Stealing the Show
How Women Are Revolutionising Television
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- 12,99 €
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- 12,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
In recent years, the television landscape has seen the glorious rise of women to key positions of power within the industry, from writers to producers to directors. Successes like Shonda Rhimes's Holy Trinity of shows as a producer-Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder-and critical darlings like Lena Dunham's Girls, Jill Soloway's Transparent and Jenji Kohan's Orange Is the New Black have heralded a revolution and inspired women creators to put their smartest and boldest art onto screens everywhere.
But this wasn't always the case. The story of how women were able to make their names in an often misogynistic and myopic industry is a decades-long journey full of challenges, hard work, heartbreak, and determination.
Starting with Roseanne Barr and Diane English with their now iconic shows, Roseanne and Murphy Brown respectively, Press shows us how strategic advocating for women in writers' rooms, in producing discussions, and behind the camera as directors led to an inspiring new era for television drama.
Exhaustively researched and featuring insightful commentary and interviews from the key players involved, this book is the essential companion to what has become a game-changer in our culture.
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Women have run successful TV shows for decades, but they still routinely face bias and unreasonable obstacles in the industry, as Press (former Salon entertainment editor) details in this powerful narrative that expertly weaves reporting, analysis, and anecdotes. The author profiles 13 female showrunners and their most notable works, starting with Murphy Brown's Diane English and ending with Transparent's Jill Soloway. What comes across in Press's 30-year timeline is how little has changed: barriers are erected and women clear them time and again. English calmly battled network executives over details (such as how long Murphy Brown was to have been married in the show), while Soloway had to shed a reputation for being "difficult," which Press notes "is the second-ugliest word for a woman in Hollywood to hear next to unrelatable.' " The shows have grown bolder and more complex as for example in the blunt frankness of Lena Dunham's Girls or in Weeds' Nancy Botwin's flirtation with being "an actively bad mother" but a troubling culture remains: "The fact that forces of repression are now emboldened and energized," Press writes, translates to a "vital and urgent" need for "diverse and unconventional voices." Press's chronicle of a pop-culture movement should inspire a new generation of women creators.
