Refinery29, Kate Spade Debut Female Film Initiative

Digital media has been pushing into Hollywood lately and Refinery29 is working to go even further, getting in on the ground floor of developing film talent. Having already formed R29 Originals, which has almost 30 TV projects in development and more than a dozen “in market,” meaning actively being shopped around to networks and streamers, a new partnership with Kate Spade is aimed at giving more women the tools and opportunity to develop as video creators. Dubbed “Pilot Season,” the project has cultivated five one-minute videos from female directors, with one to be selected in July by a jury of industry veterans, like actor Rosie Perez, writer Tracy McMillan and Kisha Imani Cameron, president of Completion Films, for further development. The effort, which Kate Spade sponsored and provided fashion and product to be integrated into each video, is in part a push into what Amy Emmerich, Refinery29’s president and chief content officer, called “branded entertainment.” “There is a shift in the tide with brands who are looking to create this kind of ‘branded entertainment,’” Emmerich said. “A lot of the lobbying I had to do three years ago [when R29 Originals was getting started], those doors are a lot more open now.” Likewise,

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