NYWIFT Blog

Cynthia’s Picks: Diversity Wins, Seen vs. Heard, Emma Speaks, Networking Tips

Diversity Wins: The Oscars this weekend proved historic on several fronts: Black Panther costume designer Ruth E. Carter (one of our first Designing Women honorees) and production designer Hannah Beachler became the first African-American women to win in their respective fields; Spike Lee and Alfonso Cuaron took home prizes for writing and directing respectively; women won in all short film categories; and three of the four winning actors were people of color. Progress. And I loved how much of the telecast was spoken in Spanish – the second most spoken language in the world!

Seen vs. Heard: Dr. Martha Lauzen’s latest It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World study reports the findings for the entire population of female characters (speaking characters, major characters and protagonists) featured in the top grossing films of 2018 – and there are some interesting statistics. While female protagonists rebounded last year, reaching a recent historic high, the percentages of females as speaking characters and major characters remained relatively stagnant. So, we are seeing more women…but not hearing them. Read the study.

Emma Speaks: Past NYWIFT Muse honoree Emma Thompson explained why she left a Skydance Media film once John Lasseter was hired: “I am well aware that centuries of entitlement to women’s bodies whether they like it or not is not going to change overnight. Or in a year. But I am also aware that if people who have spoken out – like me – do not take this sort of a stand then things are very unlikely to change at anything like the pace required to protect my daughter’s generation.”

Networking Tips: Harvard Business Review published an interesting study showing how male and female MBA candidates benefit from different types of networks. Women more than men need both wide and inner circles to succeeds, benefit from quality over quantity, and need the support of other women to succeed.

PUBLISHED BY

Cynthia Lopez

Cynthia Lopez Cynthia Lopez is the Executive Director of New York Women in Film & Television and an award-winning media strategist.

View all posts by Cynthia Lopez

Comments are closed

Related Posts

#Muse40for40: Amy Emmerich (2017)

Amy Emmerich, Chief Content Officer, Refinery29, launched Refinery29’s video business, which includes the critically acclaimed series Strangers, the Webby-award winning mini-series The Skinny as well as their Shatterbox Anthology film series, which was created to cultivate and spotlight the voices of women directors, telling stories outside the narrow lens of this overwhelmingly male-dominated industry.

READ MORE

WIFT Around the World: A Conversation with Verena Gräfe-Höft

Our NYWIFT member abroad, Heidi Philipsen, sits down with WIFT Hamburg co-founder Verena Gräfe-Höft to talk the state of the industry and her new film Pelican Blood, which is making waves at both the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals.

READ MORE

Roundtable with Misha Calvert and the Creative Team of “Step Into My Office”

NYWIFT member Misha Calvert’s latest series, Step Into My Office, is a new dark comedy that reimagines workplace harassment with sexist female bosses interviewing aspiring young male employees. After the series launch on August 29, 2019, fellow NYWIFT member Leah Curney interviewed Calvert and her collaborators about their experiences and insights.

READ MORE

Terry’s Picks: Rule Breakers, DOC NYC, Carole Chazin

Rule Breakers: Listen to NYWIFT member Jennifer Fox and Board President Simone Pero, writer/director and producer respectively of The Tale on the “Rule Breakers” podcast....

READ MORE
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
css.php