Movies by Women and the Guerrilla Girls must raise money for our "Startling Statistics" Oscar season 2006 billboard campaign, which will highlight the fact that women comprised only 5% of all directors working on the top 250 films of 2004.
The billboard will appear just down the street from the Kodak Theatre(home of the Academy Awards). Do your part to shake up
Hollywood during Oscar season!
The 2002/2003 billboard, which accurately and cuttingly pointed out the gender inequalities in the film industry, created a lot of buzz both locally and internationally and prompted action within the community to support women-helmed film projects as well as racial diversification initiatives.
To give back and donate online and for more information, visit:
http://www.moviesbywomen.com/oscar2006pr.html
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We're looking for volunteers to help us spread the word to blogs, famous directors and actors, and media outlets. If you could donate ten hours of your week to this cause, please e-mail us at news@moviesbywomen.com.
Our current volunteers have made a big difference in bringing awareness to the campaign. Please join in the effort and donate a few hours of your time!
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Money raised as of October 27: $1,675
Promised donations: $500
We still need: $3,825
The billboard will go up no matter what; even if the First Weekenders Group must foot the remainder of the bill.
Every dollar we raise will go to the actual billboard. Please donate now!
We've reached out to hundreds of organizations over the past month, but we're still only receiving about $125 in donations per week. Please do your part to pitch in! Forward this e-mail to everyone you know to help spread the word.
If you're a member of the media, check out our press release and spread the word about the campaign: http://www.moviesbywomen.com/oscar2006pr.html
To donate with PAYPAL (credit card):
http://www.moviesbywomen.com/donatebb.html
Please note: Tax-deductible contribution is via check through the generosity of New York Women in Film & Television. Write checks out to: NYWIFT (New York Women In Film and Television). Mail to: T. Veneruso, 419 N. Larchmont Blvd. #90, Los Angeles, CA 90004.
Or to donate directly to New York Women in Film and Television by credit card: https://www.123signup.com/register?id=fdnbr
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From http://www.guerillagirls.com:
THE TRENT L'OTTSCAR
A billboard at Highland and Melrose in Hollywood, March 1-31, 2003
On March 1, 2003, the Guerrilla Girls introduced our latest redesign of the golden boy: the Trent L'Ottscar. Why? Because the stodgy Senate and hip Hollywood have something in common: they both lag behind the rest of U.S. society in numbers of women and people of color in top positions. And the Senate is doing better than the film industry! 14% of US Senators are female (the highest percentage in history, although still paltry). But only 4% of directors of 2002's top 100 films are female.
In fact, even the interim government of Afghanistan is more progressive than Hollywood. 6% of the interim cabinet members are women!
Here are the embarrassing Hollywood statistics, all from The Celluloid Ceiling, a yearly study by Martha Lauzen of San Diego State University:
Of 2002's top-grossing 100 films:
4% had female directors
8% had female writers
1% had female cinematographers
12% had female editors
And here are a few more stats:
Hollywood guilds are 80 to 90 % white.
No people of color employed by movie studios have the power to greenlight movies.
4 of the 44 partners or board members at the town's top 5 talent agencies are women. None of the 44 are people of color.
We maintain that in the 21st century, low, low, low numbers like this HAVE to be the result of discrimination, unconscious, conscious or both.
And there's an easy way to change things: open up that boys' club and hire more women and people of color. It worked in medicine, business and law. It worked in the art world. Now it's Hollywood's turn.
Since 1999, the Guerrilla Girls, joined by an anonymous group of women directors called the Alice Locas, have been putting up stickers, posters and billboards criticizing and satirizing the Neanderthal film industry. Last year, our "Anatomically Correct Oscar Billboard" in Hollywood was the subject of news coverage from as far away as New Zealand. We like to think that in some small way our billboard helped Halle Berry and Denzel Washington win their Oscars. (Even with their well-deserved accomplishment, only 3% of Oscars for acting -leading and supporting-have ever been won by people of color). In January we invaded the Sundance film festival with our satirical movie poster, "The Birth of Feminism." We plan to have supporters sneak our stickers into the Oscars this year, too, and put them up in the bathrooms of the Kodak Theater.
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