Women Filmmakers

Charlotte forwarded to me this extremely interesting article about women filmmakers and the perpetual glass ceiling that floats just above them, still. The topic is, as you can imagine, very relevant to me and a lot of my talented female friends.

When was the last time you watched a film by a female director? Can you recall a single female director off the top of your head? How about after thinking for a bit? Are you resorting to google at this point?

Something to think about...

Filmmaker Ela Thier

Excerpt:

"Twenty years later, I sit to write this letter, facing two shelves filled with over twenty screenplays. Modesty aside, I would need many pages to recount even a portion of the positive feedback that I've received over the years; the enthusiastic phone calls, the awards, the requests for meetings. A judge at the IFP Market told me that of the 150 scripts she read that summer, mine ranked among her top three favorites; another judge resigned in protest after the jury didn't select my script as one of their five finalists; a manager called to say that he couldn't get my script out of his head; an agent told me that my script had her laughing out loud; a producer of hit movies implored me not to revise my script because it was perfect. When I began to direct short projects, the response was the same: "Shorts this perfect are so rare, I just want to weep" was a comment I received from a festival director.

And yet, the past years were marked with tears and heartaches. One enthusiastic response after another would lead me to hope and end with a bout of weeping on my husband's shoulder. No matter how familiar and by now, routine, the disappointments would be, the tears would come each time. And after a good cry, or two, or several, I would get up, wipe my knees, and keep going.

I often tell other filmmakers who lose heart: when it comes to pass letters, you're in great company, from Van Gogh to the Beatles to Stephen King to J.K. Rowlings.

But the million dollar question remains, as one of my writing students asked after reading two of my scripts: "Why are these scripts not made? What better scripts could people possibly be reading?"