No Entry Fee Film Festivals – The Low Budget Filmmaker’s Best Friend

Filmmaking is hard, especially when most people seem to think it takes millions of dollars to make a film. That maybe true for some people, but it should not discourage anyone from doing things on a shoe string budget.

This is why I’m sharing this website: No Entry Fee Festivals.  This is a great resource if you’re on a budget and still want to get your film seen. We all know those festival submissions fees add up fast, and I’m a big believer in making the most out of every situation. So, this is for all of us filmmakers who want to keep promoting our films and getting them seen, but may not have the cash to do it.

About the site:

Noentryfeefestivals.com was created, and is maintained, by Tracy Miller-Robbins, an artist and animator. It is a guide to no fee festivals and opportunities, a directory of festival organizations throughout the world and a resource for current artistic work in the mediums of animation, film and video.

http://noentryfeefestivals.com/

Twitter: @noentryfeefests

*Do you have a helpful resource you’d like to promote? Do you know about a great resource to share with the Broads? Get in touch with me and I’ll write about it. Contact me.

QUEUE THIS!

It's Thursday, which means I get to present to you another five films to add to your Netflix queue!  Before we get to the films, however, I want to acknowledge a great resource I found while doing my research this past week-- the women-centric Netflix film finder femaledirectors.com That's right, it pretty much makes this weekly post of mine obsolete!  Oh well, it was nice knowing you all...

I kid, it does make it a whole lot easier for you to find women-directed movies on your own, but I'm going to continue to spoon-feed those of you in Species Lazy Bones for a while longer.  Plus, I can't blame you for wanting to hang out here with us broads on the Broad Humor bloggerwebs a few minutes more!  Now that I think about it, I take back what I said about you being a lazy bones, you're actually quite smart...and I like that lip gloss you're wearing...

Alright, onto the movies. To keep it a little more interesting, I've decided to group my picks into themes (see, I make such an effort for you, you really should keep coming back). This week, the theme is Films-Destri-Learned-About-In-Film-And-Womens-Studies-Class; or, Important Films!  No seriously, these are some really great films.  You have to give Netflix credit for making them available to a wider audience.  It wasn't that long ago that I was working on my MSc dissertation and could only find Working Girls at the ONE specialty video store left in LA.*  Now I can watch it on Netflix in the comfort of my rundown "Eastside" apartment and never be forced to venture past La Brea again!     

Working Girls (dir Lizzie Borden, 1986) - Netflix says: "Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, director Lizzie Borden's gritty drama depicts a day in the lives of several prostitutes working in an upscale Manhattan whorehouse. Told largely through the eyes of one of the girls -- a lesbian prostitute (Louise Smith) whose partner has no idea what she does for a living -- the film provides a no-holds-barred portrayal of the world's oldest profession."  Although it says, "no-holds-barred," I don't remember this being super sexual, considering its subject matter, so I have to believe it has more to do with the portrayal of women's lived experiences in this line of work-- like, SPOILER ALERT, the scene with the woman adjusting her diaphragm while casually talking to a co-worker.  I guess women's regular bodily functions are considered pretty wild when you don't see them on the screen very much, eh Netflix?  

Since Premiering at Sundance in 2006, "Little Miss Sunshine" Remains One of the Strongest Comedies Through Its Witty Dark Humor and Lovable Characters

“Little Miss Sunshine” is one of the wittiest comedies from the past ten years. Directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, this film brings unique characters into a dark, somewhat twisted setting and makes it brighter. It shows realistic people in all stages of life, struggling to figure out who they are, what they want and how they’re going to move forward.

The film is about a little girl named Olive who gets called at the last minute to compete in the “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant. The family can’t afford to fly so instead they decide to drive their VW bus from their home in New Mexico to California. It’s essentially a dysfunctional (but really average, let’s not kid ourselves) family on a road trip.

Abigail Breslin plays Olive and Toni Collette plays her mother, Sheryl. Toni Collette is one of my favorite actresses. She always picks really great roles and this is no exception. She’s not one of the biggest characters in the movie, but her presence is invaluable. While the other characters frantically try to find themselves, Sheryl is there, slightly uncertain but strong enough to hold everyone else together. Movie mothers are often jealous, overbearing or hard to please, so when a film finally portrays a mother who just loves her children and supports them no matter what, it’s amazing.

I’m always a fan of movies that promote healthy relationships between mothers and daughters. I believe it’s important for young girls to see what a good relationship looks like, and should feel like. Every relationship is unique, but every child should be allowed and encouraged to be himself or herself. That’s another reason this movie is so strong; Olive isn’t a “beauty queen.” She doesn’t fit into the pageant scene, but she goes anyway and she doesn’t change herself to blend in. She’s just Olive and her confidence, as young as she may be, encourages her family to rediscover their own individuality.

The rest of the cast includes Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear, and Alan Arkin. Seriously, that is a hard cast to beat.  They’re all great actors, but Paul Dano has to be my favorite. He’s incredibly talented and plays the character Dwayne flawlessly. Dano recently worked with directing duo Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton again in 2012 on the film "Ruby Sparks."

“Little Miss Sunshine” offers dark humor with a warm heart. No matter who you are or what you’ve been through, you’ll find a character to relate to and invest in throughout the film. 

ABC orders the most comedy pilots from women writers.

Thanks ABC for recognizing
women comedy writers! 

So far the networks have ordered a total of 50 comedy scripts to pilot. Of those, 15 are the works of brilliantly funny women. I think these broads deserve a shout out. What an accomplishment! 

Also ABC gets a pat on the back for giving women writers a fair shake. Here’s how the network numbers break down as well as the list of pilots penned by women.

ABC ordered 13 comedies to pilot - 6 by women

BAD MANAGEMENT by Sharon Horgan & Holly Walsh

MIDDLE AGE RAGE by Cheryl Holliday

SUPER FUN NIGHT by Rebel Wilson

TROPHY WIFE by Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins

KEEP CALM AND KAREY ON  by Andrea Abbate

SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY  by Lizzie Molyneux and Wendy Molyneux

CBS ordered 12 comedies to pilot - 4 by women

BAD TEACHER  BY Hilary Winston

FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES By Dana Klein

MOM By Gemma Baker & Chuck Lorre

MOTHER’S DAY  By Dana Eden, Daniela London-Dekel, Elisa Zuritsky & Julie Rottenberg

FOX ordered 9 comedies to pilot - 2 by women

MY FUTURE ASSISTANT by Sherry Bilsing & Ellen Plummer

TWO WRONGS by Michelle Morgan

NBC ordered 16 comedies to pilot - 3 by women

ASSISTANCE By Leslye Headland

GATES By Cathy Yuspa & Josh Goldsmith

GIRLFRIEND IN A COMA By Liz Brixius

CW has no funny bone.

For loglines, you can go to thefutoncritic.com.

Top 10 Films Written by (and About) Women

The Broad Humor Film Festival is all about celebrating women in comedy, and so is this week's Top 10 list. There are many great, funny films written by women, and there are also many great, funny female characters in film. This week, I looked for films that combine those two elements. Here is my list of the Top 10 Films Written by (and About) Women:

10) Look Who's Talking (Amy Heckerling)

9) Private Benjamin (Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, Harvey Miller)

8) Sleepless in Seattle (Nora Ephron)

7) Nine to Five (Patricia Resnick, Colin Higgins)

6) My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Nia Vardalos)

PBS Series "The Makers" - episode 1

If you missed the first episode of The Makers: Women Who Make America, you can watch it online here  or below.  It gives a great overview of the start of the women's movement in America, its strengths, weaknesses, energy, and innocence.

Watch Part One: Awakening on PBS. See more from Makers: Women Who Make America.

The Bluestocking Film Series

In light of the recent Oscar Ceremony and the short number of women behind the camera walking away with statues and the total sexist feel of the entire night, I believe this is an appropriate time to talk about The Bluestocking Film Series and The Bechdel Test.

Are you familiar with the Bechdel Test? No? Well, here is a definition:

The Bechdel test is used to identify gender bias in fiction. Commentators have noted that a great proportion of contemporary works fail to pass this threshold of representing women.

The three simple rules are:

1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it

2. Who talk to each other

3. About something besides a man