NYWIFT Blog

Weekly Roundup: Being Maleficent & New Comedy ‘Obvious Child’

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/495314405?et=85tUgNQzS-NVbxTQ0WITCA&sig=RaCvbZ-8PTGKpyzSEDonxIdcOFVadCQmAgwdBXT93U8= Maleficent screenwriter Linda Woolverton: “I get to be Maleficent when I’m writing these things.” NYWIFT’s sister chapter Women In Film Los Angeles honors the 20-year success of its PSA Production Program. An Amy Poehler memoir? Yes, please! Gillian Robespierre’s film Obvious Child, starring Jenny Slate, “is not an abortion rom-com.” Writers, BitchFlicks needs you to discuss children’s television. RIP, Ann B. Davis and Marilyn Beck....

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Designing Women MC Announced & ‘Variety’ Highlights NYWIFT Awards

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/494514351?et=alTwHaCxS0VmABnwWcpD0Q&sig=GPnpOTBCkABWlhUOhLVy7AwhcI_ndIuJROjKCH7s3S4= Jessica Alba speaks at the Social Innovation Summit 2014. Variety announced the honorees and presenters for New York Women in Film & Television’s 2014 Designing Women Awards this past week. The stars are coming out for these unique awards that honor women in costumes, hair and makeup, including Jessica Alba, Denis Leary and Rose...

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Notes from a Screenreader: To Genre or Not to Genre

Photo via Go Into the Story. A drama screenplay is fine, but it’s sort of like prose in that it is defined by what it isn’t. It’s not funny, scary, sci-fi or action. In competitions, that’s not such a handicap, because you are paying to be read, but neither are you giving yourself all the...

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Terry’s Picks: ‘Caroline’s Wedding’ & Sony’s Diverse Directors Program

Supporting: former NYWIFT staff member Easmanie Michel’s Kickstarter campaign for her first feature, Caroline’s Wedding, adapted from a story by Edwidge Danticat. Glad to hear about: Sony Pictures Television’s Diverse Directors Program, where “participants may be selected to shadow directors on episodes of scripted SPT series.” Applications are being accepted until June 6. Reading: Vogue’s article on...

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Advice from an Indie Producer: Hiring the Crew

Preparation for an indie project is crucial for finishing on time and under budget. The budget is finite (in most cases) because you cannot go to the studio and ask for more money. You have to get it right the first time. In Robert Rodriquez’s Rebel Without a Crew, he credits detailed preparation as to how he shot...

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Weekly Roundup: Greek Weddings & Elevator Pitches

Re: #MyBigFatGreekWedding2, thank you for the love, yes the entire big fat family is invited back for the sequel. — Nia Vardalos (@NiaVardalos) May 28, 2014 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Her tweets confirm it, Nia Vardalos is bringing us more big, Greek wedding! Television’s top female actors discuss the perks and pitfalls of their careers. Actress Stacey Dash brings new...

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The Bluestocking Film Series

Bluestocking volunteer Khaney Muyderman. Photo by Dovid Muyderman. Dedicated to the complex female protagonist, the Bluestocking Film Series in Portland, Maine showcases short films that pass the Bechdel Test. It is the only festival of its kind and the only one in the United States to earn an A from Sweden’s Bechdel Test Rating System. The Series...

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Notes from a Screenreader: The Bad Blind Date

Photo via Go Into the Story. You have a blind date. Nothing to go on, just a name. You smile, you shake hands, and then without preamble, your date sits down and launches into a monologue of therapy-grade personal disclosure. They tell you what the weather was like and what they were wearing during an...

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Terry’s Picks: OITNB, No Country for Young Women & Film Fatales

Graph via No Country for Young Women Looking Forward: to the June 6th release of Orange is the New Black with NYWIFT member Alysia Reiner appearing again as Assistant Warden Natalie “Fig” Figueroa. Suggesting: that you check out this excellent post on No Country for Young Women by Elena Rossini on a new technique she used to measure gender bias. Applauding: the work...

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Road to Designing Women: The Invite

New York Women in Film & Television is honoring costume, makeup and hair designers on June 18, 2014. Join us! Tickets now available.

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Weekly Roundup: Aging & Opportunities in Hollywood

//instagram.com/p/oNOrvtQihJ/embed/ 92-year-old Betty White enjoys being spoiled, and vodka. Cheers! (video) The Paley Center for Media names Maureen Reidy as its new CEO. Diane Keaton and Robin Wright are embracing aging. Jezebel founder Anna Holmes highlights unconventional ways to success. Sony’s new (LA-based) Diverse Director’s Program may be perfect for you! Niki Caro is set to write and direct the eagerly...

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Notes from a Screenreader: Unpackable Hooks

Photo via Go Into the Story. Writer and director Timothy Cooper, an enthusiastically pragmatic teacher of professional screenwriting and past WIFTI Summit panelist, talks about the value of unpackable story concepts, which he defines as “rife with potential to anyone who hears it.” Perfect example: Inception. A team illegally breaks into a sleeper’s dreams to...

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Terry’s Picks: Gideon’s Army and WGA Employment Study

Totally Agree: with this Slated article about the foolishness of Hollywood’s gender bias against women directors. Recommending: Gideon’s Army by NYWIFT member Dawn Porter about the U.S. public defender system. It is powerful, beautifully realized and focuses attention on an incredibly important issue. Check it out on HBO On Demand or Play Station, Google Play, Amazon, or iTunes. Not Surprised: but still disappointed to...

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New Member Spotlight: Erica Fae

Photo by Alexander Berg.   A prolific and acclaimed artist, Erica Fae joins New York Women in Film & Television as an actor, director, writer, producer and teacher of movement at Yale School of Drama and The New School. She was encouraged to join NYWIFT by her producing partner Jane Applegate, whom she met while...

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Weekly Roundup: Gia Coppola, ‘Murphy Brown’ & a Media Internship

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/488381047?et=2PeW3vM-R_1_VghSMDFcGA&sig=LZnMoBh1APTsZVOLw-lVbi9Nby6ktmJJfa3RgFZrY0c= Palo Alto director Gia Coppola is creating her own filmmaking buzz. A few theories behind NYT Executive Editor Jill Abramson’s firing. Portlandia star Carrie Brownstein has had success in three male-dominated areas of the entertainment industry…THREE! Kathryn Bigelow tackles another weighty post-9/11 theme. Women and Hollywood is looking for a summer intern. Deadline is May 23. Diane English tells...

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Acting Up: Create the Space

“Acting is the ability to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” — Sanford Meisner Recently, I wrapped Melissa Rodwell’s upcoming film, and my “preparation” was the most abstract that I’ve ever worked with. I realized my job as an actor is to create the space for the work to show up. How did I do this? I took all...

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Road to Designing Women: Throwback 2012

Costume, Makeup and Hair design team of Boardwalk Empire We almost couldn’t fit everyone in the photograph! Designing Women 2012 was a fabulous year. We honored makeup artists Jenn Jorge Nelson (30 Rock, Baby Mama, Hope and Faith) and Julie Teel (30 Rock, Ugly Betty, In Treatment), hair stylist and wigmaker Amanda Miller (Inside Llewyn Davis, Smash,...

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Notes from a Screenreader: Boo

Photo via Go Into the Story. Does your conflict pass The Haunting Test? You’re a ghost. A traveler from another dimension who can be neither seen nor heard by the people around you, not even the person you seem to be glued to, whom you are compelled to shadow. Always. You have no choice but...

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