News

Anna Gunn went from playing the unforgettable Skyler White in Breaking Bad to a film that barely made a ripple — when it should’ve made waves. Her first post-Breaking Bad movie had all the makings of a hit: a female-driven Wall Street drama tackling power, ambition, and corruption.

Anna Gunn as Skyler White in Breaking Bad | Credits: Sony Pictures Television

But despite the buzz, it flopped. Maybe audiences weren’t ready for a woman leading the charge in a cutthroat industry. Whatever it was, Gunn’s sharp performance deserved better.

Anna Gunn’s Equity put women on Wall Street, but the box office didn’t buy in Anna Gunn at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International | Image by: Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Anna Gunn loved The Wolf of Wall Street, but she couldn’t help but notice the lack of women. That’s exactly why she took on Equity,...

Quick LinksWhat Is Meera Menon's Connection to The Walking Dead?Didn't Die Reworks the Baby Arc In the Zombie Apocalypse

The following contains spoilers for Meera Menon's Didn't Die, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

One of the perks of independent film festivals is that it has a bevy of filmmakers showcasing their work. Some are popular and established, while others are trying to make a name for the first time. The Sundance Film Festival is a prime example.

One particular movie in the zombie genre is a 2025 standout: Didn't Die. It's a tale of the undead, but with a focus on Hindu culture. Interestingly, this terrifying movie has a connection to the most popular zombie show, The Walking Dead, and it's due to the director, Meera Menon.

What Is Meera Menon's Connection to The Walking Dead? Meera Menon's "Bounty" Was a Haunting Tale About Parents and Children...

The memorial celebration for the late Broadway star Gavin Creel will be livestreamed in both the U.S. and UK today, with New York’s McC Theater hosting the U.S. stream and the Society of London Theatre hosting in the UK.

The public memorial at Broadway’s St. James Theatre begins today, Monday, December 2, at 4 p.m. Et. In the U.S., the livestream, hosted by Off Broadway’s McC Theater, will be accessible on McC’s YouTube channel.

In the UK, the stream, hosted by Solt’s Official London Theatre YouTube channel, will begin at 9 p.m. GMT. The event will not be available to view on-demand once it has concluded.

See both YouTube channels below.

Creel, a tireless LGBTQ+ advocate who appeared on Broadway in The Book of Mormon, Hair, Waitress, Into The Woods and, in a Tony-winning performance, Hello, Dolly!, died of a rare, aggressive cancer...

Matt Damon has been reportedly helping Ben Affleck with his divorce from Jennifer Lopez. However, the latest reports suggest that Damon is likely to be affected by his friend’s divorce. Damon and Affleck co-own the production house, Artists Equity, which is currently producing the Netflix project, titled Rip. Amidst Affleck’s ugly divorce battle, the new project is facing unnecessary delay.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Good Will Hunting | Credits: Miramax

Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on August 20 in the LA County Superior Court. According to the filings, the Let’s Get Loud singer listed their date of separation as April 26. Lopez and Affleck had no prenup in the picture, forcing them to enter into an ugly court battle to divide their assets.

Matt Damon’s Project Delays Due To Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s Divorce Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in Gigli | Credits: Columbia Pictures...

Carrie Preston is an acclaimed actress, producer, and director. She has a long list of roles and projects but is most known for her roles as Arlene Fowler in the HBO drama True Blood and Elsbeth Tascioni in the CBS drama The Good Wife. 

She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her work on The Good Wife.

After The Good Wife, she played the same character in the Paramount+ spinoff, The Good Flight.

Now, with the expanding multiverse of The Good Wife, Preston has gone from an accessory to the main event with her role on CBS's Elsbeth as Elsbeth Tascioni.

It is about time Preston is front and center, and we are here to celebrate her long and delightful road to lead lady!

Early Career

Preston started acting in 1985 as Mint Jennifer in the movie Just a Friend. She was also part...

The View got off to a running start on Thursday’s new episode as Whoopi Goldberg opened the show’s “Hot Topics” segment with an impassioned defense of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, whose controversial commencement speech has led to calls for his termination from the Super Bowl-winning team. After playing a clip of the speech, in which Butker claimed that women have been told “diabolical lies” about gender roles and that “the majority” of the new graduates in the crowd were “most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.” That was just one part of the speech, which also criticized President Joe Biden, reproductive rights, diversity, equity, and inclusion (Dei) initiatives, and the LGBTQ+ community and encouraged men in the audience to “be unapologetic in your masculinity.” After Butker delivered that address to the Class of 2024 at Benedictine College, a Catholic university,...

Black Women Animate studios has partnered with non-profit the Titmouse Foundation to help further the animation house’s goal of hiring 200 diverse animation professional by the end of 2025. Together, the organization and studio will launch Bwa’s Equity Excelerator program, which offers event series, online practicums and networking opportunities.

“Our Equity Excelerator is a tested, multi-pronged approach at solving for the lack of inclusion of Black and diverse talent in animation,” said Taylor K. Shaw, Bwa founder & CEO. “We remain at the forefront of creating access, and we’re excited for the continued innovation and opportunity our commitment to championing new voices will bring with the Equity Excelerator and the Titmouse Foundation.”

Since its inception five years ago, the female-owned Bwa has offered its services to Hulu, Netflix, Mattel, A&e, Warner Bros., Paramount and others. “It’s about time to start helping more Black women get in the door within the animation industry,...

The Writers Lab, supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, has revealed its ninth annual batch of participants.

With a devotion to developing scripted content written by women over the age of 40, the Lab, produced with New York Women in Film & Television, is known for its commitment to elevating the work of women screenwriters through mentorship, advocacy and exposure.

The participants of The Writers Lab 2023 are Louisa Kendrick Burton (“The Charge”), Shari Lynette Carpenter (“Translate”), Helena Cho (“The Last Buddha”), Marya Cohn (“Hurricane Season”), Lesley Fera (“Inconceivable”), Brooke Hemphill (“Apotcalypse”), Justina Ireland (“Bleeding Kansas”), Tricia Lee (“Good Chance”), Betsy Nagler (“Priceless”), Lisa Ramirez and Michele Noble (“Fifty”), Sarah Sinclair (“The Stratford Wife”) and Jill Twiss (“Bee”).

“Women over 40 make up 25% of the world population, and women over 50 control $19 billion, yet this demographic remains ignored by Hollywood and streamers. AI won’t change that — only women will,” said co-founder Elizabeth Kaiden.

British acting union Equity will “stand in unwavering solidarity” with its counterpart SAG-AFTRA over the looming actors strike.

A statement issued jointly with SAG-AFTRA in the past few minutes on the Equity website said: “Equity UK will support SAG-AFTRA and its members by all lawful means.”

Because of the UK’s existing anti-trade union laws, “SAG-AFTRA members currently working under an Equity UK collective bargaining agreement should continue to report to work,” the statement read.

The guidance was released in the UK at 8pm local time, which is the same time as the beginning of the SAG-AFTRA press conference announcing plans for the actors strike. To this point, Equity has remained silent and instead waited for its U.S. counterparts to speak.

The union has 47,000 members and represents various entertainment workers such as actors, singers, dancers, designers, directors, stage managers, puppeteers, comedians, voice artists, and variety performers.

Crucially,...

Sundance Institute, which hosts the annual film festival in Park City, Utah, has announced the six people who were selected for its Trans Possibilities Intensive.

The fellows for 2023 are Seyi Adebanjo, Rajvi Desai, Malik Ever, Nick Janaye, Jamie John and Tee Park Jaehyung. The second edition of the Trans Possibilities Intensive, which is a three-day event to aid project and professional development for transgender storytellers of color, is taking place from March 27-29.

Moi Santos, who founded the program, is leading the initiative with guidance from creative advisers and Sundance Institute’s Equity, Impact and Belonging Program. This year’s creative advisers include Sydney Freeland (“Drunktown’s Finest”), Aitch Alberto (“Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”), Félix Endara (“Unseen”) and Chase Joynt (“Framing Agnes”).

Sundance describes the Intensive as an “ancillary environment for participating artists to enhance their voice and craft, foster relationships with each other, and...

The Sundance Institute has named the six transgender storytellers of color set for the second edition of their project and professional development program, the Trans Possibilities Intensive. 2023’s cohort will include Seyi Adebanjo (Afromystic), Rajvi Desai (Mother Wit), Malik Ever (GutBucket), Nick Janaye (Dead Ringer), Jamie John (2Spirit Water Carrier) and Tee Park Jaehyung (Destiny in Sedona).

First introduced in 2021, the Trans Possibilities Intensive builds on Sundance’s proud history of supporting trans artists across artist programs and Festival programming, providing an ancillary environment for creatives to enhance their voice and craft, foster relationships with each other, and challenge the obstacles that continue to exclude transgender artists. 2023 Fellows were selected through a nominations-based application and will benefit from project-based granting, mentorship and other custom, year-round creative and professional development opportunities.

The program, designed by and for trans people, couldn’t be more necessary at a time when attacks on trans rights are so prevalent stateside,...

San Francisco, March 1 (Ians) Amazon has signed a deal with embattled online mortgage lender Better.com run by controversial Indian-origin CEO Vishal Garg to allow employees to use their shares in the company toward a mortgage down payment.

Better.com launched ‘Equity Unlocker’ that allows Amazon employees to use their vested equity as collateral for a down payment for buying homes.

According to Garg’s company, Amazon employees can finance their homes without actually selling their shares.

Amazon workers in Florida, New York and Washington can currently use aEquity Unlocker’ to secure a home loan without selling their Amazon stock.

“Even though equity is a valuable asset, it is considered ineligible by most banks and financial institutions when calculating the necessary down payment on a home,” said Garg.

To protect itself from a continued slide in Amazon’s stock price, Better.com will charge a higher rate on the mortgages...

Actors’ Equity said today that it’s making its Open Access membership policy permanent, allowing any non-union theater worker to join who can demonstrate that they have worked professionally as an actor or stage manager within Equity’s geographical jurisdiction. The 51,000-member union had launched the Open Access policy in July of 2021, but it had a sunset date of May 1, 2023.

The union will now begin a three-year phase-out of its Equity Membership Candidate (Emc) Program, under which eligibility for union membership had been limited to those working for an Equity employer or to members of a sibling union such as SAG-AFTRA, the American Guild of Musical Artists (Agma) or the American Guild of Variety Artists (Agva).

“Open Access is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do,” said Actors’ Equity President Kate Shindle. “Of course, strength in numbers is a cornerstone principle for any union. But this was never a simple numbers game.

GLAAD has hired Julian J. Walker as associate director, Communities of Color & Media.

Walker will work alongside DaShawn Usher, Director of Communities of Color & Media, to create programming that shapes narratives and provokes dialogue that will lead to cultural change while identifying and meeting the needs of the community. One of his first big projects will be the upcoming launch of GLAAD’s “Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative” – a yearlong program designed specifically for Black LGBTQ+ creatives to elevate Black queer storytelling in entertainment and media.

Emei will serve as a pipeline to build and strengthen professional networks, advance access to executive leaders and spaces, and support the early development of creative projects as part of the three-year program. Walker will ensure GLAAD’s Communities of Color & Media department creates, reports, trains and partners with locally based initiatives throughout the country with a focus on the South.

“Early into...

Netflix and the European Producers Club (Epc) have revealed the winners of a pitch contest for fictional series at the ongoing Venice Film Festival.

The pitch contest is a joint initiative by Epc and Netflix to help create new opportunities for European women producers. It was launched at Series Mania in March, and open to Epc producers working for women-owned companies. Following a selection process by an independent jury, composed of Cia Edstrom, Francine Raveney and Olivier Kohn, the competition finalists pitched their projects to the Netflix content team.

Anna Mannion of Tri Moon Films, Ireland, won the first prize of €50,000, while Ada Solomon of Microfilm, Romania, won the second prize of €20,000.

Mariela Besuievsky, Tornasol Media (Spain), Martichka Bozhilova, Agitprop (Bulgaria), Gabriele M. Walther, Caligari (Germany) and Olena Yershova, Tato Film (Ukraine/Turkey), each won the third prize of €5,000.

The initiative is funded by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity,...

The first trailer for “Sidney,” Apple TV+’s upcoming documentary on legendary film icon Sidney Poitier, has been released.

The film examines the legacy of Poitier, who died earlier this year at 94. One of the most acclaimed and recognizable movie stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the first Black man to receive a best actor award, Poitier was also a director and an activist for the Civil Rights Movement. Interview subjects featured in the film include Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, Barbra Streisand and Spike Lee.

“Sidney” is directed by Reginald Hudlin, from a script by Jesse James Miller. Oprah Winfrey produces with Derik Murray for Harpo Productions and Network Entertainment. Hudlin executive produces with Poitier family members Joanna Shimkus Poitier and Anika Poitier, as well as Terry Wood, Catherine Cyr, Brian Gersh, Paul Gertz and Barry Krost.

“Sidney” releases Sept. 23. Watch the full trailer below.

Actors’ Equity is blasting an audience member who secretly videotaped Jesse Williams’ nude scene while performing in Take Me Out at the Second Stage Theater in NYC and then released it on Twitter. Equity called it an act of “sexual harassment and an appalling breach of consent.”

The NYC theater, which collects audience members’ cell phones and keeps them locked away during performances, called the breach “highly objectionable,” saying it can lead to “severe legal consequences.” Williams received a Tony nomination for his role Monday, and he was trending on Twitter for much of the day.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the creation and distribution of photographs and videos of our members during a nude scene,” said Kate Shindle, president of Actors’ Equity Association. “As actors, we regularly agree to be vulnerable onstage in order to tell difficult and challenging stories. This does not mean that we agree...

There are diverse streaming releases slates and then there is Hulu’s list of new releases for May 2022. There are no big franchises here, no big themes – just a whole bunch of original and library titles for everyone to enjoy.

Hulu’s major original releases in May come in the middle of the month. Candy premieres on May 9 and stars Jessica Biel as your friendly neighborhood axe murderer. If that sounds a bit outlandish, bear in mind that this limited series is based on the real life story of Candy Montgomery and her victim, the tragically named Betty Gore. On May 15, Hulu will play host to Conversations with Friends. This is the latest adaptation of the works of Sally Rooney. After the breakaway success of Normal People, Hulu is undoubtedly hoping for more lightning in a bottle.

On the movie side of things, May will welcome The Valet on May...

Amazon Studios has signed a first-look deal with former Sundance Institute programmer Bird Runningwater.

Runningwater, who spent 20 years at Sundance as its director of its Indigenous, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Artist Programs, will develop and produce television and film projects for the streamers.

It comes as he is currently serving as the co-executive producer of the TV series Sovereign, which is currently in development with Warner Bros. Television, and Ava DuVernay’s Array Filmworks.

Runningwater left the Sundance Institute last month. He led its investment in Native American and Indigenous filmmakers and helped build a global Indigenous film community. He curated more than 119 films written, directed, and produced by Indigenous filmmakers that have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

He also served on the Comcast/NBCUniversal External Joint Diversity Advisory Council for a decade and is currently on the boards of directors of IllumiNative and the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund.

“Sopranos” star Joseph Siravo, who played Tony Soprano’s father, has died following a battle with cancer. He was 66.

Siravo’s agent confirmed the actor’s death to Variety, noting that he died on Sunday following a “long, courageous” battle with colon cancer.

Siravo is best known for work in television as well as theater. On HBO’s “Sopranos,” he played Johnny Soprano — featuring prominently in flashback episodes to the 1960s — and later portrayed Fred Goldman, father of Ron Goldman, in FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.”

Other recent credits include TV series such as “For Life,” “The Blacklist,” “Made in Jersey,” “Dirty Sexy Money” and “Law and Order.” In film, he appeared in the Adam Driver-led “The Report” and Meera Menon’s 2016 film “Equity, as well as “Motherless Brooklyn,” “The Wannabe,” “Shark Tale” and “Night Falls on Manhattan.”

Born and raised in Washington D.

The first Actors’ Equity diversity and inclusion report since 2017 finds “modest improvement” in the hiring of actors and stage managers of color in the last three years, but describes the slight shift as “extremely gradual, inconsistent and not enough to change longtime problems in the industry.”

In fact, the increased representation of people of color in the nation’s theater industry can be attributed solely to multiple productions of Hamilton, the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical that casts non-white actors as the nation’s Founding Fathers.

In addition, women, the report found, continue to suffer from a gender wage gap, and trans, non-binary or gender-nonconforming Equity members usually earn less than cisgender members.

The new report says the theater industry’s hiring bias is not merely a problem of “who gets a contract, but how much they are paid.” The study tracks the demographics of how Equity members are hired for acting and stage management work,...

On Oct. 9, the Broadway League declared that the Covid-19 shutdown will continue through May 30 in yet another blow to Great White Way performers.

Though the timing was merely coincidental, on the same day the teams behind theater district staples Bouillon Marseille and Nizza announced that they were launching an Actors’ Equity house account program that allows performers with an Actors’ Equity card to dine in the eateries after 9 p.m. and not be responsible for paying tabs until they can afford to do so. Branded “eat now and pay later (if they can),” the program includes ...

On Oct. 9, the Broadway League declared that the Covid-19 shutdown will continue through May 30 in yet another blow to Great White Way performers.

Though the timing was merely coincidental, on the same day the teams behind theater district staples Bouillon Marseille and Nizza announced that they were launching an Actors’ Equity house account program that allows performers with an Actors’ Equity card to dine in the eateries after 9 p.m. and not be responsible for paying tabs until they can afford to do so. Branded “eat now and pay later (if they can),” the program includes ...

The Casting Society of America will host a town hall on Thursday to explore diversity, equity and inclusion in the casting process. The virtual gathering is co-sponsored by the Csa’s Black, Indigenous and People of Color Alliance and will be moderated by Dr. Darnisa Amante-Jackson, CEO of the Disruptive Equity Education Project and a lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

The town hall, which starts at noon Pt, is the first in a new series of panel discussions called “Closer to Equity” that the Csa will host. The town hall is open to all casting professionals, including Csa members and non-members. To register, email: [email protected]

Thursday’s panelists will include casting directors Angelique Midthunder, Erica Jensen, Kim Coleman and Zora DeHorter; casting director and producer Kim Heil (San Diego Repertory Theatre); Kim Williams, VP Casting at Touchstone Television; and casting associates Margie Vargas and Xavier Rubiano.

“The objective of this first conversation,” Csa says, “is to provide a space for casting professionals to have the difficult conversations around diversity, belonging, equity and inclusion, and move toward healing and change.” Dr. Amante-Jackson said that she strives to create “space and experiences that foster conversations around equity and dismantling systemic oppression and racism in pursuit of advancing equitable outcomes for all.”

The panelists had this to say in advance of Thursday’s town hall:

Angelique Midthunder: “As people of color ourselves, Bipoc casting directors have an intimate understanding of the complexities of different cultures as well as an ingrained obligation to represent them with integrity. We are the bridge between producers and the Bipoc acting community.”

Kim Heil: “Many Bipoc professionals in the arts and entertainment industry like ourselves have been working for years – if not decades – with equity, diversity, and inclusion in mind. So what’s different about now? This moment now demands that we examine not just those principles, but the infrastructure and the systems that those principles are circulated. The systems themselves are flawed. So how can we restructure a better way of working?”

Kim Williams: “I’m excited to go beyond just talking and, with the help of Dr. Darnisa, move towards addressing the critical issues and changes that are necessary to bring about true progress towards equity both in front of and behind the camera.”

Margie Vargas: “Diversity and inclusion in casting is about bringing something unique to the table that no one else can. Each unique perspective can only build a better, stronger, and more unified casting community.”

Zora DeHorter: “As a woman, a black woman, I have dealt with my share of assumptions and presumptions; at times an unnecessary burden to carry. Being part of an open, safe space to have dialogues about how to affect changes is so exciting. I am so looking forward to having discussions about hiring practices, workplace practices, and how we, as Bipoc casting professionals, can effectively and positively move forward to a better, enlightened, hopeful future.”

Erica Jensen: “I’m encouraged by the continued conversation happening in the casting community. The only way to achieve equity in casting is if we operate as a unit rather than individuals. We need to have consistency on this topic from office to office and be positive examples to the rest of the entertainment industry.”

Xavier Rubiano: “It’s a privilege and an honor to be able to speak on this panel and I look forward to amplifying the voices of our Bipoc colleagues in casting and to educate our White peers to help create a safer, inclusive and anti-racist casting community both in our audition rooms and in our offices.”...

As Nazi forces pushed ever closer to England in the summer of 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had a wild idea: a new spy agency, the Special Operations Executive (known as the Soe), to gather intel, and spark sabotage, in and around France. That scheme might sound obvious on paper, but the Soe went decidedly outside the box when it came to not only its methodology, but also the people tasked with carrying it out: They included more than three dozen women. Lydia Dean Pilcher’s “A Call to Spy” follows three of those women, and while the shape of

Pilcher, best known for her producing work (including an Oscar nod for the documentary “Cutie and the Boxer”), appears intent on carving a niche in directing overlooked historical tales about fierce, real-life women. Later this year, her directorial debut “Radium Girls,” about a group of ’20s-era factory workers who advocated for safer conditions,...

“Ms. Marvel,” the upcoming Disney+ show centered around the first Muslim hero to headline a Marvel comic series, has tapped “Bad Boys For Life” filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, to direct episodes of the series, according to an individual with knowledge of the project. Additionally, two time Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Meera Menon also joined the directing roster for the series.

“Ms. Marvel” was created by writer G. Willow Wilson, artist Adrian Alphona and editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker and made her comic book series debut in February 2014. Kamala Khan is a 16-year-old Pakistani-American from New Jersey, and she became Marvel Comics’ first Muslim character to headline her own comic book. Wilson was the sole writer on the Kamala Khan run of “Ms. Marvel” for five years and 60 issues. The “Ms. Marvel” series was announced last year during the D23 Expo, along with “Moon Knight” and “She-Hulk.

For a change, a narrative feature rather than a documentary opened best among this week’s new releases. “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” about a challenged young man and his dreams of wrestling glory, opened to multiple cities to very encouraging initial results and a real shot of crossover success.

The tough-minded “One Child Nation” also had a promising start at two theaters, one on each coast. Breakout success “The Farewell” grossed over $2 million with its expansion to 700 theaters, but that’s less than it made last weekend. Still, this very successful film already has passed $10 million.

Opening

The Peanut Butter Falcon (Roadside Attractions) – Metacritic: 69; Festivals include: SXSW 2019

$205,236 in 17 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $12,108

A creative and atypical release pattern paid off for Roadside Attractions with the initial seven-city release, with five heartland markets joining New York and Los Angeles. A reported special Cinemascore survey with an A+ grade suggests...

Sundance Institute has selected nine original TV pilots for its fifth annual Episodic Lab, which runs from September 27-October 2 at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. Topics and formats range from half-hour comedies about friendships put to the test to historical dramas about the struggle for Native American land sovereignty. Read about the projects and their creators below.

Beginning with the Lab, the 12 new fellows will receive customized, ongoing creative and tactical support from episodic program staff, creative advisers and industry mentors, led by Michelle Satter, founding director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, and Jennifer Goyne Blake, director of the Episodic Program, and including Peter Friedlander, Marti Noxon, Graham Yost, Sarah Timberman and Ali LeRoi. As the Lab convenes, the selected fellows will develop their series and pilot scripts with a slate of individual and group creative meetings, writers rooms, case-study screenings and pitch sessions, with guidance from accomplished showrunners,...

Castle alum Stana Katic, Sarah Megan Thomas (Equity), and Radhika Apte (Padman) are set to star in an untitled female-driven Ww II spy drama set to begin principal photography this spring. Linus Roache (Batman Begins) and Rossif Sutherland (River) also have been cast in the project, based on the real-life spies in Winston Churchill’s “secret army”, from Thomas and Lydia Dean Pilcher (Queen of Katwe).

The film centers on British intelligence officer Vera Atkins, played by Katic, and two of the women she sends to France as spies, Virginia Hall (Thomas) and Noor Inayat Khan (Apte). Atkins is a crafty recruiter with a secret of her own. Hall is a daring American with a wooden leg who was the first female field agent and ultimately the spy the Nazi’s dubbed “the most dangerous of all,” and Khan is a pacifist of Indian descent who was the first female wireless operator.

If you want to be the dancing queen, here’s your chance. A Salt Lake City, Utah production of “Mamma Mia” is currently casting equity actors from the New York City area for all roles—lead, supporting, and ensemble. Male and female actors, aged 18-45, are wanted for a wide variety of parts, including the lead, Sophie, and her mom, Donna. Other roles available include, Lisa, Sam, Henry, Bill, and Sophie’s fiancé, Sky. All actors should be able to sing and dance well. Rehearsals begin on April 16, 2018, and the run will be May 11–26, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Pay is $887 per week. The show is run on the Equity Non-Rep Lort B Agreement. If you want to take a trip to Greece (on stage, of course), you can apply right here on Backstage! Check out Backstage’s theater audition listings!

The story of Vera Atkins is headed to the screen.

The spy recruiter is at the heart of a new female-driven World War II spy thriller, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. Sarah Megan Thomas — who created, produced and starred in the story of last year's Wall Street thriller Equity — wrote the project's script and will produce the real-life drama with Lydia Dean Pilcher, who will direct. Casting is currently underway, and principal photography is set to begin in the spring.

Based on true events, the as-yet untitled pic tells the story of Atkins, known for recruiting, training...

Tucked in between spaces occupied by Venice and Toronto and Nyff, is the indispensable Ifp Week. A summit slash showcase for true independent visions in the mostly American indie and documentary field, this year’s listing of projects that are in need of a little production coin includes names such as Clea DuVall (The Intervention), Philippe Falardeau (Chuck), Meera Menon (Equity), Brian M.

Continue reading...

Our bi-weekly Film Festival Roundup column explores notable stories and news updates from the circuit.

Long before Barry Jenkins or Laura Poitras won their first Oscars or Robert Eggers made one of 2016’s highest-grossing indies, or Denis Villeneuve graduated to Hollywood’s A-list, they were still just independent filmmakers with a dream — a dream that needed to be packaged, sold, and produced. Enter Ifp Film Week, home of one of the world’s most forward-thinking film markets, and the U.S.’s only market that presents new works across all platforms, all the better to serve their creator’s visions.

This year’s 2017 Ifp Film Week, presented by the Independent Film Project, has unveiled its slate for this year’s film project section. The lineup includes 110 narrative and documentary projects in development from over 15 countries. Curated by Ifp’s Deputy Director/Head of Programming Amy Dotson and Senior Director of Programming Milton Tabbot,...

Dark comedy set to shoot in New York later this summer.

Production company Over Easy has castChristina Hendricks, Alysia Reiner, and Anna Camp as the leads in Egg.

The story centres on a conceptual artist and her passive-aggressive husband who invite a pregnant art school rival and her power-hungry husband to their loft in the Bronx for dinner, and surprise their guests with the artist’s work-in-progress – a radical alternative to motherhood. David Alan Basche and Gbenga Akinnagbe will also star.

Marianna Palka will direct the comedy from a script written by Risa Mickenberg, author of Taxi Driver Wisdom. Palka is a four time Sundance Film Festival alumnus whose directorial debut Good Dick premiered in 2008.

Hendricks is best known for Mad Men and recently starred in The Neon Demon. She was just announced as a lead in the upcoming NBC series Good Girls. Upcoming films include Candy Jar, for Netflix, with [link=nm...

Chicago – The 44th edition of the Non-Equity Jeff Awards were given out on June 5th, 2017, at what insiders call “the theater prom.” The event honors the non-union smaller or “storefront” theater companies, and their efforts to produce quality stage work. Hosted in grand style by Alexis Roston and Lillian Castillo, the recipients of the top play was “At the Table” by the Broken Nose Theatre and top musical was “High Fidelity” by the Refuge Theatre Project.

The night was a raucous affair at Chicago’s Anthenaum Theatre, as the hosts kept the party going between recognitions. Excerpts (Plays) and songs (Musicals) were presented for each of the top ten nominated shows. A Special Award for Theatrical and Charitable Contributions was given to David Cerda, acknowledging his long career and (as the inscription on the award said) thanking him “… for ‘Dragging’ the Chicago Theatre world into your ‘Hell in a Handbag’ with humor,...

Every week, IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit rounds up the latest in opportunities that can help those looking to advance projects or get a career started in the film industry. The following grants, labs, fellowships, contests and other non-profit opportunities could be a great way to help kickstart your movie and TV dreams.

New Opportunities & Upcoming Deadlines

NBC’s Writers on the Verge

– NBCUniversal’s Writers on the Verge 12-week program focuses on polishing and preparing television writers for a staff writer position on a television series. Writers who are “almost there” but need assistance with their final bit of preparation with their writing and personal presentation skills are encouraged to apply. The program consists of two night classes, which will typically be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 – 10 Pm weekly at NBCUniversal in Universal City, CA. Once accepted, students must attend all classes and turn in all written assignments.

Past...

No year is a “bad year” for movies, but some years aren’t exactly too kind to certain subjects, genres, concepts and people. 2016, for all of its many negatives, has been a good year for film – and for its women, both behind the camera and squarely in front of it.

While female filmmakers are still struggling to be recognized in the same way as their male counterparts, the women who have broken through – from reliable auteurs like Andrea Arnold, Rebecca Miller, Kelly Reichardt and Anne Fontaine to rising stars like Maren Ade, Sophia Takal and Clea Duvall – did so in a very big way this year, thanks to films that spoke to their own talents and visions. Actresses also shown bright in 2016, from awards favorites like Natalie Portman, Annette Bening and Octavia Spencer to fresh faces like Kate Lyn Sheil, Ruth Negga and Sasha Lane.

There’s still a ways to go,...

Shot in NYC exactly one year to date, for his directorial debut, actor, playwright and now filmmaker Brian Shoaf landed Zachary Quinto, Jenny Slate and Jon Hamm while teaming with Sundance behind the scene technicians in cinematographer Eric Lin (I Smile Back, Equity) and Heather McIntosh (Z for Zachariah) for a drama that’ll likely be compared to Lars and the Real Girl or The Beaver for it’s more subversive make-believe elements.

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ABC is taking on Wall Street. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network is adapting the 2016 film Equity as a TV series.From Regina Corrado and Amy Pascal, the drama "centers on a Wall Street banker (played by Anna Gunn in the film) who has to navigate a world of money and power where women still haven’t broken the glass ceiling."Read More…...

The Anna Gunn-starring film “Equity” is getting the TV treatment at ABC. Deadline reports that the female-led Wall Street thriller is being adapted for the network, which handed out a script commitment plus penalty.

The drama, written by “The Strain” producer Regina Corrado, is set in the world of cutthroat investment banking and centers on Naomi Bishop, a Wall Street banker, played by Gunn in the film, who is navigating a world where big money and high-power reign, and women have yet to break the glass ceiling. It is unknown if any of the film’s actresses will be part of the series.

The adaptation hails from Corrado and Pascal Pictures’ Amy Pascal, with Sony TV’s TriStar Television as the studio. Corrado and Pascal will executive produce with Rachel O’Connor and the movie’s producers Alysia Reiner and Sarah Megan Thomas.

Read More: ‘Equity’: Why It...

ABC is planning to tackle Wall Street. The network is adapting the 2016 financial thriller Equity starring Anna Gunn into a television series. ABC has handed out a script commitment plus penalty. From The Strain producer Regina Corrado and ex-Sony head Amy Pascal, the drama hails from Sony TV’s TriStar Television. Set in the world of cutthroat investment banking, the drama written by Corrado centers on a Wall Street banker (played by Gunn in the film) who has to navigate a world of money and power, where women still haven’t broken the glass ceiling. Corrado will serve as

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Exclusive: The 2016 financial thriller feature Equity is headed to the small screen as a drama series, which has landed at ABC with a script commitment plus penalty. The adaptation hails from The Strain executive producer Regina Corrado and film and TV producer Amy Pascal. Sony TV’s TriStar Television is the studio. Written by Corrado, Equity is set in the cutthroat world of investment banking. It centers on Naomi Bishop — played in the movie by Anna Gunn — a Wall Street…...

Equity is a film directed, written, produced and financed by women, and the fact that this is so rare it becomes a selling point is a sorry indictment on the state of the industry, so it’s hard to begrudge writer Amy Fox and director Meera Menon for sticking it to the men on camera. Almost […]

The post Equity Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.

★★★☆☆ Equity claims to be the first film about Wall Street from a female perspective, and it certainly delivers on that promise by putting women - and the specific challenges they face in finance - front and centre. These include answering business calls while undergoing ultrasound, fending off the sexual advances of a wealthy client without wrecking a lucrative deal, and the stress of reconciling pregnancy with ambitious career goals. Anna Gunn (of Breaking Bad fame) plays Naomi Bishop, a steely, kickboxing investment banker renowned for her deal-sealing prowess.

We’ve never seen this before, multiple female characters open about ambition, power, and money. But representation alone does not make for a gripping tale. I’m “biast” (pro): desperate for stories about women

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

To say that Wall Street shenanigans are well storied onscreen is both an understatement and a misdirection. Sure, there have been lots of movies (and documentaries) set in the world of high finance… and as with nearly ever other human endeavor that gets depicted in film, most of them are about men. Even in movies about Big Money based on real-life events in which women played significant roles, women’s contributions tend to get glossed over or eliminated entirely; see The Big Short. We may think we’ve got a good grip on how Wall Street operates based on the movies we’ve seen,...

Equity is a film about Wall Street but not the usual kind. For one thing, it is about women working on Wall Street. The film is also not about the economic meltdown or other famous scandal, but instead is just about an investment banker, Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn), who has risen to the top, playing the investment game with the big boys, in what is predominately a man’s business world. The title refers more to the kind of equity one means when you say “pay equity.”

This is a remarkable film for what it is not – the usual financial drama with men in the lead roles. Not only is the main character a woman but all the major characters are women. In this financial drama, all the really central roles filled by women, and men are in the supporting and romantic interest parts, the movie roles to which women are too often consigned.

The Intervention's appealing ensemble. (Courtesy Paramount)

It's no secret that women are still mostly used as beards in studio bromances or scenery in tentpole actioners. But even smaller character-driven films can’t always be counted on to provide satisfaction for those of us yearning to recognize some aspect of ourselves on screen. Faced with intimate stories that fail to bring female characters into focus or ambitious tales that mirror but don’t alleviate the special joys of being a girl (worldwide), female audiences are mostly left to get enlightenment or escape by dreaming ourselves into male characters and stories.

Men rule in the sinister Equity, a sleek woman-powered drama that compels attention from start to finish but occasionally thwarts our need for clarity. Three women’s fates intertwine in what is essentially a horror movie about the perils of being female in the high-stakes world of finance (and elsewhere...

Chicago – The key moment in “Equity” is early in the film. The main character was asked at a seminar why she got into high level finance. She paused for a second, and said “money.” The gals can be just as greedy as the guys, and their stakes in that greed can be just as exploitable.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

But this isn’t about greed as much as the madness of financial pursuit. It is portrayed as an addictive high, hard to let go of no matter how much has been added to the bank account. And there are always rivals, and at that level they’ll stop at nothing to get advantage. This is a human story created by women, and not so much a cautionary tale but a lesson in the status quo. The pacing of this story is deliberate, to a fault, yet the humanity is true. There is no evolution in competition,...

Equity Sony Pictures Classics/Broad Street Pictures Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B Director: Meera Menon Written by: Amy Fox, story by Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner, Amy Fox Cast: Anna Gunn, James Purefoy, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner Screened at: Sony, NYC, 6/29/16 Opens: July 29, 2016 When a woman congratulates a business associate on the latter’s pregnancy, she may be stabbing her in the back (to avoid hurting the fetus, presumably). This is the case when Samantha (Alysia Reiner) wants nobody in her firm to know her condition, since people on the fast track could transfer quickly to the mommy track if the boss finds out—which is exactly [ Read More ]

The post Equity Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Three Sundance premieres are boosting the late summer specialty box office as “Indignation” (Roadside Attractions), “Equity” (Sony Pictures Classics) and “Gleason” (Amazon/Open Road) lead openers. Several more including Woody Allen’s “Café Society” (Amazon/Lionsgate) are holding well with positive results beyond just initial dates.

Several documentaries getting play continue to impress, and two more beyond “Gleason” scored initial New York attention: “Hieronymus Bosch: Touched by the Devil” (Kino Lorber) and “Miss Sharon Jones!” (Starz).

Opening

“Indignation” (Roadside Attractions) – Metacritic: 83; Festivals include: Sundance, Berlin, San Francisco, Seattle 2016

$89,072 in 4 theaters; PTA: $22,268

After a long career as a producer-screenwriter (Ang Lee’s”Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Brokeback Mountain”) and distributor (Focus Features before Universal revamped the company), James Schamus directed his adaptation of Philip Roth’s early 1950s Oberlin-set story of a Jewish working class kid trying to adapt. After his earlier run of success, the reaction to his debut is gratifying.