When Women Call the Shots: The Developing Power and Influence of Women in Television and Film

The pedestrian title is unfortunately apt for this book by a script consultant who has also written texts on scriptwriting. Seger has interviewed key women working in TV and film today, including Dawn Steel, Sherry Lansing, Nora Ephron and Liv Ullman. Most of them say the dutiful, expectable things: that women have to work harder than men to succeed, need to develop mentoring strategies, can't lose sight of the need to entertain even when trying to create socially significant work and so on. The general effect is rather dull and repetitious. The layout of the book, in short bites that resemble paragraphs in a long magazine article, does not help, and Seger uncritically accepts anything her interviewees say (Sharon Stone: ""I try to find pictures that support my soul... I have a pro-woman agenda.""). The not very surprising conclusion: women have more power in the visual media than they used to, but still not nearly enough--and too many movies that demean them still get made. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)