 | THE HOT PINK PEN is an advocate for women directors & screenwriters, creative filmmakers who are generally overlooked by the mainstream media. Even when their work is noticed, however, it's often misunderstood &/or rudely demeaned. THE HOT PINK PEN is now here to right these wrongs, & help women (& men) in audiences everywhere find wonderful films by women filmmakers. THE HOT PINK PEN: |
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Kudos to Edie Falco, winner of the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in her role as NURSE JACKIE. For all those years that Falco played back-up on THE SOPRANOS, here’s proof that the lady can carry her own show with heart, soul, & true brilliance.
Shout-Out to Edie Falco:
You Go, Girl!!!
30.Aug.10 
Rants: Oscars & Other Awards 
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On December 11, 2008, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their 2009 Golden Globe Nominations… and Penny went ballistic.
I was stunned when Loveleen Tandan (Slumdog Millionaire’s credited co-director) was not named as Danny Boyle’s co-nominee in the “Best Director” category. But my outrage quickly turned into energy, and I started an e-mail campaign on this blog that eventually attracted international attention.
After months spent in battle mode, I got to watch Loveleen Tandan mount the stage to accept a “Best Picture” Oscar with the rest of the Slumdog principals, and one year later, I got to watch Barbra Streisand hand a “Best Director” Oscar to Kathryn Bigelow—the fourth female nominee and first winner in AMPAS history!
And now there’s icing on the cake: On 5/15/10, I received a First Place Certificate in Category 34C (Website Development/Creation—Professional Sites) from the Illinois Woman’s Press Association, and I recently learned that I have also received a Third Place Certificate in national competition from the National Federation of Press Women (IWPA’s parent organization).
Now as “Professional Site” websites & blogs go, The Hot Pink Pen is technically very primitive, so receiving these awards is astonishing. I am deeply honored by this affirmation of my work, and I want to thank all the IWPA/NFPW judges for recognizing the cumulative content of my passionate outpouring on this subject. And I want to thank all of you for engaging in vigorous dialogue thru-out “my Slumdog Brouhaha” f2f, in public postings, &/or in private communications. Your feedback kept me going, and all the questions (especially the acrimonious ones), made me work ever harder to explain my rationale.
This is how change happens, folks. No, it’s not always pretty, but I sincerely believe some fights RE worth fighting!
Click HERE to read details in my press release.
09.Jul.10 Events: WITASWAN & SWAN Day, Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
From Whitney Daleiden: “I took Jill Coleman’s Psychology of Women class at Roosevelt University this past semester, and I had to complete a “social activism” project. I convinced Professor Coleman to let me make a short PSA on women in the film industry (inspired by you!).
Most of my peers ended up taking a self-defense class or writing to a politician or something like that, so I ended up doing the most unique project in the class, and I got an A!
Now I’m done with school and off to the next thing. Not quite sure what that is yet, but I’m making plans and whatnot.”
To Whitney from Jan: YOU GO, GIRL J
21.May.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Sending congratulations to German actress Feodora (Feo) Aladag—the big winner in this year’s Tribecca Film Festival. Her film WHEN WE LEAVE (DIE FREMDE) won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature in this year’s World Narrative Competition. Aladag is credited as director, screenwriter & producer… & this is her first time behind the camera!
On home turf, DIE FREMDE won the “Label Europa Cinemas” award at the Berlin International Film Festival, & received six nominations from the German Film Academy (including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, and Outstanding Feature Film), although awards this year were otherwise dominated by Michael Haneke’s Oscar-nominated film THE WHITE RIBBON.
So keep your eyes peeled for WHEN WE LEAVE now that it’s made its big debut on the international film festival circuit!
Shout out to Feo Aladag:
You Go, Girl!
30.Apr.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Best book of the year: THE HIDDEN BRAIN by Shankar Vedantam.
Chapter 5 (The Invisible Current: Gender, Privilege & the Hidden Brain) begins with the words: “Lilly Ledbetter’s life followed a clockwork routine…”
It’s just like Kathryn Bigelow told Leslie Stahl on 60 MINUTES one week before becoming the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director: “There’s really no difference between what I do and what a male filmmaker might do… On the other hand, I think the journey for women, no matter what venue it is… it’s a long journey.”
Indeed! And the ending of Vedantam’s chapter had me crying real tears.
Kudos to a guy who really, really gets it!
18.Mar.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards, Raving/Ranting about Critics/Journalists Read more Comments (0)
If you find you have mixed feelings about last night’s big barrier buster (a woman won the Best Director Oscar for a film that has almost no women in it, a woman won the Best Director Oscar but didn’t thank any of the women who came before her, whatever) then I beg you to look beyond Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Director win & see the big picture: women empowered by Bigelow’s nomination voted with their hearts, in clear defiance of all the handicappers! Wow!!!
As I predicted, the two most vulnerable categories were Best Adapted Screenplay & Best Original Screenplay. The minute Mark Boal won BOS for THE HURT LOCKER (trouncing Quentin Tarantino), I was on my feet screaming, & when Geoffrey Fletcher won for PRECIOUS (trouncing Jason Reitman), I went into orbit.
The media’s “Battle of the Exes” blather endlessly repeated that Kathryn Bigelow & James Cameron both had 9 noms each, but as I kept telling you, KB had 4 “major noms,” whereas JC mostly had teckie noms. In the end, she left with 6 Oscars (3 majors) & he left with 3 Oscars (all teckie). Furthermore, in every case where they went head-to-head (except for cinematography), she won.
This year had more upsets than any prior year I can remember, & I submit these upsets were all due to the power of female AMPAS voters!!! So here’s a big shout-out to the women voters of AMPAS: You Did It!!!
Friends,THIS is how change happens J
Photo credit: ZumawireWestPhotos/Newscom
08.Mar.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (5)
“…if The Hurt Locker wins, it will be the lowest grossing best picture honoree in decades of Oscar winners. It’s earned just over $12.6 million in a theatrical release that wrapped up late last year. Avatar on the other hand would be the highest grossing best picture winner. It’s made more than $706 million domestically and is still in theaters.” That’s what IndieWIRE editor Eugene Hernandez just posted in his latest Oscar Update.
But honestly, folks, I still don’t understand why… Specifically, once they knew for sure that The Hurt Locker was sweeping almost all of the critics circle awards in December, why did Summit still decide to go thru with a DVD release on January 12? Why didn’t they wait & re-release into theatres right after Oscar nominations were announced on February 2? Very, very strange “marketing strategy”… One might almost wonder if Summit ever really believed in The Hurt Locker or even realized what they had… <insert BIG SIGH here >
01.Mar.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Oh, my… Ominous silence in response to my “Blue Oscar” chart, except for one [male] friend who wrote: “I don’t think women should block vote, whether it be a film director, political candidate, or whatever…”
It’s painful to read the statement “just vote with your heart for the films, performances, and technical accomplishments that you really believe are the best,” interpreted as telling women they should “block vote,” especially since (1) Kathryn Bigelow is already so far ahead in the handicapping that no “block voting” is required in her case, & (2) I gave no specific recommendations in any category.
My goal was to help explain the mechanics: Why is Oscar always Blue? Oscar is always blue because the process of selecting Oscar candidates systematically eliminates female POV. But now that only 5 candidates remain in most categories, if 1/3rd are the voters are women, then female AMPAS voters actually have an opportunity to affect the outcome. They don’t have to “organize” to do this; they simply have to understand the basis of the “cumulative factor” so they won’t be “seduced” by it.
For the record, I think the primary goal of moving from 5 to 10 Best Picture candidates was simply to increase TV audience. But consider: It’s no secret women are more interested in “OscarBowl” then men are (something obvious simply by comparing SuperBowl versus OscarBowl advertising). Nevertheless, the films actually in contention in recent years were rarely films most women felt reflected their own lives & experiences… Why? Because “women hold up half the sky,” but Oscar is way too Blue!
26.Feb.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Read my Guest Post on Melissa Silverstein’s Women & Hollywood blog.
FYI, here’s the link to my award-winning article for Women’s eNews. Credit for the chart goes to WeN editor Alexandra Poolos, because I originally created it at her request. She was right! All the IWPA & NFPW judges loved it, & I’ve kept it updated ever since. Sometimes one picture (like “BlueOscar” here) is worth 1,000 words, but other times only numbers will do J
25.Feb.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Click HERE to download UPDATED 2010 Oscar Impact Chart (pdf).
Kudos to my AAUW-Illinois sister Leslie Sulla for jerking my chain! In fact there are FOUR female screenwriters impacting this year’s high profile Oscars: Philippa Boyens & Fran Walsh (The Lovely Bones), Nora Ephron (Julie & Julia) AND Terri Tatchell (District 9). OK, so I’m not a Sci-Fi fan, but I did see District 9 & I did not catch this. My mistake!!!
Leslie’s addition of Ms. Tatchell brings the number of impacted films to 5 & the total number of nominations impacted to 11—the highest total since the peak in 2004!!!
Remember that ceiling-smashing woman who titled her award-winning book It Takes a Village? Well, my friends: Here’s more proof J
Photo: Terri Tatchell at the Nominee Luncheon (2/15/10)
23.Feb.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
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