While there’s a long way to go in order to attain healthy diversity in the advertising and entertainment communities, strides are being made on high-profile as well as under-the-radar fronts. The former is underscored by the 2013 Sundance Film Festival’s lineup of films in its U.S. dramatic competition. Eight of the 16 films announced last month (SHOOTonline, 11/28) were directed by women. Adding gravitas to this female representation are the bigger numbers involved. The 16 narrative films were selected from 1,227 Sundance entries. This means that the voice of women filmmakers has broken through the long odds of having any film make the final Sundance cut.
Eight films helmed by women represent the high water mark in Sundance’s dramatic competition. At the 2012 Sundance Fest, for example, just three of the 16 films in the same competition were from female directors.
The eight female-helmed films in the 2013 Sundance Festival’s U.S. dramatic competition are: The Lifeguard, written and directed by Liz Garcia; Concussion, written and directed by Stacie Passon; In a World…, directed by and starring Lake Bell; May in the Summer directed by and starring Cherien Dabis; Afternoon Delight directed and written by Jill Soloway; Emmanuel and the Truth About Fishes, directed and written by Francesca Gregorini; Touchy Feely, directed and written by Lynn Shelton; and Austenland directed and co-written by Jerusha Hess. (The latter is Moxie Pictures‘ first narrative feature film, produced in concert with Fickle Fish Films.)
While a 50/50 split between male and female directors in just a 16-film lineup is hardly an all encompassing trend, it is at the very least an encouraging sign given that Sundance is a marquee showcase for independent films. Yet while a number of Sundance films go onto mainstream success, as well as Oscar nominations and wins, the big box office movies remain the domain of male directors. Last year just five percent of the 250 highest-grossing films were directed by women according to research by San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is looking to improve those numbers through several initiatives designed to afford more directing opportunities in film and TV to women and ethnic minorities. So too does the American Film Institute (AFI) have relevant programs. Both the DGA and AFI efforts were evident in SHOOT’s Fall Director Series feature story (10/26) identifying up-and-coming directors, specifically Velvet Andrews Smith who caught our eye with the short film Ripple Effect which was screened at the International Cinematographer Guild’s annual Emerging Cinematographer Awards (ECA) in September at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles. While the ECA screening of Ripple Effect was designed to showcase the work of DP Daron Keet, it did the same for Smith who wrote and directed the short which depicts how circumstances connect an Afghan lad with a U.S. Special Forces soldier during wartime. The story is moving, disturbing and powerful. As for what inspired her to pen the script, Smith explained, “At the time I wrote it, I had been watching some documentaries about U.S. Army Green Berets serving in Afghanistan. I was struck by the layers of emotion beneath the surface of these warriors. They’re highly specialized and adept, but when they made connections with the Afghan people, they could show such compassion and humanity. I’ve always been interested in stories that revolve around bridging the divide between cultures. That was the motivation for telling this story.”
And helping her to tell this story was the AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women. Each year, AFI chooses eight women from across the country who have shown potential as emerging directors. Smith was one of those selected, gaining advice from industry professionals and constructive criticism on her script for Ripple Effect. While it’s entirely up to the filmmakers to raise the funds to make their projects, AFI provided Smith with a camera package, allowing her and Keet to use two Sony F900s and one Sony EX3. (Also deployed was a Y3 HDiablo camera for shooting slow-motion shots at 1,000fps.)
Beyond the ECA exposure, Ripple Effect has hit the festival circuit, winning an award at the Moondance International Film Fest in New York. Ripple Effect is Smith’s most recent short, her first coming in 2005, a bank heist film titled Two-Eleven. “I had been assistant directing and realized that no one was just going to one day say, ‘here you go, be a director,'” she recalled. “So I went out to direct my own short and have tried to create opportunities for myself. I keep on writing and developing my own projects.”
Smith has tapped into other opportunities as well, including the alluded to DGA initiative. Earlier this year she was selected to participate in a joint Disney/ABC-DGA Directing Fellowship Program which aims to increase diversity among directors working in the film/TV industry. Via the program, Smith gets the chance over the next two years to shadow veteran TV directors on ABC episodic series. “It’s an opportunity to learn the tone, style and process of these shows while building connections within episodic TV,” related Smith.
Launched in 2001, the Disney/ABC-DGA Directing Program is one of the longest running programs of its kind in the entertainment industry. Fourteen directors–consisting of women as well as ethnic minorities–were selected for this year’s program which provides exposure as well as mentorship. An orientation session for this latest chosen group of promising helmers was held back in August at DGA headquarters in Los Angeles. Among the industry speakers on hand to address and offer insights to the young directors were: DGA first VP Paris Barclay, a director whose body of work includes NYPD Blue, City of Angels, Sons of Anarchy and Glee; director Mary Lou Belli who has more than 125 episodes to her credit for such series as Girlfriends, One on One, and The Game; UPM Sara Fischer whose work spans Knight Rider, Of the Map, Hawthorne, The L Word and who currently serves as VP of production at ABC Studios; and 1st AD Tim Engle whose credits include the feature films 50 First Dates, Anger Management and The Longest Yard, as well as the TV shows Tell Me You Love Me, Weeds, Happy Endings and House of Lies. Also on hand was director Zetna Fuentes, a graduate of the 2010 Disney/ABC-DGA Directing Fellowship Program whose credits include Pretty Little Liars, Guiding Light and One Life to Live.
Among the other DGA programs of note is the Guild’s Showrunners event. This past April, the Eastern Diversity Steering Committee held its 2012 event at the DGA’s NY headquarters. Invited were qualified female directors and directors of color who got the chance to meet with show-running directors, producers and UPMs from episodic TV series shooting in the NYC area. The promising young directors signed up for one-on-one interview sessions with a lineup of showrunners who included: producer/director Jerry Kupfer from NBC’s 30 Rock; producer/UPM Michele Armour and coordinating producer Michael Cargill from the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet?; director/exec producer Tim Van Patten and co-executive producer Gene Kelly from HBO’s Boardwalk Empire; exec producer Daniel Zelman from the FX Network drama Damages; producer/UPM Kathy Ciric from the USA network comedy/drama Royal Pains; director Nadine Zylstra and coordinating producer April Coleman from PBS’ Sesame Street; and director/co-executive producer Jeff King from USA network’s series White Collar.
Commercial director Dan Cooperbey of Cooperbey & Associates is a co-chair of the DGA’s Eastern Diversity Steering Committee. He’s a former New York ad agency art director who worked for shops including Grey, Saatchi and Bates. Cooperbey then settled into the director’s chair, starting his helming career with jobs for EUE Screen Gems, Leodas Films, Sweet Dreams, Firehouse and Paradise Productions. He now directs via his own Cooperbey & Associates, a certified minority-owned business.
“In my meetings with major corporations such as PepsiCo, Nestle, KFC, UTC, etc., they seem to be truly committed to adding qualified MBEs (Minority Business Enterprises) to their supplier list and have requested their ad agencies do the same when working on their accounts,” noted Cooperbey. “The demographics and psychographics are changing and many companies realize the need to work with qualified suppliers who represent their market share.
Inner-City Filmmakers There are assorted grass-roots organizations and programs–outside the province of Guilds, networks and the like–that are also contributing to diversity throughout industry ranks. One such group is Inner-City Filmmakers launched by editor Fred Heinrich and producer Stephania Lipner. In 1964, editor Heinrich broke into the spot business at the venerable John Urie & Associates, a pioneering Los Angeles studio which helped start numerous filmmaking careers over the years.
Fast-forward to the early 1990s and Heinrich decided to conclude his distinguished career as an editor (in-house at production company FilmFair and then at his own editing shop Wildwood). He embarked upon a new path, teaming with his wife, Lipner, to create a career spawning ground which has gone on to transcend any single studio. In response to the racial unrest, violence and destruction of the Rodney King riots in L.A. in 1992, Heinrich and Lipner decided to do something that would make a positive difference in the lives of youngsters who might not otherwise get the chance to be part of the film community.
That “something” became Inner-City Filmmakers which since 1993 has provided free-of-charge training, hands-on experience and mentoring in different aspects of filmmaking and life skills to 522 graduates of varied ethnic backgrounds and from financially disadvantaged families. The program has also helped secure paid entry-level jobs for many grads. Indeed, the grass-roots brainchild of Heinrich and Lipner made–and continues to make–its mark, improving the lives of and career opportunities for deserving high school students. Assorted Inner-City Filmmakers are now full-fledged industry professionals.
Heinrich recalled that the purpose of Inner-City Filmmakers hit home from him during its first year when students from Bell High School in Bell, Calif., brought in their school video yearbook, which included five obituaries.
“That underscored the fact that we need to help create some opportunities for underprivileged young people in the inner city,” said Heinrich whose work as an editor and at Inner-City Filmmakers earned him induction into the AICE Hall of Fame in 2009.
This year, NBCUniversal began an official partnership with Inner-City Filmmakers for internships and jobs for alumni.
As for the Inner-City Filmmakers student body, in 2012 the program accepted 30 students from 18 different high schools in Greater L.A., 28 of whom completed a rigorous summer bootcamp instructional program. The class was 27 percent female, 59 percent Latino, 20 percent Africa-American, 7 percent Middle Eastern, 7 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, and 7 percent Caucasian. Forty percent of these students live below the U.S. poverty level. Thus far, 98 percent have gone on to attend college, with 50 percent matched to jobs.
Here’s a sampling of Inner-City Filmmaker grads over the years and their accomplishments:
• Richard Molina is a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild. He has worked his way up from apprentice editor on The Cable Guy to assistant editor on Miss Congeniality, to first assistant editor on Rush Hour 3. Molina also served as first assistant editor on The Hunger Games, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and 2012, among others. He is currently working on The Expendables 2.
• Gil Kenan is a director and was nominated for a 2006 Academy Award for the animated feature Monster House, which was executive produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg. Kenan also directed City of Ember, which was produced by Tom Hanks.
• Earlier this year Christopher “Chrisko” Morales won an Emmy Award with his 3D technical camera team from Cameron Pace Group for their work on the Winter X-Games. He’s been with Cameron Pace for the past two years, and recently returned from St. Petersburg, Russia, where he and the Cameron Pace contingent shot the Mariinsky Ballet in 3D.
• Maria Paula Galdo is a member of the Editors Guild, serving as assistant editor on Labor Day starring Josh Brolin, Kate Winslet and Tobey Maguire, and prior to that as an apprentice editor on the Ben Affleck-directed Argo.
• Allan Recinos was a camera PA on the TV series In Plain Sight, shot in New Mexico. He is currently a camera intern on Horns, a feature film starring Daniel Radcliffe and shooting in Vancouver, B.C. Recinos received scholarships and all expenses paid to attend the camera assistant and camera operator workshops in Rockport, Maine.
• Michael Dallatore is manager of Panavision’s Education/New Film Program.
• Dominic Reyes has such credits as production PA on the TV movie Legit, and a production intern on Knight of Cups starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman.
• Sal Alvarez is a member of the International Cinematographers Guild, recently serving as camera second assistant on Iron Man 3 shot by DP Jon Toll, ASC.
• Keith Sam Jr. is now manager of marketing services for IMAX.
• Carlos Castillion (2000) is an Editors Guild member and an assistant editor on Man of Steel.
• Bryan Torres (’99) is a member of the Editors Guild and an assistant editor on Two Guns starring Denzel Washington.
• Gabriel Diaz (2002) was a production assistant on The Dark Knight Rises.
• Nestor Arce (2004) is a member of the Costumers Guild, working on So Undercover starring Miley Cyrus.
• Julio Lagos went on to attain a Master’s Degree in Social Work at USC, now serves as a mental health consultant at Instituto Familiar in San Francisco, and was recently hired to serve as a freelance consultant/assistant on the topic of mental health, working on a film for lauded documentarian Joan Churchill.
• Kurt Blackwell, a member of the Costumers Guild, has worked his way up from costume production assistant on the feature film Domino to costumer on Cold Case, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Inception (he was Ken Watanabe’s personal dresser), Crazy, Stupid Love, The Lucky One, and About Last Night (starring Paula Patton).
• Carlos Camacho is an assistant to director Ted Melfi at GARTNER.
• Cesar Cervantes is attending Vassar on a scholarship and was selected to study at leading film university FAMU in the Czech Republic. Thanks to a grant for Evolution Media Capital, which covered out of-pocket expenses, Cervantes was able to attend FAMU.
• John Nomis is attending UC Berkeley on a scholarship. He was a summer intern at Universal Pictures.
• Jenny Caceres is a postproduction PA on The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp.
Grass-roots efforts The progressive spirit and track record of providing opportunities to advance diversity is also evident at other industry groups and programs providing training, experience and mentoring, including:
• The Streetlights Production Assistant Program (www.streetlights.org) is a nonprofit job training, job placement and career advancement program which provides entry-level employment in the entertainment industry for economically or socially disadvantaged young minority men and women. This pioneer organization was founded in 1992 by commercial and documentary producer Dorothy Thompson. Staffed by experienced industry professionals, Streetlights’ mission is to promote ethnic diversity in the entertainment industry while helping the students overcome any barriers to employment. The ultimate goal is to assist the graduates in career advancement; establishing themselves in the departments that interest them, and for which they show aptitude. With each step forward, they become closer to attaining social and economic parity for themselves and their families.
• Quiet on the Set! (www.quietonthset.us) is a program for inner-city and at-risk teens. The program teaches teenagers about film production from script writing to shooting to the editing of their own film. This provides teens with a variety of opportunities to be creative and learn the technology, while gaining self esteem and a positive exposure to group dynamics. At the conclusion of the workshop, with all the participants working together as a production team, they spend a day on location filming an original five to 10 minute movie. The program is designed to create the right attitude and the necessary life skills to improve youngsters’ futures through filmmaking.
• The “Made in NY” PA Training Program (www.bwiny.org/pages/patraining.html) is a collaboration between Brooklyn Workforce Innovations and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. The initiative’s missions is to give unemployed and low-income New Yorkers the chance to work on NY sets and build careers. Since the program’s launch in February 2006, Brooklyn Workforce Innovations has trained more than 300 New Yorkers and placed highly-qualified PAs on more than 2,000 productions. Graduates have moved up the industry ladder.
• Scenarios USA (www.scenariosusa.org), which was founded in 1999, is a national non-profit organization that uses writing and film to foster youth leadership, advocacy and self-expression in students across the country, with a focus on marginalized communities.
Individual companies Beyond the good work of various groups and organizations, individual businesses that are minority or woman-owned can also gain certification that can open up new doors of opportunity. SHOOT connected with a couple of female entrepreneurs–one who recently gained Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certification for her company, another who is seeking such certification.
Susan Munro is president of Hybrid Edit, LLC, a post house in which she is partnered with editor Michael Bartoli. Hybrid received WBENC certification last month.
“The importance of joining WBENC on a personal level was to be introduced to people and companies outside of the industry and network that I am familiar with,” related Munro. “As an editor by trade, I am oftentimes in the editing chair and I unfortunately don’t have as much opportunity to meet people outside of my field. WBENC is not an industry-specific organization and therefore there is a built-in opportunity to broaden our relationships. On a professional level, Hybrid is at the three-year mark and we now have the bandwidth as a growing company to seek out opportunities beyond our client base. We have a great pool of talent at Hybrid that not only do commercial editing but also long format, multimedia, and entertainment projects and we felt WBENC would give us an opportunity to expand in those mediums.”
Getting certified entailed an involved process. “The process of getting certified was a big undertaking but it tested our true interest in obtaining the WBENC certification,” shared Munro. “Our steps to certification were (1) compile the required paperwork that ended up filling two four-inch thick binders, (2) WBENC West office verified that we had submitted all necessary paperwork (3) Certification Committee meticulously reviewed our application (4) We had a site visit where a WBENC West representative visited the Hybrid offices and conducted an hour interview with myself, (5) A second Certification Committee reviewed our application and finally (6) we received the WBENC certification. For those women-owned companies that are looking to become certified, they should expect a six to twelve-month timetable that is from compiling all the needed paperwork to receiving the certificate in hand.”
Though Hybrid has had certification for less than a month, making it hard for her to definitively judge all the benefits entailed, Munro noted that the WBENC designation has already “allowed us to make introductions to agencies that we have not had the opportunity to work with previously. It allows us to participate in the GSD&M Small Business Enterprise Summit where we will connect with decision makers and potential procurement opportunities. At Hybrid we are very excited about the potential opportunities that the WBENC certification will extend us.”
At press time, Susan Willis, managing partner of The Cutting Room Films, LLC, had finished her WBENC application and was about to begin the process of getting certified. She is partnered with editors Chuck Willis and Mike Douglas in the film editorial house which opened in 2005. WBENC Certification had been brought to Susan Willis’ attention through various ad agencies. “Since that time,” she said, “I have thought about the importance and unique impact that a woman’s leadership can play in running a company and yet how women are still too often not given their proper opportunity, positions and just recognition. There still seems to be such a disparity in the amount of women-run and owned companies and that really has to make a person think about why. The bottom line is I feel too often women still do take a backseat to men in the workplace.
“WBENC is an empowering organization that hugely encourages women to push forward past old social mores and patterns,” continued Willis. “It challenges us to think a little differently about what we accept in the workplace. WBENC seems to bring to focus that women might have to fight a little more and continue to push a little harder to get the positions we deserve.”
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For Women and Minorities in Production, Part II, click here.
For Minorities in Production, Part 1 of Survey Responses, click here for respondents Carlos Guiterrez of Magnet Filmworks, Wendell Hanes of Volition Sound Recording, Malcolm Hardiman of Hack Studios, Eric Johnson of Trailblazer Studios, Jackie Lee of Company 3, Dora Medrano of Carbo Films, Jo Muse of Muse Communications, and Juan Pablo Oubina of Grupo Gallegos.
For Minorities in Production, Part 2 of Survey Responses, click here for respondents Bernanette Rivero of The Cortez Brothers, Elena Robinson of R/GA, Erika A. Salter of Salter Entertainment Group, LLC, and Paula Walker of Strato Films.
For Women and Minorities in Production, Part I, click here.
For Women In Production, Part 1 of Survey responses, click here for respondents Cristina Anderlini, Shannon Barnes, Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin, Laura Belsey, Fay Dattner, Madeline Di Nonno, Nicole Dionne, and Lesli Linka Glatter.
For Women in Production, Part 2 of Survey responses, click here for Bonnie Goldfarb, Jennifer Golub, Samantha Hart, Phyllis Koenig, Leslie LaPage, Kathrin Lausch, Terry Lawler, and Lola Lott.
For Women in Production, Part 3 of Survey responses, click here for Stacey Mokotoff, Ramaa Mosley, Mardrie Mullen, Liza Near, Valerie Petrusson, Susanne Preissler, Michelle Ross, and Ethel Rubinstein.
For Women in Production, Part 4 of Survey responses, click here for Lauren Schwartz, Rhea Scott, Shari L. Shankewitz, Liz Silver, Jo Steele, Cami Taylor, Monica Victor, and Jessica Yu.
