This week please join us in welcoming new NYWIFT Executive Director Cynthia Lopez! Cynthia will offer her top picks of NYWIFT and industry news to share with you every Tuesday.
Natural Leader: Inspirational words to kick off your 2019! NYWIFT Board Member Flo Mitchell-Brown shared her “start story” with StartTV, explaining why women make great leaders.
Sobering Statistics: The good news: In 2018, a record number of black directors (16) helmed the top-grossing 100 films, up from only six the year before, according to the “Diversity in the Director’s Chair” study from the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. However, this diversity growth wasn’t intersectional – there was little if any improvement for women or other minority groups. In fact, the “Celluloid Ceiling” report from Dr. Martha Lauzen of San Diego State University showed that despite recent high-profile breakthroughs and increased media attention, the number of women directors in the top 250 films of 2018 was only 8% – down from 11% in 2017.
Regina King: During her Golden Globes acceptance speech, Regina King vowed that everything she produces will hire 50% women and she issued a challenge for everyone in every industry to do the same. It’s this type of solidarity that will bring actual change; whenever women are in positions of power, the chance of more women getting hired greatly increases.
Cynthia Lopez
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READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Alison Hirsch
Welcome to NYWIFT, Alison Hirsch! Alison Hirsch is a native New Yorker, with a background spanning development, production, and representation. She bridges storytelling with commercial strategy, bringing a keen understanding of how content is identified, shaped, and circulated. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton, Alison assisted Linda Yellen on her film, which won the Indie Spirit Best Picture and Best Director awards at BIFF. At Little Monster Films, Alison researched potential projects and evaluated their market viability. Following two years at WME in the Motion Picture and Scripted TV departments, Alison recently joined Assemble Media as their Coordinator.
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