"Women Don't Go to Movies" -- Huh?
A little-known fact: some studios recently decided to no longer make female-lead movies.
Lately, I've been in meetings regarding a new script idea I have. A studio executive asked me to change the female lead to a male, because... "women don't go to movies."
Really?
When I pointed out the box office successes of Sex and The City, Mamma Mia, and Obsessed, he called them "flukes." He said "don't quote me on this." So, I'm telling everybody.
I'm in a new movie, My Life In Ruins, out in theaters now. It's a small indie, that was picked up for distribution by a studio (thank you Fox Searchlight.) We're in one-third, maybe less, about one-quarter of the amount of screens of the big movies...yet we made it into the Top Ten.
I'm not too cool to admit this -- on the weekend, I snuck into the back of the theaters to hear people laughing. It's a very good-mood-inspiring sound, better than the sound of potatoes being dipped into a fryer. (Almost.)
The theaters were full of people laughing. Women were there. Sure, men were there, we are a date movie too, but the fact is women were there, some in big girls night groups.
Our movie isn't "playing everywhere," yet these audience members found it. We had an advertising budget of about 6 bucks, Canadian. We don't have billboards, or giant newspaper ads, or skywriting. So I've been Twittering (NiaVardalos), loading homemade videos onto YouTube : "My Life In Ruins, Really!" and blabbing to anyone who makes eye contact with me.
It's called show business for a reason. The theater owners want to make money, and understandably so. My Life In Ruins is the highest testing movie in Fox Searchlight history so we've been given a chance. And, the theater owners said they'll keep the movie in their theaters if people go.
So, women: can we speak up with our wallets?
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Nia I loved "My big fat greek wedding"..
Women really don't go see movies...i
Hollywood will be Hollywood. Opinions don't matter there. Anything goes.
Horror fans should go see "Drag Me to Hell" - it was fantasic and Allison Lohman, the lead, was great!
Well, how frustrating is that?! For me - a male screenwriter who specializes in scripts with strong female leads. I have several features that have been loved by producers, five of them optioned even, and yet, still not produced. Is it because the leads were powerful, complex women? Wow! If there is a coalition I can join to change this madness, I'm in.
Peter Loffredo
http://ful
Well, a decade ago the coalition was called the Equal Rights Amendment or ERA which was shot down pretty handily. At least we got Lilly Ledbetter's law passed recently..
I don't go to movies in the theater as often as I used to, mostly because the screens are loaded with complete crap like Hangover and Terminator III. I hope to go see My Life in Ruins as it looked like fun. I'm looking for good comedies or dramas. Frankly, TV has been better than the movies over the last three years, which really isn't saying much.
All I require is a good story. That Terminator story is so overdone in science fiction: A guy comes back to the past to save the future...i
I have nothing against Life in Ruins but you can't ask for good stories on one hand and complain that they make sequels on the other.
An in depth, epic story takes more than an hour and a half to tell well. Look at the Lord of the Rings, or, in this case, the Terminator movies. You're complaining that the new Terminator movie was made so that men can watch things explode but it was also made to CONTINUE the story. Ever since T1, the audience was told that John Conner would save the future without actually showing it ;these new movies are exploring that. That's called story development.
The Hangover was very funny, and the Terminator sequel was made for the Terminator fan, if you weren't a fan then why would you care.
The Hangover is a updated Bachelor Party staring a young Tom Hanks.
The latest Terminator movie paid homage to other post apocalyptic films like Omega Man, Fist of the North Star, Mad Max, and I am Legend, if you haven't seen any of those films you wouldn't notice.
I'll probably get dragged into Nia's film just like I dragged into Sandra Bullocks film "The Premonitio
Why do people have to always put women in the "Chick Flicks" category anyway? I liked "The Notebook" but I have no desire to see "When Harry Met Sally" or "Sleepless in Seattle". I have no idea what those movies are about and I really don't care.
I love Tarantino films, horror, spaghetti westerns, martial arts, indies, sci-fi, old Doris Day and Rock Hudson movies, Roman Polanski, David Lynch, action, Merchant/Ivory films, teen movies, animated movies, old classics like Citizen Kane and Stewart's "...Wonder
There is no such thing as a Chick Flick. That just means you are with a guy who has no patience to sit in one place for 2 hours and not have explosions to look at every 3 minutes. That is almost every guy in the world. Cool guys don't look at explosions. ;-P
Men's lack of attention span should not be the only factor influencing what films are greenlighted in Hollywood. That's why Hollywood film studios have so many flops and have to depend on that one action-stud film to rescue the whole company every fiscal year. Grown women and men have been completely turned off by mainstream films since the beginning of time because they feel pandered to and the material is shamelessly gratuitous.
I loved Lord of the Rings and was told the only reason I did so was because of all the 'hot men'. Women didn't got to see it because it was too CGI and special effects heavy.
The men were hot and the special effects were cool but I got the 'you have two heads' look because I actually liked the story.
You're welcome to like or not like whatever you want, but don't avoid "When Harry Met Sally" because you're putting it in the you think it's in the mushy romance category. It doesn't belong there. It's one of my favorites of all time, not because of the tiny bit of romance at the end, but because the entire movie is full of random funny commentary on how we live our lives. I think the last time I saw it I laughed out loud at least once in almost every scene.
I'll check it out. Its sounds similar to a Woody Allen movie. (Is it a Woody Allen movie?) I like those kind of films. Nobody ever described it like that.
Oh NO Rupert Murdoch owns Fox Search Light.....
If a Studio Suit tells you fish breath water that means the fish have stopped breathing water.
I cannot believe this article was written in this century.
Good luck with your promo.
I love going to the movies. In my household I am the one to suggest going. I see a lot of action/blockbuster films with my husband. But I see Chick Flicks without him because he won't go. I am up to here with the dark, gloomy, action films. I don't enjoy them much and for a good reason- they are misogynistic crap. I love how a reviewer will sneer at a chick flick as being" unrealistic" or "improbable", but never seem to apply that criteria to the latest Terminater/X-men/ Transformers/etc. Also, so many films are so damn juvenile, that they too get old. Has anyone really enjoyed a Will Ferrell movie lately? I wish that the choice of movies any given weekend was a balanced one between some for him and some for me and some for kids and some for teens, but on any given weekend the one type of film missing is a chick flick. Brava for Nia plugging her film! If it makes it here (Fort Worth), I will go see it.
Well, it's true, we don't go to the movies, IF they are ultra violent and geared to your average 15 year old male. We women like movies, if they are intelligent, well written screenplays; good drama (or sci fi in my case) and hold our attention without relying soley on cgi's or gratuitous violence, profanity, and nudity.
You know it IS possible to write and produce a really good academy award worthy film without being gross, profane, gratuitously sexual, or just plain stupid and adolescent.
Europe and the rest of the world is doing intelligent films. Why can't we?
Ms. Vardalos, don't let that studio executive get to you. Every field has some management of that type, who make ignorant generalizations about their market, without actually researching it. I work as a software engineer, and I've seen plenty of them.
Just move on. Get your script developed by another studio.
We saw it, man and woman. It was really fun and made me want to go to Greece! So, I am going to Greece the day after tomorrow. Really. Anyway, Thanks, Nia, you did a good job. People should see it! Send the kids to The Hangover, and go enjoy My Life in Ruins. I recommend it.
This rant seems, upon examination, to be a plug. But that's cool. Good luck with your film.
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