Posts tagged Hollywood
“When we did Ocean’s Thirteen the casino set used $60,000 of electricity every week. How do you justify that? Do you justify that by saying, the people who could’ve had that electricity are going to watch the movie for two hours and be entertained – except they probably can’t, because they don’t have any electricity, because we used it.”
Steven Soderbergh’s State Of Cinema Talk
“It’s changed in Hollywood, but only so much. You can’t get Asians cast in leads yet. Maybe as a second lead, but the lead is still going to be Caucasian or African-American. But Hollywood is fickle, it follows trends. If a show or a film did well with an Asian lead, then it would take off.”
actor Masi Oka from Heroes (read more here)
Sundance Institute and Women In Film Los Angeles Study Examines Gender Disparity in Independent Film
Findings include:
- Of U.S. films selected for the Sundance Film Festival from 2002-2012, 29.8% of filmmakers (directors, writers, producers, cinematographers and editors) were female.
- Across all behind-the-camera positions, females were most likely to be producers. As the prestige of the producing post increased, the percentage of female participation decreased. This trend was observed in both narrative and documentary filmmaking. Fewer than one third of all narrative producers but just over 40% of associate producers were female. In documentaries, 42.5% of producers and 59.5% of associate producers were female.
- When compared to films directed by males, those directed by females feature more women filmmakers behind the camera (writers, producers, cinematographers, editors). This is true in both narratives (21% increase) and documentaries (24% increase).
- Females were half as likely to be directors of narrative films than documentaries (16.9% vs. 34.5%).
- Female directors of Sundance Film Festival films exceed those of the top 100 box office films. 23.9% of directors at the Sundance Film Festival from 2002-2012 were female, compared to 4.4% of directors across the top 100 box office films each year from 2002 to 2012 that were female.
- 41.5% of the female directors across 1,100 top-grossing movies of the past ten years had been supported by Sundance Institute.
- Five major areas were identified as hampering women’s career development in film:
- Gendered financial barriers (43.1%)
- Male-dominated industry networking (39.2%)
- Stereotyping on set (15.7%)
- Work and family balance (19.6%)
- Exclusionary hiring decisions (13.7%)
- Opportunities exist to improve the situation for women in independent film. Individuals mentioned three key ways to change the status quo:
- Mentoring and encouragement for early career women (36.7%)
- Improving access to finance (26.5%)
- Raising awareness of the problem (20.4%)
“I already did my coming out a thousand years ago, in the Stone Age. Those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to friends and family and co-workers then gradually to everyone that knew her, everyone she actually met. But now apparently I’m told that every celebrity is to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a primetime reality show.”
Jodie Foster at the 2013 Golden Globes (more here)
Ashley Judd is considering running against the GOP’s Mitch McConnell in 2014
“Women’s bodies in films are either highly objectified and sexualised or, past a certain age, made fun of. In North American films, there’s no sort of routine nudity so I wanted something that wasn’t particularly eventful for them in that moment.”
Sarah Polley talking about a scene in her new film Take This Waltz, featuring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen. More here
“I’d say financially the movie industry is slightly ahead of the buggy whip industry (laughs). It’s not the best place in the world for investment. The business itself is sound. It’s not growing or declining appreciably, but in terms of impacting the world, a story well told has such profound implications for change. I haven’t found a better way to change the way people view the world and the way they behave.”
eBay founder Jeff Skoll, who turned his Internet profits into Participant Media, in an absorbing Q&A with Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. and Participant CEO Jim Berk.
Participant has made 41 films in 8 years, and bagged five Oscars and 22 nominations along the way. It has with three more films in the mix for this awards season. Not bad, particularly when you consider Participant only backs films that discuss a pressing policy or social issue.
And clearly, though the business isn’t growing like the ones that have made Skoll and some of his former co-workers very rich, Skoll says entertainment still isn’t rivaled as a way to spark a thoughtful conversation about a difficult issue.
Participant is unique in Hollywood in terms of its combined success and focus. Learn more about what makes it go here.
(via deadlinecom)
Source deadline.com
(via WomensENews.org)
Hollywood stars demand a plan on gun control
“When we talk about something, we’ve got to know our stuff 10 times better than anybody else to be taken seriously. And that’s OK. I would stay clear about something I don’t know. But Asia’s my area; Tibet’s my area. AIDS was very, very important to me.”
Richard Gere on celebrity activism (THR)
Joss Whedon “endorses” Mitt Romney
New trailer! Matt Damon and John Krasinski co-wrote and co-star in an eco-drama about the controversial drilling practice known as fracking. See THR for more.
Harold + Kumar + Obama
Interested in animal rights? You’ll definitely want to see this! (via THR)
