The Value Gap by Courtney Brannon Donoghue

The Value Gap by Courtney Brannon Donoghue

How female directors, producers, and writers navigate the challenges and barriers facing female-driven projects at each stage of filmmaking in contemporary Hollywood. Conversations about gender equity in the workplace accelerated in the 2010s, with debates inside Hollywood specifically pointing to broader systemic problems of employment disparities and exploitative labor practices. Compounded by the devastating #MeToo revelations, these problems led to a wide-scale call for change. The Value Gap traces female-driven filmmaking across development, financing, production, film festivals, marketing, and distribution, examining the realities facing women working in the industry during this transformative moment. Drawing from five years of extensive interviews with female producers, writers, and directors at different stages of their careers, Courtney Brannon Donoghue examines how Hollywood business cultures “value” female-driven projects as risky or not bankable. Industry claims that “movies targeting female audiences don’t make money” or “women can’t direct big-budget blockbusters” have long circulated to rationalize systemic gender inequities and have served to normalize studios prioritizing the white male–driven status quo. Through a critical media industry studies lens, The Value Gap challenges this pervasive logic with firsthand accounts of women actively navigating the male-dominated and conglomerate-owned industrial landscape.

Courtney Brannon Donoghue is an assistant professor of media industry studies in the Department of Media Arts at the University of North Texas. She is the author of Localising Hollywood and the coeditor of Digital Media Distribution: Portals, Platforms, Pipelines.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781477327302
ISBN 10	1477327304
Title	The Value Gap
Author	Courtney Brannon Donoghue
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	University of Texas Press
Year published	2023-08-08
Number of pages	368
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.