Women Who Revolutionized Film
A look at unsung heroes of writing, directing and acting
Over the past few years, the topic of gender discrimination and equality has arisen as a hot topic, especially in the Hollywood film system. After analyzing UCLA's 2022 diversity report, it seems awareness of the gender disparity in Hollywood is leading to significant changes in employment. For instance, women accounted for roughly 4% of directors in 2011. This figure increased to 21.8% in 2022. The only category in which women and men are (almost) employed equally is Lead Actor.
UCLA creates an annual diversity report where they examine “top 200 theatrical and all major streaming, English-language film releases in 2021, ranked by global box office and total household ratings, in order to document the degree to which women are present in front of and behind the camera.”
Presented here is a visualization of their data and a timeline to celebrate some of the revolutionary women in the artform of filmmaking.
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Weber was the first woman to direct a feature film in America. In 1917, she became the first woman to run her own movie studio, Lois Weber Productions, and was the only woman to be accepted into the Motion Picture Directors Association.
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The first woman to be a staffed screenwriter in Hollywood. She penned the novel “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and adapted it to screen. Loos was heralded for her wit, sophisticated dialogue. Over her influential career, she had 150 screenwriting credits.
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Marion got a job recutting existing, “shelved as unreleasable” films which then sold for distribution at World Films. She was the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1931 for "The Big House." At this time, she earned $40,000 (in today's money) a week, the highest paid writer in Hollywood. Over her career, she wrote over 325 screenplays and dozens of books and plays.
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Pickford cofounded Pickford-Fairbanks Studios and United Artists. She was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Deemed the “Queen of the Movies,” she contractually had full authority over production in the films she starred in. She had a record-breaking salary of $10,000 per week and half of a films profits with a guarantee of at least $1,040,000, the equivalent to about $20 million today.
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She pioneered silhouette animation films and, long before Walt Disney, created and implemented the multiplane camera (a vertical photography device that allows the movement of layers to create parallax). Although she made films for a decade previous, Reiniger made her magnum opus, "Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed" in 1926. "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" is the oldest surviving feature-length animated film.
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From 1927 to 1943, she was the only other woman director besides Weber working in Hollywood. She was so prolific in Hollywood that Paramount gave her complete choice of crew and interfered little with production. Her filmography is subject to deep analyzing by feminist and queer film theorists — praising Arzner's portrayal of gender stereotypes and women's interpersonal relationships.
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Booth started editing for D.W. Griffith in 1915 and worked as an editor until 1936. She was a powerful figure at MGM Studios, becoming supervising editor until 1969. She controlled the dailies of every film the studio made and had the power to order reshoots. In 1970, she was first woman to win an honorary Oscar for Editing. She pioneered the “invisible edit,” a technique which cuts between two scenes on similar frames to conceal the transition. This effect is used to make a compilation of scenes appear as one take.
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While mainly known for her acting, Lupino was also a renowned writer, producer and director across her five-decade career. In the 1950s, Lupino simultaneously worked within the Hollywood studio system and an independent studio she co-founded. At this indie studio, she made many films including her masterpiece, "The Hitch-Hiker." This marked the first time a woman directed a film noir and the only film noir of the classic period.
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Few will be as influential and innovative as Agnes Varda. In 1955, Varda created "La Pointe Courte" using non-actors and “run-and-gun” shooting on-location. She is considered the mother of The French New Wave — a highly revolutionary era of experimental filmmaking. Not only revolutionary from a technical standpoint, her films addressed women's issues, aging, death and societal issues with upmost honesty.
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Of Nichols and May fame, Elaine May was an autuer in the truest sense. She wrote, directed, produced, and, on occasion, starred in her own films. When Paramount cut and edited her film, "A New Leaf" without her permission, she sued the studio and, despite the film's success, publicly lambasted it. Similarly, May created "Mikey and Nicky" in 1976, which Paramount also wanted to cut and release without her permission. She succeeded retaining creative control by hiding two reels of negatives from the studio. Today, "Mikey and Nicky" is regarded by many as one of the best gangster films.
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Campion has an illustrious filmography peppered with international acclaim and prestigious awards. She broke into the film scene by winning the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986. Seven years later, she won the Palme d'Or for "The Piano" in 1993, the first woman to win this award. Similarly, her work on "The Piano" made her the second woman to ever be nominated for Best Director. Her 2021 film "The Power of the Dog" led Academy Award nominations with a total of twelve. Campion won Best Director for the second time, the only woman to be nominated twice.
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Arguably one of the most recognizable film editors of all time, Schoonmaker is most known for being Martin Scorsese's long-term editor. In 1970, she edited "Woodstock," a documentary about the historical music festival. She was nominated for her first of many Academy Awards. Cut to 2006, Schoonmaker tied Michael Kahn for most Best Film Editing Academy Award nominations (eight) and wins (three).
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In 2008, Bigelow became the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Directing and the only woman to win the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for "The Hurt Locker." She's had an influential and ecletic film career full of smash hits and cult classics. Bigelow depicts violence in conventionally masculine films (war, action, horror, etc.) and has received criticism for her work. Interestingly, Bigelow chooses to ignore any comment regarding her career and gender. "There should be more women directing; I think there's just not the awareness that it's really possible. It is," Bigelow said in a 1990 interview.
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Many more women pioneers ready to revolutionize the artform of filmmaking ...
Want to support women making indie films? Visit Women Make Movies, an organization dedicated to assisting women filmmakers and distributing their work.