$100 Million Women: Hollywood’s Women Directors

Dr Claire Jenkins’ project $100 Million Women explores the careers of women directors working in Hollywood who have made over $100 million at the American domestic box office with a single film. The project has two central objectives: firstly to write Hollywood’s women directors into recent film history, and secondly to unpick how cultural hierarchies and economies are reinforced through production practices and the reception of women’s films. In doing this, it will be the first comprehensive study of contemporary Hollywood's women directors to focus on the institutional and economic contexts within which they are working. 

At present there are only 15 women directors who have had this level of financial success – often described as a ‘mega-hit’. In order to achieve this, these women have had to negotiate a patriarchal industry. The project unpick women’s working practices and the limitations placed on women through an analysis of archival material, film reception and first person interviews.

Follow the project on Twitter: @100millionwomen
Contact Claire: cmj23@le.ac.uk