FILM

When I first heard Lilly Ledbetter speak, I sensed that her story would make a great movie. As a director who came to Hollywood at a time when only 1 percent of film and television production was being directed by women, I know about gender discrimination firsthand. Lilly was one of the only women who worked the factory floor at the Goodyear tire plant in Gadsden, Alabama from 1979 to 1998. A hard worker, she was the first one in and the last one out of that factory every day, where she endured sexual harassment and discrimination of every kind in order to bring home the best paycheck in Etowah County - until she learned that she was being cheated of a fair salary just because she was a woman. Lilly fought through myriad patriarchal monoliths: corporations, courts and Congress. She couldn't stop - she wouldn't stop - until she found justice. In the end, though Lilly didn’t receive any personal compensation, her reward was a life of purpose, a citizen who single-handedly changed a law to protect workers. When I tell folks about Lilly's story, they assume it took place in the 1950s, but women still struggle with fair pay, discrimination and exclusion in every sector. Though we’ve experienced some momentum in Hollywood, women directed only 8 percent of the top feature films in 2024. Over the years, as my directing career flourished, I became an outspoken activist for women in Hollywood at a time when it was unpopular to illuminate entrenched, patriarchal practices and as others joined that chorus, we did make a difference. I've always loved movies about women who fight for what’s right. In the tradition of “Norma Rae” “Silkwood” and “Erin Brockovich,” Lilly’s story illustrates how one single voice can make social change. Now more than ever, as speaking out seems perilous for so many, I hope Lilly will inspire people around the world to have the courage to push back against tyranny and stand up for justice.

Wendy Federman is a 17-time Tony Award-winning theatre producer. She has also received 4 Olivier Awards, 17 Drama Desk Awards, 23 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 21 Drama League Awards, and 3 GLAAD Media Awards for many of her over 110 productions, which have garnered 130 Tony Awards. Wendy is also a film producer, with credits including Wakefield, starring Bryan Cranston; The God Committee, starring Kelsey Grammer; Which Way to the Stage, a documentary on Idina Menzl; and LILLY, starring Patricia Clarkson and the upcoming SWIFTIES documentary.

Wendy’s current and upcoming Broadway/off-Broadway productions include Hadestown, Moulin Rouge!, Buena Vista Social Club, Much Ado About Nothing, Inter Alia, Purple Rain, Evita, The Play that Goes Wrong, and Little Shop of Horrors.

In the UK, Wendy serves as a Lead Producer on the new musical 13 Going on 30, in addition to co-producing The Devil Wears Prada, Sinatra the Musical, Hadestown, Moulin Rouge, High Society, Cyrano, and the upcoming Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Rent and The Lives of Others.

Wendy is a Founding member of the Broadway Producers Alliance and serves on the executive board.

Wendy is a producer of The Museum of Broadway as well as the upcoming MAGIC MIKE LIVE NYC, a proud former member of the Kennedy Center’s National Committee for the Performing Arts, and a 2019 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Wendy has also served as trustee on several significant boards including The Foundation for Gender Equality, MCC Theater, Bergen Performing Arts Center, Gilda’s Club, and Penguin Repertory Theater.

Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe Award, Critics’ Choice Award and Emmy Award-winning actress, Patricia Clarkson takes on roles as varied as the platforms for which she plays them. This multi-faceted approach makes her one of today's most respected actresses.

Clarkson can currently be seen in Netflix’s wildly popular western show "Ransom Canyon.” She joined the franchise for this current (second) season, which immediately returned to Netflix's Top 10 both domestically and globally, upon its July 2026 premiere.  On television, she will next be seen in the global series “Gray,” in the lead role of Cornelia Gray, an ex-CIA spy who returns after 20 years in hiding. 

Most recently, she finished filming Martin Scorsese’s upcoming feature "What Happens at Night," opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.  She was last seen starring in 2025 biopic “Lilly” in the title role of Fair Pay activist Lilly Ledbetter. Other recent films include the artistic masterpiece and timely drama “Monica” from Andrea Pallaoro, and Universal’s “She Said” about the New York Times reporters who helped launch the #MeToo movement, in the role of Pulitzer-prize winning editor Rebecca Corbett. 

In 2024, after a 10-year hiatus from stage Clarkson returned to theater in the West End Wyndham's Theatre production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night opposite Brian Cox, for which she received universal praise.

In television, other recent titles include the second season of AMC+/Sundance TV’s “State of the Union” alongside Brendan Gleeson, for which she won her third Emmy Award, the sixth and final season of Netflix’ “House of Cards,” and the HBO limited series “Sharp Objects.”

Cheri Kaufman is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, producer, and advocate whose career has spanned international business, entertainment, the arts, and social impact. She is a co-founder of Kaufman Astoria Studios, one of the largest film and television production centers on the East Coast. The historic complex houses 11 sound stages and has been home to productions including Succession, The Irishman, and Sesame Street, as well as GIVE, the two-time Emmy-nominated series on which Kaufman has appeared as a guest host. The broader Kaufman Astoria campus includes the Museum of the Moving Image and the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts and serves as an anchor of Astoria's Kaufman Arts District.

Kaufman's path to the entertainment industry began far from a soundstage. In her early twenties, as Vice President of Acquisitions and Development for Intercontinental Hotels in Dubai, she negotiated confidential trade deals throughout the Middle East—often as the only woman and youngest person in rooms filled with some of the region's most powerful business leaders. She later founded Cherut International, trading cement and steel across the region, developing feasibility studies, and securing multimillion-dollar financing for major projects at a time when few American women were working in the field.

That willingness to enter unfamiliar rooms, take calculated risks, and act before success is guaranteed has become a defining theme of Kaufman's life—and the philosophy behind More Guts Than Brains, the platform she is building across speaking, writing, and social media.