According to two prominent industry studies, despite Greta Gerwig’s Barbie being the highest-earning film in 2023, there is still a significant lack of female representation behind the scenes in Hollywood.
Despite promises from major studios to address diversity and inclusion in response to the Black Lives Matter movement last year, USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reports that there is still a lack of representation for people of color in film production. The center’s recent study, titled “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair,” criticizes the industry’s efforts as performative and insufficient in creating meaningful change.
A recent report has revealed that despite the impressive performance of female-directed films such as “Barbie” and “Cocaine Bear” in 2023, women are still not receiving equal opportunities to direct as men in the film industry. According to a study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, only 16% of directors on the top 250 highest-grossing films in 2023 were women, a decrease from 18% in 2022.
A recent USC study revealed that out of the 116 directors associated with the 100 highest-earning films in the United States in 2023, only 14 of them, or 12.1%, were women. While this is an improvement from the 9% of top-grossing films directed by women in 2022, the report argues that there has been no significant increase in the percentage of female filmmakers in top movies since 2018, when only 4.5% of directors were women. The center also found that a mere 6% of the most successful fictional films between 2007 and 2023 were directed by women.
In a statement, Dr. Stacy L Smith, author of the USC report and founder of the Inclusion Initiative, stated that over the past 15 years, there has been less than a 10% increase in the number of women in top directing positions. These numbers are not just statistics on a graph, but rather reflect the struggles of highly skilled women trying to establish stable careers in an industry that discriminates against them based solely on their identity.
Despite women creating some of the most talked-about films of the year, including Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, Celine Song’s Past Lives, and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, the findings still show a lack of diversity in Hollywood. However, there were still successes for women in the industry, with Greta Gerwig becoming the first female director to have a movie gross over $1 billion, and pop stars like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé dominating the box office with their concert films.
However, despite its critical and commercial achievements, there has been little progress made in terms of gender diversity. According to a report from San Diego State, women only accounted for 22% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 highest-grossing films. This is a decrease from 24% in 2022. Additionally, the majority of these films (75%) had 10 or more men in key behind-the-scenes roles, while only 4% had 10 or more women.
“It’s a grand deception. According to the report’s author, Dr. Martha Lauzen, Greta Gerwig’s well-deserved success masks the prevalent inequality in the mainstream film industry. The statistics speak for themselves – the gender ratios behind the scenes in Hollywood heavily favor men.”
The USC report revealed that there has been no significant progress in terms of diversity among directors in the film industry. The percentage of underrepresented directors for the top 100 highest-grossing films in 2023 (22.4%) remained unchanged from the previous year’s figure of 20.7%. Out of the top 100 films in 2023, only four (3.4%) were directed by women of color: Song, Adele Lim (Joy Ride), Fawn Veerasunthorn (Wish), and Nia DaCosta (The Marvels). This accounts for only 1.4% of the total number of films studied over a span of 17 years.
The authors of the USC study stated that the report provides a different viewpoint from those who may view the recent changes in Hollywood as positive, especially since Barbie was the highest-grossing film of the year. The study emphasizes that one movie or director is not sufficient to bring about the necessary changes in the film industry. Without significant changes in the decision-making process of studios, executives, and producers in regards to directorial positions for blockbuster films, it is difficult to have faith in any optimistic outlook.
Source: theguardian.com
