#52FilmsByWomen

Last fall Women in Film, a professional organization I'm a member of here in Los Angeles, started a campaign to get people to seek out content created by women. Specifically, they asked people all over the world to watch 52 movies from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. These movies needed to be written and/or directed by a woman. Old movies, new movies, documentaries, shorts, anything created by women.

And so on October twelfth of last year, I signed the pledge. I agreed to spend a year seeking out film content created by women. Now, I'm a TV girl, always have been. Don't get me wrong, I love a good film. I love sitting in a darkened movie theater, immersed in a new world, but I really love lying on my couch, watching my favorite characters week after week. And so, this 52 films thing was going to be different for me.

I started in October, and it was easy. Angela and I had already planned to see The Intern by Nancy Meyers in the theater. And so we went. One movie done! Fifty-one more to go! Alright, if I was going to be serious about this I should seek out content I might not normally see right in front of me (i.e., films at festivals or distributed by less traditional means). So on a warm Friday afternoon I took a sketchy Lyft and arrived at a film festival in Beverly Hills at a little theater. The short film playing before the movie was a horror film, at least what appeared to be, and I was sure I was not in the right place. But I stuck it out (a ten dollar ticket as incentive) and I saw a documentary I would never have seen anywhere else in the world. Did I enjoy my experience? Not necessarily. But I'm glad I had it. I'm glad I saw potential and was introduced to a new subject. And I'm glad my Lyft home was less sketchy.

After that Angela and I found a few more movies in the theaters we would have seen anyway. But I was much more conscious of seeing them opening weekend because box office counts, especially if you're not a Marvel franchise. And because I wanted to support my sisters in this business. I watched Oscar contenders I'd not usually seek out, we flipped through many a blockbuster film on the planes we took over the holidays to find female fare. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of my favorite popcorn flicks have females at the top of the creative chain. Also? Checking the credits of some great films made me seek out other content created by these women. And that led to more entertainment. How great is that?!

What else did I do? I learned that renting movies on iTunes lends itself to financially supporting the writers of films more so than buying them does, so I started renting. A horror movie I can't ever unsee but don't regret. A little indie I kept meaning to see in the theater and never did. I scoured Netflix and Hulu and Amazon to find little known movies or oldies but goodies I missed along the way. I drug my parents and Angela to see Ghostbusters on a rainy Tuesday morning in Michigan when the tickets were cheap.

I also sat through several movies I didn't particularly enjoy. I turned off several in the middle (and didn't count them on my list!). I suffered quietly through a few more, happy to have knitting to keep my hands busy so I wouldn't play Yahtzee or check Twitter. But you know what? That's alright. That's to be expected. Right? Right.

Because not all female-created content is wonderful. Not all of it's for me. Just as all male-created content isn't wonderful, or for me. And yet sometimes I'm so surprised I'm blown away.

I'd put off watching The 33 even though it was Oscar-nominated and well received because I was like, I know that story. But then I watched it because it was free on HBO and I needed to pad my list. And I laughed. And I sobbed. And I loved it. And I shouted that from the rooftops. A woman directed film. How about that? About men! About mining! About life! A woman did that! And in reality, that should not be a deal at all, much less a big deal. I shouldn't care that a woman directed it. But I have to. Because it doesn't happen hardly at all.

In the past six weeks I've watched 26 of the movies on my list. I'm not proud of the fact that I didn't get one a year done as I'd pledge. But I am proud of the fact that I got them done. And I kind of liked the intensity that came with this last stretch. I culled a list from various sources and Angela and I set to marking them off. Sometimes I'd watch a film over several days on my lunch hour and sometimes we'd settle in for one or two films a night. And it really opened my eyes.

What I saw in so many of these films were stories that went beyond anything I regularly consume. I saw characters who were deeply drawn. Women who were the focus, even if they played a wife or mother, sometimes simply because they did. I saw stories that were complex, surprising, fascinating. I saw storytelling at it's best. Male or female created, it doesn't matter. These voices, these women's voices, are out here, they are yelling, they are demanding to be heard.

And I heard them. Fifty two of them over the past year.

And I can't wait to keep up my challenge. To keep up my list. To add to it. To seek out stories that are different and better and the same. That are everything.

The list of films I watched:

1. The Intern - written and directed by Nancy Meyers
2. Let Them Eat Cake - documentary directed by Alexis Krasilovsky
3. Suffragette - written by Abi Morgan and directed by Sarah Gavron
4. The Holiday - written and directed by Nancy Meyers 
5. The Wolfpack - documentary directed by Crystal Moselle
6. Sisters - written by Paula Pell
7. Room - written by Emma Donoghul
8. The Danish Girl - written by Lucinda Coxon
9. Straight Outta Compton - written by Andrea Berloff and Jonathan Herman
10. How to Dance in Ohio - documentary directed by Alexandra Shiva
11. Unbroken - directed by Angelina Jolie
12. Meet the Patels - documentary directed by Geeta Patel
13. How to Be Single - written by Abby Kohn, Dana Fox and Marc Silverstein
14. Race - written by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel
15. London has Fallen - written by Katrin Beneditk, Creighton Rothenberger, Christian Gudegast and Chad St. John
16. My Big Fat Greek Wedding - written by Nia Vardalos
17. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 - written by Nia Vardalos 
18. The Boss - written by Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone and Steve Mallory (technically saw it twice - once in the theater and once the week it premiered on iTunes but only counted it once!)
19. Barbershop: The Next Cut - written by Tracy Oliver and Kenya Barris
20. Confirmation - written by Susannah Grant
21. Echo Park - written by Catalina Aguilar Mastretta and directed by Amanda Marsalis
22. The Meddler - written and directed by Lorene Scafaria
23. The Invitation - directed by Karyn Kusama
24. Money Monster - directed by Jodie Foster
25. Ghostbusters - written by Katie Dippold and Paul Feig
26. Lemonade - written and directed by Beyonce 
27. 30 for 30: The House of Steinbrenner - directed by Barbara Kopple
28. Tiny Furniture - written and directed by Lena Dunham
29. The Bronze - written by Melissa Rauch and Winston Rauch
30. The Intervention - written by, directed by and starring Clea DuVall
31. Finding Dory - written by Victoria Strouse and Andrew Stanton
32. Kung Fu Panda 2 - directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson
33. Kung Fu Panda 3 - directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni
34. Meadowland - directed by Reed Morano
35. Mother's Day - written by Anya Kochoff, Matt Walker and Tom Hines
36. Welcome to Me - directed by Shira Piven
37. Tallulah - written and directed by Sian Heder
38. I Smile Back - written by Paige Dylan and Amy Koppelman
39. Hot Girls Wanted - documentary written by Brittany Huckabee and directed by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus
40. 27 Dresses - written by Aline Brosh McKenna and directed by Anne Fletcher
41. The Princess Diaries - written by Gina Wendkos 
42. Codegirl - documentary directed by Lesley Chiylcott
43. Bridget Jones's Diary - written by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis and directed by Sharon Maguire
44. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason - written by Andrew Davies, Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis, and Adam Brooks and directed by Beeban Kidron
45. Bridget Jones's Baby - written by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson and directed by Sharon Maguire
46. The 33 - directed by Patricia Riggen
47. Mississippi Damned - written and directed by Tina Mabry 
48. I Will Follow - written and directed by Ava DuVernay
49. Middle of Nowhere - written and directed by Ava Duvernay
50. Hello, My Name is Doris - written by Laura Terruso and Michael Showalter
51. What Happened, Miss Simone? - directed by Liz Garbus
52. Trainwreck - written by Amy Schumer 

Watch movies made by women, directed by women, written by women. Talk about them. Acknowledge them. Share them. I have and I do. And sometimes it sparks conversation. Sometimes it sparks nothing. Sometimes it encourages a friend to go home and search out a movie by a woman, and I love that. We can make a difference by choosing who creates our content. We can have a voice. ALL of us.

Putting my money where my mouth is...

It's easy to put a bumper sticker on your car.

It's easy to put a sign in your front yard.

It's easy to say, we should all vote for X, Y and Z.

But what it's not easy to do is put your money where your mouth is. And that's what I did today.

Since August I've been telling myself I need to volunteer for Hillary's presidential campaign. I need to. She needs me too. But there were excuses. I'm busy. I'm on deadline with this script. The campaign office is all the way down by the airport. I'm tired at night and don't want to go over there. But this morning...I had run out of excuses.

And I want to help. I want to be a part of the change. Part of the solution. Part of history.

I want Hillary to be the first female President of the United States.

So I drove almost to the airport. And I found the campaign office. And I walked in and looked around and tried not to be scared.

There were just a handful of people in the large conference room. But it was also filled with posters and signs and balloons and food. It was quiet but it wasn't scary. I was immediately greeted by a Hillary for America fellow (one of the lead volunteers). She gave me the lowdown on what needed to be done today and I asked if there were any jobs other than phone banking, or making phone calls. She said not really, though if I really didn't want to phone bank she'd figure something out.

But, as I know how hard it is to organize volunteer activities and sometimes you just need someone to do a job that's not glamorous or maybe a bit difficult, I bit the bullet and said, no problem, I'll make calls.

And I did. Almost a hundred calls in about two and a half hours. I was given call sheets, and a script, and...that was it. I was on my own. I found a quiet spot against the wall, pulled out my phone, learned how to dial *67 before the number so the caller ID would say unknown when I called, and off I went.

I was tasked with calling people who'd expressed interest in a bus trip to Nevada to canvass and register volunteers. So I wasn't exactly making cold calls. I'd say at least fifty percent of my people didn't pick up. A few hung up as soon as I said I was a volunteer calling from Hillary for California. One woman explained to me how us volunteers could do a better job. Some people asked for signs. And six people agreed to go on the bus trip!

One of the Hillary fellows encouraged me several times, saying I was really good at making the phone calls. Everyone in the office was very upbeat, young, and smiley. When I promised to come back Friday they asked if I wanted to pencil myself onto the wall calendar via sticky note. (I said I'd wait and check my schedule and pencil myself in for next week on Friday.)

But most of all?

I feel like I made a difference. I didn't just listen to or read the news today and bitch about the other party and politics. I didn't just favorite funny or biting or informative tweets on Twitter. I didn't just lament the world today while sitting in my house, removed from the world.

I got out and I tried to make a difference. I tried to enact change. I felt connected. I felt useful. I felt proud.

And I can't wait to go back on Friday...