I really didnt think Bridesmaids was that raunchy. It seemed like an R rated extension of what has been going on on SNL for the last decade. Is it just me or is the mainstream that disconnected from modern humor?

Is this open only to female writers or can male writers get in on the action?

Just curious - do good male writers write their male characters better than they write their female characters and vice versa?

Or do good writers just write good characters, regardless of sex?

As a male man (me) can I just take the Melvin Udall shortcut:

Receptionist: How do you write women so well?

Melvin Udall: I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.

I just watched Midnight in Paris. I really loved it because of its reverence and respect for writers and writing. But it seemed like he really just threw the Rachel McCadams character in there to not have any redeeming qualites and made the choice to leave her not very difficult. And the Adriana character was just the ultimate manic pixie dream girl.

Can women comment on what they though of Woody's latest flick, especially how he wrote the women.

@woody: I thought the "raunchy" descriptor was a bit hyperbolic for Bridesmaids and frankly for Hangover as well. But one person's raunchy...

@Gabe: I hear you. But you would be amazed at how entrenched attitudes are in Hwood, even about writers. Women action writers? For years Leslie Dixon, a very successful screenwriter, has tried to bust out of the comedy mode and write action / action-thriller type movies. If you look at her credits, maybe she has finally succeeded. But if she has, she's perhaps one of a handful of women writers in that genre. Conversely if a script needs someone to bring in more character depth, don't be surprised to see a woman writer brought in for a pass on it as I think it's fair to say there is a perception that they do 'emotion' better than male writers.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it is.

Furthermore the dominance of male screenwriters is a reality in Hollywood. As an example, look at this roundtable for summer movie screenwriters.

There are deeply entrenched perspectives / conventional wisdom / prejudices. For example, there is the theory that teenage boys will not go see movies with female Protagonists, but girls will go see movies featuring male leads. Perhaps things just flow from there, I don't know.

Being a guy, I'm sure I'm not as attuned to this as women writers are. And I'm not trying to be PC about this. All I'm really trying to say -- and I Tweeted this on Bridesmaids opening weekend -- was the movie blows out of the water some CW re women and movies, which I think is a good thing. Maybe we'll end up seeing a wider variety of movies with a wider variety of character types represented.

I came across this post on entertaining and unexpected women right after funny sketch with 30 Rock's Katrina Bowden, written by Ben Johnson. More of that, please.

THR article fabulous, thank you, Scott. And wow, Geena Davis amazes. The research she's brought together may well help nudge industry in better direction (she's doing a tally in 2015 to see if any positive change).

I bet Davis has noticed a similar phenomena in books for kids. Trends like this extend beyond Hollywood.

An instance I find particularly sad, discouraging stats re math (takeaway, when math HS teachers and college professors are men, as they most often are, despite test scores that suggest there should be no gender divide, girls and women don't self-identify with (and thus pursue) math; role models make a difference).

One spot I didn't expect to see an unfortunate trend, ski jumping (the drive to throw oneself off the side of a mountain is not gender specific). Women kick-ass in the sport in non olympic venues, yet aren't allowed in the olympics. One IOC member explained, ski jumping "seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view." The lady bits, too delicate, who knew. Another member concluded discourse with threat, "the IOC may say, 'Oh yeah, I remember them. They're the ones that embarrassed us and caused us a lot of trouble in Vancouver. Maybe they should wait another four years or eight years.'"

And gender can be discerned through word choices. So ladies, cut the "charming" and "lovely" and start saying "I" alot, and just maybe you'll be taken more seriously (I jest, charming idea though).

The PDF draft I have of Bridesmaids was written in 2009.

2009.

And from everything I've read and heard... try not to jump in on what's hot now because...

If it's hot...

By the time you write it...

It's not.

Scott's post makes perfect sense --

"Look for areas in the marketplace that are being underserved, then write the hell out of a high-concept genre-piece for that target demo."

We're rubbing two sticks together and blowing on them for a spark.

If we keep at it and dig deep enough...

Flames will arise!