‘American Horror Stories’ offers its unique take on a classic trope, but thin characters and predictable plotting result in a shattered episode.
“You light a candle in a room and then you say her name three times…”
There’s a natural shorthand that exists with creepy characters like Bloody Mary that have become omnipresent in pop culture. Not only are most American Horror Story audiences aware of Bloody Mary’s urban legend, but there’s been a demand to see her worked into the series for some time now. The twisted “monkey’s paw” logic that accompanies Bloody Mary and similar specters is ripe material for the horror genre to explore and low-rent Blumhouse material like Wish Upon or Truth or Dare (or Shudder’s Kandisha) do exactly that. American Horror Stories finally finds a suitable story to explore this staple, but “Bloody Mary” is arguably the weakest application of this premise.
“You light a candle in a room and then you say her name three times…”
There’s a natural shorthand that exists with creepy characters like Bloody Mary that have become omnipresent in pop culture. Not only are most American Horror Story audiences aware of Bloody Mary’s urban legend, but there’s been a demand to see her worked into the series for some time now. The twisted “monkey’s paw” logic that accompanies Bloody Mary and similar specters is ripe material for the horror genre to explore and low-rent Blumhouse material like Wish Upon or Truth or Dare (or Shudder’s Kandisha) do exactly that. American Horror Stories finally finds a suitable story to explore this staple, but “Bloody Mary” is arguably the weakest application of this premise.
- 8/18/2022
- by Daniel Kurland
- bloody-disgusting.com
More than 100 DGA members and industry decision-makers attended a Directors Guild’s summit Saturday that examined the underrepresentation of Latinos in the film and TV industry, and ways to increase their numbers. Latinos and Hispanics make up 18.5% of the U.S. population, but far less than half that percentage directed episodes of dramatic TV shows last season.
“The chronic lack of inclusion by the studios and networks is something our guild has been fighting against for a very long time, as we’ve pushed for meaningful change,” DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said in her opening remarks. “It’s mind-boggling to think that despite such a high Latino population in this country, especially here in the industry’s home of Los Angeles, that so many of the gatekeepers continue to bury their heads in the sand on this issue. Last season, our annual inclusion report found that just 7% of dramatic...
“The chronic lack of inclusion by the studios and networks is something our guild has been fighting against for a very long time, as we’ve pushed for meaningful change,” DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said in her opening remarks. “It’s mind-boggling to think that despite such a high Latino population in this country, especially here in the industry’s home of Los Angeles, that so many of the gatekeepers continue to bury their heads in the sand on this issue. Last season, our annual inclusion report found that just 7% of dramatic...
- 12/8/2021
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
The Directors Guild of America announced its new Women’s Steering Committee Squad Mentorship Program along with its first class of mentees. In the program, 10 mid-career directors are each paired with filmmakers that are well established in the field.
The Wsc Squad will last for six months. Mentors will not only discuss craft and artistic opportunities with their mentees, but will also provide guidance on the unique challenges involved with navigating the film industry as women. A second round of the Wsc Squad will begin in Jan. 2022.
“We started this program because the need for mentorship and community never goes away, even when you are working at very high levels in the industry. Women-identifying directors deal with particular situations and it was our goal to forge a sort of sisterhood of mid-career directors,” said Amber Sealey, co-chair of the program. “We purposely paired them with mentors who can offer advice...
The Wsc Squad will last for six months. Mentors will not only discuss craft and artistic opportunities with their mentees, but will also provide guidance on the unique challenges involved with navigating the film industry as women. A second round of the Wsc Squad will begin in Jan. 2022.
“We started this program because the need for mentorship and community never goes away, even when you are working at very high levels in the industry. Women-identifying directors deal with particular situations and it was our goal to forge a sort of sisterhood of mid-career directors,” said Amber Sealey, co-chair of the program. “We purposely paired them with mentors who can offer advice...
- 8/4/2021
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
It’s been a year of change for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has responded not only to the pandemic, pushing back the global ABC Oscars telecast from February 28 to April 25, 2021 — setting a new award season calendar as other award shows have followed suit — but the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In its continuing push to swell the Academy membership ranks, 819 artists and executives from 68 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call. People from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (36 percent) and women (45 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members (49 percent) also come from overseas.
In 2019, the Academy invited 842 new members,...
In its continuing push to swell the Academy membership ranks, 819 artists and executives from 68 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call. People from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (36 percent) and women (45 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members (49 percent) also come from overseas.
In 2019, the Academy invited 842 new members,...
- 6/30/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
It’s been a year of change for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has responded not only to the pandemic, pushing back the global ABC Oscars telecast from February 28 to April 25, 2021 — setting a new award season calendar as other award shows have followed suit — but the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In its continuing push to swell the Academy membership ranks, 819 artists and executives from 68 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call. People from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (36 percent) and women (45 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members (49 percent) also come from overseas.
In 2019, the Academy invited 842 new members,...
In its continuing push to swell the Academy membership ranks, 819 artists and executives from 68 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call. People from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (36 percent) and women (45 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members (49 percent) also come from overseas.
In 2019, the Academy invited 842 new members,...
- 6/30/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has released its annual list of invitations to join the organization, and surveying the new class of Oscar voters it is clear they are aiming in a big way to continue erasing the stigma of not being inclusive, particularly in terms of women, international members and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities. The org still says they have a long way to go, but the label of being a white man’s club is fading more with each year’s list of new members. The number this year does not represent a record but is closely in line with the 842 invited last year.
The org touts that its 2020 invitees are 49% international, 45% women, and 36% underrepresented ethnic/racial. Sixty-eight countries are repped on the list that includes such actors as Roma best actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio, Awkwafina, Zendaya Coleman, Harriet double nominee Cynthia Erivo, Eva Longoria, John David Washington,...
The org touts that its 2020 invitees are 49% international, 45% women, and 36% underrepresented ethnic/racial. Sixty-eight countries are repped on the list that includes such actors as Roma best actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio, Awkwafina, Zendaya Coleman, Harriet double nominee Cynthia Erivo, Eva Longoria, John David Washington,...
- 6/30/2020
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
In today’s TV news roundup, season two of “Tell me a Story” finds two new cast members, and “Star Wars Resistance” has set a premiere date for its second and final season.
Casting
Caleb Castille and Christopher Meyer have joined the cast of season 2 of the CBS All Access fairytale anthology series “Tell Me a Story,” Variety has learned exclusively. The duo will play brothers, with Castille starring as the smart, dominant older sibling Ron, and Meyer playing the soft-spoken, fiercely loyal Derek.
Castille currently recurs on Hulu’s “Wu Tang: An American Saga” and will next be seen as the lead of the Netflix romantic drama feature “The World We Make” which premieres next month. He is represented by Gersh and Echo Lake Entertainment. While Meyer is is best known for being a series regular on season 4 of “The Affair” opposite Dominic West and Sanaa Lathan. He is repped by Pantheon,...
Casting
Caleb Castille and Christopher Meyer have joined the cast of season 2 of the CBS All Access fairytale anthology series “Tell Me a Story,” Variety has learned exclusively. The duo will play brothers, with Castille starring as the smart, dominant older sibling Ron, and Meyer playing the soft-spoken, fiercely loyal Derek.
Castille currently recurs on Hulu’s “Wu Tang: An American Saga” and will next be seen as the lead of the Netflix romantic drama feature “The World We Make” which premieres next month. He is represented by Gersh and Echo Lake Entertainment. While Meyer is is best known for being a series regular on season 4 of “The Affair” opposite Dominic West and Sanaa Lathan. He is repped by Pantheon,...
- 8/14/2019
- by Dano Nissen
- Variety Film + TV
NBC’s push for diversity and inclusion continues as it unveils the 2019-2020 classes for Female Forward and the Emerging Director Program, two pioneering scripted initiatives to increase the representation of female and ethnically diverse directors by creating a pipeline into scripted television. The initiatives stand out as the only programs in the industry that give participating directors an in-season guarantee to direct at least one episode.
Female Forward, which aims to achieve gender parity in the director’s chair, ushers in its second year with seven directors helming episodes of NBC shows. The new class of Female Forward directors and the NBC series they will direct include Kris Lefcoe (Superstore), Brenna Malloy (Chicago Fire), Sj Main Muñoz (Chicago Med), Kim Nguyen (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Sara Zandieh (Good Girls).
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Emerging Director Program, which is the network’s first pipeline program for ethnically...
Female Forward, which aims to achieve gender parity in the director’s chair, ushers in its second year with seven directors helming episodes of NBC shows. The new class of Female Forward directors and the NBC series they will direct include Kris Lefcoe (Superstore), Brenna Malloy (Chicago Fire), Sj Main Muñoz (Chicago Med), Kim Nguyen (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Sara Zandieh (Good Girls).
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Emerging Director Program, which is the network’s first pipeline program for ethnically...
- 8/14/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: WeForShe has called “Action!” on the 2018 participants for its DirectHer Program. The women’s advocacy group, which is focused on creating practical ways to establish more gender equality in television, today named nine breakout female helmers and the veteran episodic helmers with whom they will be paired.
Directors with experience outside of episodic are identified through the WeForShe Program. They then are partnered with veteran episodic directors who guarantee their work during key parts of production and shooting. The inaugural program for DirectHer placed nine female directors who collectively have gone on to direct 65 episodes of TV so far.
Here is the list of participants and their teammates are Lynn d’Angona (paired with Jonathan Frakes), Paige Morrow Kimball (Todd Holland), Jen McGowan (Mary Lou Belli), Sj Main Munoz (David Rodriguez), Melissa Oren (Tamra Davis), Bola Ogun (Tawnia McKiernan), Mo Perkins (Gail Mancuso), Amber Sealey (Daisy Von Schlerer Mayer...
Directors with experience outside of episodic are identified through the WeForShe Program. They then are partnered with veteran episodic directors who guarantee their work during key parts of production and shooting. The inaugural program for DirectHer placed nine female directors who collectively have gone on to direct 65 episodes of TV so far.
Here is the list of participants and their teammates are Lynn d’Angona (paired with Jonathan Frakes), Paige Morrow Kimball (Todd Holland), Jen McGowan (Mary Lou Belli), Sj Main Munoz (David Rodriguez), Melissa Oren (Tamra Davis), Bola Ogun (Tawnia McKiernan), Mo Perkins (Gail Mancuso), Amber Sealey (Daisy Von Schlerer Mayer...
- 10/23/2018
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
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