History
The organization received much interest, and many of its applicants were famous actresses, writers, producers, etc. The initial twelve students the review board chose did not include any of the famous actresses who applied; in fact, the review board excluded the prominent thespians intentionally, opting, instead, to choose unknown women. But Haag and Vellani believed admitting a few famous names would not only bring recognition to the program, i.e. media attention, but also help women exercise enough influence to step into directing very soon. With only unknown names, they feared that the DWW would become an admirable program that would never wield enough power to help women direct major motion pictures. Haag managed to expand the number of students to nineteen, thus including some well known actresses as well as at least one minority woman.
The nineteen women admitted were: Maya Angelou (writer), Karen Arthur (actress), Ellen Burstyn (actress), Juleen Compton (actress), Lee Grant (actress), Nessa Hyams (casting director), Margot Kidder (actress), Joanna Lee (writer), Lynne Littman (producer), Kathleen Nolan (actress), Julia Phillips (producer), Susan Martin (actress/producer), Marjorie Mullen (script supervisor), Giovanna Nigro (producer, writer, director), Susan Oliver (actress), Gail Parent (writer), Marion Rothman (editor), Lily Tomlin (actress, comedienne), and Nancy Walker (actress).
Despite the limited funds, the DWW enjoyed enough notoriety to ensure a larger amount of financial support in its subsequent cycles. For example, Nessa Hyams went on to direct episodes of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. For its second cycle, the Rockefeller Foundation approved a $100,000 grant. In its fourth cycle, the A.F.I. decided to stop admitting famous actresses, and just as Haag feared, shortly afterwards, the media lost much of its interest.
The DWW still exists today with two goals: to offer women career opportunities to direct films and offer them educational opportunities to learn to develop their filmmaking skills. Several early films received Academy Award nominations and many alumni have won awards at film festivals, including Cannes.
Read more about this topic: Directing Workshop For Women
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