by V Renee

NoFilmSchool

If you've got a great, unique idea for a series, The New Normal Writing Contest might be your shot at getting it made.

Project Greenlight Digital Studios and ColorCreative TV have teamed up to bring you The New Normal Writing Contest, which aims at giving underrepresented artists with a rare point of view the chance to turn their anthology series ideas into a reality. All you need to do is write a 1-page dramatic or comedic pitch that best captures the contest's theme -- "trophy."

The Theme

From The New Normal Writing Contest site:

What does “Trophy” mean, you ask? Well, what does it mean to be part of a team and to strive toward a common goal, while dealing with individual setbacks, success and everyday life? Or what does it mean to go it alone?

We’re looking for dramatic or comedic pitches that explore the idea of what it means to be a winner – whether solo or as part of an ensemble – and what lengths people go through to obtain a symbol of victory. Your pitch can be about any world you choose – competitive sports, work, beauty – anything. The setting is vague on purpose! We want you to be creative. It’s your voice, so make it your own.

Prizes

Project Greenlight and ColorCreative will choose three winners who will all receive $5000 and will be partnered with a showrunner, director, and line producer in L.A. to work on one lucky winner's series, which will be distributed in the second half of 2016.

NoFilmSchool

Pitch Guidelines

• Limited to one page. Longer pitches will not be eligible for judging.
• Include the working title for your series.
• Must be an anthology, meaning a series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each episode or season.
• Should include information on setting, tone, genre: all the things that you would generally include in a good pitch.
• Be clear about the characters: who are they? (No more than 5 main roles).
• Where does the story take place?
• How do you intend to tell this story over 6 to 8 short episodes (6-10 minutes per episode).

Rules & Stuff

Contestants must: be permanent legal U.S. residents, 18 years or older, be single writers (not single like unmarried -- that'd be weird -- single as in no writing teams), and be willing to relocate to L.A. for 90 days in the Spring to work on your series. You can read the full official rules here.

Submissions close March 1st at 11:59 PM PST, so be sure to head on over to the New Normal Writing Contest's page for more info on how to apply.

 

Check this out on NoFilmSchool.com

 

by Brent Lang

 

Disney

Maybe it’s the post-“Hunger Games” effect, but the likes of Katniss Everdeen, Rey and the Black Widow are making some dents in Hollywood’s glass ceiling. But it’s not good news for everyone.

Though the number of female protagonists in major films trails that of men, women comprised 22% of leads in the top 110 grossing films, 34% of major characters, and 33% of all speaking characters, according to research by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. The number of protagonists increased 6% from last year and represented a recent high. The number of major characters and speaking parts saw increases of 5 and 3 percentage points, respectively.

The study’s results were calculated as a number of female-driven films such as Amy Schumer’s “Trainwreck,” the erotic drama “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and Disney’s live-action “Cinderella” enjoyed strong box office results. They weren’t alone. Many recent action-oriented films, a genre traditionally dominated by men, also feature female leads, among them “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and, of course, “The Hunger Games” franchise.

But women didn’t just play heroes. They were villains too, with actresses comprising 18% of antagonists — the first time the center has ever tracked villain roles.

“The numbers were definitely moving in the right direction,” said Martha Lauzen, the study’s author and the center’s executive director. “What is not clear is whether or not 2015 was a bit of an anomaly or whether this is the beginning of a longer-term trend.”

It wasn’t progress across the board. Many top-grossing films were awash in gender stereotypes. Moviegoers were more likely to know what male characters did for a living than female characters, and were more likely to be told a female character’s marital status. A larger portion of men (64% to 44%) were depicted in a work setting than women; 78% of male characters had identifiable jobs compared to 61% of females.

At a time when the monochromatic nature of Oscar nominees is creating controversy and boycott threats, the center’s study reveals that most of the major female characters are played by Caucasians. In a sign of the lack of racial diversity, the percentages of female characters of color were largely unchanged, with a slight increase in black female characters (from 11% in 2014 to 13% in 2015), no change in the percentage of Latina characters (flat at 4%), and a drop in the percentage of Asian female characters (from 4% to 3%).

The roles that actresses of color landed were less prominent. Twenty-seven percent of characters portrayed by black, Latina or Asian actresses were considered major roles, whereas 38% of those played by white actresses were significant parts.

Having women behind the camera made a big difference in how females were represented on screen. Females comprised 40% of all speaking roles in films with at least one female director and/or writer. They made up 30% of speaking parts in films from male directors and writers. Women were the protagonists in 50% of films from female directors and/or writers, but only 13% of the protagonists in films from male directors.

 

Check this out on Variety.com

 

 Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP

For Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra, meeting up with filmmakers Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu and Emmanuel Lukezki at the annual luncheon for Oscar nominees on Monday was an opportunity to show that amid the discussions of lack of diversity at the Academy Awards, there is some that should be celebrated.

“It was nice to meet the Latin American nominees,” Guerra said. “We are not many but being with Ale (Abreu) or the guy from Chile (Gabriel Osorio) or with Alejandro and Emmanuel, and feel that the Latin Americas are having an impact and we create a small clique within the nominated, therefore, is special.”

While the luncheon was full of schmoozing and love, diversity and #OscarsSoWhite dominated many of the discussions backstage.

Sylvester Stallone, who became a focal point in the controversy for being the sole nominee (supporting actor) from "Creed," which had both a black director and lead actor, said he consulted with director Ryan Coogler as to whether or not he should attend at all.

"I said, 'if you want me to go, I'll go, if you don't, I won't,'" Stallone told reporters before lunch. "He said, 'Just go there and try to represent the film.'"

Prior to the luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., various nominees stopped to speak to a room of reporters about everything from finance reform to fashion. Iñarritu posed for photos, but did not stop to speak with reporters.

However, those who did, have the question of diversity both at the Oscars and the industry at large on their mind.

"Spotlight" director Tom McCarthy complimented Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for doing "an amazing job of navigating change."

McCarthy said he has faith in the film community's ability to push the needle for change.

“Mad Max: Fury Road" director George Miller said that from his standpoint, casting is story-driven and commented how television has been ahead of the game in diverse casting.

Rooney Mara, nominated for her supporting performance in the 1950s-set lesbian drama "Carol," said she had just read an article the other day suggesting that there should be a hashtag for "Oscars so straight."

"These are all important conversations for us to be having," Mara said.

Isaacs tried to steer the focus back to the nominees at large inside the room.

"This year, we all know there's an elephant in the room. I've asked the elephant to leave," said Isaacs in her opening remarks. "Today is all about your incredible work."

The annual event brings together over 150 nominees to celebrate the honor before the golden statuettes are actually handed out at the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 28.

Based on reporting on the Associated Press.

 

Check this out on FoxNews.com

Deadline to Apply: March 1

IFP's unique yearlong mentorship program supports first-time feature directors when they need it most: through the completion, marketing and distribution of their films. Focusing exclusively on low-budget features (<$1million), this highly immersive program provides filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic tools necessary to launch their films - and their careers. Through the Labs, IFP works to ensure that talented emerging voices receive the support, resources, and industry exposure necessary to reach audiences. Open to all first time feature documentary and narrative directors with films in post-production. Twenty projects (10 documentaries and 10 narratives) are selected for the annual program. All Lab projects also automatically participate in the Project Forum of IFP’s Independent Film Week.

Lab alumni projects include Charles Poekel’s Christmas, Again (Factory 25), Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s (T)error (The Film Collaborative), Darius Clark Monroe’s Evolution of a Criminal (Independent Lens), David Thorpe’s Do I Sound Gay? (Sundance Selects) Aron Gaudet & Gita Pullapilly’s Beneath the Harvest Sky (Tribeca Film), Stacie Passon's Concussion (RADiUS), Alexandre Moors' Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects), Penny Lane's Our Nixon (CNN Films and Cinedigm), Daniel Patrick Carbone's Hide Your Smiling Faces (Tribeca Film), Lotfy Nathan's 12 O'Clock Boys (Oscilloscope), Dee Rees' Pariah (FocusFeatures), and Terence Nance's An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (Variance Films).

 

For more information, check out ifp.org

 

By DAVID GONZALEZ

 

David Gonzalez/The New York Times        

Television and movies changed Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez’s life. She chose her major in advertising design at the Fashion Institute of Technology after watching the 1980s sitcom “Bosom Buddies,” in which Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari goofed around at an ad agency. “It looked like fun,” she said. “But then I learned it was all about selling people things they don’t need.”

Though Ms. Gonzalez-Martinez stayed to finish her associate degree, she had an epiphany while watching the credits appear during a film: That world could be fun, too. Guided by little more than enthusiasm, she applied — and was admitted — to film school at New York University. For a Puerto Rican woman from the Bronx and Washington Heights in Manhattan, it was was another universe.

“It was a rich white kids’ school, and I felt super intimidated,” Ms. Gonzalez-Martinez said. “Thank God I had a friend there, a man of color, who told me to take it easy, it’s fine. He told me that everything I have to say and contribute is as valid as anybody else.”

That advice stayed with her as she pursued a career in film and television, starting with an early break from Spike Lee, who hired her as an apprentice film editor. Ms. Gonzalez-Martinez went on to work with the directors Milos Forman and Alan J. Pakula and as an editor on numerous documentaries. More recently, she has been writing and directing “Get Some!” It’s a web series about Sam and Viv Martell, a 40-something middle-class Latino couple trying to keep the spark in their relationship.

Ms. Gonzalez-Martinez said she understood the criticism about the lack of Latinos on “Saturday Night Live,” as well as the outrage after the Academy Awards overlooked black actors this year. While hashtag activism and boycotts are fine, Ms. Gonzalez-Martinez said she and her team are focused on expanding “Get Some!” into a 22-minute television pilot they hope will find a distributor.

“As far as #OscarsSoWhite, I don’t personally care about it, because this same problem has been around for years and years,” Ms. Gonzalez-Martinez said. “Latinos have always been on the verge, always hovering. So as hard as it is to make a web series, we’re doing it anyway because nobody is coming to us to give us an opportunity. We’re going to make it ourselves. We are going to tell the stories we want to tell.”

Those stories start inside the Upper West Side apartment of Tammi Cubilette, an actress and writer who, with the comedian Angelo Lozada, are the main characters of “Get Some!” and production partners with Ms. Gonzalez-Martinez. Last Monday, they sat around the dinner table with Joseph and Gloria La Morte, the show’s producers, to flesh out characters for the pilot.

In writing the show, they looked for universal situations facing a middle-class couple — he’s a chef, she’s a teacher — who happen to be Latino. Will Sam have his own restaurant? Will Viv become a principal? What about their neighbors, such as the somewhat clueless young rapper introduced in a past episode?

They see the couple’s lives reflecting those of their generation, straddling the analog and digital eras. More important, they see them as stand-ins for middle-class viewers who are struggling to pay the bills, get ahead and stay sane.

“If you’re going to have good content, you have to write what you know,” Ms. La Morte said. “If a writers’ room on a series only has a certain demographic, that’s what they’re going to write well. It has to start on the page.”

Mr. Lozada, who warms up audiences for Trevor Noah on “The Daily Show,” agreed. But he added that if their pilot were to be picked up for television, the writing team would have broader representation.

“Every day we deal with diversity,” he said. “Not a day goes by that we don’t interact with someone black, Latino or white. So why is it when we are creating does it have to be this little bubble?”

Ms. Cubilette, who was a cast member on John Leguizamo’s comedy show “House of Buggin’,” added that while minority actors, writers and directors go back and forth between cultures, the same cannot be said for their white counterparts.

“Not to make this us and them, but you want everybody in the writers’ room,” she said. “Yet the onus always seems to be on us, the people of color, to know about them and include them. Of course we’re aware of them. But they don’t think in those terms about us. How do they relate to people of color? They don’t, so they don’t write about it.”

The team is continuing to develop a pilot that will show it at its best. For Ms. Gonzalez-Martinez, it is a form of activism that goes beyond social media outrage or boycotts.

“I’d boycott the Oscars because they’re so boring,” she said. “Boycotting them doesn’t change institutions. We have to keep producing the content and find the people to champion it. I don’t know where they are, but we’re creating it.”

 

Check this out on nytimes.com