NYWIFT Blog

Terry’s Picks: Leslie Jones, Writers Lab, Blockbuster Directors

Leslie Jones: After making a splash with her infectiously joyous – not to mention hilarious – tweets about the Olympics, SNL’s Leslie Jones was invited by NBC to go to Rio to cover the rest of the competition. It’s lovely to watch – especially after Jones had to take a break from Twitter after receiving...

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Meet the New Board Members: Terra Bliss

As NYWIFT finishes our Meet the New Board Members interview series, we sit down with Terra Bliss, Vice President and General Manager at Panavision New York. Bliss discusses inequality, shaking up the hiring process, and seeking out new partnerships to diversify entertainment industry recruitment.

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Terry’s Picks: Mad Libs, Loving Lily, Sophomore Slump

Mad Libs: Magazine profiles of Hollywood women unfortunately often lack depth. Use The Cut’s exclusive Mad Libs men’s-magazine profile generator, and you too can write a profile of a female celebrity. It’s fun…and frightening. Loving Lily: Congrats to NYWIFT Muse honoree Lily Tomlin, who will receive the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award at the SAG-AFTRA Awards...

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Meet the New Board Members: S. Casper Wong

NYWIFT member S. Casper Wong left a cushy Silicon Valley job as IBM corporate counsel to become a filmmaker, and has since written, directed and produced both shorts and features; founded The Peace Pod Project; and founded (and currently chairs) Asian American Women Media Makers. Now, she brings her passion and activism to the NYWIFT Board. Join us as we get to know one of the new additions to NYWIFT's Board of Directors.

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Terry’s Picks: Women’s Equity, Don’t Blink

Women’s Equity: Kudos to Equity, which opened this weekend and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. The first-ever female-driven Wall Street film, Equity is produced by, written by, directed by, production designed by, hair/makeup/costume designed by, and stars women! Listen to director Meera Menon discuss the film, which she says “normalizes female ambition,” on...

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Meet the New Board Members: Kathryn O’Kane

What do NASA, The Walking Dead and Maya Angelou all have in common? All have worked with new NYWIFT Board member Kathryn O'Kane! In the next installment of our Meet the New Board Members series, O'Kane talks to us about her 15 year career as a nonfiction producer and director for TV, web and advertising.

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Terry’s Picks: Crystal Emery, Emmy Noms, Netflix Queue

Crystal Emery: Read NYWIFT member Crystal Emery’s piece in Time about how living at the intersection of three marginalized identities – black, female and disabled – has made her stronger. Crystal’s film Black Women in Medicine premieres on public television this Fall. Emmy Noms: Congratulations to all of the NYWIFT members, Muse Award recipients and...

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Terry’s Picks: Busting Sexism, Girl Power, Cultural Change

Busting Sexism: Paul Feig’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot premiered this weekend and sparked an important conversation about the importance of women’s voices in film criticism, diversity in Hollywood, and how children are affected by seeing themselves represented on screen. Girl Power: Can’t stop watching the new amazing feminist makeover the Spice Girls’ hit “Wannabe.” Check it...

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Terry’s Picks: Women’s Pictures, Underwritten Characters, Stony Brook

Women’s Pictures: This interesting piece in Vulture makes a strong case for the idea that in modern times, the “women’s pictures” of Hollywood’s Golden Age have moved to television. Underwritten Characters: Laugh (or cry) along with Underwritten Female Character: The Movie, a fake trailer for a movie you’ve seen unfortunately too many times. Stony Brook:...

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Terry’s Picks: Designing Women, Equality Database, Power Producers

Designing Women: Last week marked NYWIFT’s 17th annual Designing Women gala as we paid tribute to another phenomenal group of costume, hair and makeup designers. See photos from the red carpet, awards presentation and reception, and read a great write-up from Bust Magazine. Equality Database: I am happy to see that some of the brands...

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Terry’s Picks: Annetta Marion, Poor Taste, CXX Speaks

Annetta Marion: NYWIFT Board member Annetta Marion, an award-winning director and Primetime Emmy-nominated producer, shared her thoughts on the industry and her career on a recent Film Talk Podcast. Poor taste: 20th Century Fox came under fire for their insensitive adverting for X-Men: Apocalypse, which featured Jennifer Lawrence’s character being strangled on giant billboards. Was...

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Women Directors: Nicole Quinn on Boundaries and The Gold Stone Girl

A Candid Interview with Nicole Quinn – by Heidi Philipsen Film and Theater Director Nicole Quinn recently joined UPWIFT (Upstate NY Women in Film & TV – a sister of NYWIFT) as a Guest Speaker of their quarterly Reel Women Screening Series at WAMC’s The Linda, in Albany, NY, where they screened her narrative feature...

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Terry’s Picks: Swim Team, Shots Fired, U.K. Women

Swim Team: Congratulations to 2015 NYWIFT Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant recipient Swim Team, whose all-female creative team has been selected for the 2016 IFP Filmmaker Labs annual yearlong fellowship for first-time feature directors. Shots Fired: Check out the riveting trailer for Writers Lab mentor Gina Prince-Bythewood’s new event series Shots Fired, which examines the...

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Terry’s Picks: Goodbye Alicia, Independent Women, Preserving the Legacy

Goodbye, Alicia: This weekend we bid farewell to The Good Wife, a classic made-in-New-York show with a marvelously complex female-driven storyline, starring our own 2009 NYWIFT Muse Honoree Julianna Margulies as power attorney Alicia Florrick. It will be missed. Independent Women: A new study from Martha Lauzen at the Center for the Study of Women...

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The Art of First Impressions and Movie Trailers

NYWIFT Board of Directors member Maura Kelly writes about female entrepreneurs in tech and entertainment for The Huffington Post. She recently sat down with Evelyn Brady-Watters and her sister Monica Brady, the founders of the Golden Trailers Awards (GTA's) as they gear up for the live ceremony on May 4th in LA.

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Terry’s Picks: Tribeca Films, Stuntwomen Survey, Protect Yourself

Tribeca Films: Headed to the festival this week? Consider seeing one of these ten films from talented NYWIFT members. Stuntwomen Survey: An informal poll of Hollywood’s stuntwomen conducted by veteran stuntwoman Julie Johnson has found that nearly two-thirds of the 43 respondents have been bullied or sexually harassed in the workplace. Additionally, nearly 40% of...

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She Said, She Said: Jane Applegate and Abigail Zealey Bess

Creative collaborations are magic. And, this magical one began at a NYWIFT workshop on crowd-funding presented two years ago by Jane Applegate, a writer and producer. Read how Jane teamed up with fellow NYWIFT member Abigail Zealey Bess to bring their short film to the big screen in our first edition of She Said, She Said - NYWIFT members in conversation.

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NYWIFT Member Films at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival

From Katie Holmes' directorial debut to a documentary of the NY Times' obituary page, NYWIFT members have been hard at work. Here's a guideline of who, what, when and where to watch at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.

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