It is an exclusive “old girls” club, with members like Glenn Close, Lauren Bacall, Mary Tyler Moore, Rita Moreno and Meryl Streep, and clout within Hollywood’s powerful inner circle: even the reclusive Robert DeNiro has lunched with its members.
Through its social network, Marva Tophan, who runs an audio services company in New York, met Josesa Jaime, a film student, and hired her as an administrative assistant. Sherry Stoute, an aspiring cinematographer, got work as a camerawoman on a coming feature film from a producer she met at one of the group’s power-player breakfasts. Dana Offenbach, director of business affairs at Uniworld Entertainment, used the club’s connections to market the director Christopher Cherot’s coming film, “Hav Plenty,” described as a romantic comedy about middle-class blacks. In turn, she got to work as a producer on the film.
While those outside the film and television industry may not be familiar with New York Women in Film and Television, the organization that was little more than a small sorority when it was founded 19 years ago has come of age as an institution of influence and confidence.
Today, this self-help support network has more than 1,000 members, a budget of more than $340,000, financed through membership fees and corporate contributions, and a year-round calendar of seminars, workshops and programs designed to give women the chance to wheel and deal like the “old boys.” To maintain a level of professionalism, the organization requires its members to have a minimum of five years of experience above entry level to join. Students are invited to attend the group’s seminars and workshops and to apprentice with members.
“Our primary goal is to create opportunities for women in the industry,” said Terry Lawler, the group’s executive director. “Our members are influential in their own right. They’re filmmakers, distributors, producers, writers, performers. Our mission is to celebrate women’s achievements in screen-based media and to work toward parity in the industry.”
Recently, the group, commonly known by its acronym, Nywift, held its annual benefit luncheon at the New York Hilton Hotel. The celebrity-studded event, at which the organization gives its Muse Awards to honor distinguished achievement in the industry, raises nearly one-third of the yearly budget. Among the 1997 recipients were Ruby Dee; Barbara Walters; Dianne Wiest; Judy McGrath, the president of MTV Network, and the film director Mira Nair.
In between the Champagne reception and baked alaska, the group also will announce the recipient of its annual film preservation grant. Sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art and the American Movie Classics cable network, the fund was established two years ago to restore and preserve films in which women have played significant creative roles. To date, four have been preserved, two by Alice Guy-Blache and two by Lois Weber, the nation’s first female directors. The works of Guy-Blache, who is also believed to have been the first person to direct a narrative film, are “Matrimonial Speed Limit” and “House Divided,” both from 1913. Those by Weber, said to have been the highest-paid Hollywood director of her time, are “How Men Propose,” from 1913, and “Two Wise Wives,” from 1921.
“These are treasures that show us how women lived, who they were and what their role in society was,” said Barbara Moss, founder of the Women’s Film Preservation Fund. Moss said the films qualified for preservation not only because they were made by women but also because they are about women. “The traditional sources of funding often don’t focus on preserving films that are lesser known or of lesser importance,” she said. “We hope to raise enough funds to maintain women’s work in the film industry for future filmmakers.”
The preservation project reflects the organization’s shifting priorities as it enters its 20th year. No longer is its primary focus equity or discrimination; no longer does it have to scrounge for financing or resources. It is now focusing on diversifying its racial makeup, attracting and cultivating a new generation of filmmakers and preparing members for emerging technologies in video cameras and cinematography.
Although a 1991 report showed that women were still paid less than their male counterparts and were not getting the highest entertainment industry jobs, many of the women in the organization are pleased at their progress in opening doors.
“There has been a growth of work in the industry in New York City,” said Joy Pereths, president of the organization and cofounder of Proactive, an independent film distribution and marketing company based in Manhattan. “Because there is an increasing need for programming as a result of cable and satellite companies, it has created more opportunities for women.” She also credited the city and state with helping to arrange for free locations for filming and tax abatements.
The New York group was inspired by a similar organization that had been established in Los Angeles. The New York group’s success has led to the formation of more than 30 autonomous chapters in the United States and abroad with more than 10,000 members.
Lore has it that there was such kinetic energy among the 25 women who gathered in a small Manhattan apartment to start up Women in Film in New York on the evening of July 13, 1977, that the lights went out. Not just in the apartment, but the entire city.
“We like to joke that our power surge caused the famous New York City blackout of 1977,” says Pereths. The group was officially incorporated in 1978.
Meta Williams, executive director of the Los Angeles group, which celebrates its 25th anniversary next year, said that together the groups helped change the way entertainment business is done.
“One of the biggest lessons learned from us was the understanding that `my success is your success,’ ” she noted. “This is a business that by its nature doesn’t lend itself to that. It’s based on an `I’ve got mine’ mentality.
“Women in Film helps break down that mentality and bring a female dynamic into the workplace that is more collegial. The negative elements are still there, but we’re bringing a more positive sensitivity to our industry.”
