Last night I went to the DGA program honoring Kathryn Bigelow for her achievements as a director.  I went with my friend Sister Rose Pacatte, who writes a popular blog on cinema and spirituality.

She was a VIP guest, having been on the first jury to make an award to The Hurt Locker, Bigelow’s break-through multi-Oscar-winning film.  The Ecumenical Jury at the Venice Film Festival was the first to launch the critical acclaim that would carry the film to an historic win for Bigelow as Best Director at the DGA and the Oscars.

The reception was lovely and the program was heart-felt and was a wonderful tribute to an amazing woman.  But I couldn’t help remembering a Women in Hollywood article I had read the week before.  It recounts the rather dismal reality in the aftermath to Bigelow’s stunning achievement.

Let’s look at the last couple of winners:

Danny Boyle – 2008 winner – is back in the running with 127 Hours ($18 Million budget) and is also the artistic director for the London Olympics opening ceremony.

Joel and Ethan Coen – 2007 winner – are back in the running this year with True Grit ($35 Million budget).

Martin Scorcese – 2006 winner – released Shutter Island this year ($100 Million Budget).

There are two women still in the major discussions for possible Oscar nods — Debra Granik and Lisa Cholodenko.  Though it would be another huge deal if another woman gets a nomination for best director this year, the truth is that women directors still have little commercial power.  As LA Times said: “nearly all of the beloved indy female directors are unemployable at major studios…”

Okay– So am I incredibly small minded for not just enjoying the evening?  But the truth is all this wonderful director could line up after her win was an HBO movie.

As far as my search revealed her next film (at a low $10 million dollar budget) may or may not be financed a year after taking home the Oscar.  Reports are conflicting.

I did really like what the producer, Darlow Smithson, had to say about getting the film made. Note particularly the last line.  That is a keeper re: how to adapt true stories intelligently.

Persuading Ralston to sell Smithson the rights to his against-the-odds tale was time consuming. “Not long after it happened, the story of Aron’s accident went around the world. Like everyone else, I emailed him,” recalls Smithson.

With his gleaming bald head and cultivated English voice, the producer resembles a character actor forever cast as one of those charming British baddies in crime capers.

Smithson says the climber received “a thousand approaches” from would-be filmmakers. He had given up on the project when “out of the blue” Ralston contacted him six years ago.

Smithson’s entre was, perhaps inevitably, the iconic “Touching the Void.” “What changed everything was that he saw and loved the film,” he says.

Even so, tying down the rights to Ralston’s story took patience. “Lots of big Hollywood players wanted them too. We had to pay a lot of money (he declines to be specific), but I don’t think it was the money that persuaded Aron to go with us. He could have got more elsewhere, but he trusted us to handle the story with sensitivity. People like Aron live with what happened to them every single day of their lives, and letting go of that story is very difficult.”

Originally the climber rejected Boyle’s approach, but in 2009, they reached an agreement.

“It was a challenge to get Aron to go with Danny’s creative vision,” Smithson acknowledges. “He told him, ‘You’ve got to lend me your story; I will tell it and then hand it back to you.’ “

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118032891/

Persuading Ralston to sell Smithson the rights to his against-the-odds tale was time consuming. “Not long after it happened, the story of Aron’s accident went around the world. Like everyone else, I emailed him,” recalls Smithson.

With his gleaming bald head and cultivated English voice, the producer resembles a character actor forever cast as one of those charming British baddies in crime capers.

Smithson says the climber received “a thousand approaches” from would-be filmmakers. He had given up on the project when “out of the blue” Ralston contacted him six years ago.

Smithson’s entre was, perhaps inevitably, the iconic “Touching the Void.” “What changed everything was that he saw and loved the film,” he says.

Even so, tying down the rights to Ralston’s story took patience. “Lots of big Hollywood players wanted them too. We had to pay a lot of money (he declines to be specific), but I don’t think it was the money that persuaded Aron to go with us. He could have got more elsewhere, but he trusted us to handle the story with sensitivity. People like Aron live with what happened to them every single day of their lives, and letting go of that story is very difficult.”

Originally the climber rejected Boyle’s approach, but in 2009, they reached an agreement.

“It was a challenge to get Aron to go with Danny’s creative vision,” Smithson acknowledges. “He told him, ‘You’ve got to lend me your story; I will tell it and then hand it back to you.’ “

Full story here:  http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118032891/