The series focuses on a group of young women working at the fictional News Of The Week while exploring the counterculture and revolution of female journalists
Moorestown’s Dana Calvo is helping address gender discrimination through the launch of her new drama on Amazon Prime, “Good Girls Revolt.” Based on the book written by Lynn Povich, the drama details the true story of the female staffers at Newsweek who sued the magazine for gender discrimination in 1969.
The series, focused on a group of young women working at the fictional News Of The Week, explores the counterculture and revolution of female journalists that leads to their ultimate revolt against an oppressive system. The show has had its pilot available on Amazon Prime since last fall, but had its entire first season, including nine additional episodes, released on Friday, Oct. 28.
The subject matter is especially appropriate for Calvo to write on seeing as she spent a large portion of her early career working as a journalist. Upon graduating from Swarthmore College, she had her sights set on working for the Washington Post. Although unsuccessful securing a job there at first, after weeks of calling the New York Times’ Washington, D.C., bureau inquiring about opportunities, when someone quit right before the holidays, she was handed the writing opportunity she had been seeking.
“I just loved being a journalist so much. Getting stories and working alongside people with the same passion was great,” Calvo said. “The thought of being able to only do half of that job [such as the women in ‘Good Girls Revolt’] would have been such a heartbreak for me. I would have missed out on so much confidence-building, successes and failures had I only done the half of it.”
After spending two years employed by the New York Times, Calvo went on to work for the Associated Press, first on the California/Mexico border covering immigration, and moving to South Florida to work for a Tribune paper that had a bureau in Cuba. After traveling to and from the Cuban exile community for up to two weeks at a time for 19 months, she fell in love with a fellow reporter, and the two ended up transitioning together to the Los Angeles Times where she worked in the entertainment section covering Spanish-language television and radio.
“Working for the LA Times was great,” she said. “I worked for them for about five years and loved the people there and made such great friends.”
Later, her boyfriend-turned-fiance was asked to relocate to Houston for the LA Times where he would be national bureau chief for the southeast section of the country. Calvo was forced to resign her award-winning staff job, she moved with him to Houston, they got married and had a baby within the year. It was then, as a new mom, she decided to switch gears and find employment in the TV sector. This way, she was able to obtain a more family-friendly position.
“This move didn’t feel good at the time, but it made me appreciate charting my own path. Over time, when you get pushed down, you learn to get right back up,” Calvo said. “The mop-up is the most important part, because otherwise, you’re letting other people and circumstances control your destiny. You have to regain control of that.”
And she did just that. Beginning her work on the screen, her journalism mentor, Maureen Dowd, a columnist for the New York Times, first introduced Calvo to Aaron Sorkin, an American screenwriter, producer and playwright. After she had her baby, Sorkin asked for her assistance on an assignment involving an adaptation of “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Upon completing this, Sorkin asked Calvo to move back to Los Angeles and work for his show, “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip,” and she did.
Since “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip,” Calvo has gone on to write for “Journeyman,” “Greek,” “Covert Affairs,” “Franklin & Bash” and the Netflix hit, “Narcos.” Her first created series, “Made in Jersey,” was released in 2012.
In 2015 while working on “Narcos,” Chris Parnell, who had been an executive on “Made In Jersey,” contacted Calvo about having just acquired the rights to the book by Lynn Povitch called “Good Girls Revolt.” From here, Calvo knew this was a project she wanted to take on and sure enough, Lynda Obst, an American feature film producer and author, made her an offer to join the team.
Although she is working on another project, co-writing a pilot, she plans to wait until mid-November to hear whether “Good Girls Revolt” is picked up by Amazon for another season. If it is, she will begin the next phase of the shows writing in January. Regardless, one can expect to see more work from Calvo hitting the screens in the coming years.
