Directing Workshop for Women
The AFI DWW+ was launched in 1974 as the Directing Workshop for Women, one of the first gender impact programs of its kind in the cinematic arts, as well as one of the longest-running and preeminent film and television workshops nationwide. Since the program’s inception, DWW+ has trained over 360 filmmakers who give voice to historically underrepresented perspectives.
Origins
In the 1970s, though many women acted in major motion pictures, almost none directed them. In 1974, Mathilde Krim, a scientist and Rockefeller Foundation board member, approached the American Film Institute (A.F.I.) about using her influence with the foundation to help women in film. Jan Haag, Admission and Awards Administrator at A.F.I., set up a meeting with Krim to discuss possible options. Haag, anticipating at least $200,000, needed to revise her ideas when Krim informed her that she could easily secure only $30,000. A $200,000 grant would need to go through the formal, time-consuming review process that did not necessarily ensure a positive outcome.
To accommodate the limited budget, Haag and Antonio Vellani, A.F.I. administrator and future director of its Center for Advanced Film Studies (CAFS), submitted a plan to Krim to create the Directing Workshop for Women (DWW), based on the Directing Workshop at the CAFS. To save money, DWW students would use the CAFS equipment and the CAFS students would act as producers, cinematographers, etc. for DWW projects. Though the women could use CAFS equipment, the DWW needed additional editing equipment, which would cost $14,000. After these expenses were met, each student would receive a budget of $300 per film to cover expenses and would make two films. The A.F.I. also formalized an agreement with the Screen Actors Guild, which allowed their actors to volunteer to act in DWW films.
Once the AFI officially obtained the Rockefeller Foundation's grant for the program, Haag's next step was to establish a review board to choose twelve students for admission. The applicant review board Haag and Vellani decided on consisted of four successful women: Joan Didion, a writer; Marcia Nasiter, Vice President of United Artists; Kitty Hawks, an agent; and Barbara Schultz, an executive at PBS.
Alums
| Alum | DWW Films |
|---|---|
| Maya Angelou | ALL DAY LONG |
| Karen Arthur | SOUND OF A DRUNKEN DRUMMER / TO DIE IN CALIFORNIA |
| Ellen Burstyn | SNATCHMAN |
| Juleen Compton | THE MANAGER / OF MICE AND MEN |
| Lee Grant | THE STRONGER |
| Nessa Hyams | APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA / THE GREAT SWITCHEROO |
| Margot Kidder | AND AGAIN |
| Lynne Littman | THE HITCHHIKING GAME |
| Susan Martin | POCO A POCO |
| Marjorie Mullen | NEXT |
| Giovanna Nigro | WE THREE |
| Kathleen Nolan | ACT FOUR |
| Susan Oliver | HI-YO HERO / THE SPY WHO CAME TO AMERICA |
| Gail Parent | THE LADY IN THE STREET OF SMART SHOPS / |
| Julia Phillips | THE ESTATE OF BILLY BUCKNER |
==
CLASS OF 1975–1977
- Anne Bancroft
- Marilyn Bergman
- Dyan Cannon
- Lenore DeKoven
- Kathleen Freeman
- Michelle Futrell
- Randa Haines
- Ann Hassett
- Joan Keller
- Carole Oligario
- Judith Rascoe
- Lynn Roth
Sources
- The AFI Directing Workshop for Women website
- Haag, Jan. “The Dream of the Marble Bridge: The Founding of the Directing Workshop
- For Women of the American Film Institute, A History.” By Jan Haag. 2002.
- http://janhaag.com/ESessays.html (29 January 2007).
- New York Times, 1974-1977
- Los Angeles Times, 1974-1977
Further reading
- Goetz, Philis M. Barragán (2015). "Breaking Away from Reverence and Rape: The AFI Directing Workshop for Women, Feminism, and the Politics of the Accidental Archive". The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists. 15 (2): 50–71. doi:10.5749/movingimage.15.2.0050.
