Melissa Silverstein is a media consultant and writer with 15 years experience in the non-profit and communications fields. She specializes in the area of women issues, with an emphasis on women and Hollywood. She blogs regularly on issues related to women and Hollywood from a feminist perspective at her blog, Women & Hollywood, which was recently named by More Magazine as one of the "blogs to watch."

Over the last several years, Melissa has consulted on wide array of projects ranging from online marketing for films and books targeted at women, to web site development, to event and film production. She also has extensive experience in public relations and communications, and organizational management and non-profit start-ups.

She is based in Brooklyn, NY and is on the advisory board of the Women's Media Center. She is also a member of NY Women in Film and TV.

Check out her blog on Women & Hollywood.

Blog Entries by Melissa Silverstein

Golden Globe Nominations: Reactions From Women Film Writers and Critics

4 Comments | Posted December 16, 2009 | 10:49 AM (EST)


After the Golden Globe nominations, I reached out to several women who write and think about films to get their sense of the stories that came out of the nominations.

The issues that I wanted to hear other people's thoughts on what I saw coming out of the nominations:

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Women, Hollywood and Money

2 Comments | Posted December 10, 2009 | 12:12 PM (EST)


Women are second class citizens in Hollywood and the best way to illustrate it is to look at the money -- how it's earned and how it's distributed. Two very different pieces, Actress Salary Report in The Hollywood Reporter and BO of the '00's: The Top Grossing Female...

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New Moon Brings a New Dawn in Hollywood

6 Comments | Posted November 23, 2009 | 10:18 AM (EST)


On Friday morning Hollywood woke up to the realization that fangirls can be as rabid as fanboys.  By Saturday morning they realized that two BIG records had been broken, including the highest midnight screening opening and the best opening date in history.  On Sunday morning, they woke up realizing that...

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A Tale of Two Young Actresses

1 Comments | Posted November 16, 2009 | 11:20 AM (EST)


The NY Times ran two very different stories about two very different young actresses - Megan Fox and Kristen Stewart - who both appear in huge franchises, Fox in Transformers and Stewart in Twilight.  Both women had cover pieces, Stewart in the Arts & Leisure section and Fox...

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Jan Chapman - The Woman Behind So Many Great Films

Posted November 9, 2009 | 01:05 PM (EST)


One of my longtime obsessions has been finding Australian films, especially those directed by women.  It began almost 20 years ago when I first saw My Brilliant Career and I was blown away.  Thinking back now, seeing that movie was another one of my seminal movie moments and that began...

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Precious in the Age of Obama

8 Comments | Posted November 5, 2009 | 11:17 AM (EST)


I have not stopped thinking about Precious since I saw it almost a week ago.  This is a movie that unleashed many emotions, many that have been hard to articulate properly.  Here are some of the things I've been pondering (more on the film's content to come tomorrow).

Could...

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Interview with Katherine Dieckmann, Director of Motherhood

Posted November 2, 2009 | 06:07 AM (EST)


Women & Hollywood: You said in the NY Times recently that a man can write great women's movies but you don't think a man could have written this story.  Can you elaborate?

Katherine Dieckmann: Think about a movie like You Can Count on Me.  I think that in...

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Where We Are as Women (In Film)

10 Comments | Posted October 28, 2009 | 11:49 AM (EST)


There must be something in the water because over the last week there have been several substantive pieces and one panel (which I will blog about later) discussing women and film.  These discussions are not new, they happen all the time, but having two pieces come out in major newspapers...

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Interview with Lone Scherfig - Director of An Education

Posted October 20, 2009 | 10:46 AM (EST)


Danish director Lone Scherfig is one of several women being mentioned this year for a potential best director nomination for her critically acclaimed film An Education.  Here's what I wrote earlier about the film.  She took some time to answer some questions on the road while doing publicity for...

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Rape is a Feminist Issue

40 Comments | Posted October 2, 2009 | 06:56 AM (EST)


So here we are on day three of Polanskigate on my blog.  Have to say that the amount of comments I've gotten on the site over the last couple of days has been incredible, however I wish as many people would comment on an interview with a woman director (like...

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Interview with Sally Potter, Director of Rage

Posted September 29, 2009 | 12:34 PM (EST)


Sally Potter is a filmmaking icon.  She is an outspoken, visionary, feminist director who has been on the cutting edge of the indie world since she started making films.  That being said, Potter's work is an acquired taste, and her new film Rage she is again pushing all the boundaries...

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Hating on Megan Fox

9 Comments | Posted September 16, 2009 | 08:41 PM (EST)


Megan Fox seems to have stirred about a big pile of poo by talking to a magazine about Michael Bay and his dictatorial tactics on the set of Transformers.  Setting aside her talent -- or lack thereof --  (she was so bad in the first Transformers but I don't blame...

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Fatal Promises: A Look at Human Trafficking

2 Comments | Posted September 16, 2009 | 11:23 AM (EST)


It is absolutely unacceptable that we have a slave trade in the 21st century.  It is beyond belief - Emma Thompson

I saw Fatal Promises on Saturday and I have not stopped thinking about the topic.  It's not because Emma Thompson was there and was so passionate...

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Casi Divas: Interview with Director Issa Lopez

Posted August 20, 2009 | 03:23 PM (EST)


Casi Divas tells the story of four very different women vying in a contest to become the next big telenovela star.  It is a story infused with dreams of changing your life and desires for celebrity and success but if you think it is all gloss you will miss the...

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Interview with Colette Burson, Co-creator of Hung

2 Comments | Posted July 30, 2009 | 01:15 PM (EST)


When I first read that HBO was going to air a show called Hung my first reaction was huh? Why would I want to see a show about a guy's dick? But since I had once spoken on the phone with the show's co-creator Colette Burson and thought she...

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Women & Misogyny: The Ugly Truth

5 Comments | Posted July 22, 2009 | 11:29 AM (EST)


It will come as no shock to anyone that women can be as sexist and misogynistic as men. That's a fact most of us have figured out. But it's so much more depressing when women get kicked in the teeth by other women on a great big movie screen.

I...

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Interview With Aviva Kempner, Director of Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

2 Comments | Posted July 10, 2009 | 03:20 PM (EST)


When I first heard about Gertrude Berg a couple of years ago when I was working on a documentary, after my initial shock dissipated, I got angry. How could it be that such a towering figure in radio and TV history could just... disappear?

Well, the good news is that...

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Interview with Lynn Shelton, Director of Humpday

Posted July 8, 2009 | 12:06 PM (EST)


Humpday written and directed by Lynn Shelton was one of those movies that came out of Sundance this year with a lot of buzz. The premise sounded funny but stupid: two old college friends, Ben and Andrew played by Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard, -- straight guys -- decide...

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Gender Bias in Theatre -- Digging a Little Deeper

Posted June 30, 2009 | 10:42 AM (EST)


Last week I attended the release of an economic study done by Princeton undergrad Emily Glassberg Sands entitled "Opening the Curtain of Playwright Gender: An Integrated Economic Analysis of Discrimination in American Theatre."

Usually an undergraduate thesis does not warrant a couple of hundred people showing up to hear the...

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Interview with Wendy Jo Carlton - Director of Hannah Free

Posted June 27, 2009 | 10:10 AM (EST)


Hannah Free, the new film starring Sharon Gless, written by Claudia Allen (adapted from her play) and directed by Wendy Jo Carlton will premiere on Sunday, June 28 as the closing night film for the Frameline LGBT Film Festival in San Francisco.

The film tells the story of a...

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