Weekly Film & TV News Roundup
//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/477632659?et=ypH3AGd2mk6QsjKiitLTPQ&sig=qYCv0zRZXUqeFAov_qAHtLjzjKyIqiTlbiAP8rKqCFo= Lena Dunham tells a SXSW crowd that “things need to change and I’m trying.” Piers Morgan met his match and her name is Chelsea Handler. (Video) Anita Hill discusses Anita, the Freida Lee Mock–directed doc about her life. Producer Paula Wagner is bringing Pretty Woman to broadway. CBS This Morning had wonderful coverage of NatGeo’s...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Old News
Photo via Go Into the Story. How long ago did you write your script? Does it show? It is impossible to stay convincingly up to the minute with technology and pop culture in a script, but it is possible to blow the dust off by doing a careful read for obsolescence. There’s an app for that....
READ MOREFlix Not to Miss: ‘Short Term 12’
Short Term 12 is a heartbreaking look into the foster care system told through the eyes of Grace, played by the fantastic Brie Larson, who earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for the role. Grace is a former foster child, who is now a dedicated young worker supervising at-risk teens in a group foster home....
READ MORETruth Be Told: Women In Film at Sundance 2014
//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/463843119?et=2xk9yBaac0yq_pCTEB5low&sig=rShcoqZvqIZGmKY8BTX_9fGdw-9KzxoEhLhK_rEOQkA=“Truth Be Told” panelists (L-R) Valerie Veatch, Effie Brown, Rory Kennedy, Lucy Webb (moderator), Lori Cheatie, Tracy Droz Tragos, and Hilla Medlia. Women In Film (WIF) hosted its 8th annual filmmakers’ panel discussion at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. It’s one of the most anticipated events of the festival, with women from all over the...
READ MOREActing Up: Lights, Camera, Audition!
In the midst of pilot season, I realized that most of my auditions sent out to LA are being put on tape. I have always found the “audition on tape” a bit elusive — what exactly is it? That’s why I leave it to the professionals and instead focus on knocking auditions out of the park. Whether...
READ MORENotes From a Screenreader: The Likability Trap
Photo via Go Into the Story. Protagonists need a bigger than life personality. Most spec scripts have protagonists without one. The average protagonist is unobjectionable. They color inside the lines and find a way to get what they want without breaking any rules. That is the likability trap. In an effort to create a sympathetic protagonist,...
READ MOREWomen in Post
Thelma Schoonmaker, the last woman to win an oscar for editing. She won for The Departed in 2006. It shouldn’t surprise us that stats of women in post-production are just as scary as percentages of female directors in Hollywood. “Among 2012′s top 250 domestic grossing films, women represented 20 percent of editors,” film and television editor...
READ MOREWomen-Directed Films at Queens World Film Festival
Katia, directed by Anna Shishova, is a nominee for Best Documentary Feature and Best Cinematography at the Queens World Film Festival. The Queens World Film Festival runs March 4-9, 2014, in New York. Opening night will be held at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, with the rest of the films screening at...
READ MOREFlix Not To Miss: ‘Gloria’
Featuring one of the best female roles in film, Gloria, written and directed by Sebastian Lelio and starring the mesmerizing Paulina Garcia, is about a middle-aged divorcee looking for love in Santiago, Chile. The film opens with Gloria dancing in a club and our first impression of her is as a vivacious older woman looking to...
READ MOREOscar Madness: Cutie and the Boxer
Noriko and Ushio Shinohara in Cutie and the Boxer (Photo via The Guardian) Love is a ROARRRR. In the documentary Cutie and the Boxer, this is the name of the first joint show by the film’s subjects, Japanese artist couple Ushio and Noriko Shinohara. It doubles as a fitting title for their four decades-long relationship, explored...
READ MOREWOMEN OF SUNDANCE
Filmmaker Desiree Akhavan via Filmmaker Magazine If you haven’t picked up the latest issue of Filmmaker Magazine, you can read their article on Women of Sundance online. The article written by Danielle Lurie was sparked by our sister LA WIF and Sundance Institute’s study on women in the industry. In the piece, women with films...
READ MOREWeekly Film & TV News Roundup
Kristin Scott Thomas at the premiere of Only God Forgives in Cannes. Photo via MSN Movies. Kristin Scott Thomas is fed up with film — so she’s quitting. Lorne Michaels speaks about the women of SNL. Fox Business News adds a new show. Congratulations, Maria Bartiromo! Reality star Lauren Conrad’s appropriate response to an inappropriate question. The Drama League...
READ MORETV Not To Miss: ‘Orphan Black’
BBC America’s science-fiction series Orphan Black is coming back on April 19. If you haven’t had a chance to catch the first season, check it out on demand or on iTunes or Amazon. And if you’re already a fan, BBC America has just released season two’s teaser trailer. Orphan Black stars Tatiana Maslany as Sarah, Cosima, and Alison,...
READ MOREActing Up: What’s Your Plan for 2014?
Photo: "El Fureidis" by Frances Benjamin Johnston. Pilot season is here. If you’re feeling left behind or like you need to catch up, that’s OK. Maybe you haven’t had a chance to figure out what you want to do or bring about this year. Give yourself some time to set clear intentions for 2014. It’s never to...
READ MOREThe 2014 Athena Film Festival Is This Week
//player.vimeo.com/video/84185523?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 The fourth annual Athena Film Festival kicks off this Thursday (Feb. 6) and runs through Sunday (Feb. 9) on the Barnard College campus in NYC. The lineup includes feature films (Short Term 12, In a World…), documentaries (Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth), a variety of shorts, as well as panels (A Conversation With Lexi Alexander, The Women...
READ MOREWeekly Film & TV News Roundup
Mad Men photo via theguardian.com. Dear Mr. President, we agree! (Video) Congratulations, Kathy Kelly-Brown, NBC’s new SVP of Global Talent Booking. NYC will certainly benefit from this. Elizabeth Vargas’ return brings winning ratings for 20/20. Universal’s Donna Langley will be the “second most powerful woman in Hollywood” until at least 2017. Casting Director Allison Jones “discovered” our favorite TV/film nerds. Do what...
READ MOREFree Help for the Screenwriter
Screengrab of quote on The Blacklist Film & TV Writer’s Calendar Not all screenwriters are brainstorming in the writer’s room of a hit TV show or arguing dialogue lines on the set of a summer blockbuster with a director or cast member. Many, let’s face it, most, are toiling away either waiting for their first...
READ MORERecap: NYWIFT at 2014 Sundance Film Festival
NYWIFT member Heidi Philipsen in The Better Angels, starring Diane Kruger, Brit Marling, and Wes Bentley (Photo courtesy of Hickory Pictures, LLC) What a whirlwind! Though temps in New York matched the biting Park City cold, nothing could beat the heat at the festival. This year, New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) caught up...
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