'Jessica Jones' hires all female directors for season two
The series is expected to begin filming in November
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Your support makes all the difference.The second season of Jessica Jones will only feature female directors, executive producer and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg announced on Friday.
Rosenberg discussed the upcoming season while speaking at Transforming Hollywood 7: Diversifying Entertainment, a conference hosted by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
She explained that she wanted to increase the number of female directors moving forward and that the good folks at Marvel Studios had her back. Rosenberg and her producers simply booked women directors who were available first, and contracted male directors later in the production process.
“When I interview a writer, I’m less interested in what you’ve been doing professionally than I am in where you’re from, what your parents do, what’s your life experience, what are you bringing to the table personally?” Rosenberg explained at the conference, according to Variety. “I don’t want a bunch of people who look and sound [like me] and have the experiences I have.”
Jessica Jones is now the second show this year to hire all female directors for an entire season. Last month, Ava DuVernay announced that her series, Queen Sugar, would only employ female directors. She also wanted to create opportunities for women to enter the television industry for the first time, despite having little to no experience.
Rachael Taylor, who stars as Patsy “Trish” Walker, tweeted her excitement on Saturday morning. “How freaking COOL is [Jessica Jones]?,” she asked her followers. “COOL [as fuck].”
The Netflix series was praised by critics for its realistic female protagonist, portrayal of female friendship, and handling of sexual assault and rape.
Jessica Jones is expected to begin filming in November, along with The Defenders, and will likely be available to stream in 2018.