Elle USA - 11.2019

JANET MOCK

Mock, who got her start as an author and

magazine writer, became the first trans

woman of color to write and direct a TV

series with her work on Ryan Murphy’s

FX show Pose. In June, Mock signed a

historic multimillion-dollar three-year deal

with Netflix, giving the streaming service

exclusive rights to her TV series and a first-

look option on any film projects. She reunited

with Murphy to direct an episode of The

Politician and will also executive produce

and direct his upcoming Netflix series

Hollywood, which stars Patti LuPone. Right

now, Mock is writing a feature adaptation

of her 2014 memoir, Redefining Realness.

THE HISTORY MAKER

OLIVIA WILDE

With Booksmart (her feature film directorial

debut), Wilde established herself as an

exciting filmmaker with an irreverent, original

vision. The female buddy comedy earned

an impressive 97 percent rating on review

aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer.

Next up, Wilde will coproduce, direct, and

star in Don’t Worry, Darling, a psychological

thriller about a 1950s homemaker that sold

to New Line in a bidding war with 18 studios.

Within weeks of that deal, Wilde sold a holiday

comedy pitch to Universal Pictures, to be

written and coproduced by Booksmart’s Katie

Silberman. She’ll also star in Clint Eastwood’s

LISA NISHIMURA

Nishimura, the former vice president

of original documentary and comedy

programming at Netflix, where she helped

bring about series like Chef’s Table, was

promoted to vice president of independent

film and documentary features earlier this

year. Her new duties entail overseeing the

two categories, as well as documentary

shorts and limited documentary series,

including the streaming service’s blockbuster

nature docuseries, Our Planet.

KATHLEEN KENNEDY

As president of Lucasfilm, Kennedy has been

instrumental in revitalizing the Star Wars

franchise, with 2015’s Star Wars: The Force

Awakens setting a record for the biggest

domestic opening of all time. She’s producing

the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

(in theaters in December) and is an executive

producer for The Mandalorian, a space

western series for Disney’s new streaming

service, Disney+. The first woman to win the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, she also

helped spearhead Anita Hill’s Hollywood

Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment

and Advancing Equality in the Workplace.

RUTH E. CARTER

After two previous nominations, Carter

became the first African American to win

an Oscar for Best Costume Design for her

work on Black Panther. The designer has

worked on several momentous films over

the years, including Ava DuVernay’s Selma

and Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, and has

also collaborated with Spike Lee on over

10 projects, including Do the Right Thing

and Malcolm X. She recently designed the

costumes for Netflix feature Dolemite Is My

Name and signed on to do the same for

the highly anticipated Coming to America

sequel, both starring Eddie Murphy.

HANNAH BEACHLER

This year Beachler became the first

African American to win an Oscar for

Best Production Design for her work on

Black Panther. A longtime collaborator

of director Ryan Coogler, Beachler

has showcased her creativity in a wide

variety of projects, ranging from Creed to

Moonlight to Beyoncé’s Lemonade. Her

next venture, Todd Haynes’s legal thriller

Dark Waters, will be released November

22. She’s also teamed up with director
    Melina Matsoukas to design the pilot for FX’s
    postapocalyptic series Y: The Last Man,
    slated for 2020, and signed on for the sequel
    to Black Panther, set for May 6, 2022.

AMY SHERMAN-PALLADINO

Gilmore Girls and Bunheads creator and

scribe Sherman-Palladino has a long history

of pushing forward valuable stories of female

characters unafraid to speak their minds.

Last year, she became the first woman to

win an Emmy for writing, directing, and

producing in the same year for The Marvelous

Mrs. Maisel. The second season, which

aired on Amazon Prime Video last year,

earned a staggering 20 Emmy nominations,

and Sherman-Palladino is prepping for the

premiere of the third season this winter.

GRETA GERWIG

Hollywood loves a good remake, and

Gerwig’s exuberantly feminist take on Little

Women is bound to be a hit. The follow-

up to Lady Bird, her Oscar-nominated

directorial debut, reunites Gerwig with that

film’s star, Saoirse Ronan, who plays the

charmingly willful Jo in this time-tested and

much-adored story. Gerwig, a longtime

actress and writer in quirky indie films like

Frances Ha and Mistress America, has also

been tapped to cowrite the forthcoming

Barbie film, another remake of sorts,

for Warner Bros. with her partner and

longtime collaborator, Noah Baumbach.

KASI LEMMONS

Actress-turned-director Lemmons, who made

her feature directorial debut in 1997 with Eve’s

Bayou, has worked tirelessly to bring African

American stories to the screen, including her

latest opus, Harriet. The resonant film, cowritten

and directed by Lemmons, shines a light on the

life of slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman,

a towering figure in American history. Lemmons

also directed the first two episodes of Netflix’s

limited series Madam C.J. Walker, starring

Octavia Spencer, which recounts the true story

of the black hair care pioneer and mogul.

THE CREATOR
THE EXECUTIVE

THE PRODUCER

THE COSTUME DESIGNER

THE PRODUCTION DESIGNER

THE TRIPLE THREAT

THE DIRECTOR

THE ARTIST