To paraphrase Ava DuVernay, there have been several encouraging “moments” in Hollywood recently — including the successes of “Girls Trip,” “Wonder Woman,” and “Black Panther” — but, if you can count those moments on just two hands, they aren’t real change. That’s definitely the takeaway from the latest Diversity Report from UCLA. The fifth annual study found that women and people of color made strides in almost every area of the entertainment industry since 2015, yet are still woefully underrepresented.
The report examined 2016’s top 200 films as well as 1,251 broadcast, cable, and digital platform television shows from the 2015–16 season. It also considered film and TV leads — defined as “as the first credited actor/ performer for a given project’s list of cast members” — ratings, accolades, and viewer demographics.
While minorities comprised about 40 percent of the U.S. population in 2016, they represented just 13.9 percent of film leads, 12.6 of film directors, and eight percent of film writers. The behind-the-scenes gap in TV was also massive: people of color accounted for 7.1 percent of creators on broadcast scripted shows, 7.3 of creators on cable scripted shows, and 15.7 percent of creators on digital scripted shows. Overall, minorities were outnumbered 2 to 1 as leads on broadcast and cable series.
While women made progress on nearly every front in 2016, they still are nowhere near parity with their male counterparts. In real life, women represent slightly more than half of the population. The Diversity Report found that women comprised just 31.2 percent of film leads, 6.9 percent of film directors, and 13.8 percent of film writers. The figures for scripted TV leads approached parity — women comprised 35.7 percent of broadcast leads, 44.8 percent of cable, and 43.1 of digital — but women only accounted for 22 percent of broadcast scripted series creators, 16.9 percent of cable scripted series creators, and 31.5 percent of digital scripted show creators.
As Hollywood continues to lag in on-screen inclusivity, audiences tend to gravitate towards film and TV with more diverse casts. “Diversity sells, and for the past five years, we’ve seen that all audiences, regardless of race, want to see diversity on-screen,” study co-author Ana-Christina Ramón told the LA Times. “They prefer movies that have diverse casts, and they prefer to watch TV that has diversity as well.”
In particular, films with casts that were 21–30 percent minority received the highest media global box office receipts and highest median return on investment. Broadcast scripted series with casts that were 20 percent minority or more nabbed the highest median 18–49 viewer ratings.
While change is occurring, the film industry still has a long way to go. And, as Ramón explained, if movies and TV will ever be representative of the real world, audiences must remain vigilant and push for better inclusivity. “It’s not a case where people can take their feet off the pedal,” she said. “They need to keep pushing forward.”
You can read the Diversity Report in full here.
