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 
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Click HERE to download Oscar Impact Chart for ‘09 as a pdf file.
So I never updated my award-winning Oscar Impact chart last year… I guess I was so bummed out by “My SLUMDOG Brouhaha” that I just couldn’t bring myself to post numbers that didn’t include Loveleen Tandan…
But what a difference a year makes! Who could have believed just twelve short months ago that a woman would not only be nominated this year, but would actually be a genuine contender?!?
So here, at long last, is JAN’S OSCAR WATCH updated with all information thru 2009. Without Loveleen Tandan, “Female Impact” behind-the-scenes at the 2009 Oscars was a piteous 7.5% (one of the lowest years of the decade). Total nominations were 3 (2 for FROZEN RIVER & 1 for RACHEL GETTING MARRIED). Neither film won any Oscars although Melissa Leo (the star of FROZEN RIVER) surprised everyone by winning an Independent Spirit Award in the Lead Actress category. And so it goes L
23.Feb.10 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Way back in July, when I declared “Game On!” on FF2, I told you all that my “horse” in this year’s Oscar Race would be Kathryn Bigelow. Here it is, December, & the Golden Globe nominations for 2010 were announced this AM: KB is one of five Best Director finalists & her film THE HURT LOCKER is one of five finalists for Best Motion Picture-Drama. Is this “just because she’s a woman?” No!!! Does being a woman help? Yes!!! For two reasons:
First, THE HURT LOCKER is a terrific film that scores way above KB’s co-nominees on ROTTEN TOMATOES, & the fact that it’s a great “war movie” made by a woman has given it extra attention from many women who might not have gone to see it otherwise.
Second, I believe that men of conscience everywhere were humiliated by “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha” last year. Regardless of whether they agreed with me or not about Loveleen Tandan’s contributions to SLUMDOG, I think they hadn’t really paid attention to the statistics before, & seeing the statistics made many men queasy. If we had, in fact, transcended our prejudices, then why were the statistics still so awful?!?
Why do I believe this? I believe this because most of the people who contacted me last year with messages of support & encouragement were men!!! And most of the negative feedback I received last year came from women!!!
So KB: You Go, Girl. I’m here cheering for you all the way J
15.Dec.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
You can’t imagine the electric current that went thru me as I read this article in the New York Times yesterday because the person ringing all the bells about the 2004 Oscar Noms, was, you guessed it, yours truly. As I called around doing interviews for my Women’s eNews article, everyone was focused on Sofia Coppola. Almost no one (not even the folks at Women in Film in LA!) had fully appreciated the bigger picture. My article ended up winning the “Best News Article Written for the Internet” award from NPFW the following year, effectively setting me on my way.
But as you read my article in current context, note this: I asserted then (& I still assert now) that success in 2004 didn’t just depend on a good crop of films. It was also a result of the fact that many women (including me) howled in protest when Julie Taymor was NOT nominated for Best Director for FRIDA (even tho FRIDA received 6 nominations & eventually won 2 Oscars).
If history is repeating itself, then perhaps the howling we did last year about Loveleen Tandan (”My SLUMDOG Brouhaha“) has helped to sensitize everyone again this year? Before you blow me off &/or accuse me of grandiosity (or worse) consider this: THE HURT LOCKER screened in Toronto last year… but it was barely noticed… When Independent Spirit Award noms were announced on 12/2/08, only Mackie & Renner got noms (quickly forgotten as the ‘09 race heated up). But as Cieply points out, THE HURT LOCKER now has Oscar buzz for 2010. What changed? Well, lots of things changed (including the election of Barack Obama & new conditions in Iraq), but two things that did NOT change: the film & its director.
Think about it folks… Let’s keep the pressure up!!!
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
12.Sep.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards, Raving/Ranting about Critics/Journalists Read more Comments (0)
February 22 suddenly seems light years away even tho it’s barely been 6 months. When I wrote my “Declare Victory & Move On” post on Monday AM (the morning after the Oscars), I told myself: “Let’s let the dust settle for a bit before writing a more formal ‘Lessons Learned’ piece.” Then Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to fill Justice Souter’s seat on the Supreme Court, & I said to myself: “Mmmm. Maybe I should wait just a bit longer?” Then on Thursday night, as I watched Monica Crowley subbing for Bill O’Reilly in his “No Spin Zone,” I fell headlong into one of my periodic ‘What’s the use?’ funks.
I can hear it now: some of you are thinking I need to shut up about THE HURT LOCKER because calling attention to it by urging women to go might actually do more harm than good. And you know what: maybe you’re right…
It seems lots & lots of people aren’t swayed by historical analysis, statistics, or anything I might consider “rational.” So maybe I am wrong. Maybe we do live in a “zero sum” world. Maybe the smart thing to do is cling to any & all personal advantage we might have as individuals, & refuse to open our minds to anything that might equalize the playing field.
At one particular ugly point in “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha,” one of my colleagues in the Chicago Film Critics Association told me in so many words that if I kept sending messages on the topic, he would personally impose “a Final Solution.” (Yes, he knows I’m Jewish, & he deliberately used those very words to stun me into silence.) But unlike Sonia Sotomayor (& perhaps Loveleen Tandan too), I never learned how to back down, lay low, etc. I’m at a point in my life now when nothing can control me except my own conscience, so I guess I’ll just “keep on keepin’ on,” in the hopes that some of the things I write will help create positive change somewhere down the line.
For the record, I do NOT believe Kathryn Bigelow should be nominated for an Oscar “because she’s a woman;” I believe she should be nominated for an Oscar because she’s already made several terrific films & THE HURT LOCKER is her best yet.
But I also believe that many other women have made wonderful films in the past & they’ve all been overlooked in years when much weaker films made by male filmmakers have been over-hyped & over-rewarded. So yes, I truly believe that Kathryn Bigelow will have a better chance of being nominated if we keep the pressure up & keep reminding people about current Oscar stats.
So readers, remember these two numbers: Less than 1% of all Best Director nominees in Oscar history have been women (3/406 = .74%), & no woman (ZERO) in history has ever won a Best Director Oscar. What can justify these two facts? Oh yes, I know: Given half a chance, some people will find an excuse for every conceivable injustice, but at a certain point, yes, even this barrier will fall. And then fair-minded people everywhere will wonder why it was ever there in the first place…
25.Jul.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
“And now with her latest project, THE HURT LOCKER, Bigelow has crafted a bona fide art-house hit—and is helping make 2009 one of the strongest year’s ever for female filmmakers… consider this: If any woman earns a Best Director nomination come February, it will be only the fourth time in history.”
OK, so some of you flamed me last winter for have the hubris to suggest that “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha” was related in any way to the fact that Loveleen Tandan was on stage in February when the SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE team collected its Best Picture Oscar. So you’ll probably flame me again for suggesting that there’s any relationship now. Flame away folks, but this is exactly how it works. Regardless of any arguments for or against nominating Loveleen Tandan herself, I am absolutely certain that “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha” helped focus attention on Oscar Stats, & bringing those stats out of the darkness & into the light is bearing fruit now.
So women, I’m literally begging you: PLEASE see THE HURT LOCKER as soon as it opens in a theatre near you. Build box office revenue, build buzz, and get ready to applaud when Kathryn Bigelow is nominated for a Best Director Oscar in January.
WE can do this; Yes WE Can!!!
24.Jul.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards, Raving/Ranting about Critics/Journalists Read more Comments (3)
Tuesday Update: More photos = less trust required!
See these great pix posted on Highheel Confidential!
You’ll just have to trust me on this, my friends: that “flash of red” you saw when the SLUMDOG team ran up on the stage last night to collect the Oscar for Best Picture? That was Loveleen Tandan! I’m not a “what if” kinda gal. Once something is in the past there’s no way to “go back,” so why bother?
We will never know how SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE would have fared (either critically or commercially) without Loveleen Tandan in the “co-director” role. Similarly we will never know if she would have been at the Oscar ceremony last night if I hadn’t been sitting here in Chicago these last few months making such a fuss with “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha.”
For all of you who still doubt my motives, accusing me of risking damage to her career for the sake of my own causes (or worse, simple self-aggrandizement), all I can say is this: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE will forever be known now as an Oscar-winning Best Picture, & Loveleen Tandan was part of the team that flew to Hollywood to help claim the prize. More people know her name now than knew it a few months ago, & more people are aware of Hollywood’s abysmal stats re female filmmakers than ever before. So I’m ready to “Declare Victory & Move On.”
I have a screening of SUNSHINE CLEANING in 2 hours (directed by Christine Jeffs, written by Megan Holley, & starring Amy Adams, Alan Arkin & Emily Blunt), so I live in hope! Bye now J
23.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (4)
Last week, I responded to Kim Voynar’s critique of “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha” by invoking “the Zeitgeist,” exemplified for me by a magazine cover photo of Michelle Obama captioned: “Alongside every great man…”
Yesterday I got my new NEWSWEEK which includes a full page article on the Obamas called “Our Model Marriage” concluding as follows: “Barack’s unguarded moments once led Slate’s Melinda Henneberger to ask ‘whether a husband who not only bows to his wife but admits it conforms to our notion of … strength.’ For millennials inspired by the first couple’s modern marriage—a group that sees greater strength in celebrating domestic equality than concealing it—the answer is apparently yes.”
Some people have rejected my requests for support because I couldn’t prove to them that Loveleen Tandan did “at least 50%” of the directorial work on SLUMDOG. Frankly, this makes no sense to me, because I simply don’t believe that creative contributions can ever be measured with that kind of precision—in art or in life.
Here’s my bottom line: Since no one will ever know for sure what SLUMDOG would have been like if Loveleen Tandan had not participated beyond her role as Casting Director, it seems prudent to acknowledge her contributions to this extraordinarily popular film and reward her accordingly during the awards process (especially given Oscar’s abysmal statistical record to date).
While I’m at it, I’d also like to give a shout out to Hunter College Professor Steve Gorelick (creator of the blog Media & Mayhem):
“A few minutes ago, I was moved to again watch the video from the Women’s Resource Center that shows just how much vile and persistent sexism was on display during this year’s presidential primary campaign… As I watched the video, I found myself yelling (all the plentiful expletives have been deleted): “Don’t these idiots have daughters, lovers, wives, or mothers or any other women whose future they care about? Is this the message they will send: Try hard, honey, but don’t be stubborn. Don’t be pushy.”
OK, so yes, maybe I’m “stubborn” and maybe I’m “pushy,” but if so it’s because I have nieces and women friends of all ages, & yes, I really care about their future!!!
My thanks to Steve, & thanks also to Google Alert for grabbing Steve’s reference to Jane Addams & pulling him up into my eBox!
18.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (2)
“…as we drew closer to the shoot date,
Danny asked me to step in as the Co-Director…”
Someone I really respect sent me (& others) a message last week explaining why he could not support “my SLUMDOG campaign” & in the course of his message, he said this: “When the film was completed, Mr. Boyle took it upon himself without pressure or precedent to acknowledge Ms. Tandan’s extraordinary contributions to the production by creating a credit for her that didn’t exist before: co-director.”
I was stunned! I immediately asked him if he had any evidence for this, & I told him I’d been operating under very different assumptions for months now: “As I try to figure all of this out from what Danny Boyle himself told me when we spoke f2f (as well as everything that’s been published since, most especially by the WALL STREET JOURNAL), I sincerely believe that the critical moment came here:
“As I was casting with her,
I realized, because I’m not a fool,
that I needed her there every day.”
Someone just sent me a link to an interview with Loveleen Tandan posted in late December. While it doesn’t exactly validate my theory, it certainly does confirm my timeframe.
Why is this important??? While my friend in paragraph one above is more articulate than most, I think many others also have a fundamental misunderstanding about what happened when to get us to this point. Quite simply, they don’t seem to understand that Loveleen Tandan was hired to do a job (Casting Director) & when that job was done she was given a new job (Co-Director). Both of these jobs involved both financial as well as creative transactions. Sure Loveleen Tandan “helped” Danny Boyle during the making of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. That was part of her job as Co-Director. (The new job she was hired to do after she completed her job as Casting Director.)
Why are so many people fighting so hard to deny the obvious??? Years ago, another wonderful male friend of mine asked me why I was putting in so many hours of [unpaid] overtime on a minimum wage job. “Jan,” he said. “It’s a job. It’s not an adventure.” Since I am, indeed, a woman who has “helped” way more than her share over the years, I feel I’ve earned the right to say this:
AMPAS needs to recognize the job Loveleen Tandan did
as the credited Co-Director of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
& reward her for her contributions accordingly.
15.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
People seem to be latching on to Kim Voyner’s comments in Movie City News to impugn my credibility, so it seems I need to address her post a second time.Let’s start here: “[Huttner] says she is both ‘stunned and shocked’ that Tandan was not co-nominated for Best Director. Why exactly is Huttner stunned and shocked?”
Here’s the full context for the comment Voyner quotes above: “I’m a resolutely optimistic, ‘glass-half-full’ kinda gal,’ so I truly believed the zeitgeist would prevail. But alas, while people all around the world cheered Barack Obama’s Inauguration on Tuesday, on Thursday it was back to business as usual in Hollywood: for the 78th time in 81 years, five guys became contenders for the ’09 Best Director Oscar. Say it isn’t so!!!”
To the extent Voynar has an actual critique of my post, it’s here: “Does [Huttner] point to a long history of the Academy recognizing co-directors in the nominations? No, she does not, because there is no such history.” In this way, Voynar implies there IS a significant history of co-director credits, but that’s precisely what’s at issue. Co-Director is an extremely rare credit. I didn’t create it. All I did was notice it & begin asking questions. Most of my colleagues didn’t notice it, but some did & when they did, they began asking questions too. (I suspect this is the source of the enormously important article in the WALL STREET JOURNAL.)
To make her case, Voynar then proceeds to attack Loveleen Tandan’s contributions to SLUMDOG, going so far as to lump her with the best boy and the gaffer. In this way, she (& others) have tried to incite me to “fire back” by questioning Danny Boyle’s contributions, but as I’ve already said, that assumes a zero sum game in which “elevating” Loveleen Tandan’s contributions devalues Danny Boyle’s contributions. I don’t believe this & I won’t say it!
Danny Boyle was open & honest when I met with him face-to-face, & come what may, I will continue to believe the best of him in this context. I see him in my mind’s eye as someone surfing a wave he never expected to be on. Danny Boyle is certainly not personally responsible for 80 years of AMPAS rules &/or 80 years of Oscar statistics. But then neither is Loveleen Tandan. Neither of them had any input whatsoever into the rules that now deny her appropriate recognition for her contributions to this wonderful film.
Which brings us to the Zeitgeist: In 2008, American almost nominated a woman Presidential candidate, succeeded in electing an African-American President, & made major statements at the Box Office (most notably by turning out in large numbers for three films that most male critics trounced & which are completely out-of-sight out-of-mind now that we’ve reached the awards season). I think the caption that accompanies this cover photo of Michelle Obama captures the Zeitgeist. In the past, I suspect this caption would have used the word “…behind…” but now it uses the word “…alongside…”
Me personally? I think SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE has captured the heart of the world precisely because Loveleen Tandan worked alongside Danny Boyle (not behind him), & I think AMPAS should find a way to acknowledge this. Think of the upside of giving Loveleen Tandan an Oscar nomination as SLUMDOG’s co-director, & then ask yourself this: what’s the downside? As humorist Nicole Hollander asks in her comment on one of my recent posts: “Will Oscar melt?”
10.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (3)
