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Who Are The Top 50 Female British Power Players?

Today in Boobs

In honor of International Women’s Day, Britain’s Women in Film and TV industry organization published a list of the Top 50 Female British Power Players. It includes women from both in front of and behind the camera as well as those working in Hollywood and the news industry. So who did (and did not) make this year’s list? 

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Some of the people you’re probably most familiar with are the actresses on the list. Helena Bonham CarterKeira Knightley, Carey MulliganDame Maggie Smith, Tilda Swinton, and Kate Winslet are among those named but Kate BeckinsaleEmma WatsonRachel WeiszDame Judy DenchHelen Mirren, and Emily Blunt (nor any Doctor Who companions for that matter) did not make the list.

Britain’s Women in Film and TV industry organization published the list as part of International Women’s Day Thursday March 8 with the aim of celebrating women who have impacted the film and tv industries in the U.K.,” writes The Hollywood Reporter. “To get on the list, a spokesperson for WFTV said the list, drawn up with the help of two U.K. trade publications Broadcast and Screen International, included such elements as power to get a project greenlit, impact on the viewing habits of the public in the U.K. and abroad, influence on broadcast or film culture, and even financial success.”

Here’s the complete list:

Executives:

Elaine Bedell, director of comedy and entertainment ITV
Jana Bennett, president of worldwide networks and global iPlayer, BBC Worldwide
Amanda Berry, chief executive officer, Bafta
Helen Boaden, director, BBC News
Barbara Broccoli, producer, EON Productions
Dinah Caine, chief executive officer, Skillset
Eileen Gallagher, chief executive, Shed Productions
Sara Geater, chief executive officer, Freemantle Media UK
Janice Hadlow, controller, BBC2
Jay Hunt, chief creative officer, C4
Christine Langan, creative director, BBC Films
Lucy Lumsden, head of comedy, Sky
Laura Mackie, director of drama, ITV
Elisabeth Murdoch founder & chief executive, Shine Group
Amanda Nevill, chief executive officer, BFI
Denise O’Donaghue, managing director, ITV Studios
Jane Root, chief executive, Nutopia
Tessa Ross, controller, Film 4 and C4 Drama
Lisbeth Savill, head of Film & TV, Olswang
Caroline Thomson chief operating officer, BBC
Sophie Turner Laing, managing director of Entertainment & News, Sky

Producers/ directors:

Andrea Arnold, film director – Wuthering Heights
Vanessa Berlowitz, series producer, Frozen Planet, BBC Natural History Unit
SJ Clarkson, TV director – Dexter
Finola Dwyer Film Producer – Quartet (post-production)
Debra Hayward, film producer, founder — Monumental Pictures
Elizabeth Karlsen, film producer – Great Expectations, Byzantium (both in post-production)
Phyllida Lloyd, film director – The Iron Lady
Alison Owen Producer (Ruby Films) – Jane Eyre
Nira Park Producer (Big Talk Productions) – Attack the Block
Norma Percy, TV documentary producer – Putin, Russia and the West
Lynne Ramsay, film director – We Need to Talk About Kevin
Moira Ross, TV producer – Head of Entertainment, Wall to Wall
Nicola Shindler, founder (Red Productions), executive producer – Scott and Bailey, Exile, Bedlam
Sue Vertue, producer (Hartswood Films) — Sherlock

Talent:

Helena Bonham Carter, actress
Alex Crawford, Sky News correspondent
Naomie Harris, actress
Miranda Hart, actress/performer
Keira Knightley, actress
Carey Mulligan, actress
Sue Perkins, TV presenter
Dame Maggie Smith, actress
Tilda Swinton, actress
Kirsty Wark, journalist/ TV presenter
Kate Winslet, actress
Writers
Moira Buffini, writer – Jane Eyre, Byzantium (post-production)
Jane Goldman, writer – The Woman in Black
Abi Morgan, writer – Shame, The Iron Lady
Heidi Thomas, writer – Upstairs Downstairs

“We at WFTV are very aware that women are still too few in important media jobs, worse paid in many roles and too easily pushed out of the industry as they age. But we also see the fantastic progress that women are making and we are keen to celebrate it,” wrote Kate Kinninmont, Chief Executive, WFTV UK on their website. “We’re well aware that a different team could come up with a substantially different list and we’re all agreed that we don’t have enough black or ethnic minority names on our list. Perhaps I’m inviting a deluge, but I’d be pleased to see your list –and your arguments for the inclusion of women we’ve missed out this year.”

Who do you feel is the most glaring omission?

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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Author
Jill Pantozzi
Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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