{"id":473524,"date":"2026-09-23T22:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/473524\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T22:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:36:18","slug":"female-filmmakers-weigh-merger-supporting-each-other-in-hard-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/473524\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Filmmakers Weigh Merger, Supporting Each Other in Hard Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tHalle Berry<\/a>, Regina King<\/a>, Celine Song, Aleshea Harris, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Patty Jenkins and H.E.R. were among the artists and filmmakers who attended the 11th annual Chanel<\/a> and Tribeca Enterprises\u2019 Through Her Lens<\/a> luncheon in New York City on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\n\tHosted at Locanda Verde by Tribeca Enterprises co-founder and co-chair of the board Jane Rosenthal, the annual event brought together the latest class of emerging nonbinary and women filmmakers for an intimate lunch with industry heavy hitters. Among this year\u2019s jury is Ryan, Berry, King, Autumn Durald Arkapaw and Ella Rubin, with mentorship from Song, Aleshea Harris, Prince-Bythewood, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Fala Chen. Conversation leaders include H.E.R., Jenkins, Laura Karpman, Miyako Bellizzi, Cassandra Kulukundis and Riva Marker.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is at the core of what we do, which is support the independent filmmaking community and artists who want to come together to support the art form and get people a leg in. Everyone who\u2019s involved \u2014 the jurors, mentors and [conversation leaders] \u2014 are really committing their time, whether it be actresses in front of the camera or creatives behind the camera,\u201d said Rebecca Glashow, CEO of Tribeca Enterprises. \u201cThe support is not just in name only. [Program participants] are spending time with all these directors when it\u2019s very challenging to get into this space, and they\u2019re giving them actionable guidance and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJust a day ahead of the luncheon and workshop, which has helped launch the careers of talent like A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand and One<\/a>) and Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny<\/a>), the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount merger cleared one of its biggest and final hurdles<\/a>. The move will have sweeping implications for the production ecosystem and opportunities for filmmakers, and has come amid a year where lower-budget films \u2014 predominantly directed by men \u2014 have defined the box office. Meanwhile, new data has revealed the stagnation or recession<\/a> of women being hired or represented<\/a> in production, both in front of and behind the camera.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTribeca co-founder Robert De Niro with Jane Rosenthal.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDimitrios Kambouris\/WireImage<\/p>\n

\n\tInside the lunch, Rosenthal recalled an experience early in her career when there \u201cweren\u2019t many women and there were even fewer women in positions where they could actually make decisions.\u201d In a role where she was able to develop stories, she came across the script for The Burning Bed, the true story of Francine Hughes, a woman abused by her husband for years. The story was eventually made for TV and starred Farrah Fawcett, becoming \u201cpart of the national conversation about domestic violence,\u201d the producer and Tribeca co-founder shared.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was after she initially took it to her male boss at the time, whose response was demeaning and dismissive of her as well as domestic abuse survivors. Rosenthal found a way around him, and it got produced anyways.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDomestic violence wasn\u2019t new, women had been living with that forever. Their stories weren\u2019t being told. And sometimes people deciding on which stories matters couldn\u2019t even imagine that reality of their lives,\u201d she told the crowd. \u201cThat woman taught me something very early. It matters who\u2019s in the room. It matters even more who has the power in the room and who is willing to use that power to say yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYears later, my dear friend, Paula Weinstein, who produced over 30 movies herself, founded Through Her Lens with Chanel and I. We wanted to create a place where women filmmakers would be given resources, mentorship, access and freedom to tell the stories of their own and on their own terms,\u201d the producer continued. \u201cHistory is erased when contributions go unrecognized and when women are missing from the decisions about our culture and what our culture chooses to remember. We cannot pretend that we\u2019re in another cycle here. That\u2019s why Through Her Lens matters. For years we\u2019ve talked about giving women a seat at the table. I don\u2019t think a seat is enough anymore. We need our own fucking tables.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMichelle Monaghan and Sarah Catherine Hook.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDimitrios Kambouris\/WireImage<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Golden Globe nominee and star of Hulu\u2019s Furious Emmy Rossum<\/a>, creating her own production company was her way of creating that table amid Hollywood\u2019s historical hiring and representation issues.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy goal with [company] Composition 8 is to tell stories that investigate contemporary womanhood, and the best way to do that is by hiring more women behind and in front of the camera. We are the majority of the overall population, so I do not understand why we are not reflected as such in the art that we are creating. It doesn\u2019t make any sense to me, but I think the desire is there for it,\u201d she told THR on the carpet ahead of the luncheon. \u201cI\u2019ve always felt like the walls are always going to be there. You just have to decide that you have to make something happen and get scrappy with how you\u2019re going to do it. So it\u2019s amazing to have a program like this that is funding the opportunity to make those connections to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRosenthal also points to programs like the larger Tribeca Festival as key to ensuring voices don\u2019t get erased amid an industry shift and studio consolidation. \u201cFestivals can identify new work and new voices that the general audience doesn\u2019t typically find, and we do that by helping curate and identify projects that whatever company then buys or hires their filmmaker. I think that\u2019s why festivals are important,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Daisy Jones and the Six actress and director Riley Keough \u2014 who co-created In Process, a limited series inspired by the Through Her Lens filmmaker program \u2014 the dynamics of the current moment have left her focused on trying to be \u201chopeful or else I would stop working,\u201d she joked. \u201cThere are so many cool films that are blowing up, and there have been a couple of moments this year of amazing theatrical success. But at the end of the day, in order to be effective, someone has to be on the ground helping shepherd young filmmakers and young women. Chanel\u2019s commitment to that is so amazing, and it is effective. These kinds of things really help people start their careers. When people are saying we need more female filmmakers, that\u2019s how you have to do it. You have to start from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrancesca Scorsese, who says Rosenthal has supported her in her own career, added, \u201cMaking connections with all these new creatives and creatives in general in the same industry as you is so important. It\u2019s such a big part of it. You never know who you\u2019re going to meet and who you\u2019re going to be inspired by. When that leads to future partnerships or creative endeavors together, that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGina Prince-Bythewood, Regina King and Halle Berry.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDimitrios Kambouris\/WireImage<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Emmy and Oscar-winning King sits on this year\u2019s jury, in a position that gives her the power to help unlock the gate for the next great female or nonbinary filmmaker. It\u2019s a position she describes as \u201ca little nerve-wracking because there\u2019s a part of you that just wants the opportunity to be available for all of them.\u201d The One Night in Miami director noted that over the next three days, she\u2019ll be \u201ctrying to approach it as if I am a juror, but I\u2019m not judging, and that\u2019s a really fine line to walk. It\u2019s not seeing them in comparison to someone else because that\u2019s so hard for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the carpet, King called this particular industry moment that the program\u2019s filmmakers are launching into \u201ca really interesting time,\u201d adding that \u201cthis is not the first of these types of mergers, but there\u2019s a lot of money that was being lost from Warner Bros. before these conversations. The understanding is that they will still operate as separate studios, though that remains to be seen,\u201d she told THR. \u201cYou also have the conversation about AI that, in a lot of ways, can be a helpful tool, but in a lot of ways we\u2019re watching when it comes to the arts it already starting to replace artists. It\u2019s terrifying, so I am right now trying to keep my energy high and expectations low.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRosenthal described the current state of the studio system as \u201climping along.\u201d Alongside it, a potentially new pipeline has emerged, championed as the era of the YouTube creator, something Tribeca Festival has already embraced through offerings like the Creators Market. For Rossum, one of the under-acknowledged lessons from this year\u2019s successes is that it\u2019s not going to be different models that save storytelling. Regardless of whatever pipeline Hollywood uses, she said, the solution to finding good stories is the same: Access and hiring.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not a model problem, it\u2019s a hiring problem. There are lots of incredible, amazing filmmakers that are just not getting those shots. We have to stand alongside them and say, \u2018We want to make those movies\u2019 and help them get them made. I made a movie this summer with a first-time feature filmmaker, Hanna Gray Organschi, who\u2019s one of the most exciting directors that I have worked with in the last decade. She is ready to make a huge movie. She\u2019s ready to make lots of movies,\u201d Rossum explained. \u201cWe just need more shots to be taken and more people to write checks so that women can tell stories.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halle Berry, Regina King, Celine Song, Aleshea Harris, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Patty Jenkins and H.E.R. were among the artists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[13137,186232,584,46955,48,52,51,47,50,49,170945,186233,186234],"class_list":["post-473524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-chanel","tag-emmy-rossum","tag-events","tag-halle-berry","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-paramount-warner-bros","tag-regina-king","tag-through-her-lens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}