USC School of Cinematic Arts is taking strides to change these numbers, so when they came to an alumna (me) to help I was all ears. They wanted to create a website that widen’s the funnel for more women in the entertainment industry. We set out to create a database that allows for studios to find female crew members for upcoming projects, as well as female crew members to find one another for mentorship or networking.

The design & development process was focused on creating a website that could be trusted and immediately used by industry professionals. To do so, we talked to studio executives, industry leaders, and young working professionals looking to make connections and find opportunities. This allowed us to scope the product to serve three main user types: new-to the industry professional who is looking for mentors or small opportunities, seasoned professionals who would like to find wxmen to work on their next projects, and young working professionals who may want to do both. This leads us to our main functionalities. Most importantly, the search functionality allowed users to search the database for their desired industry professional based on location, union affiliation, and desired job position. Then a user can see a virtual resume that includes credits, software, equipment, and more. Users can contact one another on the website and request referrals which live in their portal. The development process took roughly 4 months and launched in September 2021.