The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s latest “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair” report analyzes the gender and race/ethnicity of the directors behind last year’s 100 highest-grossing movies in the U.S.
The San Diego State Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film’s most recent “Celluloid Ceiling” report examined the employment of women in key behind-the-scenes roles in both the 100 and 250 top-grossing movies at the domestic box office.
“Five years after #MeToo exploded and two years following the murder of George Floyd, Hollywood has evidenced little change for women and underrepresented directors — particularly women of color,” AI2 founder Stacy L. Smith said in a statement accompanying USC’s report.
Three Women of Color
Only three women of color — Prince-Bythewood, Lemmons and Chukwu — directed a top 100 movie in 2022.
Across 16 years of AI2’s research, women of color directed just 21 (1.3 percent) of 1,600 films.
“We’d like to see not only the tradition change but also the hiring practices that continue to marginalize women and people of color as directors.”
Women Directors Hire More Women in Crew
The SDSU study notes that movies with one woman director tend to hire more women in key behind-the-scenes roles than films directed only by men.
Among woman-directed movies, women represented 53 percent of writers (compared with 12 percent of male-helmed features), 39 percent of editors (compared with 19 percent), 19 percent of cinematographers (compared with 4 percent) and 18 percent of composers (compared with 6 percent).
“Given the number of panels, research reports and hand-wringing devoted to this issue over the last two and a half decades, one would expect more substantial gains,” CSWTF founder said in a statement. “It took the accumulation of over two decades of advocacy efforts, research reports and an EEOC investigation to double the percentage of women directors from 9 percent to 18 percent, and women are still dramatically underrepresented in that role.
