When it comes to female directors we often think of BO$$ ladies like Sofia Coppola, Kathryn Bigelow, and Sarah Polley, but then…we begin to get stumped. This isn’t because there aren’t passionate women in the film industry, but more so the fact that those women aren’t being put in positions of power.
According to the website womenmakemovies, the statistics about female directors in Hollywood are depressing. In 2013, only 16% of directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors were women.
In fact, in a historical comparison of women’s employment on the top 250 films in 2013 and 1998, there has actually been a decrease in the percentages of women directors, writers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers.
However, thanks to a new show on Starz called The Chair, we are introduced to up-and-coming director Anna Martemucci. She was classically trained at NYU, co-wrote, produced and acted in the indie film Breakup at a Wedding and is just badass in general.
The Chair will chronicle Anna and fellow n00b director Shane Dawson’s challenges and their growth as writers, directors and producers while they attempt to make their first feature films (which happen to have the same script and budget).
Here is a sneak peek of the show, and we have to remember; women support women. According to womenmakemovies, films directed by women feature more women in all roles, there is a 21% increase in women working on a narrative film when there is a female director. So we need to support our fellow woman supporting fellow women, you feel?
And here are the trailers for the movies they’ve created! I’m sorry, but I think this is such a cool concept for a television reality show. And while Shane Dawson took a campy youtube-parody-inspired approach, Anna’s looks like an absolute hazy teen dream!
Here is Anna’s Holidaysburg
and here is Shane Dawon’s Not Cool
Tune into The Chair on Starz on September 6th. Which movie do you think you’ll wanna see?
photo credit: Starz
