Melissa Silverstein’s Women and Hollywood Heads for Medium (Exclusive)

Melissa Silverstein's Women and Hollywood Heads for Medium (Exclusive)

By Anne Thompson

Melissa Silverstein's Women and Hollywood Heads Medium (Exclusive)

Anne Thompson

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When Melissa Silverstein founded her blog Women and Hollywood eight and a half years ago, she was one of the few journalists focusing attention on movies aimed at women—and the countless others that were not. Her must-read Friday newsletter touts all the films in release that are written, directed or targeted at women. And since we brought Silverstein’s blog over to the Indiewire Blog Network five years ago, she has been fighting the good fight as her mission to raise the profile of women in the entertainment industry has become a trending topic. She co-founded New York’s Athena Film Festival during this time, and her blog has grown by leaps and bounds.

As Indiewire changes and expands under the ownership of Penske Media, letting go of the Blog Network, in May Silverstein is moving her well-read blog to Medium. “I am really proud that we have consistently been the watchdog of the industry,” she wrote me. “We were writing about these issues before they became popular. Women and Hollywood created the foundation for the conversations that are happening all across the globe today. When the blog started, no one talked about this topic. Now it has gone mainstream. The next step is to see change. I am proud that we track numbers at festivals, that we amplify women’s voices by including interviews at many festivals. It’s a beat that now exists —which is a huge change.”

Why Medium? Silverstein joins Ev Williams’ burgeoning four-year-old San Francisco network (25 million unique site visitors) that showcases writing on myriad topics of the day, publishing more than 75,000 posts per week. “Women and Hollywood is excited to be moving to Medium,” she added. “We are excited for the potential for growth. We are dedicated to amplifying women’s voices in the entertainment business and are thrilled that Medium will give us the opportunity to continue to do so.”

As we wish Women and Hollywood success at its new home, Indiewire will continue to cover this important subject. New York-based film editor Kate Erbland will soon launch a bi-weekly column focused on women in film.