The Bluestocking Film Series
Bluestocking volunteer Khaney Muyderman. Photo by Dovid Muyderman. Dedicated to the complex female protagonist, the Bluestocking Film Series in Portland, Maine showcases short films that pass the Bechdel Test. It is the only festival of its kind and the only one in the United States to earn an A from Sweden’s Bechdel Test Rating System. The Series...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: The Bad Blind Date
Photo via Go Into the Story. You have a blind date. Nothing to go on, just a name. You smile, you shake hands, and then without preamble, your date sits down and launches into a monologue of therapy-grade personal disclosure. They tell you what the weather was like and what they were wearing during an...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: Aging & Opportunities in Hollywood
//instagram.com/p/oNOrvtQihJ/embed/ 92-year-old Betty White enjoys being spoiled, and vodka. Cheers! (video) The Paley Center for Media names Maureen Reidy as its new CEO. Diane Keaton and Robin Wright are embracing aging. Jezebel founder Anna Holmes highlights unconventional ways to success. Sony’s new (LA-based) Diverse Director’s Program may be perfect for you! Niki Caro is set to write and direct the eagerly...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Unpackable Hooks
Photo via Go Into the Story. Writer and director Timothy Cooper, an enthusiastically pragmatic teacher of professional screenwriting and past WIFTI Summit panelist, talks about the value of unpackable story concepts, which he defines as “rife with potential to anyone who hears it.” Perfect example: Inception. A team illegally breaks into a sleeper’s dreams to...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: Gia Coppola, ‘Murphy Brown’ & a Media Internship
//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/488381047?et=2PeW3vM-R_1_VghSMDFcGA&sig=LZnMoBh1APTsZVOLw-lVbi9Nby6ktmJJfa3RgFZrY0c= Palo Alto director Gia Coppola is creating her own filmmaking buzz. A few theories behind NYT Executive Editor Jill Abramson’s firing. Portlandia star Carrie Brownstein has had success in three male-dominated areas of the entertainment industry…THREE! Kathryn Bigelow tackles another weighty post-9/11 theme. Women and Hollywood is looking for a summer intern. Deadline is May 23. Diane English tells...
READ MOREActing Up: Create the Space
“Acting is the ability to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” — Sanford Meisner Recently, I wrapped Melissa Rodwell’s upcoming film, and my “preparation” was the most abstract that I’ve ever worked with. I realized my job as an actor is to create the space for the work to show up. How did I do this? I took all...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Boo
Photo via Go Into the Story. Does your conflict pass The Haunting Test? You’re a ghost. A traveler from another dimension who can be neither seen nor heard by the people around you, not even the person you seem to be glued to, whom you are compelled to shadow. Always. You have no choice but...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: Gabourey Sidibe, Director Kimberly Pierce & Oxygen Media
//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/487688169?et=cPqGSOaJQANxm9dho-6_lQ&sig=WUEG6AlUfgzcQ-dX4hK-lR36JRHm0BzXaCnDK0hh_5Y= Gabourey Sidibe says she’s “an a**hole!” It’s for a wonderful reason. Dawn Hudson will remain CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry, Carrie) gave a wonderful keynote speech at the AFI Directing Workshop for Women. (Video) Jovanka Vuckovic to direct Jacqueline Ess: Her Will & Testament. Clive Barker’s...
READ MOREFlix Not to Miss: ‘Enough Said’
Nicole Holofcener is one of those rare directors who consistently delivers solid films and Enough Said is one of her best. This is the first time she worked with iconic actors James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and she brings them both to wonderful new places. The film is funny, awkward, uncomfortable and ultimately life-affirming, reminding us that...
READ MOREBettie Page: The Legend of a Pinup Queen
As a NYWIFT member, I’m proud to work on the publicity for the documentary Bettie Page Reveals All. Directed by Oscar-nominated director Mark Mori, the film explores the life of a female pop culture icon that undertook the risks, and paid the price, that opened the door for performers like Madonna and Lady Gaga to express themselves. ...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Speech Exhaustion
Photo via Go Into the Story. Speeches in early pages give readers creeping dread because they are weapons-grade tools and should not be brought out casually and waved around for piddly little tasks like exposition. Speeches put the brakes on. Is it more than three sentences long? Read it out loud. See how long it...
READ MOREAdvice from an Indie Producer: Budgets Line by Line
There are two major components to an indie film budget: above the line and below the line. Above the line typically includes the fees paid to the writer, director, producer and cast. Below the line is everything else you need to buy or rent to make your production run, including post-production. The largest expense on...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: Disney’s Call for Writers & Broadway’s Gender Problem
Disney Channel launches a new screenwriting program. Hey, Broadway! Why weren’t any woman-written Broadway plays produced this season? Interview with Belle director Amma Asante (video) and Q&A with star GuGu Mbatha-Raw. Women (literally) rule at this year’s Cannes film festival. Fifteen of Time magazine’s “Top 100” are women in the arts. Happy 10th Anniversary, Mean Girls. #StopTryingToMakeFetchHappen
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: The Same but What Now?
Photo via Go Into the Story. “The same but different” is the magic formula for a winning script. Does it mean anything or is it double speak for “I know it when I see it?” Patterns not formulas: Create familiar emotional patterns in new situations. The same is a recognizable tone with a recognizable build that...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: Lupita Nyong’o Wins Again & Universal’s Nikki Rocco Retires
//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/486363289?et=i-3vXGNAQ_1ma7_bFMgQ-w&SeoLinks=off&sig=YcRFzn7IhsUJvIjJyiPZZh7_9SFfZLMtZxobB6eSdsU= In case you hadn’t heard, Lupita Nyong’o is also “Most Beautiful.” Courtney Cox’s directorial film debut launches at Tribeca Film Festival. It’s a family affair! Brooklyn native Marisa Tomei discusses her latest project and losing friend Phillip Seymour Hoffman. 20-year-old Keke Palmer will make television history this summer. After 47 years, Universal Pictures distribution chief Nikki Rocco is retiring....
READ MORENYWIFT at Women of the World Summit
A high-five moment captured by Livestream at the 2014 WITW Summit. On April 3rd to 5th, women and men, but mostly women, crowded into a theater at Lincoln Center to engage with and listen to women from all corners of the world as they shared tales of heartbreak (personal accounts of surviving chemical warfare attacks...
READ MORENotes From a Screenreader: Mamet-ize It
Photo via Go Into the Story. THIS is the supreme last word on screenwriting from David Mamet. It is a memo from Mamet to his writing staff on The Unit, which you may or may not recall ran for 69 episodes between 2006 and 2009. It is glorious, true, funny, useful and brilliant. It’s not long....
READ MOREFiscal Sponsorship & NYWIFT for Indie Filmmakers
Musician Clarice Magalhães and producer-director Irene Walsh in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Walsh’s documentary LAPA: The Heart of Samba chronicles a community of musicians and composers as their music resurrects a Rio de Janeiro neighborhood. My first feature-length documentary, LAPA: The Heart of Samba, is a project that I have largely funded myself, with a third of...
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