“30 Female Screenwriters to inspire you”

Amanda Pendolino had an interesting blog post last week:

According to a recent study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, of the 250 highest-grossing films last year, only 14 percent were written by women, while 38 percent of the films employed one or no women in roles such as producer, director, writer, editor, or cinematographer.

“There is inequality going on, and it’s institutionalized, and it needs to stop,” says Diablo Cody. She also covered the topic in a different interview: “I didn’t know it was that bad. I’d have to say visibility and representation are important. The women that have power need to be vocal and not complacent. I have seen very successful women and they don’t speak out because they don’t want to rock the boat and they simply want to stay quiet and be part of the boys’ club. I understand wanting to protect your career, but I’m willing to be outspoken and obnoxious.”

In a recent Broken Projector podcast, writers and critics wondered if a lack of visibility exacerbates the issue. If women don’t see a lot of women writing and directing films, does that discourage them from doing the same?

I think it does. Sitting at this year’s all-male panel of WGA award nominees, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Where were the women?

There are plenty of women writers and directors out there — but perhaps, like Diablo suggests, they’re less outspoken, working hard under the radar. Ladies, you’re not alone. What’s encouraging to me is that it wasn’t hard at all to find great female screenwriters to highlight. Get inspired by these 30 kickass women:

You can hit the link here to read the list. And it’s a great list.

Recently I interviewed Ava DuVernay and Liz W. Garcia, two writer-directors, and we discussed diversity issues. I look forward to sharing their insights and observations in the coming weeks.

But what do you think? Are things changing for the better? How to create more opportunities for female filmmakers? And are there other female screenwriters you’d like to add to Amanda’s list?

For more background, go here and here.

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