Here you'll find films that either have core themes and values that are of distinct interest to women or stories intent on depth of character, films you may have missed, most having opened and closed because they couldn't hold onto the theaters. In the present day atmosphere, the opening weekend gross has become the determinant of whether a film is 'good' or not. Not true and we have to say it. We have to mobilize to compete on behalf of films which are worth our time and valuable and never set out to be 'blockbuster' of this sort. We need to embrace their DVD as our release -- find and rent or buy these films so that they live.
GREENING PRODUCTION: FILM COMMISSIONERSWe know Film Commission offices are a great source of information about filming in their location. Archives of location-photos, local crew or information, inside knowledge on things like what location can double for a distant one .and the all-important permits. Everything that makes a film go smoothly. They are experts at it and excellent ‘partners’ in getting the film done. But “going green’ is integral to so many of the problems they need to solve that they are becoming a major resource on that subject too. More >
THE CELLULOID CEILING IN 2008 By: Martha Lauzen Ph.D.The year of 2008 is over and here is The Celluloid Ceiling, an annual report documenting the percentages of women working as directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films. The following are among this year's findings: - In 2008, women comprised 16% of the directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors on these films. - Women accounted for 9% of all directors on these films. (see article on the correlation of directors, women or men, and budget). - Twenty two percent (22%) of the films released in 2008 employed no women in the positions considered. More >
W&H: Why do you think that successful movies about women are consistently dismissed as flukes?
DE: I don't have a great answer to that question because I have experienced that exact word over and over and over again every time I tried to get The Women made. I would go in with my list of movies that were huge successes starting from 9 to 5, and The First Wives Club, The Hours, Waiting to Exhale. It's just a very long list and these movies have consistently done very well. I think because they come along so rarely its like Haley's Comet - it becomes a vicious cycle. They come along rarely because we don't get an opportunity to make them. Now we have Sex and the City and Mamma Mia and to some extent The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. If we can have a healthy box office I think it will be much harder to call it a fluke -- it can be called a trend.More >
WOMEN@THE BOX OFFICE
A Study of the Top 100 Worldwide Grossing Films By: Martha Lauzen Ph.D.This study examines the belief that films made by women or featuring female protagonists earn less at the box office than those made by men or featuring males. The major findings of the study include the following: *When women and men filmmakers have similar budgets for their films, the resulting domestic, international, and opening weekend box office grosses - as well as DVD sales - are also similar. The sex of filmmakers does not determine box office grosses.
*When the size of the budget is held constant, films with female protagonists or prominent females in an ensemble cast generate similar box office grosses (domestic, international, opening weekend) and DVD sales as films with male protagonists. Films with larger budgets earn larger grosses, regardless of the sex of the protagonist.More >
July 22. A new report by the Executive Director, Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, San Diego State University
The following are among the study's findings:
*Men write the overwhelming majority of film reviews in the nation's top newspapers. In Fall 2007, men penned 70% and women 30% of all reviews. *Of the newspapers featuring film reviews, 47% had no reviews written by women critics, writers or freelancers. In contrast, only 12% had no reviews written by men critics, writers or freelancers. *Films with women filmmakers (directors and writers) and films with female protagonists and ensemble casts comprise a larger proportion of films reviewed by women than men. Thus, the under-representation of women film critics, writers and freelancers may cause films featuring females or with women filmmakers to receive less coverage.
The bottom line is that film criticism in this country's newspapers remains a largely male enterprise, echoing the heavy male dominance behind the scenes and on screen in the film industry. Following is the executive summary of the report. More >
Individually we can recycle bags, capture the sun’s energy, mount windmill’s and buy responsible cars – and we do. Individuals in the entertainment industry tune in early, do the research, spend the money and speak out.
But collectively, our industry - as in the industry it takes to create our product – has been a major polluter everyplace we go.
Consider the main polluter we use, that which we can’t do without. Consider how much fuel we use. Generators, night shoots, “distant locations”, trucks per shoot, idling trucks, moving cranes, moving everything, people, wardrobe, grip equipment, out to the set and back, move locations, fly crews, use helicopters.More >
Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, a professor in the School of Communication at UC San Diego conducts annual studies of women working in the film and television industries. This is The Celluloid Ceiling report for 2007. it provides an in-depth look at the number of women not employed in influential positions on the top 250 grossing films each year.
Women comprised 24% of all creators, executive producers, producers, directors, writers, editors, and directors of photography working on situation comedies, dramas, and unscripted programs airing on the broadcast networks during the 2005-06 season. This percentage represents a decrease of one percentage point from last season...More >
Porn films never get compared to “Citizen Kane.” This is because, first of all, “Citizen Kane” has a plot, which porn films don't. Porn plots usually revolve around a cliched male protagonist strutting and thrusting his way through a series of preposterous situations chosen simply because they highlight the actor’s impressive talent for strutting and thrusting...More >
“The Devil Came on Horseback” and took my breath away, and broke my heart, and explained the origins of the genocide in Darfur, clearly. It’s a provocative call to action.More >
These "how-to's" are contributed by experts in their fields. Plumb them, consider them and if you have more questions post your questions on....
...Post them on the "thread" for that article in Letters to the Editor. The expert will answer your questions specifically to help you expand your knowledge on the subject.
Video: some of these 'articles' present experts via panels video-taped by one of our chapters. (You'll need the capacity on your operating system to watch those that have video content...)
As in the mission statements of all the Chapters of Women in Film/Television, all the contributors herein and in future issues are proud of "giving back" and committed to doing so. Mentoring makes us strong. After all, mentoring is the backbone of the "old boys' network'. Likewise.
Many of the subjects of the articles were suggested to us by grantees (such as the Latina New Filmmakers Grants or the Emerging Filmmakers Grants) as being what talented new-comers really don't know and need to know. Many more suggest themselves in conversation with programming committees from all the chapters. We'd like even more ideas for subject matter from you. If there is a subject you'd like parsed, if you want real information, please let us know by writing a Letter to the Editor. If there's a woman expert that you'd like to hear from on her subject, let us know that person's name and we'll approach her to write an article for The Virtual Mentor..
The acronym WITASWAN (“wit-uh-swan”) stands for “Women in the Audience Supporting Women Artists Now.” WITASWAN is a movement, a cause, an idea, a concept, a totally grassroots, internet-based “initiative.” Our goal is to help women make more deliberate decisions when they go out to see movies in theatres, and when they rent &/or purchase movies on DVD. I want women to ask themselves what they’re selecting and why.More >
Created for and recognizing up-and-coming filmmakers from under-represented communities across the country giving deserving female filmmakers access to valuable resources and contacts that otherwise would be a challenge to attain. You can read more about the 2007 grant winners for both filmmaker grants here.
A collection of Sheila Benson's critical best (LA Times critic from 1981 to 1991, msn.com after that, Seattle Weekly now Etc ). There is something subtly uncommon about Sheila's reviews, another way of observing, another way of remarking on the emotional center of a movie, so often observing things not only unobserved in ordinary reviews but missing from the ordinary review. That is of course from our pov. ......it's nice to pay respect and give credence to that here on these pages.
