Barely a statistic.

The Oscars are coming up soon. The Golden Globes are behind us, and the Emmy’s aren’t too far into the distant future. According to an annual study done by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, out of the 2,938 people that worked on the top 250 (domestic grossing films) in 2013, sadly, only 16% of them were women. Of that statistic only 6% of those women were directors. These numbers are actually a decline from previous years. Out of these numbers the majority of women are working in the drama, comedy, and documentary genres. It’s rare to find women directors, producers, executive producers, cinematographers, editors, and writers in the sci-fi, animated, action, or horror genres. According to the Directors Guild only 14% of women directors, directed TV episodes in 2013. Tragically of the 200 shows reviewed last year, 38 of them didn’t even hire any women.

According to the Huffington Post, within the business world, only 16.9% of board seats belong to women, and 10% don’t even have any women on the board. Even though statistics show that 85% of women make up the consumer buying decisions. It would seem if you wanted to know a better way to increase sales, profit, etc., you would diversify your board to find out what the 85% would want. Or one would think?

Even with those grossly shattering statistics there are numerous women, within those industries, fulfilling their dreams. Sheryl Sandberg, Jill Abramson, Oprah Winfrey, Anne Sweeney, Susan Wojcicki, Bonnie Hammer, Ellen DeGeneres, Sue Naegle, Diane Sawyer, J.K. Rowling, Kathleen Kennedy, Kathryn Bigelow, and Megan Ellison (just to name a few). These women range from CEO/COO’s of major networks/companies, entrepreneurs, writers, to Hollywood directors and producers.

According to an Indiewire blog the new Gamechanger Award will be given out at SXSW (South by South West). This award will be given to a female filmmaker, with a grant of $2500 as a prize. Gamechanger Films was founded to invest in women directors of feature films.  They are trying to close the gap between 50% of females, who graduate from some type of film school, to only about 5% moving forward into Hollywood directing.

I made a movie, now what do I do with it?

You’ve poured your heart and soul, and literally all your money, into making your first movie. Now what do you do with it? There are a few different avenues that an independent (or student) filmmaker can take once they’ve completed their feature film. There’s distribution and submitting to festivals. Depending on how much money you have left because both options can have hefty expenses. You can also start up a crowdfunding account to fund the release and/or distribution to your film.

There are a few options with distribution. You can select to hire an agent (a professional, with all the connections, to market your film), or you can distribute yourself through POD’s (print on demand). There are websites available like Distribber or CreateSpace. Each website has pros and cons to it. There are start up costs associated with each website. You should always read the fine print. It all really depends on how far you’d like your movie to reach. If you are striving to go international, you may definitely want to consider an agent. Most of the POD’s are only throughout Canada and the United States. Something else that is available would be a producer of marketing and distribution (PMD). Again, you want to read all the details that are involved in hiring an agent and/or PMD as well going the POD route. The last thing you want to do is give away any rights or royalties.

Today there are thousands of film festivals all year round. However, submitting your finished film to a festival isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are fee’s associated with entry. It’s also not a guarantee that you’re film will be allowed entry. If your film is selected, that doesn’t mean you just show up, and it’s a free ride to the top. You still have marketing and promoting to do during the festival. Indiewire.com has a good starting point for a list of film festivals.

This is just a discussion. I do not promote or profit from any websites discussed.