Women In Media Continues Promoting Action To Achieve Gender Parity By Connecting Highly Qualified Below-The-Line Women With Working Cinematographers Highlighting Their Call To Action. #HireTheseWomen!

    HOLLYWOOD, CA, January 12, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- On January 7th, 2018 Women in Media in connection with Director, Jen McGowan hosted a lunch at Canon Burbank connecting women Assistant Camera Operators, Grips, Gaffers, Drone Operators, Electrics, Digital Imaging Technicians, Steadicam Operators, etc. to busy working Cinematographers with an eye toward getting below-the-line women good jobs in the film industry. Cinematographers Nancy Schreiber, Ava Berkofksy, Quyen Tran, Joe White, Alan Caso, Cybel Martin, Kira Kelly, and John Smith were in attendance, and excited to #HireTheseWomen! International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE) Local 600's Xiomara Comrie and IATSE's Vanessa Holtgrewe were on hand to answer questions about navigating unions for those already in the International Cinematographer's Guild (ICG) and those who wish to join.

"We are proud to host Women In Media at Canon Burbank; our new state of the art, creative and technical space, for this very important and timely event," says Amy Kawadler, Senior Pro Markets Specialist. "This great organization brings together working women, above and below the line, to bring parity and to grow opportunities for women in the film and TV industry. We are excited and inspired to support this vibrant community and look forward to hosting many more events together."

Xiomara Comrie, National Diversity Officer at the IATSE Local 600 stated, "I like organizations like Women in Media, Film Powered, and Alliance of Women Directors. These are groups that we have already or are going to be working with in conjunction for events to either promote unionism for existing members that are also part of these organizations or just to expose them to it. If organizations like this, grassroots type movement groups don't exist, then we'll never get our numbers up to a place where I think they should be and where they could be, where there's more gender parity."

Vanessa Holtgrewe, Assistant Department Director of Motion Picture and Television Production at IATSE said "Networking is so important to being an industry professional no matter what your job is that events like this, putting people face to face with each other is important and IATSE completely supports these sort of events to build new networks of people who don't necessarily get the call because they just don't know that person."

Nancy Schreiber is a Cinematographer known for her work on Better Things (2016), Your Friends and Neighbors (1998), and The Comeback (2005). She has recently finished Cinematography on a film called Mapplethorpe based on the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe from his rise to fame to his untimely death. Cinematographer Ava Berkofsky, who recently finished production on HBO's hit show Insecure (2017) said, "I'm just so excited that Women in Media thought to do this event because we don't get to meet each other on set enough and we need to have our own networks as well."

Cinematographer Alan Caso, known for American Gothic (2016) and Reindeer Games (2000) among many others stated, "It's about raising the awareness not among women, but among men, especially white men in our industry who not only need to become aware, but are willing to make the change. . . . Men have to make the change because they have to be a part of the change. The only thing that is really going to be effective is for the men in our industry to make that change and make it possible for women to not only become a part, but an equal amount a member of the filmmaking community. It's such a joy today to meet so many talented technicians, women in the industry! I intend on making contacts with them, and trying to hire them when and if I can."

Quyen Tran, a Cinematographer, just wrapped work on Executive Producer Kathryn Bigelow's HBO drama Mogadishu, which is now in post-production. Cinematographer Cybel Martin is known for shooting Virtual Reality (VR) for G-Technology & Reebok and also has many credits shooting narrative, documentary, and short films. Kira Kelly is a Cinematographer known for her work on 13th (2016), Queen Sugar (2016), and East Los High (2013). She is on American Cinematographer's list named 2017 Rising Stars of Cinematography and Variety's Top Cinematographers to Watch. Joe White is a Cinematographer known for Silent Night (2012), Rogue 379 (2006) and many more. John Smith is a Cinematographer known for his work on Freakish (2016-2017), Revenge (2012-2015), and Cold Case (2007-2010) to name a few.

Jen White, Director of Photography (DP) and Camera Operator was in attendance at the event and stated, "I commonly hear from people that there aren't any women who do these jobs, and that simply isn't true. We are here. We are skilled. And we are ready to work. So having an event like this that gives women in below-the-line crew positions an opportunity to meet established, working, department heads that can hire them and refer them for work is such a gift."

Women In Media is a 501(c)(3) that encourages gender balance in film and entertainment industries by providing networking, professional development, and advocacy for above and below the line women and all genders that love making movies with them. Women In Media is an intersectional group of women and woman identifying crew members in the film, television, and new media industries. They are known for their female crew list. For more information on Women In Media, please go to www.womennmedia.com.

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