Episode Details

Host Pat Collins takes a bicoastal overview of the challenges still confronting women in the film business. In Los Angeles, Collins sits down with Mandalay Pictures president Cathy Schulman, who talks about a new Women in Film / Sundance / Women Filmmakers Initiative report, Exploring the Barriers and Opportunities for Independent Women Filmmakers, and its surprising findings. She also talks with character actresses Allison Janney and Octavia Spencer about their careers and recent films (The Way, Way Back and Fruitvale Station, respectively). In New York, she gathers a panel to discuss the many challenges women filmmakers and distributors still face. Guests include Emily Russo, co-founder of film distributor Zeitgeist Films; Michèle Stephenson, co-founder of Rada Film Group and filmmaker, with Joe Brewster, of the new documentary, American Promise; Nilou Safinya Co-Founder and Producer, Eyes Up Here Productions; and Desiree Akhavan, a New York writer and director who pioneered and starred in the web series, The Slope, in 2011.