The second week in December usually means holiday season visitors and gridlock alerts in New York City, but the New York Women in Film & Television (NYWiFT) chapter welcomed a thousand+ members and friends in from a deep freezing cold at the 2013 Muse Awards luncheon honoring women for their vision and achievement including Frances Berwick, Connie Britton, Sonia Manzano, Robin Wright, Ellen Barkein and Nancy Malone.
The doors opened for the 11:30 a.m. reception where the networking buzz hummed at earsplitting level. Men and women in the film and television industry reconnected and made new contacts with the season greeting sound of champagne corks popping in the background. It was a great time meeting people who really know what’s happening in this crazy business.
With the red carpet arrivals beyond the din, the doors opened to the Grand Ballroom for the luncheon program and awards ceremony. Alexis Alexanian, President of NYWiFT, welcomed the crowd and handed the program over to talk show hosts and emcees Andy Cohen and Wendy Williams who went on with opening remarks, introduced video clips and the award recipients including Frances Berwick, president, Bravo and Oxygen Media; Connie Britton, actor and producer; Sonia Manzano, actor and producer; Robin Wright, actor and director; and Ellen Barkin, actor and producer. The Loreen Arbus Award for Those Who Take Action & Effect Change went to Nancy Malone actor, director producer and co-founder Women in Film.
Christina Kotlar, WiFTI board secretary; Sonia Manzano, Sesame Street “Maria” and Kimberly Skyrme, WiFTI Board Chair at NYWiFT Muse Awards
Kimberly Skyrme, Board Chair of Women in Film & Television International (WIFTI) drove in from out of state (she recently completed a stint as local casting director for House of Cards in Baltimore, Maryland) and caught up with some of the cast and crew at the Netflix table. She was, however, taken by Sonia Manzano’s forty two years of work contributing much to the writing and development of the influential character, “Maria” on Sesame Street.
Afterwards there’s a scramble for some to get back to work while others milled around the tables gathering their thoughts on projects and promos. One of the best moments for me came when I met Tyne Daly who along with Sharon Gless (Cagney and Lacey) were present at the event incredibly supportive of women’s roles in television series: Sharon just out of the USA network series, Burn Notice; Tyne in an upcoming stage production Mothers and Sons by Terence McNally in February 2014 on Broadway; Barney Rosenzweig, who was executive producer for C&L has a book out on Amazon.com titled: Cagney & Lacey and Me: An Inside Hollywood Story OR How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Blonde. Excellent.
12/13/2013
NYWiFT