POPCHANGE

pop culture + social change. lovers of diversity in entertainment media representations of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, age. believers in entertainment making a difference.

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There's a double standard in terms of the kinds of things men can say in PG-13 movies. You put those same words in the mouths of women and it became far more terrifying. As soon as we articulated this and brought up examples, it was incredibly gratifying to see the MPAA came to the same conclusion.

Emma Watts (President of Production, 20th Century Fox) on getting The Other Woman's initial R rating reduced to PG-13 without making any cuts

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SNL's newest cast member! Sasheer Zamata! Details here: http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/saturday-night-live-adds-sasheer-zamata-black-cast-member/

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Bechdel-passing female characters make bank!! (Chart courtesy of Vocativ)

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When creative executives get in a room and go down the list of possible directors for a movie that's already financed, they simply don't see many women to choose from. If we get more women making movies, there will be more people to consider from that list. On some level it's simply a numbers game.

Mary Jane Skalski, a veteran film producer currently serving as a senior advisor to Gamechanger

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consider supporting this kickstarter

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We've created a place where a black woman can be at the front of the show, but a lot of our success is in how strong of an ensemble it is, and so many people can see themselves in it. We have a lead male who's Latin. We have two black men. There's a strong gay character. I look forward to the day when a show like Scandal is a success and it's not newsworthy. We're not there yet, but we'll get there.

Kerry Washington, who stars as Olivia Pope on ABC's Scandal, talking about diversity on the show in the 6/5/13 issue of AwardsLine

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Will you be watching Amy's new show? Hope so!

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Rhimes, at 43, is often described as the most powerful African-American female show runner in television — which is too many adjectives. She is one of the most powerful show runners in the business, full stop.

NYT's Shonda Rhimes profile

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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

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Have you seen Blancanieves yet? Don't miss it. Snow White as a female bullfighter in 1920s Spain. Playing in these cities.

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JLaw = Best Choice for Young Han Solo (how awesome would that be?!)

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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)

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at the current rate of growth it would take women 42 years to catch up with men in terms of TV writing staff jobs

"2013 WGA TV Staff Diversity Report Finds Little Progress," Deadline

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[participantmedia]

A Place at the Table opens TODAY in theaters nationwide, on iTunes and On Demand everywhere. Good Day was shot using traditional stop-motion animation, and incorporated over 2,500 individual frames. Different than traditional 2D animation, the piece was shot on a live set, utilizing hand-made paper cutouts. The process was a true labor of love. Every bit of movement, expression and transition required an intense amount of planning and preparation. As a result, the filmmakers were only able to capture 2 seconds of screen-time per day. Take a Stand Against Hunger: http://bit.ly/placeattable 50 million people in the U.S.—one in four children—don’t know where their next meal is coming from, despite our having the means to provide nutritious, affordable food for all Americans. Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush examine this issue through the lens of three people who are struggling with food insecurity: Barbie, a single Philadelphia mother who grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two kids; Rosie, a Colorado fifth-grader who often has to depend on friends and neighbors to feed her and has trouble concentrating in school; and Tremonica, a Mississippi second-grader whose asthma and health issues are exacerbated by the largely empty calories her hardworking mother can afford. Their stories are interwoven with insights from experts including sociologist Janet Poppendieck, author Raj Patel and nutrition policy leader Marion Nestle; ordinary citizens like Pastor Bob Wilson and teachers Leslie Nichols and Odessa Cherry; and activists such as Witness to Hunger’s Mariana Chilton, Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio and Oscar®-winning actor Jeff Bridges. Ultimately, A Place at the Table shows us how hunger poses serious economic, social and cultural implications for our nation, and that it could be solved once and for all, if the American public decides—as they have in the past—that making healthy food available and affordable is in the best interest of us all.

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From NYTimes: "Black Characters are Still Too Good, Too Bad or Invisible"

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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%)