A new financing company, Gamechanger Films, was announced today with the mission statement of producing indie films directed by women.
The company, which will create a for-profit film fund, was founded by veteran documentary producers Julie Parker Benello (“Afternoon Delight“), Dan Cogan (“How to Survive a Plague“), Geralyn Dreyfous (“Born Into Brothels”) and Wendy Ettinger (“The War Room”). Producer Mynette Louie (pictured above), the winner of the 2013 Independent Spirit Piaget Producers Award, was named president of the organization. Producer Mary Jane Skalski will serve as senior advisor.
“The story that we all kept hearing was this disparity of opportunity for women in the field,” Ettinger tells Variety. “So it’s essentially trying to correct that.”
She added: “We have a lot of investors to date and we are really pleased about how quickly we were able to raise money.”
The company will only finance fictional narrative films and no projects helmed by men will be considered, Ettinger said.
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A mere 9% of the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2012 were directed by women, according to a recent study commissioned by Women in Film.
