers, leaving "Enchanted" with an audience that skewed as heavily female as "Hairspray's." Early trailers and Internet promotions also steered clear of the film's musical numbers. Instead, the marketing focused on the film's Disney pedigree, its characters and physical comedy." (They really did not advertise that it was basically a musical with songs done by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz and it looked like it was ready to open on Broadway next week.)

"Once moviegoers started to see the movie, men and boys apparently didn't mind the music and romance; the opening weekend audience was 60% female and 40% male, the studio says. "It wasn't just moms and daughters coming to the movie -- it was the whole family," Lima says." (It's not rocket science, produce a film that is good, and women as well as men will come. People have much more free time over the long Thanksgiving weekend, the pressure of having to see a film on a Friday or Saturday night is just not realistic for most people, especially women.)

And how they will try and keep it going:

"And, for the time being, Disney will promote the movie it has, not the movie it feared. "It's first and foremost a romantic comedy," Lima says. "And we shouldn't be afraid of that." DUH

Disney Angles for Another Enchanted Weekend (LA Times)

November 28, 2007

Movie of the Week- The Savages- written and directed by Tamara Jenkins
Writer-director Tamara Jenkins used her own family drama as inspiration for her second biting film, The Savages.

The stellar cast toplines Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as estranged siblings forced to come together to deal with the downward descent of their father into dementia.

Just like Margot at the Wedding these characters are incredibly flawed, not very likable, but they are real. Not a pretty movie both aesthetically (I have never seen Laura Linney look so bad) and topically, the film deals with a reality many people in our culture now face; what to do with an aging parent who becomes too incapacitated to deal with him or herself.

Neither of the Savage (family name is quite appropriate) siblings is really emotionally able to handle this type of adult decision especially because they were never parented properly and have been estranged from both their parents for decades.

But they handle it the best way they know how and it brings a reconciliation between the siblings. They had one of those cordial but distant relationships with the added layer of competitiveness and narcissism. Dealing with their father is humbling and forces these two together which helps each of them get over themselves.

Jenkins' humor is raw and at times humiliating just like her first cult feature, The Slums of Beverly Hills. In fact it was her humorous take that got her the deal for this film from producer Ted Hope who had signed her "to write whatever she wanted to write, provided it had some humor to it."

Here are some of Jenkins' comments on her characters: "They're terribly human and incredibly flawed and completely screwed up and I adore them for it. They're these two mismatched, damaged people who are both in a kind of arrested development. Even though they're in middle age, they really aren't finished people yet, and that makes them very interesting."

Film will have legs through the awards season and opens today in NY at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and Angelika; and in LA at Pacific Arclight and The Landmark
For further release information: The Savages

Awards Watch
The awards season has kicked off! Women & Hollywood will continue to highlight the women getting nominating and winning throughout the season.

Independent Spirit Award nominations which will be handed out the day before the Oscars were announced yesterday. (To qualify for the Spirits the film budget needs to be under 20 million)

Women nominated include:
Best Feature: "Juno" and "A Mighty Heart"
Best First Feature- "2 Days in Paris"- Julie Delpy
Best Director: Tamara Jenkins- "The Savages"
Best Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins- "The Savages"; Adrienne Shelly, "Waitress"; Mike White, "Year of the Dog" (film is about a woman)
Best First Screenplay: Zoe Cassavetes, "Broken English" and Diablo Cody, "Juno"
Best Female Lead: Angelina Jolie, "A Mighty Heart"; Sienna Miller, "Interview"; Ellen Page, "Juno"; Parker Posey, "Broken English"; Tang Wei, "Lust, Caution"
Best Supporting Female: Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"; Anna Kendrick, "Rocket Science"; Jennifer Jason Leigh, "Margot at the Wedding"; Tamara Podemski, "Four Sheets to the Wind"; Marisa Tomei, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
Best Documentary: "Lake of Fire," Director: Tony Kaye (about abortion); "Manufactured Landscapes," Director: Jennifer Baichwal
Best Foreign Film: "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," Director: Cristian Mungiu (Romania) (about abortion); "Lady Chatterley," Director: Pascale Ferran (France); "Persepolis," Directors: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi (France)
Producers Award: Anne Clements, producer of Ping Pong Playa and Quinceañera; Alexis Ferris, producer of Cthulhu and Police Beat

Gotham Awards were handed out last night in NYC
Breakthrough Award- Ellen Page for playing the pregnant teen in Juno (can't wait to see this later today). She said: "I'm so proud that there is a teenage character like her going out into the world."
Tribute award: Mira Nair

News
Barbra Streisand gets into the presidential race with an endorsement of Hillary Clinton. I think its a given that Oprah's endorsement of Obama might have a more far reaching effect. But one can always hope.
Streisand Endorses Hillary Clinton (AP via USA Today)

Even though Amy Adams has been working for years, she's become a star at 33. While that's not too old, it's also not 19. She's got a slew of films coming up including Charlie Wilson's War.
Uber Focus Propels Amy Adams (AP via Miami Herald)

November 27, 2007

Being a Sexist in Hollywood = Promotion
Jeff Robinov who you might remember from a month ago as the man who said he would no longer be making movies starring women, has now been given a huge promotion to be president of the newly restructured Warner Brother Picture Group. He will be in charge of film production, marketing, distribution as well as WB's Indie label - Warner Independent. COO, Alan Horn still retains greenlighting rights, but other than that the kingdon is now Robinov's.
Read the earlier story: Do Women Matter to Hollywood?

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The sharks are out already for The Golden Compass and in turn Nicole Kidman. The Guardian loved it- comparing Kidman's villaness Mrs. Coulter to Darth Vader. Can't wait to see it.
The Golden Compass (The Guardian)

Yesterday, Kidman also launched a new campaign against domestic violence with UNIFEM.
Kidman Launches U.N. Campaign (Reuters)


News
Documentaries seem to run in the Maysles Family. Celia Maysles debuted her documentary on her family at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
Daughter's Personal Search for Her Father (indieWIRE)

EW has named J.K. Rowling its Entertainer of the Year
Entertainer of the Year (EW)


DVDs This Week
Waitress- directed by Adrienne Shelly
"Written by director and co-star Adrienne Shelly (who was murdered shortly before the film's selection for the Sundance Film Festival), Waitress is a frank and funny examination of the fears brought on by impending motherhood. Keri Russell plays Jenna, a waitress whose fabulous pies are about the only sweet ingredient in an otherwise dreary existence. An unwanted pregnancy, however, brings unexpected romance in this film co-starring Cheryl Hines." (Netflix)
Check out W&H interview about the Adrienne Shelly Foundation:
Remembering Adrienne Shelly and Supporting Women Directors

The Namesake- directed by Mira Nair
"While he respects his immigrant parents (Irfan Khan and Tabu) and their decision to rear him in his United States birthplace, Gogol Ganguli (Kal Penn) is torn between Indian traditions and the modern Bostonian lifestyle. Jacinda Barrett and Zuleikha Robinson also star in director Mira Nair's thought-provoking coming-of-age drama, which explores first-generation Americans' delicate dance between culture and identity." (Netflix)


Tube Tonight
Sisters in Law- 10pm, PBS
"In the little town of Kumba, Cameroon, there have been no convictions in spousal abuse cases for 17 years. But two women determined to change their community are making progress that could change their country. This fascinating, often hilarious doc follows the work of State Prosecutor Vera Ngassa and Court President Beatrice Ntuba as they help women fight often-difficult cases of abuse, despite pressures from family and their community to remain silent. Six-year-old Manka is covered in scars and has run away from an abusive aunt, Amina is seeking a divorce to put an end to brutal beatings by her husband, the pre-teen Sonita has daringly accused her neighbor of rape."
Sisters in Law

November 26, 2007

Enchanted won the box office race this weekend. Box office take for the Amy Adams starrer was about $50 million making it one of the best Thanksgiving weekends ever. I was able to see the film this weekend. Thought it was cute. There were a couple of very funny lines. Interestingly, the guy in my group actually liked it better than the women did. Women thought it was too sappy. At the theatre I attended in upstate NY, the audience was varied; girls as well as adult couples. Film was able to crossover into all hit quadrants. This film clearly has legs.

The African-American targeted This Christmas shocked the Hollywood box office prognosticators by raking in $27 million over the five day weekend. These box office predictors must have their heads under a rock. Why is it always shocking that movies targeted at a particular film-going audience does well? More than 22 year old white boys go to the movies. This Christmas was made for $13 million so it is already hugely profitable.
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Women Makes Movies (organization that supports women making independent films and videos) announces 12 new films chosen for its fiscal sponsorship program:

Akaken the Dragon - How the ancient Chinese sport of dragon boating is transforming the lives of a group of individuals searching for life after cancer. Dir. Liz Oakley

Changing My Mind About Palestine - An American woman takes a rollercoaster road trip through the West Bank that challenges her internalized stereotypes and perceptions of the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Dir. Nora Malone

I Was Raped - Highlights the prevalence of rape in our culture and breaks the silence that surrounds it. Dir. Jennifer Baumgardner

I Wish I Was A Mango Tree - A powerful saga shared by millions of immigrants torn from their families by grinding poverty and a search for work. Dir. Irene Rial Bou

Semper Fi: Always Faithful - The troubling story of a massive water contamination at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, in which toxic water flowed for thirty years and exposed thousands of Marines to high levels of carcinogens. Dir. Rachel Libert

Someone Else's War - Three Filipino workers travel thousands of miles from home to work for the US military in Iraq. Dir. Lee Wang

South Africa's Women Judges - The personal struggles of six South African women judges, born and raised during apartheid, mirrors the larger struggle to establish a human rights-based constitutional democracy in that country. Exec. Prod. Ruth B. Cowan, Dir. Jane Thandi Lipman

Strong! - U.S. Olympic weightlifter Cheryl Haworth works to become the strongest woman in the world. Dir. Julie Wyman

The Girls Of Rajasthan follows several students through an experimental school for girls who have had no education. Dir. Jennifer Dworkin

Watching - Profile of Eileen Clancy, founder of I-Witness video, a grassroots organization that networks and trains media activist in counter-surveillance tactics. Dir. Elizabeth Press

When Clouds Clear - A reflection of the history and culture of one small town that could vanish before it is even put on the map due to a corporate power structure that wishes to strip the land away from the local people. Dir. Anne Slick and Danielle Bernstein

U People upholds the vision that camaraderie and sisterhood is vibrant and sustaining, though not always easy among straight and gay and gender nonconformists in the African Diaspora. Dir. Hanifah Walidah

Learn More: Women Make Movies
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Attention all female filmmakers who needs funds to finish their films. Women in Film Foundation is seeking applicants for their film finishing fund.
More details:
Women in Film Finishing Fund

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SAG in support of the writers strike with a series of on-line videos: Speechless hosted exclusively on Nikki Finke's site Deadline Hollywood. make sure to scroll down. Also the NYTimes writes today about Finke and her importance in the writer's strike.
Alternative Journalist’s Web Site Is Scrutinized for Writers’ Strike News

News
Article on Natalie Portman
More Than Meet the Eye (The Guardian)

Most of the articles on the new regime at UA seem to focus on the Tom Cruise side of the partnership. Here is a piece from an Australian paper no less that focuses on Tom's better half, Paula Wagner.

Some interesting quotes:

She says that she refuses to think of herself as a woman in a man's world, but instead tries to capitalise on her "female qualities". "Females are traditionally more verbal, more articulate, more communicative, more empathetic, more concerned about people's feelings, more collegiate in a way, so I think that makes for great managerial qualities. Women also can be remarkably tough.

Of course times have changed. When I went to CAA in the talent department, I was one of three women there. Even in the early 1980s it was unusual, a female agent was an anomaly. And I will be honest, in my very lengthy career, I felt earlier on that I had to work really hard - that may just be my nature, but sometimes I felt I'm going to work harder, I'm going to run faster.

Hollywood's Leading Lady (The Age)

Q&A with Lili Taylor (Nerve)

November 21, 2007

Taking a couple of days off for Thanksgiving but want to leave you with some tidbits for your holiday weekend. See you next week.

Films for the Holiday Weekend
August Rush
In a depressing fall dominated by Iraq war movies that have underperformed at the box office, August Rush is a much lighter family drama/tearjerker that feels like a breath of fresh air. Story centers around a young orphan (Freddie Highmore- this kid is really good) who will not give up hope that his parents are coming for him. Turns out he is a musical genius (as are both his parents played by Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and he believes if he could just make the music loud enough his parents will know it is him and come find him. Since this is a Hollywood film, you can probably guess the ending.

On his travels he meets a dedicated social worker (Terence Howard) who takes a liking to him, and is taken in by Wizard a Fagin like figure played by Robin Williams. He is den dad to a group of homeless kids and keeps them safe but makes them work for him. He borderlines on creepy but the film thankfully never goes there

How August Rush (the name given to him by Wizard) ends up as an orphan is tragic. Russell (a brilliant cellist) gets pregnant after a night with Meyers (singer in a rock band) and her overprotective father makes sure they never see each other again. When Russell is in an accident close to her due date her father tells her the baby died and sends him off to an orphanage.

Russell's Lyla is devastated by the loss and gives up her music as does Rhys Meyers' Louis. Lyla and Louis both rediscover their music on the way to discovering their child. As you can probably tell music is a crucial element in the film and the climax concert in Central Park is very well done and quite moving. Tears were flowing all through the audience.

Film is skillfully directed by Kirsten Sheridan daughter of Jim Sheridan who was nominated for a writing Oscar for In America. Film opens wide in over 2300 theatres today.

Other films this weekend
The weekend juggernaut will be Disney's Enchanted (which I have not yet seen). It's going to be big. Opens in over 3700 theatres. Very excited to see Amy Adams and Dr. McDreamy back on the big screen in a romantic role. And those of you in LA take yourself to see Nina's Heavenly Delights. We interviewed director Pratibha Parmar earlier this week.
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The writers and the studios are supposedly going back to negotiations next week. I read that the studios are starting to get pissed off that regular folks like us are calling their offices demanding that they settle the strike so that the TV season can be salvaged. Link below lists all the relevant phone numbers for you to make a harassing call to your most hated studio exec.
Bring Back TV!


TV this weekend
Thursday
Out of Africa- Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in Africa. What more do you need? (7:15am, MAX)

Saturday
Battlestar Galactica: Razor- for those of you who are not experienced in the updated Battlestar, this show is all about women in leadership roles. It's what I call a post-gender sci-fi show. This self contained film stars Michelle Forbes as the commander of the Pegasus on the eve on the Cylon attack against the colonies. (Sci-Fi, 9pm)

November 20, 2007

Watched Sunday Night's episode of Cold Case and if you don't have this show on your weekly watch list, you should. (Just keep in mind if you TIVO it, the show sometimes starts late because of football so I add an extra hour just to be sure.)

The episode entitled Boy Crazy was written by Joanna Lovinger and directed by Holly Dale. From what I can tell from the credits, Cold Case (detectives try to solve cold cases) is a really woman friendly show created by Meredith Stiehm. The lead is Detective Lily Rush (played by Kathryn Morris) and is the most woman centric show in the Jerry Bruckheimer TV slate, and on CBS which seems to be the station dedicated to showing as many dismembered women it can get away with each week.

The show was about trying to solve the murder of a young woman from 1963 who "dressed like a boy." There were many issues raised like gender identity disorder and roles assigned to women, and how it sucks not to fit in the world around you. Don't want to give it away, but I thought it was handled very well. Check you listings because sometimes the show reruns the next Saturday. Kudos the the whole team.

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The Academy released the list of the 15 films shortlisted for the documentary Oscar. As usual, women are prominent in this category. Female nominees include:
Ellen Spiro (co-director Phil Donahaue): Body of War
Bonni Cohen (co-director Richard Berge): The Rape of Europa
Andrea Nix Fine (co-director Sean Fine): War/Dance
Tricia Regan: Autism: The Musical

Final five nominees will be announced on Jan 22 with all the rest of the Oscar nominations.

Filmmaker Alert
"The Tribeca Film Institute and fashion designer Gucci announced the joint launch of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. The fund will offer finishing funds and post production guidance to independent filmmakers in need of finances to complete documentaries that promote social change and illuminate issues in need of comprehensive coverage currently missing from mainstream media. " (Indiewire)

News
Julie Christie has a good shot at getting a nomination for Away from Her.
Julie Christie is Good at Being Picky (LA Times)

Amy Adams on Enchanted (which will do some serious money this weekend) (EW)

Q&A with Charlotte Gainsbourg on the new Bob Dylan movie
Charlotte Gainsbourg Was Totally There for Dylan Film

Tube Tonight
Mia Farrow is featured in the Frontline documentary on Darfur (9pm, PBS)