Tina Fey, Steven Seagel, and Women Behind the Scenes

Tina Fey, who we honored at New York Women in Film & Television's 2005 Muse Awards*, is in the news again.

This time it's not a brand new project or further mention of her non-existent sequel to Hocus Pocus. Instead, Tina Fey has had a grading scale named after her.

Yesterday, Stephen Follows released a study entitled ‘Gender within Film Crews’, which examines the gender divide in the top 2,000 grossing films of the last 20 years (1994-2013).

The statistics are not shocking to those who are well versed in what is happening behind the scenes in the industry. When Follows looked at all crew members on those 2,000 films, he found that only 22% were women.

Again, that will not come as a surprise to people within the industry. If you've worked in film or television in any capacity you're seen firsthand the skewed ratios.

Still, what is particularly disappointing is that there has not been a large jump in the percentage of women on film crews from 1994 until today. Indeed, if anything the percentage of women working behind the scenes has shrunk. According to Follows’ data, in 1994 22.7% of top grossing films had female crew members. In 2013 it was 21.8%.

In other words, on most studio films only 1 out of every 5 crew members is a woman.

To further the depressing news, the percentage of women hired to be writers, producers, editors, animators, and directors has decreased over the last twenty years.

The only fields that have seen growth have been roles within the makeup, art, and costume departments.

But where does Tina Fey come in?

As part of his study Follows looked at how many women were involved behind the scenes for each film. He found that although the average hovered around the 22% range, there was a large continuum.

On one end was Fey, whose crew for Mean Girls was 45% female. On the other end was Steven Seagel, who had a crew that was only 10% female.

Hence the moniker the Fey-Segel scale.

It’s great that Tina Fey is making news again, but wouldn’t it be even better if the percentage of female crew members that she hires wasn’t news at all?

 At NYWIFT a key part of our mission revolves around the promotion and better inclusion of women in all aspects of the industry. For more information about our organization, please click here.

Specific statistics can be seen within the PDF of Steven Follows’ work.

*Shamless plug (I work there). See www.nywift.org. 

Please note: this post was also on NYWIFT's official blog.

Amy & Tina at the 70th Annual Golden Globes

'The Golden Globes' were on last night. The ceremony dragged on a bit (okay, kind of a lot), but I just have to say...

love me some Tina & Amy

Unaired '30 Rock' Pilot

Most people love '30 Rock'. Or at least love to hate it.

Other people, my mother included, are completely crazy and don't "understand" the show.

Regardless, I think everyone will agree that the show in its current version is far superior to what it could have been. Watch the original, unaired pilot with a (slightly) different cast to see what I mean:

link will open in a new window

Tina Fey & Amy Poehler (are all kinds of adorable) Golden Globes 2013

So, the nominations are in!

Nominations for what you might ask? Why for the 2013 Golden Globes of course!

What/who was nominated? A bunch of shows that I don't really care about. In fact, none of the shows that I watch regularly were nominated...making me far less interested in the awards than I normally am.

However, the producers (almost as though they realized this might happen!) have already saved the day by having Tina Fey and Amy Poehler co-host.

If you doubted how hilarious/adorable/perfect/ridiculous this combo was, well...watch the first promo:

 Also, in case you've forgotten how the producers got their inspiration, watch the pure perfection of Fey and Poehler at the 2012 Golden Globes:

Emmy Nominations 2012

Here's a copy of the press release for 2012 Emmy Nominations:

Pointless Video Time

Happy tax day y'all! To celebrate, here's a video that has absolutely nothing to do with taxes:

Sunday Rant: Hulu Plus

Now that we lost the Super Bowl (and no, I won't talk about that...this is the last time it will be mentioned), I feel like ranting about something. After a recent discussion with my friend (who luckily feels exactly the way I do), I've settled on a topic that I could complain about endlessly: Hulu Plus.

I'm annoyed at Hulu Plus. And not for the usual reasons. Sure, everyone agrees that having to pay to watch certain TV shows is annoying. And being forced to endure a minute and a half of the same commercials over and over again, after having paid to watch said TV shows, is particularly annoying.

You know what's even worse? Having a Hulu Plus account and being told that certain content is only available "on the web". For goodness sake, we already paid, didn't we? We're enduring the financial burden, and your annoying commercials, and you're telling us that we can't stream all of your content to our televisions? Also, how is my Roku player not "on the web"...it's connected to my wireless internet. So is my computer. How is this any different?

Sometimes, a girl just wants to sit down on a Friday night with a couple of friends and watch '30 Rock'. But no. Evidently that content is only available "on the web", so streaming it onto my TV is impossible. I'm sorry, but for $7.99 a month I'm not willing to huddle around a laptop.

P.S. Yes, I know this has to do with licensing agreements. Sure, Hulu.com originally signed agreements to only stream on computers, and when they branched out to Hulu Plus they had to get new licensing to stream on all devices. I get it. But it's been 585 days since they first rolled out Hulu Plus. Also, why are all other NBC shows available except '30 Rock'?

P.P.S. I realize that some parts of this rant are nonsensical, it wouldn't be a good rant if they weren't.

All right, Will Arnett, I guess I won't hold it against you.
(But only because you were in 'Arrested Development').

'30 Rock' Returns!

Dear '30 Rock',
Thank you for coming back to us. I missed you severely while you were gone. 
As Liz Lemon said, "Happy Two Thousand Twelve!"
Love,
-em
P.S. "Are you touching the phone because you're a baby and you're developing your fine motor skills or...because you're trying to tell me something?"
P.P.S. Read my full review below (with spoilers), after the baby.

'30 Rock' returned to NBC last night after an extended hiatus. The characters on the show were also all coming back to work after being gone for the winter. Over their break Jenna had become a judge on a singing competition for kids (bascially an 'American Idol' for the tot set--the fact that this isn't already a real show is pretty shocking), Kenneth had decided the Rapture was coming, and Liz Lemon had some interesting developments in her own life. But lets not get too far ahead of ourselves.

The episode opened with Liz and Jack interacting for the first time since the holidays, and Jack trying to prove how well he really knew Liz. Almost everything he quoted was accurate, which clearly gave Jack the normal sense of superiority he always craves (come on, why else would he be friends with her?).

Despite the  fact that Jack failed to see it (a hint of things to come, perhaps), everyone else on the staff noticed that Liz was not at all like her usual self. She ignored Tracy's threats to "do something crazy", gave Kenneth the day off because he believed the Rapture was coming, and was way more laid back than normal. Tracy decides to investigate why Liz is acting differently.

Meanwhile, Jack is concerned because Jenna is making children cry on the singing kids TV show. Normally he wouldn't care at all, but his daughter is skewing his perspective (Or maybe making it the right one. Nah, let's go with 'skewing', capitalist Jack is way more fun). He tells Jenna to tone down her mean talk, but when he sees the audience's reaction (they likes mean Jenna!) he changes his mind. This decision is solidified by a scene in which Jack's daughter, Liddy, asks for "money" (actually she says "mommy", but Jack chooses to hear what he wants). Jack is thrilled that his little girl is growing up to be a capitalist, just like him.

Since Kenneth has been given free rein to do whatever he wants, he decides to do his chore list (this is actually what it sounds like). Pete tries to inspire him to do better things before he dies, but he's uninterested. Toofer, Frank, and Lutz mess with Kenneth throughout the episode, encouraging his belief that he's going to die.

During his investigations Tracy sees Liz buying some pills, and becomes concerned that she has become a "crack whore". He brings her bizarre behavior to Jack's attention. Jack looks at one of the pills and realizes that it's for joint pain. He then uses his wealth of Liz Lemon knowledge to figure out what she's been doing...she's dancing. In a middle-aged cheerleading WNBA team.

Jack thinks he has everything figured out at the end of the episode: money is everything, Liddy is a budding Capitalist, and Liz Lemon is so happy because she's dancing. He's wrong. He drops Liz off at a movie theater, declaring that she must be going to the 9:10 show alone, and reiterating that he knows her as well as she knows herself. But, just as his car begins to leave, Jack notices Liz kissing a man. The look on his face is priceless, as though he's suddenly afraid that he's lost something. I think it will be fascinating, and hilarious, to see how Jack will function if Liz Lemon is not a complete mess.

Is it next Thursday yet?

Tina Fey, 'Bones', etc.

No, Tina Fey isn't appearing on 'Bones', although I'd probably be super excited if she were. Instead, this is a combo post about two of my favorite things.

1) Fey appeared on 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' and was pretty darn funny. If you missed it check it out on Hulu. Fallon and Fey proved (once again) that they have a friendship perfectly designed for an interview setting. They don't see each other often enough to share every detail of their lives ahead of time, so the stories that get told seem genuine, and they're good enough friends that the interaction feels like you're watching a conversation between two people who actually like each other. Plus they seem to care about what the other one has to say. I'm sure this should happen during all late night show interviews but, lets be honest, it doesn't.

2) I almost forgot that 'Bones' is all new tomorrow! Considering my obsession with procedural dramas, and 'Bones' in particular, I have no idea how this happened. It's the winter finale, people! At this point I really should have developed some sort of internal clock for these things. Regardless: 'Bones'. New tomorrow. Watch it on FOX at 8/7C. Michael Ausiello claims it's going to "change the course of the series".

3) Oh right, this reminds me that 'The Finder' is premiering after 'Bones'. I love Hart Hanson, and I'm often pleased with the quality of shows that FOX chooses to produce, but I have mixed feelings about this show. I guess I just don't really understand the premise. Or, rather, I do understand it, but I still don't get the point of it. That being said, I'll be sure to watch it tomorrow and dissect it here.


Check out a promo for tomorrow's 'Bones' episode, "The Crack in the Code":

Screen Actors Guild Nominations Announced!

Let's take a look at the TV nominations...
Who was nominated for a SAG award? Which shows are doing the best? And which networks have the most nominations? (Scroll down to see a list of all nominees)

'Modern Family' has the most nominations (5 total), but of those five, two pairs of them are competing against each other, so the most awards the show could win would be three. '30 Rock' also has the chance to win three awards...we'll just have to wait and see whether having actors from the same show competing against each other in the same category splits the vote.

NBC is the network with the most nominated actors/shows (a total of 6), followed closely by ABC (5) and HBO (5). However, all of ABC's nominations are for 'Modern Family', and 60% of HBO's nominations are for Stunt Ensemble Performances, while NBC has nominations for both '30 Rock' and 'The Office'. CBS has only three nominations, as does Showtime. The fourth network, FOX, has the fewest nominations: 1. And that one nod is for 'Glee', a show which frankly does not deserve a win.

Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Drama Series
Kathy Bates for 'Harry's Law' (NBC)
Glenn Close for 'Damages' (FX)
Jessica Lange for 'American Horror Story' (FX)
Julianna Margules for 'The Good Wife' (CBS)
Kyra Sedgwick for 'The Closer' (TNT)


Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Comedy Series
Julie Bowen for 'Modern Family' (ABC)
Edie Falco for 'Nurse Jackie' (Showtime)
Tina Fey for '30 Rock' (NBC)
Sofia Vergara for 'Modern Family' (ABC)
Betty White for 'Hot In Cleveland' (TV Land)

Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Drama Series
Patrick J. Adams for 'Suits' (USA)
Steve Buscemi for 'Boardwalk Empire' (HBO)
Kyle Chandler for 'Friday Night Lights' (DirecTV/The 101 Network)
Bryan Cranston for 'Breaking Bad' (AMC)
Michael C. Hall for 'Dexter' (Showtime)


Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin for '30 Rock' (NBC)
Ty Burrell for 'Modern Family' (ABC)
Steve Carell for 'The Office' (NBC)
Jon Cryer for 'Two and a Half Men' (CBS)
Eric Stonestreet for 'Modern Family' (ABC)


Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Drama Series
'Boardwalk Empire' (HBO)

'Breaking Bad' (AMC)
'Dexter' (Showtime)
'Game of Thrones' (HBO)
'The Good Wife' (CBS)


Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Comedy Series
'30 Rock' (NBC)
'The Big Bang Theory' (CBS)
'Glee' (FOX)
'Modern Family' (ABC)
'The Office' (NBC)


Outstanding Performance By A Stunt Ensemble In A Television Series
'Dexter' (HBO)
'Game of Thrones' (HBO)
'Southland' (TNT)
'Spartacus' (STARZ)
'True Blood' (HBO)

'30 Rock' promo for Season 6

I want '30 Rock' now!

But, I suppose I can settle for the teaser for Season Six (maybe):


Start counting down the days until January 12th, because that's when all new episodes start airing on NBC (8/7C).

Tina Fey/Liz Lemon's Hair

Since apparently I'm on a roll (hair-wise), I've also been thinking about the evolution of Tina Fey's hair. Actually, no, let me rephrase: I've been thinking about the evolution of Liz Lemon's hair (Fey's character on '30 Rock').

Fey's hairstyle has also gone through some pretty major changes (if you need confirmation of this, just check out her first appearance on Weekend Update on 'SNL'), but that's an issue for another day.

Liz Lemon's hair in the pilot episode

By the 3rd episode of Season 1 someone decided to style her hair

By Season 2 they were placing far more effort into her hair than Liz Lemon ever would

By Season 3 someone was going a little crazy with a curling iron

By Season 5 the curls were far far less

Liz Lemon's hair = major evolution. I would say that this evolution is about character development ("Liz is becoming more comfortable in her career/life and her own personality is shining through, as evidenced by her suddenly luxurious locks!"), but I think it's more likely that the network told their hair stylists that Liz needed to be more attractive so that people would "like looking at her more" or something. Ugh. I would argue with them on this point, except that I think in many ways they are right. Americans are not used to watching 'normal looking' people on television (and by that I mean people who look like us). British television is much more grounded in reality, their ordinary characters look like ordinary people, and even their scenes are less strategically lit, and the footage is less edited (more on that next time). And every time I try to get my friends to watch a British television show with me they scoff at the 'ugly people'.

HIMYM: Will Robin and Kevin break up? When?

Will Robin and Kevin break up? Yes. Mainly because they have to. In a contractually obligated sort of way.

Kal Penn, who plays Kevin on 'How I Met Your Mother', signed on for an eight-episode arc. That's not to say he won't be invited back in the future, but it seems unlikely that he'll commit to another long arc.

Remember when Penn first appeared on 'HIMYM'? It was in the fourth episode of the current season, "The Stinson Missile Crisis" (S7Ep4). He has appeared in almost every single episode since then*, for a total of six episodes. So, by the power of math (and Penn's contract) that means Kevin will only be sticking around for two more episodes.

So, does it matter if Kevin is the baby's father? Okay. Yes. It matters a little bit. But will potential parenthood mean that Kevin will be sticking around? I doubt it. Especially since Penn is currently developing a new workplace comedy for NBC. Why settle for guest starring roles when you can be the next Tina Fey?

*Kal Penn did not appear in "The Slutty Pumpkin Returns" (S7Ep8) or "The Rebound Girl" (S7Ep11)

Tina Fey of '30 Rock' on Brian Williams' 'Rock Center'

I've seen Tina Fey give some pretty spectacular/hilarious interviews which is why I was quite surprised by her recent turn on 'Rock Center'.

'Rock Center' is Brian Williams' new show, and Fey was interviewed by him during the second episode.

To be honest, I think that the real problem was the chemistry between Fey and Williams.

Fey has a dry, sardonic wit and Williams was unable to verbally spar with her. Despite the fact that Fey seemed a little awkward, Williams was the one who seemed to be just sitting there, changing the topic often instead of helping Fey support her jokes. Williams is well suited for the world of serious journalism  but I'm not sure he can compete in the talk show world .

 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Proof that '30 Rock' is coming back

'30 Rock' is one of my favorite shows, which is why I got especially nervous when the cast and crew went on extended hiatus due to Tina Fey's newest addition. But now that the baby's born, and Fey has taken maternity leave, we can all breath a sigh of relief because....NBC has started filming new episodes of '30 Rock'. The proof is in the photos (thanks On Location Vacations!):

'30 Rock' has been filming scenes all around NYC, including this one outside the NBC Experience Store at the real 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It should be back on NBC is January.

Cuteness

As I announced a while ago, Tina Fey recently gave birth to a second daughter on August 10th. Penelope joined big sister Alice (5).

Now, if you all will recall Fey is close friends with Amy Poehler. And Poehler has two sons...Archie (3) and Abel (1), who was born on August 6th last year.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

How cute would it be if the Poehler/Fey kids end up dating? (When they're WAY older, obviously).

Fey's daughter (L) & Poehler's son (R)

Tina Fey's New Baby!

Tina Fey gave birth to her second child on Wednesday!! It's another girl for Fey and composer husband, Jeff Richmond. It's a little sister, named Penelope Athena, for big sis Alice.

You can watch her original pregnancy announcement (on 'Oprah'!) HERE.

Fey is famous for having doubts about the option of having a second child, which she voiced in her popular memoir, 'Bossypants'.

premiere dates for 'community' & 'parks & rec'

NBC has officially announced when the 2011-2012 seasons of 'Community' and 'Parks and Rec' will be...

Thursday, September 22nd

'Community' at 8 pm

'Parks & Rec' at 8:30 pm

Unfortunately '30 Rock' joins 'Bones' with a mid-season release date due to Tina Fey's pregnancy. She's due in September. (Of course the stars of all of my favorite shows had to get pregnant at the same time!)

Tracy Morgan ("30 Rock") consequences of homophobic rants

But Why Would You Say That?

Washington ("Grey's") & Morgan ("30 Rock")

Do any of you remember Isaiah Washington? I barely do. But just a few years ago he was the hot doctor boyfriend of Cristina (Sandra Oh) on “Grey’s Anatomy”. All of that changed when Washington left the show in 2007. He left amid controversy…controversy which he had caused. After news of homophobic slurs against openly gay co-star TR Knight began to surface ABC had little choice but to refuse to renew his contract at the end of the year. If they had actually fired him he would have left shortly after the incident, in the middle of production. The fact that this did not occur made many think badly of showrunner Shonda Rimes (perhaps somewhat unfairly, since it would have been almost impossible to rewrite storylines to explain Washington suddenly disappearing). Regardless, as the NY Daily News stated in an article that they wrote 3 years after Washington left “Grey’s”: “Homophobic comments make bad career moves”.

Because of this, Tracy Morgan’s homophobic ‘joke’ during a recent stand-up routine (which included graphic descriptions of violent actions again gays, and described how he would harm his son were he to state he was gay) seems not only offensive and politically incorrect, but downright stupid. Have actors not learned anything from Washington?

As news of Morgan’s ‘joke’ has spread many have called for him to be reprimanded by NBC. However, some differences do exist between the circumstances of Washington’s rant and Morgan’s graphic comment. Washington’s insult directly related to a fellow cast member (TR Knight) and consequently not only put him in a bad light, but also cast a shadow over the production of the show. Other people involved in “Grey’s” (most notably Katherine Heigel) began taking open stands, essentially dividing the cast and crew. This meant that Washington’s comment harmed both the public’s image of the show, and the continued successful production of the show.

Could Morgan’s slur do the same thing? Yes and no. He did not attack a member of the cast or crew directly, although I am sure that there are plenty of openly gay people who work at NBC. Many of these people were probably upset by Morgan’s comments, particularly if they work with him daily. Still, there was no direct attack.

Morgan also made the comment during his stand-up act, which was in no way related to “30 Rock”, Washington, in contrast, ranted while on the set of “Grey’s”, and is said to have actually grabbed Patrick Dempsey by the neck.

While Morgan did not act violently, he did seemingly recommend violent actions against gays. In a year that has had a number of high profile gay suicides, this could not come at a worse time (of course, there’s really no better time for it either).

Those involved in the production of “30 Rock” have all made official statements.:

As quoted by the Huffington Post, Greenblatt (NBC Entertainment Chairman) said the following:

“I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance. We will always recognize an artist's freedom to express him or herself, but not when reckless things are said no matter what the context. Unfortunately, Tracy's comments reflect negatively on both 30 Rock and NBC -- two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations -- and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated”.

Tina Fey, showrunner and star of “30 Rock”, also spoke up (again, this is from The Huffington Post):

“I'm glad to hear that Tracy apologized for his comments. Stand-up comics may have the right to "work out" their material in its ugliest and rawest form in front of an audience, but the violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the GLBT Community.

It also doesn't line up with the Tracy Morgan I know, who is not a hateful man and is generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person.

I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian coworkers at "30 Rock," without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with, or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket.

The other producers and I pride ourselves on 30 Rock being a diverse, safe, and fair workplace.”

I truly adore Tina Fey, but I was a little upset by her statement that Morgan is “much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person”. That sounds very much like an excuse…as though she is saying that his words don’t matter…and trying to joke away what he said. While I appreciate that Fey made an effort to quickly release a statement, I wish it had not contained that joking line (perhaps she didn’t even mean it that way, but that is how it comes across). It cheapens her to come to his defense. Also, just because she thinks he isn’t ‘active’ enough to commit a crime like the one he suggested, doesn’t mean that somehow who hears him is too inactive.

Regardless, it seems to me unlikely that Morgan will leave the show for good. He is a central character, and would be very hard to replace. His statement was also not made in a setting tied to NBC, and consequently it would be hard for them to directly reprimand him about it anyway.

They are probably incredibly pleased that “30 Rock’ will not be returning again until midseason (due to Fey’s maternity leave). My guess is that everyone at the network is quite happy about her pregnancy right now. Eight months gives the viewers a long time to forget.

*Morgan recently released an apology to the LGBT community: read it here.

Amy Poehler Spoke at Harvard! and she was funny!

Amy Poehler Spoke at Harvard Class Day (5/26/11)
scroll down to the bottom to watch the video

So, I lucked out and was able to hear Amy Poehler speak yesterday at Harvard. Let me just say, she was hilarious.

Actually, my favorite part happened before she was even speaking. The speaker before her, a student who had been asked to give a humorous oration, referred to her as "the blond Tina Fey". After saying this, he turned around to make momentary eye contact with her and she immediately flicked him off. It was pretty priceless, and everyone in the audience (well, maybe not the grandparents) thought it was funny. Her parents were in the audience too...I wonder if she got scolded afterward. I know for a fact my parents would not deem that appropriate behavior!

Her speech itself was perfect. It was mainly humor, with a bit of a somber tone thrown in (she mentioned 9/11 and AIDS). Somehow, despite the stark contrast between comments about 9/11 and her joke about Donald Trump in a chicken suit, she still managed to make everything flow successfully, and at fifteen minutes her speech wasn't too short or too long. I could go into more details, but I really think you should watch it for yourself.

In the speech which they've released online, Harvard cut out some funny moments. One of these cuts was her introduction by two students, who stated they wanted to give a first ever award for blonds (dyed or natural) who grew up in MA, went to BC, and were funny. They called the award "The Polar (Poehler!) Bear Award" and then presented Amy with a stuffed polar bear. As soon as she got up to to podium she stated: "I will find a prominent place in...my garbage for that, later on tonight. Thank you very much."
Apparently Harvard didn't think that was appropriate enough to be included in their video.

Regardless, listening to Amy Poehler's speech was a great experience. And I have to say, she's just as funny in person as she is on television.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been if the guy in front of me hadn't decided to do a fauxhawk that day...



Watch it for yourself!