According to the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative’s latest study, 29 female directors were involved in 800 of the top-grossing films between 2007 and 2015 (excluding 2011). 29 out of 800 films. This is a problem. This is an easily fixable problem. The solution? Hire more women. Women will then in turn hire more women and we will see gender equity within our lifetimes.
Our mission at Women and Hollywood is to fix this problem, to be a part of the solution, to arbitrate with the powers that be to get women hired. Are you with us or against us? There has not been enough substantial progress in the past decade and we need your help to progress pass this tipping point.
For those of you who say “But there just aren’t enough qualified women,” that’s nonsense. We are half of the population. According to statistics reported over at MTV, women make up half of the graduating classes of film schools. We are being regularly looked over in favor of less qualified, “more promising” men for jobs and promotions that would have gotten us on your radar. Dig a little and you’ll find a lot.
For those in positions to hire, we’ve got lists. As we post repeatedly and fervently, there are lists and lists of working women directors to hire. Go through our resources, contact our writers, reach out for help if need be.
A great resource is The Director List, “a centralized hub for finding women directors and their work.” The site features a database of over 1000 working female directors (film, TV, commercial) that is easy to navigate and searchable by medium, genre, and more. Founded by Destri Martino in 2012, The Director List has been through many transformations and updates, and is the most comprehensive resource you will find cataloging working female directors. Once you have an idea of what type of director you want to hire and for what sort of project, this should be your go-to site to find names for your presumably male-heavy candidate list.
Another resource, just launched and dubbed by The Hollywood Reporter as “The Blacklist for female directors,” is The Alice Initiative, (named for early silent film director Alice Alice Guy-Blaché) which showcases a list of female directors selected by a group of anonymous studio executives and producers. Though the anonymous stance is worrying (hiring women should be matter-of-fact not a subversive endeavor), it is another useful tool in the hiring process. It isn’t as complete or as thorough as The Director List, and features mostly already prominent names from within the industry, but it is a solid jumping board for further research and consideration.
So before your next “let’s consider these names” meeting, double check that there are at least as many women on the list as Johns, Marks, and Steves. If there aren’t, go through The Alice Initiative and The Director List and find more names. At worst, you cushion the candidate pool for gender equity. At best, you might actually find the most qualified and competent candidate available to helm your project who is also coincidentally a woman.
