Twilight Saga will live on with five short films produced by Lions Gate in partnership with Facebook, each of which will be created by a female director.

Twilight Saga Short Films On Facebook

Each short film will be based on the characters originated in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series and embodied onscreen in The Twilight Saga that launched the careers of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. None of the films will star members of the original cast, and it is unclear who will pen the scripts or which stories will be explored.

The short films will be released exclusively on Facebook, creating a partnership that Lions Gate hopes to continue in the future. “We think Facebook is a great way for us to introduce the world of Twilight to a whole new audience while re-energizing existing fans,” said Lions Gate Vice Chariman Michael Burns.

Each short will be directed by an aspiring female director chosen by a panel of women, which will include Stewart, who portrayed Bella in all five Twilight films, and Meyer. Joining them will be Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, the only female director to have worked on The Twilight Saga, producer Cathy Schulman, Frozen co-director Jennifer Lee and actors Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer and Julie Bowen.

Women Directors – The Gender Gap In Hollywood

A recent study from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media found that women represented only 7% of directors, 13% of writers and 20% of producers. Moreover, only 30.9% of speaking roles were female, a statistic that falls to 23.6 % in the US. In the case of The Twilight Saga, all five films were written by a woman, Melissa Rosenberg, but, only one of the films was directed by a woman, the aforementioned Hardwicke – Chris Weitz directed New Moon, David Slade directed Eclipse and Bill Condon directed Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2.

Meyer said it was the large gender gap that brought her back to The Twilight Saga for the short film series, titled “The Storytellers – New Creative Voices of The Twilight Saga,” which is backed by Women In Film.

“The female voice is something that has become more and more important to me as I’ve worked in the film industry. I’m honored to be working with Women In Film, Lionsgate, and Facebook on a project dedicated to giving more women a chance to be heard creatively” Meyer said in a statement.

Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer and Burns also echoed the desire for more female representation behind the camera, saying, “Our partnership with Facebook and Women In Film underscores the opportunities for growing our franchises in exciting new directions, and we’re pleased to introduce fresh creative talent to the Twilight universe as part of our commitment to female empowerment in front of and behind the camera.”

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.