Although more than half the movie-going population is female, there’s certainly a disproportionate number of female voices in criticism and now the new media review aggregator CherryPicks aims to highlight these women by providing a platform exclusively designed for them. Judging from the press release below, it sounds like it will work similarly to Rotten Tomatoes or MetaCritic, by compiling reviews from many critics, all of whom are women, and calculating a rating based on the average opinion.
Beginning this month, a newsletter, Cherry Bites, will start to go out, with the full site launching later this year. For more information and to sign up, check out the website at CherryPicksReviews.com.
Austin, TX (March 13, 2018) – The future is female and it’s coming to a movie ratings service near you. Award-winning producer Miranda Bailey, and entrepreneurial maverick, Rebecca Odes, announced today they are joining forces to launch a new brand calledCherryPicks (cherrypicksreviews.com). This aggregate review and rating service uses exclusively female critics.More than half of the movie-going population is female. Major critical outlets, however, aggregate overwhelmingly male voices that deliver their ratings and reviews with a splat of gender bias. CherryPicks will offer an alternative: a system that more accurately represents the range of critical and audience opinion, along with high-quality content from both established and new critical female voices. Merging at-a-glance power and convenience with a platform for criticism as an art form, CherryPicks will provide a new and nuanced approach to critical aggregation with women at its center.Launching in March with Cherry Bites, an email subscription that will spotlight women in criticism and female perspectives on media, the company will launch a full multi-platform website later in the year.Beginning with a selection of films, CherryPicks will consolidate reviews into a simple four-tier rating:Bowl of Cherries: Great. Must see.Pair of Cherries: Good. Recommended.Single Cherry: Mixed. You might like it, you might not.The Pits: Self-explanatory.In addition to this score, a proprietary system, Cherry Check ™, will offer easy access to information relevant to women as media consumers, using the female lens, expanding on The Bechdel test to evaluate films according to on- and off-screen gender representation, and other content considerations relevant to women.Beyond ratings and scores, CherryPicks will offer high-quality original content. This will include podcasts, reviews, Top 10 lists, interviews and online conversations with females who are critics, filmmakers, writers, actors, and the CherryPicks team.The company will also offer a robust data service to studios, retailers, investors, and other researchers.“Our goal with CherryPicks is to become the leading brand for the female perspective on media,” offers Odes. “The timing is perfect. The male-dominated culture of Hollywood has reached a breaking point. It’s time to start building the Hollywood of the future—one that recognizes the multi-tiered problem of gender bias—and correct it every step of the way.”“This is a concept whose time has come. In fact, it’s overdue. More than half of all moviegoers are female and they have not been well-served by the predominant voice of white male critics. Male perspectives often do not address issues that are most salient to women or people of color. Female critics can be attuned to stories in varied, integral and nuanced ways. Creating parity in the critical space is essential, and will ultimately help the cause of increasing the number of female-driven stories and female filmmakers in the industry, “ added Claudia Puig, President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and former USA Today critic.“For years now, our industry has been proclaiming that we need change to include more minorities and females on both sides of the camera. This would be impossible to do in a speedy fashion, unless we can change the perceived desires of consumers. How can we possibly change what consumers consider good and worthy content if the majority of critics who tell them what to want are predominately older white males?” adds Bailey. “I’m hoping CherryPicks will prove that female artists, crew, and stories are valuable for our industry to invest in, thereby influencing Hollywood to move towards equality in a more timely fashion.”ABOUT THE TEAMProlific director, producer, actor, and distributor, Miranda Bailey, is known for creating high-quality independent films through her companies Cold Iron Pictures and The Film Arcade. Her passion for bringing strong, well-crafted stories to the screen is evident in the diversity of her movies. In a 15-year filmmaking career, Bailey has distinguished herself by producing over 20 films; among them the Oscar-nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, the Spirit Award-winning THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, James Gunn’s SUPER, the Sundance hit SWISS ARMY MAN, as well as the critically acclaimed DON’T THINK TWICE and NORMAN. Bailey is an accomplished director and is presently in post-production on her directorial narrative feature, YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR FAMILY, starring Jim Gaffigan and Samantha Mathis.Rebecca Odes has been an innovator at the intersection of women, girls, and technology for over 20 years. In 1996, she co-founded the groundbreaking GURL.COM, the first major online destination for teenage girls. Under her creative direction, GURL evolved into a multimedia content business and an early model of social networking. In 2013, she partnered with “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway to create WIFEY.TV, a platform for video and visual media by and for women and gender non-conforming people. Rebecca is an Emmy-nominated EP of award-winning short form video content, including the Emmy-nominated THIS IS ME and Webby award-winning THE SKINNY. She is an author of four books for women and girls, with a focus on identity and life transitions, including the best-selling life guide, DEAL WITH IT.
