Showing posts with label Women and Hollywood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women and Hollywood. Show all posts
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Women's Film Festivals
After my last rant, um, I mean, post, I realized that I need to get out there and find my audience. Women are my primary target for "In Montauk" and therefore I need to do more investigation on that front. So imagine my excitement when I discovered a list of International Women's Film Festivals on Marian Evan's blog, Wellywood Woman. She includes festivals from all around the world, including several that I've never heard of. We met on twitter (@devt), and connected in the comments section of Melissa Silverstein's blog, Women & Hollywood on IndieWire. Marian is a fabulous resource for female filmmakers. I feel the beginnings of a new online community coming on!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Naked Filmmaking
Aha! I got your attention, didn't I? I'm seriously thinking about sending out a press release about how my preferred method to make films is in the nude. I could quote myself saying something like, "I like to direct in the buff to show solidarity with my actors, so that they feel that I'm putting myself out there 110%, just like they are." Then maybe get a quote from one of my male crew saying something like, "Whoa, yeah, it was weird at first. I mean, that scar on her abdomen, did she give birth to an elephant? And stretch marks - I never knew they could be that color. But after a while, you know, you stop looking because there's work to be done." And of course a quote from a female crew-member, "I think the female form is beautiful. I don't see what the big deal is. Deal with it." Now that would be a story.
Because it seems like making a good, solid film about a woman struggling with the real issue of how to be both an artist and a mother isn't enough. You need a story to go with it. Maybe the fact that I made this film while being a full-time mother to my now-10-year-old twins while my husband worked 12 hours/day isn't enough of a story. Perhaps if I'd been a single mother of 14, who suckled twins at my breasts during production, nay during takes would make better copy. Trust me, feeding my kids and my crew breakfast at the same time during the three days we shot in Queens was stressful enough. Finding someone to pick up my kids from school and watch them until my husband could come home and take them out to dinner, so that we could shoot until 7:00 p.m. in our apartment nearly gave me an ulcer. And when we wrapped my apartment, trying to clear out before 9:00 so the kids could get enough sleep to be up for school the next day - let's just say there was a lot of tiptoeing and whispering going on. But that's not an interesting story.
I have to think that a film about a woman struggling with life issues of motherhood and work is just as important as a film about a man dealing with his wife of 20 years being in a coma and discovering that she was having an affair (Oscar-nominated film, "The Descendants"), no? Women, I want to hear from you!
Because it seems like making a good, solid film about a woman struggling with the real issue of how to be both an artist and a mother isn't enough. You need a story to go with it. Maybe the fact that I made this film while being a full-time mother to my now-10-year-old twins while my husband worked 12 hours/day isn't enough of a story. Perhaps if I'd been a single mother of 14, who suckled twins at my breasts during production, nay during takes would make better copy. Trust me, feeding my kids and my crew breakfast at the same time during the three days we shot in Queens was stressful enough. Finding someone to pick up my kids from school and watch them until my husband could come home and take them out to dinner, so that we could shoot until 7:00 p.m. in our apartment nearly gave me an ulcer. And when we wrapped my apartment, trying to clear out before 9:00 so the kids could get enough sleep to be up for school the next day - let's just say there was a lot of tiptoeing and whispering going on. But that's not an interesting story.
I have to think that a film about a woman struggling with life issues of motherhood and work is just as important as a film about a man dealing with his wife of 20 years being in a coma and discovering that she was having an affair (Oscar-nominated film, "The Descendants"), no? Women, I want to hear from you!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Confessions of a Juggler
I loved this article by Tina Fey in the New Yorker. Of course, if you don't subscribe to the New Yorker, you'll just get the abstract, but it's enough to get the feel of the article. (And for just how wickedly funny she is.) I subscribe to the New Yorker, but as a constant juggler (and constant "hurrier"), I left mine on a bus. (This problem, at least, will presumably go away once I get my Nook Color. Although I suspect I'll forget to charge it and will be left with a 1 pound brick in my bag.) Luckily, Melissa Silverstein pointed out the article in her blog, Women & Hollywood. And because I am a subscriber (missing magazine notwithstanding), I was able to create an account and read the digital form for free.
It's refreshing to see someone in Hollywood talk about the realities of combining career and motherhood. It does have an impact. I remember the conversations about motherhood going around when I was in my 20's - when to have kids - better to have them while you're young at the beginning of your career? Or wait until you're well established and have more power to call the shots? None of it is easy. I came to filmmaking late (meaning I didn't start in utero, like a lot of indie filmmakers these days.) I waited years to make my first short. Then I had kids. It kind of put a damper on my ability to work production jobs, where a 12-hour-day is considered short. And working production is how you meet people that you want to work with. Still, I would do it again. I have a lot of friends in the indie world who are single, unattached and live for filming. I chose to have a family. It makes doing anything harder and everything takes longer, but it makes everything worth doing in the first place.
It's refreshing to see someone in Hollywood talk about the realities of combining career and motherhood. It does have an impact. I remember the conversations about motherhood going around when I was in my 20's - when to have kids - better to have them while you're young at the beginning of your career? Or wait until you're well established and have more power to call the shots? None of it is easy. I came to filmmaking late (meaning I didn't start in utero, like a lot of indie filmmakers these days.) I waited years to make my first short. Then I had kids. It kind of put a damper on my ability to work production jobs, where a 12-hour-day is considered short. And working production is how you meet people that you want to work with. Still, I would do it again. I have a lot of friends in the indie world who are single, unattached and live for filming. I chose to have a family. It makes doing anything harder and everything takes longer, but it makes everything worth doing in the first place.
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