The context:
2017 saw a number of high profile news stories around the poor treatment of women in the entertainment industry, from the Weinstein allegations and the explosion of #MeToo, to revelations about gender pay gaps and the under representation of female labour, both in front of the camera and behind.
About the symposium
This symposium will consider the intersecting range of factors that impact upon women working in Hollywood both now and in the past. It will be a platform to discuss the disadvantageous treatment of women and will offer an opportunity to highlight examples of women’s autonomy, agency, subversion and innovation in the American film industry.
This event is organised by the Cinema and Television History (CATH) Research Centre and will take place at DeMontfort University, Leicester on May 28th, 2018. It will run over a full day and will conclude with a panel discussion with Q&A. This closing section of the event will run between 5pm-6pm, will be open to the general public and will be recorded and made available as an audio download via this website.
Should you have a point you want to raise for discussion but you are unable to attend, feel free to email your point to ellen.wright@dmu.ac.uk or tweet with the hashtag #WomenInHollywood and we will endeavour to include you in the conversation.
Confirmed Speakers
We are thrilled to announce that the panel discussion event, scheduled to run between 5pm and 6.15pm will open with an exclusive intervention by Jill Greenfield, the lawyer currently pursuing the UK civil case against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Also participating in this discussion will be Deborah Dean, Associate Professor of Industrial Relations at Warwick University. Her research specialisms include equality issues in employment, contingent work in the entertainment industry and the interrelation of legal, social and cultural regulation of work.
Our confirmed key note speaker at this event is Professor Shelley Stamp (University of California, Santa Cruz) founding Editor of Feminist Media Histories: An International Journal, and author of Lois Weber in Early Hollywood (University of California Press, 2015) and Movie-Struck Girls: Women and Motion Picture Culture after the Nickelodeon (Princeton University Press, 2000).
Otherwise our speakers include a range of scholars from across the UK and the world.
Call for Papers.
The call for papers for this event is available here. Given the considerable disruption caused by the current industrial dispute the deadline for submissions is now midnight, Friday March 30th 2018. Submissions to be sent to: ellen.wright@dmu.ac.uk
Registering to attend
To attract a range of voices to this conversation, this symposium is free to attend but places are limited and must be booked in advance. To secure a place please register on our Eventbright page here.
Further details to follow…
Here's looking at you. 