Women and Hollywood

Melissa Silverstein is the founder and editor of Women and Hollywood, one of the most respected sites for issues related to women and film as well as other areas of pop culture. Women and Hollywood educates, advocates, and agitates for gender parity across the entertainment industry.

She is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of The Athena Film Festival. The 4th annual festival will take place from February 6-9, 2014 at Barnard College in NYC.

Melissa recently published the first book from Women and Hollywood, In Her Voice: Women Directors Talk Directing, which is a compilation of over 40 interviews that have appeared on the site.

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Blog Roll

Oscars Rehire Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron

News

While we here at Women and Hollywood had many problems with the Oscars executive produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the Academy is very pleased that the show was able to bring in that coveted young male demographic. They are so happy that they made the early decision to rehire Meron and Zadan to be the 2014 producers for the event which will take place next March 2.

By Melissa Silverstein
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April 17, 2013 1:00 PM
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News

The Mary Pickford Foundation and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have teamed up to launch a multi-year partnership to honor the legacy of Mary Pickford. Pickford, who was one of the founding members of the Academy and a co-founder of United Artists, also was one of the most famous actresses of the silent film era.

By Kerensa Cadenas
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August 21, 2012 10:11 PM
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Blogs

It seems that today is the day about stories about women executives under fire. Late Friday afternoon a news alert rolled out from the LA Times with a story about some troubles with Dawn Hudson who is 8 months into her tenure as the head of the Academy.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 9, 2012 11:32 AM
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While most people get the impression from the media that Hollywood is a liberal town, there are many issues where Hollywood is in the dark ages. We all know them. One is casting women (and men) of color in leading roles in films. One is hiring female directors. One is nominating a female cinematographer for an Oscar.

By Melissa Silverstein
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November 3, 2011 2:40 AM
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The Testosterone Driven Oscars

When I first read the Brett Ratner was going to produce the Oscars I let out a big sigh. Brett is not known for his gender sensitivity. He's best known for the Rush Hour movies and I remember him from his cameo on Entourage where he played himself and came off as a younger version of Hugh Hefner -- a dude with a lot of gorgeous women in various stage of undress hanging around his house.

By Melissa Silverstein
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September 7, 2011 3:23 AM
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3 Comments

Dawn Hudson Gets Appointed CEO of the Academy

The big news yesterday was the appointment of Film Independent's chief Dawn Hudson as the CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Reports said that post Oscars the folks at the Academy really felt that they needed to bring in new blood (especially since last year's ceremony did not go over well), and Hudson who has built the Independent Spirit awards from scratch impressed them.

By Melissa Silverstein
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April 8, 2011 3:15 AM
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2 Comments