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THE WEEK IN WOMEN: DGA’s Shameful Stats, Baltimore Femme Film Initiative and Ry Russo-Young — Brandy McDonnell reports

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The Directors Guild of America’s recent released study shows that of 651 feature films released in 2017 with ticket sales of at least $250,000, 12 percent of the directors were women. From 2013 to 2017, the percentage of female movie directors has basically been stuck in the 8 to 16 percent range. The Baltimore-based fledgling Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Film and Media at Johns Hopkins might shift the stats by awarding nine Baltimore-based women filmmakers production grants totaling $400,000. Filmmaker Ry Russo-Young may also move the needle with her The Sun Is Also A Star, now in production. Read details on THE WEEK IN WOMEN.

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Brandy McDonnell

Brandy McDonnell writes features and reviews movies, music, events and the arts for The Oklahoman, Oklahoma's statewide newspaper, and NewsOK.com, the state's largest news Web site. Raised on a farm near Lindsay, Okla., she started her journalism career in seventh grade, when she was elected reporter for her school's 4-H Club. Taking her duties seriously, she began submitting stories to The Lindsay News, and worked for the local weekly through high school. She attended Oklahoma State University, where she worked for The Daily O'Collegian and earned her journalism degree with honors. She worked for three years at small Oklahoma dailies The Edmond Sun and Shawnee News-Star. In 2002, she joined The Oklahoman as a features reporter, writing about movies, the arts, events, families and nonprofits. She moved to The Oklahoman's entertainment desk in 2007. In 2004, she won a prestigious Journalism Fellowship in Child & Family Policy from the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Along with her membership in AWFJ, she also is a founding member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. Brandy writes The Week In Women blog for AWFJ.org.