NYWIFT Blog

#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.

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#Muse40for40: Whoopi Goldberg (2003)

Whoopi Goldberg is a distinguished artist, humanitarian, and very funny person. Like fellow Muse Honoree Rita Moreno (’96), Goldberg is one of only 12 performers to win all four major artistic awards: the Oscar, the Emmy, the Grammy and the Tony, a combination commonly known as The EGOT. She is currently a host of the talk show The View.

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#Muse40for40: Tina Fey (2005)

In 1999, Tina Fey became the first head writer on Saturday Night Live. She created and starred in the Emmy award-winning comedy 30 Rock. Her portrayal of Sarah Palin during the 2008 election was an instant classic.

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What’s in Your Toolkit: Kathryn O’Kane

"In this increasingly digital age, I still really like to work on paper," says television director and producer Kathryn O'Kane. Learn what else is in Kathryn's toolkit!

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#Muse40for40: Anjelica Huston (1999)

Anjelica Huston is an Academy-Award winning actress and daughter of Oscar-winning director, screenwriter and actor John Huston. The Huston family is the first family to have three generations of Oscar winners, including her grandfather Walter Huston

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#Muse40for40: Charlayne Hunter-Gault (1993)

Journalist and author Charlayne Hunter-Gault began her career as a reporter to The New Yorker, where she still contributes, and was the Harlem bureau chief for The New York Times. She worked for 20 years with PBS NewsHour where she was a national and international correspondent as well as a substitute anchor.

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“Ask for Jane” Producer and Star Cait Cortelyou Brings Women’s History to Life on Screen

NYWIFT member Cait Cortelyou has performed on stage or film since childhood but makes a breakthrough debut as producer (and star) of Ask for Jane, which screens at the NYWIFT Member Screening Series on November 19th. Cait sat down with us to discuss how a slice of women's history inspired her to make her producing debut, and what opportunities she sees for women working in the industry today.

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#Muse40for40: Rita Moreno (1996)

Rita Moreno’s career has spanned over seventy years and is one of few EGOT artists, as she has won multiple Emmys, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. She shows no signs of slowing down, recently appearing in Jane the Virgin, One Day at a Time, Carmen Sandiego, and will be Valentina in the 2020 remake of West Side Story.

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#Muse40for40: Dawn Ostroff (2014)

Dawn Ostroff is currently the Chief Content Officer of Spotify, and leads all aspects of the streaming service's content partnerships across music, audio and video. When we honored Ostroff at the Muse Awards in 2014, she was President of Condé Nast Entertainment, and had held senior roles at 20th Century Fox Television, Michael Jacobs Productions, and the Kushner-Locke Company.

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#Muse40for40: Sarah Jessica Parker (2018)

A New York City icon and one of the most well-known actors and producers of our time, Sarah Jessica Parker is known not only for her outstanding work on Sex and the City, but for countless other films and television shows such as Failure to Launch, The Family Stone, Hocus Pocus, The First Wives Club, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, LA Story, Mars Attacks, Ed Wood and Divorce.

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#Muse40for40: Maysoon Zayid (2018)

Actor, writer, comedian and activist Maysoon Zayid co-founded and co- produced the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. Zayid had the most viewed TED Talk of 2014.

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#Muse40for40: Lisa Nishimura (2018)

13-year Netflix veteran Lisa Nishimura was the VP of Original Documentary and Comedy Programming when we honored her at 2018; just three months later, she was named the head of Independent Film and Documentary Programming. In 2017, she was named one of the 100 most powerful women in entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter.

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What’s in Your Toolkit: Mahak Jiwani

Mahak Jiwani, producer of the short film "Darling," gave us a peak at her toolkit as she ran to her screening at the Hamptons International Film Festival last month.

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#Muse40for40: Lizz Winstead (2015)

Lizz Winstead received the 10th annual Loreen Arbus Changemaker Award. The acclaimed comedienne, radio and television personality, author and blogger for The Huffington Post is also the co-creator of The Daily Show and Air America Radio network.

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Cynthia’s Picks: Harriet Movie, Lenore DeKoven, Membership Drive

Harriet Movie: Huge congrats to director Kasi Lemmons and the team from Harriet on their huge success this weekend! Lenore DeKoven: NYWIFT co-founder Lenore DeKoven is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the publication of her book, Changing Direction: A Practical Approach to Directing Actors in Film & Theatre, which features a forward by Ang Lee....

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#Muse40for40: Blythe Danner (2015)

Blythe Danner is a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress for her work in The Miser, Butterflies Are Free, and Huff, and also renowned for her film roles, including Meet the Parents, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Husbands and Wives, and Sylvia.

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#Muse40for40: Lauren Bacall (1994)

Lauren Bacall is legendary actress from the Golden Age of motion pictures with at least 35 films under her belt. She received a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nomination for The Mirror Has Two Faces.

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#Muse40for40: Dede Allen (2001)

Dede Allen was a pioneering film editor with a career spanning over sixty-years. Though she said she went “completely by gut” when editing, she introduced of a number techniques into America cinema—including frequent use of jump-cuts and overlapping audio between scenes to drive the narrative forward.

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