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

Natalie Portman to Team Up with Lynne Ramsay for Western

Blogs

By Melissa Silverstein
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May 23, 2012 10:57 AM
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0 Comments

Blogs

According to reports in EW, the Playlist and the Hollywood Reporter, the search for a director for Catching Fire is down to two dudes -- Bennett Miller and Francis Lawrence. Now I think that Miller is a great director. I loved Moneyball and Capote. But to pick him to direct Catching Fire when he has NO experience with something of this magnitude is ridiculous. And Lawrence who has experience with CGI and action films is a name not on the tip of anyone's tongue and also doesn't seem right having directed I am Legend and Like Water for Elephants.

By Melissa Silverstein
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April 19, 2012 11:00 AM
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6 Comments

Blogs

So now it is official and Gary Ross has walked away from directing the sequel of Catching Fire because the production schedule was too tight.

By Melissa Silverstein
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April 11, 2012 11:09 AM
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12 Comments

Happy new year everyone. Thanks so much for the great support over the last year.

As we start the new year, I thought it would be interesting to look at the narratives that dominated the conversation over the past year. Would love to hear if you have any thoughts on other topics that dominated the conversations.

Here is what I came up with:

The success of Bridesmaids and the realization that women can be funny. (duh)

Winter's Bone and The Kids are All Right get best picture nominations for 2011.

Women directors not being in the conversation for the 2012 Oscar.

The breakout success of Jessica Chastain

The Help polarizes yet still succeeds at the box office.

Patty Jenkins gets hired and fired from Marvel's Thor 2.

Women make up only 33% of speaking parts in films and less than 10% of writers and directors.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson becomes the highest grossing women director with King Fu Panda 2.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 3, 2012 9:27 AM
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0 Comments

While Natalie Portman might have been off our radar screen since last February when she won the best actress Oscar and disappeared to have her baby, yesterday we learned through the Hollywood Reporter that she is wielding her Oscar clout in making Marvel very aware how pissed off she is that Patty Jenkins is no longer directing Thor 2.

The report indicates that Portman is not really interested in acting right now but since she is contractually obligated to Thor 2, she was very excited to work with Jenkins and be a part of helping her break the glass ceiling for women directing studio comic book action flicks.

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 15, 2011 10:47 AM
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0 Comments

Hollywood Reporter Acknowledges That The Industry is Sexist

The Hollywood Reporter in the wake of their complete dismissal of women in both its writer and director roundtables has done a 360 and put together a whole cover on the lack of women directors and other women in power in the business. While the package is interesting (while not saying anything we didn't already know), I just wish that this didn't seem like such a fix up for their earlier ridiculousness.

While we might want to celebrate the successes of women in Hollywood cause it is so much more fun than talking about all the work that needs to be done (trust me, I know), we must continue to push and make people aware of the disparities. Part of the problem is that no one wants to believe that things are so bad. But it is bad. In their piece, Why the Odds Are Still Stacked Against Women in Hollywood, a couple of women who have the clout give some quotes along with Martha Lauzen who tracks women working in Hollywood at San Diego State and all those quotes are extremely depressing but real.

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 13, 2011 11:02 AM
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7 Comments

Blogs

According to the Hollywood Reporter, director Patty Jenkins (Monster) has left Thor 2. They wrote that she was working as of Monday afternoon and had recently been a part of a photo shoot on women directors and she talked about her involvement on the film. (The news for me here is that the Hollywood Reporter is doing an issue on women directors. It will be out next week.)

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 7, 2011 10:03 AM
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2 Comments

One More Glass Ceiling Shattered: Patty Jenkins Signed to Direct Thor 2

This signing deserves a big toast because what it means is that a woman has broken through into the big leagues. Patty Jenkins who directed Monster which got Charlize Theron an Oscar, has been signed by Marvel Studios to direct the big budget action film Thor 2.

By Melissa Silverstein
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October 14, 2011 4:07 AM
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3 Comments

Patty Jenkins in Talk to Direct Thor 2

Even if this doesn't come to pass, the fact that a woman, a director like Patty Jenkins who is best known for directing the shit out of Charlize Theron in Monster and for directing the pilot of The Killing is in talks to direct a big budget comic book action hero movie is a giant step forward. I don't recall a woman's never ever being mentioned in the press to direct a film with this size budget.

By Melissa Silverstein
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September 23, 2011 2:39 AM
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2 Comments

Preview for The Killing

This show is created by Veena Sud who did Cold Case and it is based on a Danish show. The show stars Mireille Enos (Big Love) and the pilot was directed by Patty Jenkins who directed Charlize Theron in Monster. The entire season is dedicated to solving the murder of one girl. Starts this Sunday night on AMC.