Debra Winger Surfaces with New Book

I got excited when I heard that Debra Winger has written a book. I thought, finally, a tell-all where we can all learn where the fuck she's been all these years and why she wasn't making movies. Her last big movie was Shadowlands in 1993, and she was the female star of the 80s with Urban Cowboy, Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman and Black Widow. But then she disappeared. Winger became the touchstone for the lack of opportunities for women as they age in Hollywood. People have thought that if the great Debra Winger can't make it, what chance do I have as they all exhibited in the Rosanna Arquette documentary Searching for Debra Winger.

The news about the book is that it is not a tell all at all. It is a book of meditations, and at first I didn't really like it because I wanted so much more. I wanted to know why she fought with Shirley MacLaine and about all the other crap I read over the years. But after I went to see Winger speak the other evening at a NY Times event, I understand why this is the only type of book she could write.

The thing about Debra Winger that I never really got until this week is that this is a woman who does not give a shit about Hollywood in the least. She loves to act (and even said that if you have to ask the question should you become an actor then you shouldn't because it is the type of life that chooses you) but hates the business. She made most of her movies before the town become obsessed with box office and youth and she just got out because she had other things she wanted to do with her life.

You gotta respect that. I think all the rumors about her being difficult (I pride myself on being difficult) are probably real and blown out of proportion because she turned her back on Hollywood and Hollywood hates that. Hollywood can kick you out, but you can't leave Hollywood.

I found her in person to be so real, introspective and inquisitive.

Here are some of most interesting tidbits she shared:

• An Officer and a Gentleman was basically shelved and they released it only because there was a strike.
• She never watches her old movies, it makes her self conscious.
  
• She has no relationship to the film business - "I don't need to"
• "I really love acting, but the business, you just have to keep stepping away from it."
• She'd love to produce.
• The Rosanna Arquette film was called State of the Art which is why Winger agreed to do it. Arquette later called and told her she had changed the name.
• She said that women need to go out and see movies the first week just to have our "vote." "Next time you see something interesting go and see it."
  

One of the things I've noticed in the coverage of her book (and return to public life for a brief moment) is that there are tons of questions about whether she has had plastic surgery. Just from my brief encounter with her I can pretty much tell that plastic surgery or botox is not something she is interested in. She says it best in this section Aging Gracefully from her book Undiscovered

Each time I travel to another country and encounter another culture, when I return I am struck by how much American culture is led by the media and not the lives and inherent beauty of its general population. Popular culture has no room for real wrinkles. The movie industry in the United States promotes a lineless, motionless look for women of all ages that is so completely nonthreatening as to be, ironically, scary. We are the specialists in no lines, no map, no history, including the history of many other lands.

Here she is on the View from earlier this week.

Sexist Blog Comment of the Day

Katherine Heigl created a bit of a storm the other day by pulling her name out of Emmy contention for her role on Grey's Anatomy (she won the Emmy last year). She basically publicly said that she felt her part on the show this year was crap. Immediately, Heigl was skewered as she was last year for saying that Knocked Up was "a little sexist." Why is it when a woman speaks out she is tared and feathered. Check out this great piece examining whether the treatment Heigl is receiving is sexist from Rope of Silicon Is Sexism the Overlooked -Ism?

This comment from David Poland of Movie City News (who now joins Jeff Wells in the Hollywood blogger Hall of Shame) is just vile.

And then, in a few years, the almost-40 topless work, hoping to remind Hollywood that they really wanted to bang this blonde just a few years before. And who knows, maybe she will become a real actress as she hits movie-parental age and can play the lonely wife opposite a 60something Jim Carrey.

Shame on you.

My Boys Second Season Premieres Tonight on TBS

Last summer I happened upon a new TBS series about a female sportswriter and her posse of guy friends. There are no other shows that have a female sportswriter as the focus and while it doesn't really deal much with her work issues, there were a couple of episodes that had her deal with being one of the only women in the locker room.

Of course it helps that PJ played by Jordana Spiro is cute and blonde and non threatening and very straight. But it's beyond cool that she really, really loves sports, can keep up with all the guys on everything, and that they don't talk down to her in any way. She's just a woman who loves sports and probably because she liked sports most of her friends turned out to be guys.

The second season kicks off with PJ and a mystery man going to Italy (I'm not going to reveal who it is, but I felt it was kind of anti-climactic) along with her best friend Stephanie who has been her guiding female force since grad school.

I like this show cause it's light and all the guys surrounding PJ are great, especially comedian Jim Gaffigan who plays her brother Andy, a guy who after many years of floundering sells out and goes to work for a big law firm.

The second episode focuses on Andy's beautiful Scandinavian nanny and I thought it was a bit pathetic.

The show was created by Betsy Thomas and Jamie Tarses (remember her from when she was the first woman to run a network?) is one of the executive producers.

Check it out tonight at 9:30pm on TBS.
(photo: Patrick Ecclesine/TBS)

A Show I Really Would Love to Have Seen Aired

When I saw this article about a show called The Tower I got so excited my heart started palpitating -- Marcia Gay Harden playing a news mogul in a drama from Meredith Stiehm (the creator of Cold case). Could this be true? Was it coming to CBS?

Alas, the show didn't make the fall schedule but the question is why did the story run on CBS' Show buzz site? Maybe its not dead? Are they trying to get another network to pick it up? Please someone pick this up. Sounds sooo good.

Here's the description of the show: "The show follows a group of reporters as they investigate stories and solve mysteries against the backdrop of the struggle between journalistic ideals and the pursuit of profit."

Marcia Gay Harden Building "The Tower"
(photo: CBS)

News Briefs

• Producers Sara Risher and Stephanie Austin have teamed to form indie production shingle Chickflicks, aimed at generating two to three pics annually aimed at the female demo. (Variety)

• Katie Jacobs, Executive Producer of House, optioned Girls Like Us the Sheila Weller biography of Carly Simon, Carol King and Joni Mitchell. (Variety)
  

• Joan Allen will be back on Broadway in 2009 co-starring with Jeremy Irons in Impressionism by Michael Jacobs. Can it be that Allen hasn't been on the stage since the Heidi Chronicles in 1989? (Broadway World)

• Army Wives broke the record for Lifetime series with its second season premiere this past Sunday. 4.5 m viewers tuned in. (Variety)

• Justine Bateman is now writing sitcoms (NY Daily News)
  

• DVD Box sets of Sophia Loren and Catherine Deneuve are now available (NY Times)
  

• A roundup on women at the Cannes Film Festival (Alliance of Women Film Journalists)
  

• Zeitgeist has picked up Sundance doc prize winner "Trouble the Water" by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal for a late summer release, the company unveiled Tuesday. It will open August 22 a week before the anniversary of Katrina.

• Katherine Heigl will star in and produce the feature film adaptation of "Escape," the bestselling memoir of Carolyn Jessop, whose testimony helped convict polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs. (Variety)

• Lifetime Television ordered thirteen episodes of the new original comedy, Rita Rocks. With a premiere date slated for this fall, the series stars Nicole Sullivan as Rita Clements, a busy mom and wife who finds herself by starting her own garage band. Also starring is Richard Ruccolo and Tisha Campbell-Martin. The series will be paired in a one-hour comedy block with Reba. (Cynopsis)

Hollywood Thinks About Thinking About Taking Women Seriously as a Market

Sometimes I wonder if being 3,000 miles away from Hollywood I can get enough of a sense of Hollywood's prickly relationship to women and why its so contentious.

So I kind of felt good when I read Rachel Abramowitz' LA Times piece Hollywood Rethinks Chick Flicks for confirmation that yes, I do get it. I get it 100%. I usually like Abramowitz but this story is a rehash of old news and really doesn't do anything to push the conversation any further.

I guess we should be happy that women are finally saying things out loud that have been whispered for a long time. But I'm not happy. I want more and better movies about women.

"Why does the fate of female audiences rest on one movie?" asks producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, who produced the upcoming film "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl," as well as such women-driven hits as "Maid in Manhattan." "There are many movies made for male audiences that work and don't work, but it doesn't seem that the fate of gender-based movies rested on them."

The NY Times reported yesterday that Goldsmith-Thomas is incredibly nervous that the folks at Picturehouse are rolling out her film on July 2 to 1800 theatres. I'd be nervous too because those geniuses at the NY Times did her and her films a complete disservice when they pushed it as the next "women's movie" of the summer. Nothing can live up to Sex and the City. We all knew that before it opened.

The deal is we need to have more than one movie to hang our hats on. If there are still so few in the pipeline every one that opens will be overly scrutinized and held to an unreachable standard just like some woman I know (well I don't know, but I wish I did know) who is off the campaign trail this week.

But she does get Alan Horn the head of Warner Brothers to go on the record about North Country.

"I love that movie," says Horn, referring to "North Country," the Charlize Theron drama based on a landmark sexual harassment case. "It did not perform well commercially. Does that say anything about a movie starring women? No, it doesn't. Sometimes there's a difference between quality and commerciality or marketability."

Bullshit. It absolutely said something about a movie starring a woman. Has there been another film like North Country since North Country? The only ones I can think of are Angelina Jolie in A Might Heart and Reese Witherspoon in Rendition. Both of those failed for a myriad of reasons other than the fact that they starred women.

I also found Horn's quote about the success of Sex and the City quite patronizing:

It seems pretty clear we ought to be talking about a sequel, though there's no immediate conclusion we draw regarding the women's audience. We at Warner Bros. do not wish to be set up as industry seers.

Any movie that was about a guy that opened the way Sex did would have a sequel deal signed this week and announced in the trades. Give me a break. And what the hell does he mean that Warner Brothers does not want to be set up as industry seers? Isn't that the fucking point of the business? To be ahead of your competitors? To make movies that others don't? Do you mean that you don't want to be the studio that actually gets behind the women's market because that would tarnish your reputation as being for boys only? Don't you want to make money? These guys just totally don't get that women are desperate for good movies.

Donna Langley the president of production at Universal which will release Mamma Mia! later this summer said:

"I hope the film's success encourages not only studios to make more films for women but more female writers and directors to step forward with their own unique voices,"

It's time for women like Langley and her female peers to stand up and hire those women that she is asking to step forward. That's the only way women will get a foot in the door. I will be shocked and happy if it happens.

Feminists Write About Sex and the City

It's been a bit lonely out here. (I know that everyone and their sister has written about Sex and the City, but not too many from a feminist perspective. Here are some other opinions.

Amanda Marcotte aka Pandagon writing in Alternet

All these attacks on “Sex and the City” in light of the movie that has come out---mostly from people who probably never watched a minute of the show---are sexist. And they’re a particularly insidious form of sexism, one that feminists are prone to falling for, which suggests that women don’t deserve respect unless they distance themselves from unserious things.

But the worst is the assumption that because it’s about four women and it’s funny and it’s about sex and there’s expensive clothes, then it is by definition stupid. Why? Because it’s feminine, admit it.

And that’s why, as I’ve said before, the show is a fantasy for a lot of fans who don’t have that opportunity to live, well, like men get to. And that’s why the show is such a sore spot in our country, because it put a friendly face on that demonized woman, the independent woman. There’s not a lot of room for independent women still in the Hollywood machine. Movies like “Knocked Up” can push the envelope of raunchy humor, but still play it very safe and deny the threatening idea that a woman (gasp!) might not want to be tied down to just any random dude who asks. The Sexual Politics of Sex and the City

Sarah Seltzer on RH Reality Check

SATC allows its characters to feel the omnipresent judgments and conflicts in women's lives, and feel them deeply, in a way that resonates with truths about modern womanhood. But then, as the arc or episode draws to an end, the four characters always accept each other. That kind of unassailable sisterhood is a feminist ideal, even when accented by silly designer shoes.

Let's hope that the triumph of this film, combined with that of Juno, means that there will more smart movies for women. But more importantly, let's hope that it gives Sex and the City II, and other movies of its ilk, license to be more risky, to be more real, and to include racial diversity that's more than just a gesture. Sex And The City: Eww It's For Girls!

Anita Diamant in the Boston Globe

Ah friendship; the love that dare not speak its name. I speak of women's friendship, a thing nearly invisible in popular culture where women seem to operate in a near-friendless vacuum. Friends and the city

Judith Warner on the NY Times website

“Sex and the City” is the perfect movie for our allegedly ever-so-promising post-feminist era, when “angry” is out and Restalyne is in, and virtually all our country’s most powerful women look younger now than they did 20 years ago. Woman in Charge, Women Who Charge

Paula Kamen on Women in Media and News

But the reviews have gone above and beyond just criticizing the movie to being very defensive about the characters’ sexuality, to the point of exhibiting a strange hostility. New Yorker hostility beyond being ‘just not that into’ SATC

Will a Hit Movie About a Girl Help Make More Movies About Women?

Let's be honest. There are only a couple of female centric films opening this summer. Mamma Mia is the largest one and then there are a couple of smaller films notable Brick Lane and Frozen River (I've seen and liked both) but not too much else.

But Hollywood is really trying to figure out how to build on the Sex and the City audience so they're pitching the girl movies like Kit Kittredge: An American Girl to women. I haven't seen Kit Kittredge yet (I will later this week) but I am pretty offended by today's NY Times piece that basically says that Picturehouse is trying to get the Sex and the City audience to see Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. Pleeze.

I have nothing against Kit. In fact you can probably bet that I will like it. It's directed by a woman (Patricia Rozema), written by women (Ann Peacock and Valerie Tripp), produced by a woman (Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas) and stars the lovable Abigail Breslin as a young girl reporter trying to be taken seriously in 1934 Cincinnati. Shit, that's some serious women power.

Sounds pretty good to me. It's based on the American Girl doll (character) and I know some girls worship those dolls (they are way better than Barbies) and the store has become a serious destination for the young set in the cities where they are located.

But this is a movie about a girl. This is not a movie about a woman or women and that's where I take offense. It's just not the same. Movies about girls and young women even movies with feminist messages like this one sounds like it has, have always been ok. Think about Bend it Like Beckham, Mean Girls, Nancy Drew and the upcoming Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. But movies about women is where we are faltering.

If they really wanted to build on the Sex and the City "womentum" wouldn't it have been smarter to move up the date of The Women into the summer and try to make it another group outing?

I hope Kit Kittredge does great, but Hollywood still needs to pay attention to women and films about girls won't cut it,
More Girls, Little Ones, Try to Take Back the Multiplex (NY Times)

Women in Leadership Positions in the Arts in the UK

Why is it that the British papers actually analyze issues while we spend time talking in circles? In a well-researched piece, Maddy Costa of The Guardian looks into why women who are excelling in the arts fields are not making it to the top jobs. The story began when Culture Minister Margaret Hodge unleashed a scathing diatribe about the lack of women in artistic leadership positions. The Guardian talked to women in all areas of the arts and here are some of the notable quotes.

Vikki Heywood, executive director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, thinks we've reached the tipping point: on this, she's absolutely confident. "In 10 years' time," she says, "you and I won't be having this conversation."

Nadia Stern, chief executive of Rambert Dance Company, says, "Margaret Hodge is right, and it's a bit depressing that this is still newsworthy. Dance is still very male-dominated: most of the choreographers are male; most of the designers are male; when I meet my counterparts in venues around the country, they are almost always male. Given the talent that is out there, something is going on if most of the people in those positions are men."

Talk to enough successful women, and you start thinking that women are on an equal footing with men. And yet it's difficult to reconcile that with the fact that fewer than 25% of British theatres have female artistic directors, that Kathryn McDowell is the only managing director of a British orchestra (the London Symphony), or that four of the 14 senior staff at Tate are women.

The work-family balance issue gets some comments:

Polly Teale, who co-runs the theatre company Shared Experience, says that when her husband Ian Rickson was artistic director of the Royal Court, the pair felt that "we both needed a wife, in the old-fashioned sense". Joking aside, she wonders whether leadership positions need to be restructured to allow women to maintain those jobs alongside a family life.

To a degree, long hours, low pay and the work-life imbalance are not gender-specific problems. Depressingly, the problem that seems to be unique to women is their own self-doubt.

Some women think there are now other, more pressing diversity issues to be addressed. Heywood highlights the frustration felt by black and ethnic minority theatre directors, whose opportunities to work in the mainstream are few.

We could really use an analysis like this here, don't you think?
Thinking Outside the Box

Flying - Confessions of a Free Woman Out on DVD Today

Jennifer Fox's epic documentary explorations on women's roles is available for purchase today. The series focuses on Jennifer Fox's questions about gender issues, motherhood, marriage and in the parts airing tonight she asks these questions of women activists working on issues in countries around the world. Check out my recent interview with Jennifer: Interview with Jennifer Fox

Purchase the DVD here ($3 from each DVD sale goes to Our Bodies Ourselves): Buy Flying

Sarah Jessica Parker on The View

Last Friday Sarah Jessica Parker went to The View to talk about Sex and the City. Some high points:

I had an instinct that the time was right. There were no numbers to look at because there are no films with women over 40 to look at.

What this hopefully means is that we have put a white hot spotlight in the fact that half the population of this country are women and they want to go to the movies and they want to see a story that is well told.

She also said that 41% of the audience had not been to the movies in two months. Duh, what would they have seen? It's a desert out there.

Sex and the City- Week Two Box Office

Sex and the City dropped a whopping 63% from last weekend and made $21.3 million for a cumulative total domestically of $99.3. The fall was expected but put the damper on the conversation over whether it would have any legs. But on the other side it did make $22 million during the week. Sex was also the overseas box office champ beating Indiana Jones racking up over $91 m in two weeks of international release. So, cumulatively, Sex has made almost $200 million worldwide in two weeks. Wow.

A Variety article last week tried to analyze whether the success of Sex would and could lead to more women's films. We still live in a world where studios have to be and prodded almost kicking and screaming into making films about women. I just don't understand what the problem is. They have potential to be successful if they are good. And we just had the most successful female film ever and the women of Hollywood (even the successful ones) know from their experience that the success of women's films does not breed more women's films.

Wendy Finerman (one of the most successful female producers says):

"When 'X-Men' does well and a studio decides to do 'Iron Man,' that's a reasonable business decision," says Wendy Finerman, who has produced "Prada," "Stepmom" and "P.S. I Love You" and recently set up "I Didn't Fancy Him Anyway" at CBS Films. "It doesn't happen that way with films that serve the female audience."

Diane English the writer and director of The Women (whose film will probably benefit the most from the success of Sex and the City) talks about her experiences:

Writer-director Diane English spent 13 years trying to get her redo of "The Women" into production, getting turned down by one female studio topper after another along the way before Bob Berney at Picturehouse finally said yes.

"I would come in with my list," she says, citing "The Hours" and "Steel Magnolia" as examples of similar fare that worked, only to hear studio execs dismiss each example as a fluke.

"We have to start over every time," English says.

The "Murphy Brown" creator admits she once considered it her mission to break the barrier against femme fare, but Bette Midler, one of stars of "The Women," advised her not to hold her breath, noting "First Wives Club" had no lasting effect. Nonetheless, English has two more femme-centric projects in the works -- an adaptation of Erica Jong's "Fear of Flying" and "The First Man," a romantic comedy about the first man married to a U.S. president.

Come on, this is the woman who made Murphy Brown one of the best sitcoms EVER which ran for a decade and did more to make the Republicans look like assholes than any democratic presidential candidate ever could. She is the top of the line and has spent over a decade literally begging for the measly 16 million to get her movie made. It just disgusts me. I can't wait to see The First Man. Some studio has to think its a good idea epecially now after Hillary Clinton's presidential run. If I had more than 22 cents, I'd be investing in Diane English.

Will Hollywood embrace femme pics? (Variety)

Woman Theatre Director on the Verge

It's hard to be a female director in any industry and the theatre business is just as challenging. Only four women have won Tony's and now a fifth is poised to join the club. Anna D. Shapiro, director of August: Osage County is predicted to join this elite club which includes Julie Taymor, Mary Zimmerman, Susan Stroman and Gerry Hynes. But Shapiro has no desire to become a full time Broadway director. She loves running the directing program at Northwestern so much so that she even turned down the prestigious job of Artistic Director at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA.

August Director Poised to Join Broadway's Exclusive Club (NY Sun)
(photo: Heuichul Kim)

Women at the Box Office This Weekend

All the hoopla surrounding Sex and the City has finally helped make some people (mostly the ones in Hollywood with blinders on their eyes) aware that there are others besides teenage boys interested in seeing movies. Now, we just need to see more of those movies in theatres around the country. As I know from the people who contact me, there is no shortage of smart, funny, touching, political and interesting films by and about women -- they just don't seem to get into theatres, and if they do it is mostly in small, limited releases.

As I've said before, what SATC has done more than anything is change the conversation about the potential of the women's market and that is something we all need to figure out how to build on. We are working on coming up with some ideas here at Women & Hollywood and would welcome any thoughts you have.

BTW - Sex and the City had a great week for a total over $77 million in seven days in the US and another 50 million abroad. That's almost $130 million!

The bad news is that there are few new women's films coming up in the next few weeks. While that might help Sex and the City, since it will be the only female-centric option, it sure won't help build any momentum or as we have been calling it at Women & Hollywood - womentum.

Films remaining in theatre:
Sex and the City (has added 40 screens)
Under the Same Moon
Baby Mama
My Blueberry Nights
How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer
Then She Found Me

Heather Graham seems to be opening in a comedy??? about a woman trying to have a baby and finding out she has one egg left. I don't know anything about this film (and since I spend a lot of time thinking about women centric films you know that's not a good thing.)

Sexist Review of the Day

We know that some reviews of Sex and the City have been sexist (according to the website Fantasy Moguls "Rotten Tomatoes presents 139 reviews, 69 percent of which were written by men. Only 49 percent of male critics wrote positive reviews while 51 percent panned Sex and the City. Meanwhile, only 14 of the 40 female reviewers were negative about the box office sensation with 65 percent of women giving Carrie Bradshaw and friends the critical "thumbs up.") but this one in the New Yorker takes the cake.

I'm really ok with reviews that focus on whether or not you like the film, but many of these reviews have been about these looks of these women and whether women could and should be sexual objects. Shame on you Anthony Lane!

Here are the most egregiously sexist lines:

To be fair, there are four of them—banded together, like hormonal hobbits, and all obsessed with a ring.

Next, we have Samantha (Kim Cattrall). Everyone has Samantha, or had her at some point; so she would like us to believe, and this is where the film of “Sex and the City” begins to part company with the original.

Now the whiff has become a blast, and Samantha’s efforts to signal her appeal, which might have seemed languorous on the small screen, are blown up here into an embarrassing semaphore: thudding closeups of her slurping through a cocktail straw or swallowing a mouthful of guacamole.

In a montage of wedding-dress fittings, she honors “new friends like Vera Wang and Carolina Herrera and Christian Lacroix, Lanvin and Dior,” and so on; what I object to is not the name-dropping—think of it as a chick response to “American Psycho”—but the montage itself, which is shot in lazy veils of schmaltz.

In short, to anyone facing the quandaries of being a working mother, the movie sends a vicious memo: Don’t be a mother. And don’t work. Is this really where we have ended up—with this superannuated fantasy posing as a slice of modern life?

I walked into the theatre hoping for a nice evening and came out as a hard-line Marxist, my head a whirl of closets, delusions, and blunt-clawed cattiness. All the film lacks is a subtitle: “The Lying, the Bitch, and the Wardrobe.”

But the kicker (which I can't blame on Lane ) is this David Hughes cartoon I'm disgusted.

Army Wives Creator Katherine Fugate Answers Questions in Advance of Sunday's Season Premiere

The second season of Army Wives kicks off this Sunday night at 10pm. The show picks up with everyone struggling to get through the aftermath of the Hump bar bombing Suffice it to say, no one is the same. For those of you who have never seen it, this show is about the women (and one man) whose spouses are in the Army. Some are deployed overseas, some work on the local base, but all are married to the army. It's a show about relationships, endurance, loneliness, longing, and a lot of fear.

It also features a high ranking African American woman, (Wendy Davis as Lt. Colonel Joan Burton) who has worked so hard to rise to an incredibly important position, but is also struggling with her marriage. As this season begins she also has to decide how to deal with her unplanned pregnancy.

In a poignant moment during the season premiere, Kim Delaney (as Claudia Joy the mother hen and wife of the base commander) is taking her daughter Amanda (played by Kim Allen) to college and is asked by Amanda if she regretted having to leave law school when she became unexpectedly pregnant while in law school. She shockingly says yes. You never hear that on TV. Honesty.

The show was the highest rated new series on Lifetime, and even the presidential candidates are getting behind the show with both Barack Obama and John McCain taping messages in support of military families to air in advance of the show.

Katherine Fugate created the show based on the book Under the Saber: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives by Tanya Biank. She serves as one of the executive producers and her other writing credits include Xena: Warrior Princess and the feature The Prince & Me (the first one, with Julia Stiles not the cheesy second one.) Fugate answered some questions in advance of the season premiere.

Women & Hollywood How did you come to create Army Wives?

Katherine Fugate: The Mark Gordon Company sent me the non-fiction book on which the series is based. I assumed the book was meant to be adapted into a feature film as I had spent the majority of my career writing movies. The major thrust of the book was a journalist's investigation into a series of true crime murders at Fort Bragg, but I fell in love with the military world itself. I was moved by the wives' camaraderie, their love of their soldiers and their service and sacrifice to our country.

I was also swept away by the grand tradition and imagery of military life, the enclosed community, the hierarchical infrastructure - and of course, the gossip and sex. It had everything! So I met with Deb Spera, the president of the MGC, and pitched a feature film adaptation of the book, beginning and ending with a murder. About 10 minutes into my pitch, Deb stopped me. I figured she'd heard enough and was showing me the door. When she asked why my pitch sounded so much like a movie, when the project was for television, I explained all I received was the book with an empty buck slip with her name on it. No other explanation was given, so I just assumed... After a hilarious beat of mutual confusion, we got on the same page and took the television series to ABC, then Lifetime. It's been a great honor and challenge and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to shine a light on this heroic world.

W&H: You covered some pretty intense issues last season. What issues will you be covering this season?

KF: The military exists in a world that deals with life-and-death issues on a daily basis. That creates a heightened sense of reality. When you watch the news at night - that downed helicopter or Humvee hit by an IED could hold your husband. The last phone call you shared with your spouse could literally be your last. Everything you do gets magnified. You are so awake - so achingly aware of every moment, every opportunity. It makes for a dramatic backdrop that affords great storytelling. We'll be exploring issues of sacrifice, death, camaraderie and life-or-death decisions. Our show is about the personal relationships themselves. This is a life of such great impermanence. Every two or three years you pack up and move, making new relationships in a city you didn't choose. This allows us to bring new faces onto Fort Marshall all the time.

One issue the real Army wives continually bring up is the reintegration process when the soldiers return home. How they've changed after being on the battlefield. Often the soldier expects to come home to everything exactly the same way it was when they left, even if they've been gone for two years. But life has moved on. The wives have changed. So have their children. You can't just pick up as you left with so much life experience that you didn't share together. So now, in some ways, you are forced to fall in love all over again, with your partner, your children and the country you left.

W&H: Most people really don't have a real understanding of "army wives." What do you want people to know about the show and the real army wives that they might not get from the general press and marketing info?

KF: The Army wives serve too, as much as the soldiers. Their sacrifices benefit us all. They've been in the shadows too long and when you fully understand all they give up for our country, you can't help but be moved. They become single mothers for months, even years at a time. They combat prejudice, loneliness, the fear their partner could be killed at any moment. Yet, they find the beauty in life to a greater degree than most. They understand the immediacy of love. But most of all, they have a support system we don't see in civilian life. They show up for each other, they get each other's backs. It's a world we could all learn from. At the core, our show is about love. And the sacrifices you make for love: of your country, your friends, your family, your husband or wife. That's what Army Wives is about - and you get a real sense of pride knowing that.

W&H: Is it different writing for a show where you know that the primary audience is women?

KF: I personally don't set out thinking I am writing for an audience of women, men, dogs or aliens. I actually write for the subject itself - to illuminate who I am writing, not who I am writing for. I seek out the flawed beauty, the imperfections that make us all human beings.

Take the lessons learned and throw them out there. Embolden some souls. We tell stories to laugh, cry - but ultimately to learn from each other. For me, it's not that you stumble and fall - but how you get up that matters. Who you become is the story. I am also a true lover of melodrama - of writing directly at the heart of the matter. Not sidestepping the drama, but excavating it. Unearthing it until it gets messy and honest - but very real. I suppose that would appeal more to women, than men. But who knows? It's my understanding Army Wives has a great cross-over appeal. I even know men who watch the shows when their wives refuse to!

W&H: You have written both films and TV. What is the difference for you as a writer?

KF: They are vastly different experiences. I didn't realize how much until I started the process on Army Wives. As someone once wisely said, "you don't know how much you don't know." Yet, at the same time, writing is writing and requires the same sort of inner depth and exploration, messy regurgitation of the soul, regardless of the medium. Even this interview requires me to be in an open place and speak from the heart. That's the only way I know how to approach writing - no matter what the genre or format. But the work requirements are completely different. TV is far more immediate and requires you to wear many different hats.
It's far more an office job with long hours, water coolers and your hand attached to a cell phone. It easily becomes a 24/7, 7 days a week job, too, so if you need your teeth cleaned, do it now. Because once the season starts, you'll be lucky to read a fortune cookie.

Features are far more solitary. Scripts can take years to write, rewrite and produce. You're often alone, in your own world. There is less interaction and far more introspection. You get many drafts and opportunities to explore that draft. With feature writing, you get more time for nuance, to digest, to walk away and pick up a script a week or a month later and look at it with fresh eyes. A TV episode has to air on a specific date or you have an hour of black screen, so you're sprinting from day one until the end of the season.

In TV, during season 1 of Army Wives, there were times when I had 24 to 48 hours to write a script from scratch that had to be production ready. The stress factor is completely different.

W&H: Since this is a show that focuses on women, are there more women in the writers room and does this show give more opportunities to women writers?

KF: We are always looking to tell the best stories that we can for these characters. So that means hiring the very best writers that we can. We do very much encourage female writers to submit material during staffing season. Our show is very female-centric, from the studio and network executives, to the producers, and of course, our cast. But ultimately for hiring writers - what matters is having good material and a passion for the subject matter.

W&H: While women are more prevalent as TV writers than in film the numbers are still no where near acceptable. What advice could you give someone who want to make a career writing for TV?

KF: My best advice would be: Do your homework. Make relationships. Understand how it all works. Develop an elephant thick skin. Accept this is a business. Be a professional. No one cares about your feelings. Now you have the armor - the sword and breastplate to go into battle. Then remember you're an artist. Your passion and your sensitivity are what make you a good writer. Don't lose it. Don't become hard and bitter. Put your heart and soul on the page. There will always be someone who doesn't get you, doesn't like what you do. Expect that. Accept that - and move on. There will be others who will recognize your voice, what you are trying to do with your work. Be open to them. They will take your material even farther. They will help you reach your goals - this is a collaborative medium, after all. You can't do it alone. You can't act, direct, produce, light the scene, dress the set and stock craft service with multi-colored cheese plates.

Lastly, don't just like what you write. Love what you write. If you truly think you're the one meant to write this story, then write it. Believe in it. Stay in your light. The first step is the word. The story. That's your part in this. Own it and the rest will come to you.

Show premieres Sunday, June 8 at 10pm on Lifetime.
Army Wives' brings home a female perspective to war (USA Today)

Yuck Ads from Showtime

Showtime is pairing the new season of Weeds starring Mary Louise Parker (who I love) and their new show the Secret Diary of a Call Girl (which I know nothing about, but can imagine what it is about.)

I saw these ads on a big billboard in the NYC subway system and gagged.

News Briefs

Here are a couple of things of worth noting:

• Showtime has ordered 12 episodes of the United States of Tara written by Diablo Cody and starring Toni Collette as a woman with multiple personalities. Alexa Junge (Friends) will serve as showrunner as well as an executive producer. Steven Spielberg is also an executive producer. Pilot was directed by Craig Gillespie (wouldn't this have been a perfect opportunity to have a woman director?)

• Hilary Swank and producer Molly Smith have launched 2S productions with a first look deal with Alcon Entertainment based at Warner Brothers.

• Holly Hunter received a star on the Hollywood walk of fame last week. Here's an overview of some of her accomplishments: Holly Hunter Finds Grace (Variety)
  

• Fox optioned Julie Buxbaum's novel The Opposite of Love for Kara Holder to adapt.

• Keke Palmer has been cast as the lead in the Nickelodeon pilot True Fashion said to be a combination of "Big meets The Devil Wars Prada." "Show centers on a 15-year-old tapped to head the teen division of a major fashion label." (HR)
  

• Barbara Kopple is partnering with City Lights Television on a documentary series titled 3 Americas, which will explore how class affects the day-to-day lives and behavior of three American families of varying socioeconomic status. (HR)

• Natasha McElhone will star in Heaven & Earth as the first female British doctor who had to disguise herself as a guy in order to practice. Marleen Gorris directs the $15 m film which shots at the end of the year.

• French screen diva Fanny Ardant will make her directing debut with the family drama Ashes and Blood, which she also wrote. (HR)

• HBO is adapted the British prison drama Bad Girls. Oscar nominated writer Nancy Oliver and Raelle Tucker are writing the adaptation and they will executive produce with Eileen Gallagher. "Co-created by Gallagher, Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus, Bad Girls has been praised for its portrayal of the complex relationships among female inmates.“ (HR)
  

MadCat Women's Film Festival Looking for Submissions

MadCat seeks provocative and visionary films and videos directed or co-directed by women. Films can be of any length or genre and produced ANY year. MadCat is committed to showcasing work that challenges the use of sound and image and explores notions of visual story telling. All subjects/topics will be considered. Submission Fee: $15-$40 sliding scale. Pay what you can afford. International entrants may disregard the fee.

For more details go to www.madcatfilmfestival.org.
info@madcatfilmfestival.org

Preview Formats: VHS or DVD. Exhibition Formats: 35mm, 16mm, Super8, Beta SP, Mini DV, VHS, DVD. All entries must include a self addressed stamped envelope for return of materials. Previews will not be returned without a self-addressed stamped envelope. Early Bird Deadline: Nov 3, 2008; Late Bird Deadline: Jan 12, 2009

Sex and the City Aftermath: Will it Save The Women?

Looks like The Women, a movie that nobody would touch or even talk about for months is getting a new lease of life in the wake of Sex and the City's success.

Hooray. Can't say anything about the film cause I haven't seen it, but all I know is that it has a prime release date of Columbus Day weekend for months and then when Picturehouse (the distributor) got sucked into Warner Brothers (aka the studio that hates women) it looked like The Women was going to be dumped into a small release on September 12th. This 15 year in the making labor of love for Diane English was made for the paltry $16.5 million and stars some serious women including: Annette Bening, Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, Eva Mendes, Bette Midler and Candice Bergen.

Here's what a Warner Exec said to Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood: "We should give it another look."

Take a look at the trailer for yourself (this is the best quality trailer I could find). Seems kind of funny to me.



Do you think it will do better in the wake of Sex and the City? Will the hungry women's audience come out again?

PS- Sex and the City took in $5.5 at the box office on Monday making it the best non-holiday Monday of the year after Iron Man. News flash to Hollywood, women do go to the movies during the week. I'm excited to see how the rest of the week goes. Between the domestic numbers and the $37.5 its taken in overseas it it almost at $100 million and that's in less than a week of release worldwide. Incredible.

Final Thoughts on Sex and the City

Hollywood has a very short memory and it's Tuesday now and Sex and the City is in the rear view mirror as two more typical summer entries prepare to bombard the theatres this weekend -- Adam Sandler's Don't Mess with the Zohan and the animated Kung Fu Panda. Neither one of those films interests me in the least.

But what was unprecedented, as I've said before, is that for a short time Hollywood shuddered and paused to think about women.

I'm not naive to believe that a film that was built around an event, was marketed brilliantly, and played up all the materialism and issues we are all nervous about in this recession, will change a mentality that has been dismissive at best and at most times down right antagonistic to women -- especially those of us who dare to age.

I'm impressed that a movie starring four women who actually have lines on their faces were embraced by women across the country and the world -- overseas the film made $37.2 million since last week-- in such large numbers.

I think the point is that something larger is happening and this movie didn't cause it, it just reflects it. Whether or not you are a Hillary Clinton fan there is a gender conversation happening in this country, and women (especially those white and over 60) are angry. Did the fact that we are living in a highly gendered moment help drive women to the box office? I don't pretend to know the answer to that. All I know is that the last few months women have been talking about things and letting anger show (see all the Hillary Clinton articles) that was just whispered about before.

Sex and the City as a film is not groundbreaking. It's really a typical chick flick -- a film with some feminist messages but with pretty clothes and a happy ending. It fits perfectly into the chick flick genre in this "post-feminist" world.

But think about it, over the last several months women have been surprising Hollywood and this weekend is just further confirmation of that fact. Remember Juno? Changemaking movie. About a girl, written by a woman and embraced by everyone. Remember 27 Dresses? Opened to $23 million on a dreaded January weekend and has raked in over $155 million both foreign and domestic for a film that cost $30 million. How about Baby Mama? Opened at $17 million and has raked in $56 million since April 25. Does anyone remember these successes?

The big question that looms is, will the success of this film (which was the largest opening for a film that starred a woman beating Angelina Jolie's breast cones in Tomb Raider by almost $10 million) mean anything when other successes over the last years (The Devil Wears Prada, Something's Gotta Give- god I hate that we keep having to repeat those two films because THERE ARE NO OTHERS TO NAME) have done nothing to create more opportunities for women onscreen.

Again, I reached out to others for their thoughts as to whether anything might change and here are some of the highlights (names appear after the quote.)

The film is striking a chord. My feeling is that we'll be seeing many more iconic tv series, whose runs have ended, brought to the screen, like FRIENDS. Just a hunch I have. Good news though, in that no one in the industry predicted this kind of box office. After THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and this film, I have a feeling we'll be seeing many more women's films set in the NYC fashion world. My daughter and her friends aren't label conscious at all, but still like PROJECT RUNWAY. Go figure??!!

-- Gale Ann Hurd, Hollywood producer of Aeon Flux, The Terminator films and this summer's The Hulk among many other films

I predict that there will be more Sex and the City movies but very few other changes in what types of movies Hollywood makes. I fully expect studio execs to explain away this weekend by saying the only way to get women to the box office is to have a tv show promote the movie for ten years before the movie gets made. The thing is they aren't interested in making movies for women because a) most of the heads of studios are men and b) the only thing those men assume other men (the only people who go to movies) find interesting about women is whether or not we are going to sleep with them.

Who we are, what we are curious about, what we are interested in just terrifies them. And now that we've proven that a movie that practically no men went to see can make 60 million in it's opening weekend, they're even more terrified. Because if they admit the truth, you don't need men to open a movie, then Hollywood would actually have to change. They might, for instance, have to hire a few more women and they certainly don’t want to do that.

-- Hollywood TV and screenwriter and woman who loves movies but hardly ever goes anymore

What "Sex and the City" teaches us is that it is unwise to ever underestimate the clout and power of women when it comes to the box-office. However, a film like this does not come along every week and any attempt to emulate or replicate this success, will be difficult. "Sex and the City" is a cultural phenomenon that combined well-rounded and truly distinctive characters with stories and situations that truly resonated with female audiences. Carrie Bradshaw and Co. gave women their very own "Indiana Jones" or "Star Wars"-style blockbuster. Can a "Sex and the City 2" announcement be far behind?

Paul Dergarabedian, President, Media By Numbers

The box office success of Sex and the City PROVES that there is a female movie-going audience out there with massive buying power that will come to the movies if stories are offered that relate to their experience -- Hollywood could make a windfall if they spent as much time developing and crafting movies about women as they do with the latest dude-centered comedy or comic book extravaganza. I'm sure studio executives will dismiss the box office as being solely based on Sex and the City's television run, but that just goes to show that female brands can do as well when properly exploited -- after all Spiderman and Ironman and Indian Jones are all pre-sold brands as well. Women have been ignored at the box-office for too long -- I'm hoping the studios will get off their asses and greenlight a slate of movies that will actually address the half the human population that is dismissed each week.

-- Angela Robinson, director, Debs and Herbie Fully Loaded

I think we need to be really careful about throwing out charges of "sexism" or "misogyny" when it comes to critique of this film's quality or skepticism/caution about What it All Means for the future of the industry. I think it's true that if you give women something they want to see, they will pay to see it. Nevertheless, in a world of niche demographics, I think lumping every female moviegoer in the country in the same bucket will prove, going forward, to be dangerously reductive. That's the lesson here––if we can agree that this same film wouldn't have had nearly the impact if it was "just" a 2.5 hour dramedy about women in their 40s and not an event pulling on a powerful nostalgia within the culture, then we should be able to agree that this success is more about branding than gender. If anyone can find another brand that means this much to this many women, maybe it'll translate into an equivalent hit. (America's Next Top Model: The Movie, perhaps? I'm not being totally facetious––that shit is huge.)

-- Karina Longworth, Spoutblog

Is this popularity founded on the perception of the group - as women are very big on being social, on connecting, and having girl friend getaways, or coffee klatches, etc. Now, I connect online, to hundreds of women, rather than a few good friends locally. It's the connection, and the women of Sex and the City have it.

Another thing I wonder, that Hollywood should be paying attention to, is that women (and not a few men, I think) love that personal touch. That face2face thing. While we are all prominent in social media, we hunger for the face2face connection. Sex and the City is proving that women go to the movies too, and they aren't shy about doing it in groups. The whole "me and my girl friends are going to see Sex and the City" thing was really big... it harkens back to a day when women were comfortable out with each other, "manless" if you will. The movie really did expose (in a good way) women's thoughts, feelings, and dreams...much better than some other movies, like Thelma and Louise - two women who were supposed to be strong and smart, but were dumb and weak (hence, they ended up driving off a cliff...the only ending that movie could have because, after all, wicked women like that do not belong in society, right?)

I hope we can see our way to recognizing the power of the purse -- to drive ALL sales in the U.S. Even movie sales. The worry is that women in Hollywood are not in positions of power. They still have to convince a man that their idea is worthy. If another movie like Sex and the City is pitched, it could be a hard sell. Despite the box office results. Men just don't want women intruding on their turf. Sad, but true.

-- Yvonne DiVita, marketingtowomenonline.com

What they can learn is that women are a valuable demographic, like it or not. While some of us don't feel like we're included in that group - I hate most Kate Hudson movies, for instance - when it's this massive, it's worth paying attention to.

The tribal movies with women, like The First Wives Club or Steel Magnolias seem to do better with audiences than films about singular women on a journey. Why is this? Probably because women aren't likely to shell out their hard earned dough liberally; it has to be something with a marginal payoff. If they know they're going to laugh and have a decent enough time they will probably rush out to see the film. If it's just one woman and they don't like the woman, they won't go. This is what explains the popularity of Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts way back when: they were women most women liked, as well as men. Now, these seem to be divided. I blame this on the current trend of catering to the target demographic.

I think the youth/gossip culture has done serious damage to women 40 and above. In the useless battle to stay young the benefits of aging are lost. Producers should take note, actresses should take note - there is still a market for stories about women with flaws. Sarah Jessica Parker has liver spots and man hands. She has had no work done. Cynthia Nixon is a woman who would never be cast as a sexy female lead in a Hollywood film were it not for the popularity of Sex and the City. Better Midler, Barbra Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg have been proving for years that flawed females sell yet there is constant pressure put on actresses like Nicole Kidman to be thin and wrinkle-free and most of all, young looking or else face not getting any good parts.

The point is that perfection doesn't sell nearly as well. This weekend proved that when women want to see a movie they don't have to ask mom and dad for the money; they just need to get out their debit card.

Is Sex and the City a good movie? Not really. But neither was the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or just about any other money maker this year. What else is new? What's new is that women's films, without crossover appeal for little boys, can stand perfectly well on its own.

-- Sasha Stone -- Awards Daily

Will Mamma Mia! and The Women do as well? Unlikely. Sex and the City is an established popular brand. There was an appetite for this movie. But Hollywood regularly underestimates the power of the female audience, and thus tends to starve them. Maybe the studios will wake up and take notice.

Anne Thompson Thompson on Hollywood(from a posting)

Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Ashley Judd

For standing up for women's rights: “A woman’s body is not the property of any church, state or other human being...”

She's testifying at the UN on Wednesday on the issue of human trafficking.
Ashley Judd: Women’s rights key to ending poverty

The Aftermath of Sex and the City

I'm working on putting together a longer more thoughtful piece that will come later in the week, but I put together this overview for the Women's Media Center.

Unless you've been under a rock for the last week or so you know that the women from the TV show Sex and the City are back this time on the big screen. Four years after we said goodbye to Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, the women have taken the movie industry and the country by storm, besting all projections with an opening weekend take of almost $56 million dollars.

Check out the full piece here: A Women's Cultural Moment

Here are some points of note that I've picked up from the coverage:

• Women made up 85% of the audience on Friday night.
• More men were in the audience on Saturday when it played more like a typical romantic comedy date movie.
• Warner Brothers (a studio that does not have a good track record with liking women centric films) called it a "cultural phenomenon"
• Kim Catrall already has her next job lined up. The lead in the HBO comedy Sensitive Skin about a middle-aged NY wife and mother, who begins to question her choices in life as well as her sexuality
  

Stupid line of the day goes to The NY Times: "Grown-up women have never exactly been absent from the big screen. Women’s roles have been as complex and varied as Helen Mirren’s turn as Queen Elizabeth II, which won her an Oscar in 2007, and Meryl Streep’s performance as the semi-monstrous fashion magazine editor in “Prada,” which turned into a box office smash."

Gee wiz- two women over two years? Kind of proves the point of why women are desperate for women's stories- doesn't it?

Sexist Blog Comment of the Day

Jeff Wells from Hollywood Elsewhere who earlier called Sex and the City a "Taliban Recruitment film" has bested himself by publishing the most misogynistic column in response to Sex and the City's box office success.

It's also, arguably, an indication that a certain portion of middle-class American females -- pre-teens, teens, 20- and 30-somethings, middle-agers -- are, no offense, social dimwits and aesthetically clueless saps with the collective depth of three or four quarters laid on top of each other.

The single biggest negative for the image of African Americans over the last 15 years was their widely reported elation when O.J. Simpson was found not guilty. People read those stories and saw the video clips and said to themselves, "What...?" The SATC phenomenon, I submit, is on a par with this -- a cultural snapshot showing everyone in the world how utterly shallow and culturally nowhere mainstream American women have become, for the most part. If, that is, they continue to embrace this film over the next few weeks. One weekend's worth of enthusiasm doesn't make it a bona fide hit.

I'm obviously not speaking of women who are educated X-factor urbans, academics, journalists, hipsters, poets, creatives, etc. I mean the average American suburban woman with her fucking credit cards who sees herself as being "in the game" regardless of her age.

In one fell swoop he manages to offend every woman in America and compare women's interest in seeing a film to a murder trial where one of the victims was the accuser's wife who he had beaten before.

Jeff, you are officially an asshole.

FINALLY, Women Prove Their Box Office Potential

It's not often that women can say we bested all expectations and wild dreams of success for a Hollywood film, but this weekend we have spoken LOUDLY with our overwhelming support of Sex and the City. I was just looking back at the different pieces I've written and saw a post from May 6th when I pondered: can this be the biggest women's film ever? Answer: YUP.

Now I am not talking about your typical "chick flick" romantic comedy here. I am talking about a movie that stars a WOMAN (or several women) and is told from her (or their) perspective.

Here's what I said on May 6:

I've looked at the numbers of how other women's films have opened and I really think this movie can break the records. I think that the film (depending on how many screens it opens on) can open with 50 m. Sex and the City: Will it be the Biggest Women's Movie Ever?

I put that number out there tentatively and no one took me seriously. But I trust women and know (from the folks that read and comment on this blog) that there is a deep desire to see movies that reflect our realities and lives (even if it is in clothes and shoes we would never wear).

But I was wrong. I even underestimated the numbers. SATC kicked Indiana Jones' ass and made almost $27 million on its opening day, which is the same amount that The Devil Wears Prada made in its opening weekend! The box office idiots (they are now officially idiots for their stupidity in underestimating women) are saying that SATC will be #1 for the weekend and could make as much as $70-$75 MILLION for the weekend. "Sex" too hot for Indiana Jones at box office (Reuters)

I am proud to report that my pieces this from this week keep getting picked up around the internet and are inspiring discussions about women actually in films instead of our constant lament about the lack of women in films. Check out my picks ups:

From Lip-sticking, Marketing to women:
Melissa Silverstein has a fabulous site that follows the ups and downs and ins and outs of the movie biz and how women fit into the mix. Her blog, Women and Hollywood, gives a "feminist perspective" on the Hollywood scene - with commentary well worth your time.
Women and Hollywood: My Take on Sex and the City

From Women in Media and News
Melissa Silverstein well points out the signficance of its blockbuster status as a woman-centered film on her provocative and always well researched blog on women, Hollywood and feminism.
SATC’s moment

From Cinematical
Let's talk about Sex, baby ... I got an email from Melissa Silverstein over at Women and Hollywood yesterday, asking a pack of women who work in various aspects of the film industry to share our thoughts on whether a successful box office turn for Sex and the City, which opens this weekend, might herald a change in Hollywood's attitude toward chick-centric movies.
Discuss: Will 'Sex and the City' Change Hollywood's View of Chick Flicks?

From Awards Daily
Sex and the City Soars - Take That, Haters

A 20 MILLION Dollar Day for Sex and the City

Besting all the Hollywood projections, Sex and the City is poised to rake in $20 million today, the most money ever made for a romantic comedy on opening day. Just to give you a sense of how good it is, The Devil Wears Prada made a little under $10 million on its opening day for a total of a little over $27 million for the weekend. In an even more shocking turn, some people are saying that is could BEAT Indiana Jones for the weekend crown.

But these girls just can't catch a break to enjoy one minute of success before the Hollywood nasties make it clear that no matter how successful a weekend it has, it just doesn't matter. Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo said to Reuters: "Because the marketing is preaching to the converted, one wonders whether it will have legs beyond the opening." Legs beyond opening? Isn't Hollywood only fixated on opening weekend? It's the reality nowadays that most movies have huge hype, big opening weekends, and then drop off at least 50% or more on the second weekend. I for one believe that while women turned out in force for the opening, there will still be others who will go next weekend after the crowds abate.

So the double standard rears its ugly head and the rules for success get changed again. Why is it so hard to accept that a film for women could be successful?

Others have said that the box office will drop off after Friday's opening. I don't think so. Fandango is reporting that it was selling tickets 7 tickets per SECOND on Friday and more than 1,000 showings are expected to sell out over the weekend. I had a report from LA that a midday screening was sold out and women were taking pictures of each at the theatre. A report came in from Columbus, Ohio that a midnight screening last night was sold out, and I stopped by a theatre in Brooklyn, NY tonight and it was packed with a diverse group of women (and some men) and there was a lot of laughter during the film and a huge round of applause at the end.

Here's another brilliant comment from a studio marketing exec as told to Deadline Hollywood "This is the wildest, most abnormal, movie of all time," Nice. I really find it hard to believe that this movie about four women looking for love is the wildest, most abnormal movie of all time. Come on. More horse manure. Is this film wilder than say pirates looking for treasure in the Caribbean in a ship of ghosts? Or a young man who gets bitten by a spider and develops powers to crawl and fly across the sky on spider webs to save people? Maybe the person means abnormal because the film stars women and not special effects or a comic book character. I find that comment truly offensive.

But just when I start to feel down, the good news is that this blog is starting to get around in a big way and we (all of us and thanks you commenters) are we are all injecting some new and different thoughts into a much needed conversation. I want to give a shout out to Simon Vozick-Levinson over at EW for following up on my story early this week and asking the question: Is there a double standard for 'Sex and the City'?

Huffington Post columnist Melissa Silverstein wrote a great column about this yesterday. Last year's Wild Hogs, she noted, was correctly seen as mass-appeal entertainment for moviegoers of all genders, even though it was all about four aging guys. And do you remember anyone ever wringing their hands over whether traditionally "male" action flicks like Transformers could get women into multiplexes?

Defamer also gives us a mention in its weekend box office roundup: We've heard Sex and the City referred to as everything from a "women's cultural moment" (that's me) to "plow donkeys wearing lipstick," (not me) a fantastically diverse spectrum of hype that reflects a true phenomenon — if not necessarily guaranteeing a box-office windfall.

More to come

A Women's Cultural Moment

Whatever your thoughts are on the actual content of Sex and the City, as a follower of movies about women I can't help but acknowledge that this is a cultural watershed moment for women's films for a couple of reasons.

1. Everyone (who talks about movies) has spent the last couple of weeks talking about a film that stars and celebrates women and women's friendships. Indiana Jones is so yesterday's news one week after being released after an almost 20 YEAR WAIT!
2. Everyone (who talks about movies) is scratching their heads trying to figure out how much money an R rated movie targeted at adult women can make. Imagine women preoccupying the minds of Hollywood's men.
3. The male misogynists in the film blogosphere have outed themselves in a big way with their extreme nastiness about the film with one actually calling the film a Taliban recruitment film.
4. This film has sold out almost 800 shows for this weekend.
   

Harry Medved of Fandango has been watching these screenings sellout all week and told me:

"It's unusual for a female driven movie to inspire so much fan anticipation. You would usually associate sold out shows with a comic book movie or a sequel to a summer tentpole. Clearly there is an audience for adult female driven pictures and many observers are hoping that Hollywood will make more of them. We haven't seen anything like this before.

I am tired of hearing myself talk about this so I asked women who work in a variety of areas of the business (writers, bloggers, producers, directors and many others) to comment on this moment and what it might mean for the future for films about women. (Some of the women chose to be anonymous to protect themselves and their jobs.)

Here are the questions I posed:

• If it's a success do you think that this will change Hollywood minds about whether women can "open" movies?
• If it doesn't do the predicted numbers, do you think this will spell more difficulties for women centric films?
• Do you think that because this is an "event" that other films about women will be held up to an unrealistic standard?
• Do you think there is a double standard for this film?
• Are you surprised by the nasty tone that some of the media has taken on this week?
  

The answers (some answered the questions, other gave their general thoughts- names appear AFTER the quotes):

I think that the discussion about whether women can open movies is multi-faceted and has little to do with this one film. It has as much to to, generally, with the scripts that are out there with strong female lead roles, and the gender role Hollywood, and, by extension, the movie-going public, expect women to play. Bottom line: Hollywood, and a big chunk of those who spend their dollars at the box office, still prefer to see women in supporting roles. The Queen, which had one of the best female lead roles in recent history, did just over $56 million domestically, and that was largely on the coattails of an Oscar push and savvy marketing. Men don't go to see an Angelina Jolie film because they're interested in her strong portrayal of a female character; if they did, A Mighty Heart wouldn't have tanked. They go to see Angelina Jolie because she's hot. Sadly, I don't see that changing anytime soon.

The paradox is, that yes, if the movie doesn't hit the expected numbers, male Hollywood will latch onto that as further proof of women's inability to open at the box office. But don't expect the reverse to be true.

I think other films about women are already held to an unrealistic standard, and this won't change that one way or the other. JUNO was an anomaly because it appealed to a broader cross-section, especially the teen market. But generally, a film about women has to have a driving component that males are interested in, ala KNOCKED UP, to reach that market and those dollars. Really, it's largely about the differences between men and women on a societal gender level. Women talk about their feelings, and women's films tend to be talky and to deal with issues men either don't care about, or don't care to face. Infidelity, unplanned pregnancy, relationships -- unless it's couched in a comedic element or shit being blown up, men just don't want to see that.

After the way Diablo Cody was attacked on the male-dominated sites? Not hardly.

Kim Voynar, Managing Editor, Cinematical

Of course I want the film to open HUGE this weekend, but the hoopla has really disturbed me in that it seems to celebrate everything we so need to get beyond. I feel the whole sales pitch for this movie has been to use women to sell what they're always expected to sell -- clothes, accessories, sex, neediness.

Believe me, I love these women in their (almost) diversity, but I feel that even if it's a huge success, it will be because it's an event and NOT really a movie and if it falls short it will be all our fault.

NO one will be willing to objectively respect the grosses for perhaps reflecting the actual appeal or worthiness of the movie.

And by the way, can we do SOMETHING about that horrific label "chick flick". Besides being demeaning, it is also dismissive, undignified, and disgusting. And you can certainly quote me on that.

And women shouldn't dignify the work by using it at all. --

Rosilyn Heller, producer, Trade

I think that Sex and the City will do well, and that it really should be another example of the obvious, that if films are made that really speak to women, women will come out and see the films.

Obviously, because of the success of the TV show, this is an "event" film. But the TV show was successful because it spoke to women.

Unfortunately, the Hollywood money machine seems to always find a way to dismiss successful women's films as anomalies, and I fear that will happen with Sex and the City as well.

But one hopes that slowly it will become clear that films that have meaningful women characters and themes that are important to women are often very successful.

Terry Lawler, Executive Director, New York Women in Film and TV

When women open movies anymore no one in the press seems to pay much attention. When Tina Fey and Amy Pohler opened Baby Mama it was just kind of glossed over. I think that if the film opens well they might consider the female demographic slightly more worthy of catering to, much they like they must begrudgingly admit that African-American audiences can really rake in the bucks.

It's possible. They have more than just being female, though, to contend with - they also are over 40 and not the kind of women the target demographic necessarily lusts after. This is why many of the male-dominated film sites aren't giving much attention to the film other than to bray about how unattractive the women are. If it doesn't make money it will confirm the worst - that even a movie version of a popular TV series can't overcome the general reluctance by audiences to watch films that are about women.

The event part is what is going to bring in the numbers.

Only in as much that there are so many movies about men who fumble through life and have dating and career woes. No one says a thing. What people seem to be responding to in a negative way is the "sex" part. There is something odd and intimidating about older women on the prowl. It was okay on TV, and they were a lot younger. Male viewers have been trained to respond only to hot, young things -- at least here in America that's true. It doesn't seem to be as true in Europe. The other thing is that there is a sense that these women are just collecting a paycheck and thus, they're to be disregarded as anything other than desperate money-grubbers.

Surprised and not surprised. Many of the fanboy movie coverage sites are so sexist they're intolerable. It is no wonder that the main criticisms of the film had to do with the way the women looked. On the flipside, women who write about film probably don't really want to be known as women so much as writers who accurately report on the industry.

Sasha Stone, Awards Daily

I think Hollywood will spin it as a chick flick. Not as proof that women can "open" movies. Pessimistic? Yes. Realistic? Probably also yes.

Until Hollywood reflects more women across the board, as executives, directors, producers, writers, vfx supervisors, production designers, etc. and I'm talking MUCH more than presently, I doubt it will be any different. I haven't seen evidence of ability to rise above the 13year old male as a common denominator in my many years here. I'm very sad to say this, but it's what I've seen.

I think anything can and will be used against making movies that aren't (easily and universally - read young male demographic) saleable. Or simply that the arguer doesn't like/want to make. Personal preferences play strong roles but more than anything, Money talks in Hollywood, especially since Hollywood now has to justify itself more and more to corporate America. Studios in particular are weaker than ever given the state of the business. Independent investors and alternate funding sources are the ones to watch in terms of innovation whether it be regarding women or minorities of any flavor. Or anything remotely alternative really.

I'm not sure about double standards actually, but I would not be surprised at any nasty tones thought I'm not sure which ones you're talking about. it is a chick flick, is it not? "chick lit" being an easy way to diminish women writers (not to mention the possible universality of female experience) across the board categorically, why not wield the same sort of weapon against potential film in-roads as well...I'm bitter, it's true.

Of course I only read variety a bit and the nytimes and latimes reviews, of which the nyt was dreck I thought the latimes article was nicely even handed, taking the good and bad into account and weighing it thoughtfully...bad girl Manohla!

VFX Supervisor

All I can really say is that although I may be one member of the media who has taken on a "nasty tone" in regards to SatC (and not just this week, but for the past two months since New Line started seriously inundating us with tie ins and overblown hype), I think $30 million is a conservative estimate. Chris Thilk at Movie Marketing Madness made an interesting comment today about how this is quite possibly the only film in the history of cinema that's been so blatantly targeted at one gender at the exclusion of the other (and possibly dangerously so––has any money or effort been spent to convince gay men that the elements of the show to which they responded will be incorporated into the version on the big screen?) Basically, if this movie *can't* make $30 million, the studios shouldn't waste their time making films specifically for women––it'll be proof positive that, at least as far as summer blockbusters go, the ol' four quadrant theory is better (and safer) business.

Karina Longworth, Spoutblog

If the film does as well as expected, the 'powers that be,' i.e. the studios, will come up with an excuse for it's success, once again calling it a 'fluke' and claim that it's success won't necessarily be repeated by another film starring women. In actuality, Sex & The City was a very successful cable show... went into syndication and found an entirely new audience of millions. So the timing couldn't be better.

I'm thrilled with the passion that women have shown for this film and their plan to see it on opening weekend. It can only be positive for 'the girls,' but don't get too excited and assume that they'll rush to make another 'chick flick' with women over 30 in the very near future. Sorry to be so cynical....

Producer of some of the biggest female centric films

I think it's FANTASTIC that there is a woman's event movie. I hope Sex & The City opens huge. No matter how it does the first weekend, I think it can only bode well for women in Hollywood. I'm confident that it will do enough business given the pre-sales to be the biggest "chick flik" opening ever! (Sorry, I know you hate that term but I've accepted it as the pop culture moniker for women movies.) Perhaps then our female executives in Hollywood would be brave enough to push for more female event movies. Women love to do things together, and I'm hoping that this film will be the proof necessary for studio execs to greenlight more female event movies. But, please, let women writers and directors have a bigger slice of the "chick flik pie." I'm also hoping that S&TC will hang out in theaters as long as "Greek Wedding" did to illustrate to studios that female-driven films build through word of mouth and opening weekends are less meaningful to women. Our purchasing behavior is absolutely different than those of boys and young men. It's worth investing in women. That's the bottom line that Hollywood needs to understand, and that's the message women must send to Hollywood.

Fay Ann Lee, director, Falling for Grace

The point here is: can women open movies? Meryl Streep can't. Jodie Joster can't. Julianne Moore can't. Julia Roberts can't. So, if this opens big, it's perhaps more on the model of Knocked Up -- the success of ensemble comedies.

I think the numbers will be phenomenal.

Possibly, because in general the people holding the films up are men, or women forced to think like them. The more women make films -- produce, write, direct -- for an audience they know exists, the better we'll all be.

No, in part because it was always a cult favorite, even if that cult was large and profitable. But now it faces the mainstream, mostly male, cultural critics. What would John Simon have written about the HBO series?

Thelma Adams, Film and DVD Critic, Us Weekly

I don’t put much stock in the success of any female-driven film changing the ossified Hollywood mindset. If SATC succeeds, as I think it will, the conventional wisdom will be that it worked because it was an adaptation of a popular cable show.

Could it be any more difficult for women-centric films?

The Hollywood films that are mass-marketed have heroes, not heroines. So, yeah.

The New York media is out of synch with the rest of the country on this one acting as though frivolity is unseemly after 9/11. Me thinks New Yorkers are peeved that SATC premiered in London rather then Manhattan. Even Mayor Bloomberg has been peevish about being cut from the film. The personal attacks on Sarah Jessica Parker’s not being conventionally beautiful are creepy. Why is it OK to be unconventional if you’re a guy (Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Will Smith) but not a gal?

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer film critic, Flickgrrl


As for my thoughts on the film - it's just like the show. If you liked the show, you'll like the movie. I really don't get the fashion stuff (most of the clothes and especially the shoes seem so uncomfortable) but underneath all the superficiality the issues the film addresses especially about how women still need to be married to feel safe and the many difficulties in sustaining different kinds of relationships are right on the money. I happen to like and respect Sarah Jessica Parker and this film is a also a celebration of a hard working woman's career. I remember her from Annie and Square Pegs, how she endured the Robert Downey, Jr. drug years and of course my favorite, Footloose.

The film goes far to show that you can be glamorous and sexual at at 50 - one of my favorite moments was Samantha's 50th birthday dinner. I'm not going to pretend that the film is for everyone and it's not an overtly feminist film. But I can't help but think that the girl power this film is engendering will go a lot further than a feminist film that doesn't get seen by the masses.