NYWIFT Blog

Weekly Roundup: NYWIFT Exec Director on Lack of Women in Hollywood

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/167353543?et=WxkncLmSTPJFGW2FE2fifg&similar=off&sig=BxRWIPRE0OUtBt4qRWCy15LpqzDfGJl7SxdKSG9pagE= Terry Lawler, Executive Director of New York Women in Film & Television. BBC New asks, Where are the women in Hollywood? NYWIFT Executive Director Terry Lawler answers. Tribeca Film Festival official entry deadline is coming up soon! The Broad City season finale shows why Comedy Central renewed it. (Video) Five questions with CNN International anchor Robyn Curnow. What are...

READ MORE

Women’s Film Preservation Fund & Alice Guy-Blaché

Still from Alice Guy-Blaché’s Mixed Pets (1911). New York Women in Film & Television and Alice Guy-Blaché make a perfect pair. The organization’s Women’s Film Preservation Fund (WFPF) helped to preserve two of her shorts, Matrimony’s Speed Limit (1913) and A House Divided (1913), as part of its inaugural project. Mixed Pets (1911), Guy-Blaché’s earliest extant film from her studio Solax, was preserved through a WFPF grant...

READ MORE

Acting Up: Soul Inspiration

This past month I had the opportunity to travel to Machu Picchu. Wow! Did that trip turn my vibration, my reality, my thoughts on their head. As time slows down for a bit this summer, I encourage you to inspire your soul. Do something extraordinarily out of the ordinary that will make this summer one to remember....

READ MORE

Weekly Roundup: Emmy Fever & a New ‘View’

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/452006704?et=w-RuV0lIQX1QAJbad3H0SQ&sig=_CPqTlcGvLm6w0XkS71vYALBLi7vWoXJGMWw_yBMLso=   It. Is. Emmy. Season! The full list of female nominees—plus, snubs and surprises. Amanda de Cadenet announces her new talk show Undone on Lifetime. It’s official: Everything at The View is coming up Rosie (O’Donnell) and they’re looking for new producers. Love or hate ‘em, script notes are invaluable for screenwriting success. New Oscar...

READ MORE

Terry’s Picks: Vanessa Williams, ‘Thelma & Louise’ & Diversity in UK Films

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/450845374?et=-vV7r2ttTk9c1dgD4Iqw6g&sig=8_KsWASeBMfZH44qTkUlXUZRxUi8LnI84S-UJKNQ1Cg= Looking forward to watching: Oprah’s Master Class: Vanessa Williams, directed by NYWIFT board member Annetta Marion. Premieres this Sunday, July 13, 10 pm on OWN TV. Glad to see: that Thelma & Louise was included in THR’s top 100 films of all time, one of only a handful of female-centric films on the list. No films directed by women...

READ MORE

Weekly Roundup: ‘Tammy’ Is Here, Academy Invites Are Not

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/451625684?et=Ma5QQpilTAd9gOfNuEgHHg&sig=eFnk15zkTrijFhEtG2kgTWv5OH3zRlDoAMROZsNWFqw=   Tammy star Melissa McCarthy is laughing all the way to the bank. #HireTheseWomen seems to be making an impact. Fox announces an initiative to increase the presence of women directors. Amazon and Final Draft seek original material; BitchFlicks needs writers. Screenwriting query tips to help your material get noticed. Want to relax between auditions? Here’s a list of NYC actor hangouts....

READ MORE

Weekly Roundup: #HireTheseWomen, Diane Sawyer & Comedy Central Prez Michele Ganeless

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/490666791?et=AqxxNyZmSdRdtT-0nJDY6Q&sig=RkIHT67TihPj-cMXJXZfd9526qa-vBF0rxZHRApi9m0= Diane Sawyer steps down from World News and up to bigger projects. Inspired by Women and Hollywood’s directors infographic, film critic Miriam Bale launches the hashtag #HireTheseWomen. Director Kelly Reichardt may be the most successful indie “one trick pony” in the business. Michele Ganeless runs Comedy Central, not Stephen Colbert. Chicken & Egg pictures is accepting grant applications for women...

READ MORE

Acting Up: Revamp Your Online Bio

Every six months or so, I always find myself looking over my website, Actors Access account and IMDB page to see if everything is up to date and current. This time around, as I read my bio, I could feel a heaviness. I just didn’t connect with what I was reading. So, I decided on...

READ MORE

Laughs, Glam & Inspiration at NYWIFT’s Designing Women 2014

Michelle Williams, Denis Leary, Jessica Alba and Rose Byrne at NYWIFT’s Designing Women 2014. (Photo via NY Post’s PageSix.com.) They may have come for glam moments and the chance to rub shoulders with celebs like Michelle Williams, Denis Leary, Jessica Alba and Rose Byrne. But attendees of New York Women in Film and Television’s Designing...

READ MORE

Weekly Roundup: Designing Women, Chelsea Handler & Comedy Actress Roundtable

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/450139626?et=0lqDHDE3Tl9OpzQgao8q9A&ContextMore=on&sig=IjXLMsUs2WWQhsLufUy_H1FeW-cGoVwaf3NiHVoixjk= Chelsea Handler is headed to Netflix. Jessica Alba, Rose Byrne, Denis Leary and Michelle Williams attend NYWIFT’s Designing Women Awards. “You’re ugly and fat” and other compliments from the comedy actress roundtable. (Video) Malia Obama gets a job in show business. The ACLU wants to hear from women directors who’ve been discriminated against. Goodbye, Ruby Dee. — KELLY...

READ MORE

Road to Designing Women: Goodie Madness in the Gift Bags

Goodie bag items at the NYWIFT office waiting to be packed up. One of the fun things about New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) awards shows is the gift bags, and this year’s Designing Women is no exception to the rule. This year’s bag will overflow with goodies from Ricky’s and Sephora. Taste buds...

READ MORE

Road to Designing Women: ’70s Glam Makes a Comeback

Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams in American Hustle.  Seventies retro is in. Along with the comeback of flared jeans, maxi dresses, and floppy hats are the faces that mirror the fashion. Women on runways, red carpets, and city streets are sporting heavy eyeliner, false eyelashes, and bronzed cheekbones à la American Hustle. American Hustle makeup department...

READ MORE

Weekly Roundup: Tonys Recap & Shonda’s Life Advice

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/450314366?et=wfBGImImRLxDbnZrqwyOig&ContextMore=on&sig=A1BBm0oFQUXIgw1UOsqOl4uTY2WGbnrx17-0NOuLdyM= Audra McDonald makes Tony history. Rosie O’Donnell gets the “real” thing. Sophie Okonedo, Lena Hall and Jessie Mueller also win big. Women’s Media Center seeks applicants for its Progressive Women’s Voices program. Shonda Rhimes tells grads about dreams, hashtags and fulfillment. Consider becoming more politely aggressive in your acting career. Comedy Central increases their woman-centered programming. Assistant costume designers discuss their fortunate roles in the industry....

READ MORE

NYWIFT Fund for Women Filmmakers Extends Deadline

It Felt Like Love, winner of the Nancy Malone Marketing and Promotion Grant and a 2013 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection. New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) provides grants to women filmmakers to complete and promote their film projects. This year, those grants include a new addition: the Ravenal Foundation Grant, supporting a woman second-time feature film...

READ MORE

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....

READ MORE

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...

READ MORE

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...

READ MORE

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...

READ MORE