QUEUE THIS!

Starting today, I’ll be doing a weekly post suggesting five films for you to put in your Netflix Queue.  Why Netflix, you ask?  And why am I bossing you around and telling you what to queue?  Well, because it can help women directors.  

Netflix is very tapped into the data they collect from their customers—what do customers queue, what do they watch to the end, what do they pause, what do they rate highly... You get the picture.  They use this data to make decisions about content licensing and production. So, if you put women-directed films in your queue and you tell your friends to do the same, we just might start to have an impact on what Netflix chooses to license, and maybe even what they greenlight for their slate of original programming.  Here’s a little more about how they use their data. Shall we see if we can create some change?

Since this is the first Thursday after the Oscars, let’s start with five films that could have/should have/or did receive some big awards.  In no particular order...

QUEUE THIS!

1. The Loneliest Planet (dir Julia Loktev) - This is a beautiful, meditative film about a couple backpacking through the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia.  It’s pretty much an art film; so Broads, don’t expect a fast-paced jaunt.  Sit back and enjoy the scenery on the biggest screen in your home. And did I mention Gael García Bernal is in it?  Hani Furstenberg is, too, and she plays a great solid female character. This film was nominated for Gotham and Spirit awards and played a number of big international festivals (Grand Prize winner at AFI Fest).

Can We Talk? Legendary Funny Lady and Fashion Cop Joan Rivers

Ok, It's Wednesday and the Oscars were on Sunday. By now the water cooler should have some other topic to be buzzing about but I work from home, so what do I know? Do people still stand around water coolers? As a person who works in the industry, the Oscars should be all about the films, but let's face it, I love looking at pretty dresses. As much as I like to discuss the merit of each individual film, the snubs and surprises, there is still part of me that is a catty teenager ripping apart the pretty people for their poor fashion decisions.

Thankfully, I am not alone. There is this show called "Fashion Police" and at the helm speaking out for our inner fifteen year old is legendary funny lady Joan Rivers. While watching the post Oscar special I started thinking about how polished Ms. Rivers is as a comedian, she has more that quadrupled her "ten thousand hours" in show biz. She has a cabinet full of material that she can just draw on at any moment and adapt to current events and celebrities.

Can we talk about her career? When I was a child she was a fixture on late night television and afternoon talk shows and even then she was a seasoned comedian. Sometime around 1986 My mother snuck me into one of her performances in the Catskills, the next morning I saw her at the hotel and told her I liked her routine as well as her performance in "Muppets Take Manhattan." I was probably too young to really appreciate the humor but I remember it well.

I rediscovered how brillant Joan is after watching the documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work"

She is someone who has had great successes and terrible tragedies but has carved out a career out of speaking about the lives of women and everything from our insecurities to our inner bitches.

But I can talk all I want, you have to hear it from her. I've compiled some clips spanning her career.

Also check out her special on Showtime this month. Joan Rivers: Don't Start with Me

Broad Humor Channel wants to put the YOU in YouTube

Have you checked out the Broad Humor's YouTube Channel lately? Are you a subscriber?

The YouTube Channel will now feature playlists of previous winners, projects from Alumni and friends as well as up and coming funny females.

In addition, there is are new compilations called "Broad History" which will focus on some of the female legends of comedy and supplements to the blog content.

If you have a project you would like to feature, a link to past festival content or ideas for a feature, please feel free to comment or PM me and I will put it in the queue.

In the meantime, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE so you can stay up to date on all that is happening :)

Laura Thies Interview on Wellywood Woman Blog

Just read a great interview with Laura Thies on the Wellywood Woman blog out of New Zealand that supports the development of women's films.  Laura Thies is a German director who is working outside the German film system for a bunch of reasons that resonated with my experience of LA.  In any case, she coined a phrase, "doom-loop" that applies equally here.

So a lot of people from the industry have told me not to make this movie independently because I won't have a chance of showing it! But if I go with the system, I will be occupied for the next two years with finding a producer, then finding a TV-channel and state funding, which is a doom-loop because you can't get one without the other!

So they are going for crowdfunding instead of the "industry" and the director has made a fun crowdfunding video of her next project with the screenwriter.
Read the whole post at Wellywood Woman blog. 

Catch the interview
with Former President of NBC on KPCC

How “Must See TV” turned into “Must Flee TV”.

NBC just had their worst sweeps week ever, ranking below ABC, CBS, Fox and Spanish Language Univision. Ouch. What’s happened to the network giant who used to be the hip cool kid that millions of viewers wanted to hang out with every week? Former NBC President Warren Littlefield gives the inside scoop in his new book Top of the Rock, Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV. I heard Littlefield on KPCC yesterday morning where he offered some juicy tidbits that are definitely worth a listen. Not only does he talk about NBC, but also offers his views on what’s happening to network television in general. When it comes to comedy, Littlefield talks about the secret ingredient that made Frasier such a huge hit, who was on the short list to play Elaine on Seinfeld before Julia Louis-Dreyfus clenched the role and how Cheers was shockingly slow to get off the starting blocks. The interview is just under 17 minutes. Enjoy! http://tinyurl.com/aq6683w

Before Hunger Games and Silver Linings, Oscar Winner Jennifer Lawrence Was an Ozark Mountain Girl in the Female Driven Drama “Winter’s Bone”

Jennifer Lawrence really is a great actress, and her performance in “Silver Linings Playbook” is wonderful. Even in “The Hunger Games” she gives a quiet, reserved character so much emotion without even speaking. Without her that film would have been another young adult love saga.  My only issue with “The Hunger Games” is that the film created so many Jennifer Lawrence fans who, when posed with the question, “Have you seen Winter’s Bone?” respond with a look I’d imagine one would have if they were asked who the 23rd president was. Benjamin who? So, while I’m glad she’s being appreciated, I don’t believe if you’re over the age of 16, you should be able to call yourself a fan of hers until you’ve seen “Winter’s Bone.”

“Winter’s Bone” is a phenomenal movie about a young girl (Jennifer Lawrence) whose home is going to be taken away when her drug-dealer father fails to show up to court. She has to find him, dead or alive, in order to save her home and keep her younger siblings in her care. As I’ve said before, Jennifer Lawrence is great in this film but John Hawkes is also in this movie, and if you don’t know who he is I recommend finding out. He’s an outstanding actor who’s yet to receive the appreciation he deserves.

Top 10 Female Best Director Oscar Nominees

Although all of the Best Director nominees at this year's Academy Awards were men, I would like to take a moment to celebrate all the women in that category in previous years. So, here's a list of the Top 10 Female Best Director Oscar Nominees.

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