On Tuesday (January 19), I’ll be joining a panel for New York Women in Film and Television to talk about gender, race and disability issues in the film industry. In particular, I’m tasked with commenting on women’s roles in distribution. Most people are familiar with the rather brutal situation for female directors in Hollywood as reported recently in the New York Times- last year just 3% of studio films were helmed by women. Cinematography is similarly imbalanced. In independent film the opportunities increase if not exactly balance. There are positions like editing and producing where women have long been numerous.

However, distribution is more complicated. Being more purely a business, it seems to reflect business culture, with more women working in lower-paid positions and fewer in top jobs. Being the film industry, this disparity may be exacerbated. But as far as I know, any evidence one way or another is anecdotal.

Does being a woman affect one’s experience in being a distributor? Any more so than being a woman affects daily life in general in any profession? Is there in fact more discrimination in the film industry than in other industries? How does that play out in the various spheres in which a distributor engages, i.e. film festivals, exhibitors, broadcasters, DVD wholesalers, etc.? And how many women really do “succeed”?

To engage further in this discussion, join me at Imagining Gender, Race & Disability In Film and TV: Part II–Above The Line & Below The Line, Marymount Manhattan College 221 East 71st Street Peruggi Room, 2nd Floor. Registration Required, free for students.

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