Women Moviemakers and their Reception in the Film Industry
For the greater part of this century, women have played their pivotal roles in front of the camera rather than behind. Today, names like Penny Marshall, Susan Seidelman, or Penelope Spheeris seem to attest to the fact that more women directors are “making it” in Hollywood than even before. But are the doors of Hollywood really open for women directors? Or is more talent and exciting work to be found within the realm of independent film making, be it documentary or experimental? An analysis commissioned by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) sheds light on the not-so-glorious day-to-day existence for most women directors and producers within the Hollywood studio-system: women directors make up only ten percent of the Guild’s membership, and the percentage of days they are working on the set is even less. The Guild’s executive director, Glenn J. Gumpel, transforms these numbers into tangibles by stating: “If these