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Author:
Judith James
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Judith is the editor-in-chief of TRACTION and a film, stage and television producer who is in a film partnership with Richard Dreyfuss at Dreyfuss/James Productions and a theater partnership with Camille Cosby.
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Judith James is a film, stage and television producer who is in a film partnership with Richard Dreyfuss at Dreyfuss/James Productions.
Originally a New York theatrical producer of 11 award winning plays, her first television production was the Emmy winning "IN HER OWN WORDS" for KCET and American Playhouse and the Mark Taper Forum .
Her film credits include an executive producer of QUIZ SHOW, a producer of MR. HOLLAND?S OPUS, producer of TRIGGER HAPPY starring Dreyfuss, Jeff Goldblum, Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin, and movies for HBO, TNT, ABC and CBS. In addition she has served as consulting producer on Mr. Dreyfuss? films.
In a theatrical partnership with Camille Cosby, Judith also produced the Broadway play of HAVING OUR SAY; The Delany Sisters? First 100 Years by Emily Mann, subsequent tours and the movie version, directed by Lynne Littman, for CBS, starring Ruby Dee and Diahann Carroll. HAVING OUR SAY received the coveted Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.
In January 2006, she wrapped principal photography on the thriller, THE FOREST, which she produced in India in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is by writer/director Ashvin Kumar, an Academy Award nominee for a short film last year.
She is presently developing a Broadway musical on Pearl Bailey RAW PEARL with Bill and Camille Cosby and, with Viva Productions, readying the independent film, DAYS OF FEAR to star Woody Harrelson to shoot in South Africa.
In January 2005, Ms. James was instrumental in securing and constructing for WOMEN IN FILM an alliance with General Motors under which GM has supported a myriad of WIF programs and events for 3 years ending 2007.
She is the editor-in-chief of TRACTION.
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Welcome to TRACTION
Welcome to the first issue of TRACTION, an inter-active, online magazine by and for women in "the industry", and proudly spawned by the Women In Film/General Motors Alliance.
The ambition of TRACTION is to provoke robust discussion and fresh thinking about women and the media. We hope the present and future articles and the access to real information will get our readers to think out loud and, not incidentally, to erupt into dialogue with the magazine and through the magazine.....
The dialogue so far has only been had in classrooms on film or covered in a great seminar on entertainment, or heard at inspirational women's conferences on our industry.
But daily? While we may delight in an article having a whiff of a woman's pov, we have no place to dissect our delight; we recognize that an institutionalized system exists but are too busy 'getting through the day'; we might like reviews written frankly by a woman but don't know if that matters; we may miss certain kinds of opinions but can't hear our own above the de rigueur noise.
The information, perspectives and opinions simply aren't stacked up anywhere they can provoke deeper thought and further commentary. Let's use this magazine to expand people's way of thinking about women and this ubiquitous, attitude-forming industry of images. Women who aren't in the industry need to think about what they are seeing or when they like what they see versus when they simply accept it. Within the industry we need to dialogue more - not to carp, not from a crouch, but to wonder out loud about being affecting and effective, getting credit for it, having that turn into impact.
In this first issue we have a story about the joy of making a good documentary, one about talking to non-industry people about the industry, one about a time when women ran Hollywood and another about now when they don't, a blog from an inquiring pov, statistics we'd better get a handle on.
From time to time we'll post a published play or material about women essentially affected by the moving image. I look forward to future articles from all angles, articles about how a particular writer writes female characters, articles about the differences, country to country, in women's images , or articles about the nature and wisdom, if, of promoting a niche for women's films, or articles about sex in movies or an article or two with theories on why we women don't get traction in our industry -in the historical sense.
There's a great section called The Virtual Mentor. Born of our chapter-wide fundamental belief in true mentoring, trusted as the true basis to the power of " the old boys' network" - look for information here. Articles about bonding a picture, what you need to know about working in Toronto or New Zealand or Vietnam, what does who mean when they say "documentary", how about doing children's programming in China, what is the difference between managers and agents and lots more.
We welcome your thoughts on more subjects (via a letter to the editor.). The subjects so far have been suggested to us in the course of meetings with job applicants burdened with myths, and by grantees (such as the winners of the Latina New Filmmakers Grants or the Emerging Filmmakers grants or the scholarships given to people changing careers). Sometimes they are on surprisingly simple yet obtuse subjects; sometimes they are on subjects so ordinary that people don't realize they need to know the information.
This section will soon be video-streaming panels presented by various chapters with great participants full of mentoring wisdom- an LA panel of successful African American women discussing their diverse careers, the challenges of balancing family and work, and the obstacles and issues they faced as black women in the entertainment industry; a NY feature: "A conversation with" from time to time like the one with Betty Cohen - one of the cable industry's most respected, innovative and consistently successful brand builders and programmers and President and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services. Or "A conversation with" Barbara Kopple on The Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing. And panels on product placement, and Children's Programming and pitching television treatments. And more!
Lastly we will be publishing reviews of documentaries, films and television - written not on a schedule but rather when something strikes the writers as needing or deserving comment. Perhaps a trend will evolve so we can actually describe what we consider important. There's nothing like giving something weight to elevate it to the focus and respect it deserves!
There's a lot to be said that isn't being said. Welcome to TRACTION.
| Judy
Judith James
Editor-inChief
TRACTION
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