In the Mix with Aaliyah Miller

When Kate Bigelow was the first woman to win an Oscar for best direction I was excited and felt that a chip was made in Hollywood's glass ceiling. but the reality is that women directors, producers, and screenwriters are still a scarce commodity in Hollywood. Less than 10 percent of films with a theatrical release were directed by women. In the report, The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 250 Films of 2010 , Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, Ph.D found that, "In 2010, women comprised 16% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films. This represents a decline of 1 percentage point from 1998 and is even with 2009 figures." I'm not writing this blog entry to be a "Debbie downer," it's a reality check. Besides, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the wonderful professional film organizations for women that  are committed to recogniz...

Hello all, In the world of social media, it seems like a lot of people want to get out what's in their head and share it with the world. And while sharing is caring ( the Care Bear's slogan), sometimes people disseminate TMI, too much information. I  know we've all seen it in our facebook or twitter threads at some point and have thought to ourselves, should we unfriend this person. I want to change that dynamic for myself and post for a purpose. I feel like I've already begun that with my facebook and twitter accounts, but even I stray and may over share at times. Some of you've may have seen my fact of the day, online petitions, and numerous articles that reflect news that interests me.  In addition to these main posts I want my status updates to reflect a theme. I realize I can I can cut back on my own, "I'm going to workout," or "This is where I'm at," posts.  I may still write these status updates on occassion but my goal is to...

Sunset 5 Theater, West Hollywood, CA. I flew out to Los Angeles on Friday, March 25, 2011. I was looking forward to sunny skies and warmer temperatures, unfortately that wasn't the case. I didn't get the sunny, Beach Boys California weather until my last day there. Instead I got rain and cloudy skies, but I guess it beat whatever was happening on the east coast. Luckily, I wasn't in town for the weather, I was there to attend the 2011 Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival. For those of you who neglected to read my last blog entry, the 2011 Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival is a non-profit 501c(3) organization established by Diana Means to empower women filmmakers to create diverse roles for women. Each year in March the festival showcases narratives, documentaries, animation and student short films. The festival’s programming reflects Diana’s commitment to educate and inform audiences of social political and health issues impacting wome...

Hello all, I know I've been mum for a few weeks. I've been struggling to get my writing focus back on track and with the first quarter of the year over in 10 days, I'm thinking about my progress for the remainder of 2011. On a positive note, I'm looking forward to this Friday, March 25, 2011. On that day I will be flying out to Los Angeles to attend the 2011 Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival, sponsored by the Alliance of Women Filmmakers . The Alliance of Women Filmmakers not only offers a platform for emerging women filmmakers, writers, and directors, it also seeks out films that have both a global and social message, contributing to women causes one film at a time. This film organization is a non-profit 501c(3) organization established by Diana Means to empower women filmmakers to create diverse roles for women. I'm both thrilled and honored that After the Headlines was selected to be screened at this festival. Just when I thought I was do...

If you follow my blog and diligently read it when I shoot you an email notification, post it on facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter (hint, hint), then it's no surprise that I've been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride when it comes to my screenwriting. While I would have hoped to have the latest revision of my feature script Finding Patience done and at least two other scripts in my writer's pipeline, sadly I do not. Making the time to write and just write is a real challenge for me. Some how life, work, friends, and a bunch of other details manage to get in the way. Around this time last year I was informed about a Connecticut screenwriting group that met at the West Hartford Public Library. After I found out about the group it still took me about two months before I showed up to a meeting. I believe I went to three meetings. That is the minimum you have to attend before you can submit your script to be in the queue (on the list) for review. I re...

Could you throw away the luxury of our modern day kitchen and cook a  meal for one evening with no electricity, gas, or oil heat?  No plastic cutting boards, just wood. No stainless steel and non stick pots and pans. Only an open fire, and a fire brick bake oven. Forget about any gadget or cooking instrument that has made your life easier in the past 100 years or so. You're probably saying to yourself, "Who would pay for this and why?" Well, Karim and I, made up a group of 14 people that embarked on this unique experience of cooking dinner as early New Englanders did back in the 19th century. We can thank his friend Gabe for the evening spent making a country dinner at Old Sturbridge Village, in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Gabe and his wife Sabrina participated before and invited us and some others to join them. Our small group meet with Joanna, one of our hosts for the evening. She was dressed in traditional clothing that reflected the time period of the 1830s. Her ha...

Hello all, I know it has been a while since my last entry and I'm long over do. My motivation to write is in a down period and coming down with a bacterial sinus infection hasn't helped. I'm sluggish, tired, and just want to stay in bed, but rather than cave in to this cold, I'm going to tell you about the production of August Wilson's Piano Lesson at the Yale Repertory Theatre, www.yalerep.org/ . Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of checking out Piano Lesson with my mom, Anthony, a co-worker of my mom, and Halima, a friend and fellow theatre enthusiast. I was a little nervous that the weather wasn't going to cooperate, but we ended up with mostly rain, a nice change from our snowy norm. I picked Tandoor restaurant, tandoornewhaven.com/ , located at 1226 Chapel St, New Haven, Connecticut for our lunch. It's my mom's favorite Indian restaurant in New Haven. Not only is their food fabulous, but I like the fact that the restaurant looks like an old-sc...