When I first moved to Hollywood with an MFA in directing, award-winning shorts under my arm, and several years of experience working in the industry, I was not prepared for being shut out of my field because of my sex. Eventually social scientists proved what I was experiencing, that only 1% of film and television production was being directed by women. Although only a few years ago, and hard to imagine now, discriminatory employment exclusion based on sex was not openly acknowledged. In 2004 I wrote my first article and my activism was launched.
I believe it's imperative to be a voice for change, forging a path to the next level of advancement for women creatives in Hollywood. In addition to writing articles about gender parity in the film industry, speaking on panels, mentoring, teaching, being interviewed in documentaries: “This Changes Everything.” “Half the Picture,” and “Celluloid Ceilings,” I recently gave a TedX Talk, “Save the World. See a movie made by a woman.”
“We need to see women at the center of stories, as makers, doers and leaders, not just wives, girlfriends and sex objects.”
It’s important that my own productions be an example of inclusion. Not only is LILLY about a woman in her 60’s, starring a woman in her 60’s, written, directed and produced by women in their 50's and 60’s, financed primarily by mature women, but the music and post-production teams were 99% women.
TEDX | 9/15/2023 | Woodstock, Vermont TedX Talks | “Save the world. See a movie made by a woman.” 🔗
Ms. Magazine | 3/23/2021 | Fighting for Pay Equity: A Q&A with Lilly Ledbetter and the Filmmaker Telling Her Story 🔗
Deadline | 12/23/2020 | Rachel Feldman: Women Directors Deserve An Equal Playing Field – Guest Column 🔗
ScreenCraft Panel | 9/1/2020 | How to Write TV Bibles & Treatments: 8 Tips from the Pros 🔗
CARLA Global Media Panel | 8/23/2020 | US TV Showrunners & Producing/Directors 🔗
Film Fatales | 8/7/2020 | iPhone Filmmaking w Ted Melfi 🔗
Winston Baker | 5/28/2020 | Watch Interview: Three Unstoppable Women Directors Hardwicke, Glatter, and Feldman 🔗
NYWIFT | 5/11/2020 | In conversation with film director Rachel Feldman 🔗
ZIP Creative | 5/6/2020 | Interview with director Rachel Feldman 🔗
Sarah Lawrence College Magazine | 5/2020 | Direction Forward | Interview with Alumni Film Director 🔗
Women and Hollywood | 12/11/2019 | Want to Increase the Number of Women Feature Directors? Look to TV 🔗
Variety | 02/07/19 | What the #4PercentChallenge to Hire Women Directors Needs to Succeed 🔗
Variety | 09/18/18 | Open Letter to Reese Witherspoon: There’s an Army of Experienced Women Directors! 🔗
The Wrap | 02/19/18 | Time’s Up for Hollywood Agencies to Sign (and Support) Female Filmmakers 🔗
The Wrap | 01/16/18 | ‘I’ll Never Let Any Woman Direct Me': 11 Female Directors Recount Sexism and Discrimination 🔗
KPCC "The Frame" | 10/25/17 | Listen to an interview connecting Hollywood's sexual harassment to employment discrimination 🔗
The Hollywood Reporter | 10/21/2017 | How to Fix Hollywood's Toxic Gender Exclusion Problem (Guest Column) 🔗
Screenmancer | 9/14/17 | Venice Films Mostly Male & AFI 100 Movies List 2017, Not One by a Woman?
Indiewire / Women & Hollywood | 8/2017 | Plenty of Qualified Women Directors Are Ready to Fill the Ranks 🔗
KPCC "The Frame" | 2/16/17 | Listen to an interview about gender discrimination in Hollywood
Indiewire / Women & Hollywood | 9/2016 | Solutions for Hollywood's Woman Director Problem: Demand More from the Agencies 🔗
Ms. In the Biz | 11/2015 | A Response to Maureen Dowd 🔗
Bloomberg Television Documentary | 6/2015 | Celluloid Ceilings 🔗
Indiewire / Women & Hollywood | 2/2015 | How To Hire A Woman Director
World International Perspective | 7/2014 | Illuminating the Relevance of Women Directing U.S. Media
Indiewire / Women & Hollywood | 7/2014 | An Open Letter to Showrunners
Middlebury College | 7/11/2014 | WomenCallAction: Illuminating the Relevance of Women Directing U.S. Media 🔗
