Reel Equity: Tell the entertainment industry that you support members of historically female crafts in their demand for Pay Equity by signing your name to this Open Letter to the Entertainment Industry.
Film Registry: The Library of Congress accepts 2019 recommendations from the general public for its National Film Registry via their online form through September 15th. To date, over 700 films have been selected to the Registry. Only approximately 40 of these films on the list are women directed works (seven of which were preserved by our Women’s Film Preservation Fund). Public recommendations play a key role in the their final selection, so every vote counts. Please consider nominating a film by a woman – our Women’s Film Preservation Fund has some suggestions, including Deborah Shaffer’s The Wobblies (1979)!
Good News: A new DGA study has found that the pool of first-time episodic TV directors “is more inclusive than ever,” with women and minorities seeing dramatic employment gains and setting record highs for the second year in a row. This is good news, but not perfect – women need a representation of more than 50% to get true equality.
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Welcome to NYWIFT, Kasey O’Brien! Kasey O’Brien (she/they) is a queer-identifying filmmaker based in Queens, working across both fictional narratives and documentaries. While she has dabbled in various positions in film production (including acting, writing, camera operation, and post-production), she is most at home directing and producing. Kasey was integral to the launch of NYU Tisch’s Master‘s in Virtual Production at the Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center, whose inaugural cohort graduated in May 2025. She serves on the board of directors of PANO Network and is a founding member of The Garret Theatre Company. MFA from The New School. In our interview, Kasey discussed her journey to working in independent film production.
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