2018 Statistics

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Women Onscreen

Of the 100 top grossing movies:

Only 33.1% of all speaking or named characters were girls/women.
Only 9% of the movies gender-balanced casts.
The number of female leads/co leads was significantly higher in 2018 (39 movies) than in 2017 (33 movies) and almost double the number of films in 2007 (20 movies).
Eleven movies featured a girl or woman of color in the leading or co leading role.
Eleven of the movies featured a female 45 years of age or older at the time of theatrical release in a leading or co leading role. Only 4 featured a woman of color 45 years of age or older in a lead or co lead role.
Women 40 years of age and above received only 25% of all speaking or named roles.
Females were far more likely than their male counterparts in 2018 to be shown in sexually revealing attire (29.2% vs. 7.4%) and with some nudity (27.3% vs. 8.5%). Girls/women were also more likely than boys/men to be referenced as attractive by other characters (10.2% vs. 2.7%).
Teenage females were just as likely to be sexualized and referenced as attractive by other characters as females 21-39 years of age. Middle aged women were the least likely to be shown in a sexualized light.
33 films were missing Black/African American female characters, 54 were missing Asian or Asian American female characters, 70 Latina characters, and 51 girls or women from multiracial/other backgrounds. Female characters from the following racial/ethnic groups were also excluded, including American Indian/Alaska Native female characters (99 movies), female Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders (97 movies), and MENA girls and women (92 movies).
27 movies featured an underrepresented lead or co lead. 15 featured Black actors (10 males, 5 females) as leads/co leads and 4 movies depicted Latinos (2 males, 2 females). Two leads/co leads were Asian (1 male, 1 female), one was MENA (male), and 6 were multiracial (3 males, 3 females).
Latinas were the most likely to be hypersexualized — as measured by sexy attire or some nudity — in comparison to white, Black, Asian, other females. Females from other racial/ethnic backgrounds were the most likely to be referenced as attractive, particularly in comparison to females that were Black, Asian, or Latina.
17 of speaking/named roles were lesbian. Eighty-nine movies were devoid of even one female LGBT character.
Only 36.2% of LGB characters were female.
Only 13 LGB characters were depicted in a romantic relationship, with 9 female and 4 male.
83 films were missing female characters with disabilities.
Nearly three-quarters of characters with disabilities were male (72.5%) and 27.5% were female.

Inclusion Initiative

Of the 100 top grossing movies 2007-2018:

Only 3% of films featured leads or co leads with Latino actors. Females represented 49% of the leads or co leads. 5 of those 17 roles went to one female actress (Cameron Diaz).
The most frequently hired Latina actors were Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, and Jessica Alba.
Only 2 female leads were 45 years of age or older at the time of theatrical release. Both were played by Jennifer Lopez.
Only 4.5% of all speaking characters were Latino. This is 13.8 percentage points below U.S. Census.

Of the top-grossing 1,200 films from 2007-2018:

47% completely erased Latino speaking characters.
828 films erased Latinas.
5 films out of 500 showed a Latino character from the LGBT community between 2014 and 2018.
387 of 400 movies were missing Latino characters with a disability.

Inclusion Initiative

Of the superhero and sci-fi films in wide release 2009-2018:

14% had female solo leads, compared to 55% with male solo leads and 31% with male/female co-leads.
In the last five years, 53% have had female solo or co-leads, compared to 36% between 2009 and 2013.
In the last five years, 83% of sci-fi/superhero films have had male leads, with 47% of the films having male solo leads.
104 of these films made at least $100 million domestically at the box office. A little
less than half of these 104 films (48) have starred women in lead roles.

Women’s Media Center

Top 120 animated films 2007-2018:

In terms of cast, only 20 (17%) had a female lead or co lead.
Three of these films depicted a female of color (3%) as the protagonist.

Inclusion Initiative

Top-grossing 100 films:

40 films featured a female in the leading or co-leading role. This is an uptick of 8 percentage points from 2017 and 20 percentage points from 2007.
11 movies featured a female lead or co-lead 45 years of age or older. This number has more than doubled since 2017 (5).
11 movies featured underrepresented female leads or co-leads. This is almost three times the number from 2017 (4). In 2007, only 1 film portrayed a female lead or co-lead from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group on screen.
Of the underrepresented female leads or co-leads, 5 were Black/African American, 3 were Mixed Race, 2 were Hispanic/Latina, and 1 was Asian/Asian American.
Only 4 women of color were shown driving the action that were 45 years of age or older. Three were Black women and one was Latina.
28 films featured an underrepresented lead or co lead driving the storyline. This is a gain of 7 percentage points from 2017 (21%) and 15 points from 2007 (13%).

Of the top-grossing 1,200 films 2007-2018:

28% of films were led or co-led by women.
15.5% featured an underrepresented lead or co lead.
Universal had the highest number of women-led or co-led releases across the past 12 years (59). At 56 films, Sony Pictures was a close second. In last place is Paramount Pictures with 26 films.
In terms of releasing films with underrepresented leads and co-leads, the top distributor was Sony (39), followed by Lionsgate (28), and Universal (28). Walt Disney Studios fared worst with 13 films featuring underrepresented leads or co-leads.
Every major studio had at least one woman of color in a leading role. Most of the WOC-starring titles came from Sony (14) or Lionsgate (9). Paramount and Warner Bros. were the least impressive with 3 WOC-led movies each.

Inclusion Initiative

Top-grossing 100 films:

Female characters accounted for 31% of sole protagonists. It is a recent historical high.
Sole female protagonists were more than twice as likely to appear in independent features (68%) as studio features (32%).
Female protagonists were most likely to appear in comedies (32%), followed by dramas (29%), horror films (19%), science fiction features (10%), action features (7%), and films in other genres (3%).
Females accounted for 36% of major characters and 35% of all speaking characters. Overall, audiences were almost twice as likely to see male characters as female characters.
13% of films featured 0 to 4 female characters in speaking roles, 52% had 5 to 9 females, and 35% had 10 or more females.
Female characters remained younger than their male counterparts. The majority of female characters were in their 20s (29%) and 30s (28%). The majority of male characters were in their 30s (35%) and 40s (25%).
Males 40 and over accounted for 45% of all male characters. Females 40 and over comprised 31% of all female characters.
65% of all female characters with speaking roles were White, 21% were Black, 4% were Latina, 10% were Asian, and 1% were other.
10% of all female characters were Asian in 2018. This represents an increase of 3 percentage points from 7% in 2017. However, it should be noted that this increase is due largely to one film, “Crazy Rich Asians.” When this film is excluded from the analysis, Asians accounted for 8% of all female characters.
In 2018, 70% of major female characters were white, 18% were Black, 4% were Latina, and 8% were Asian.
47% of female characters but 36% of male characters had a known marital status.
76% of male characters but 62% of female characters had an identifiable job or occupation.
A larger portion of male than female characters were seen in their work setting, actually working (62% vs. 46%).
Male characters were more likely than females to have work-related goals (70% vs. 30%). Female characters were more likely than males to have goals related to their personal lives (54% vs. 46%).
Male characters were more likely than females to be seen in primarily work-related roles (64% vs. 44%). Female characters were more likely than males to be seen in primarily personal life-related roles (48% vs. 30%).
Females comprised 26% of leaders, while males accounted for 74% of leaders.
In films with at least one woman director and/or writer, females comprised 57% of protagonists. In films with exclusively male directors and/or writers, females accounted for 21% of protagonists.
In films with at least one woman director and/or writer, females comprised 47% of major characters. In films with exclusively male directors and/or writers, females accounted for 32% of major characters.
In films with at least one woman director and/or writer, females comprised 43% of all speaking characters. In films with exclusively male directors and/or writers, females accounted for 32% of all speaking characters.

Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film

Of the 1,200 top grossing movies 2007-2018:

Films with female lead or co-lead characters did not perform significantly differently than those with male lead characters domestically and internationally.
Domestically and internationally, films featuring underrepresented leads and co-leads were significantly more likely to out earn films with white leads and co-leads.
Films with a large percentage of underrepresented characters with a white lead/co-lead are less successful than those with a large percentage of underrepresented characters and an underrepresented lead/co-lead character.
Domestically, films with female leads/co-leads were not associated with greater earnings than those with male leads/co-leads. Additionally, the presence of an underrepresented lead/co lead was a significant and positive predictor of performance. A weaker, but still significant predictor of success was the percentage of female characters in a film.
Internationally, having a cast with a higher percentage of females positively influenced revenue, while a greater proportion of characters from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups was associated with a decrease in earnings. However, the gender or race/ethnicity of the lead/co lead character did not significantly predict earnings.
Films with a high proportion of underrepresented characters (81% or more) in stories with an underrepresented lead/co-lead were associated with the greatest international revenue. In contrast, films with a high proportion of underrepresented characters (81% or more) but with only white leads/co-leads were associated with the lowest international revenue.
Films starring women of color received the lowest funds in terms of median production costs and median marketing spend (domestic or international). These movies were also distributed in fewer median international territories than films with white female, underrepresented male, or white male leads.
Only 3 films with a solo underrepresented female lead were released in China across the 12 years studied, whereas 48 starring white females, 24 featuring underrepresented males, and 174 with white male leads were shown there. The number of movies with underrepresented female leads distributed in Japan, South Korea, and India were equally problematic.

Inclusion Initiative

Women Behind the Scenes

Of the 100 top grossing movies 2017-2018:

A total of 1,566 content creators were employed behind the camera. Over three quarters (81.5%) of these above the line jobs were filled with males and 18.5% were filled with females. This is a gender ratio of 4.4 males to every 1 female.
Focusing on directors, 112 were hired. 107 of these directing jobs were filled by males and 5 by females. Only 14.4% of writers and 21.1% of producers were women.
3 female composers were attached to the 100 top fictional films.
None of the 2018 directors were Asian women.

Of the top-grossing 1,200 films from 2007-2018:

A total of 4.3% of all directors were women (58 out of 1,335). Given that some female directors work more than once, the total number of individual women hired across the 1,200 movies is 47. The total number of unique men is 657.
For films with male direction only, the percentage of female speaking characters on screen was 32.5%. When a female was attached to direct, that number jumped to 47.6%.
Only 1.4% (19 out of 1,327) of all composers were women. This is a gender ratio of 68.8 males to every 1 female.
Black directors filled 15.7% of all speaking roles in their films with Black girls/women. Only 3.6% of speaking or named characters were Black girls and women in films with non-Black directors.
Only 3 jobs have been allotted to Asian female directors.

Inclusion Initiative

Of the top-grossing 1,200 films from 2007 -2018:

Of the 3,616 Produced by credits, only 3% were held by Latinos. 78 of those credits were held by Latinos and 19 were held by Latinas; this is a gender ratio of 4 male producers to every 1 female.
4% of directors were Latinos out of the 1,335 holding top jobs. 28 individual or unique Latino directors worked across the films studied. Just 1 was female (Patricia Riggen).
3% of the casting directors were Latino.
When a Latino director was attached to a film, the percentage of Latino characters on screen increased from 4% to 13%. When a Latino producer worked on a movie, the percentage of Latino characters on screen climbed from 4% to 9%. When a Latino casting director was attached, the on screen prevalence of Latino characters improved from 4% to 10%.

Of the Sundance Film Festival submissions in 2017 and 2018:

7% of directors submitting U.S. dramatic films identified as Latino. 88% were male, 11% female, and 1% gender non conforming.
13% of directors submitting international features were Latino. 81% were male, 19% female, and <1%gender non conforming.

Inclusion Initiative

Of the superhero and sci-fi films in wide release between 2009-2018:

Only 3% of directors were women.
5 of the 6 superhero/sci-fi films directed by women over the last 10 years were released in the last 4 years of the report.
88% of the most influential behind-the-scenes roles (directing, producing, writing and editing) were held by men, with just 12% going to women.
Female directors have increased 3 percentage points (5% between 2014-2018 compared to 2% in the preceding five years).
Female producers have increased 5 percentage points (20% between 2014-2018 compared to 15% between 2009-2013).
Female editors have increased 3 percentage points (13% between 2014-2018 compared to 10% between 2009-2013).
The percentage of women writers on superhero/sci-fi films actually decreased between 2014-2018 in comparison to 2009-2013, from 8% to 7%.
In 2018, two major motion pictures in the sci-fi genre were directed by and starred women and girls of color: “A Wrinkle in Time,” directed by Ava DuVernay and starring Storm Reid, and “The Darkest Minds,” directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and starring Amandla Stenberg. This represents a significant change from 10 years ago.

Women’s Media Center

Top 120 animated films 2007-2018:

2.5% of directors were women. Four women held these five jobs. Only 1 was a woman of color (Asian) who worked twice.
37% of producers (“Produced by” only) were women. Only 5% of all producers were women of color, however.
Nine percent of writers were women. Only 6 or 1% of these writers were women of color (4 Asian, 1 Latinx, 1 multiracial).

Inclusion Initiative

Top 52 animated films 2014-2018:

The gender ratio of males to females across 9 key roles or unit head positions was 8.5 to 1. Only 7% of head of story positions were filled with women (6% women of color), 15% of editors (3% women of color), 8% of animation heads (3% women of color), 14% of art directors (4% women of color), 2% of head of layout (0 women of color), 21% of head of lighting (0 women of color), 11% of production designers (0 women of color), 9% of character effects supervisors (3% women of color), and 10% of character composition supervisors (3% women of color).
Looking at the story department, only 18% of team members were female with roughly the same level of participation for women in animation (16%) and slightly higher participation for women in art (23%). About a quarter of the labor pool was female in character effects (24%) and composition (26%).

Inclusion Initiative

The animation pipeline:

Across 5 esteemed animation programs in the U.S. (USC, UCLA, CalArts, Ringling, SVA), well over half of all those attending or enrolled were female.
65% of students enrolled in top animated programs were female in 2016 and 69% in 2018.
Turning to the 5 top film festivals (Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Tribeca, NYFF, Telluride), 47% of all animated shorts evaluated (n=69 out of 146) had at least one female director attached. The percentages increased notably across the three years evaluated (2016=33%; 2017=51%, 2018=60%).
Only 7% of those running story were women followed by 18% of the story team. If the path is through animation, the numbers are equally problematic from unit heads (8% female) to 16% of animators.
Only 9% of credited writers were women across 52 top animated films.

Inclusion Initiative

Executive animation ranks:

Over half (52%) of all animation executives in film were female. Fewer women of color were executives, with only 7 in film (6%).
A full half of film animation leadership positions (e.g., CEO, CCO, Presidents) were held by women.

Inclusion Initiative

Top-grossing 250 films:

Women fared best as producers (26%), followed by executive producers (21%), editors (21%), writers (16%), directors (8%), and cinematographers (4%).
25% of films employed 0 or 1 woman in the roles considered. 58% of films employed 2 to 5 women, 16% employed 6 to 9 women, and 1% employed 10 or more women.
Compared to women’s employment on the top 250 films of 2017, the percentages of women writers, producers, executive producers, and editors increased, while the percentage of women working as directors declined. The percentage of women cinematographers remained the same.
92% of the films had no female directors, 73% had no female writers, 42% had no female executive producers, 27% had no female producers, 74% had no female editors, 96% had no female cinematographers.
Women comprised 6% of composers. 94% of films had no female composers.
Women accounted for 10% of supervising sound editors. 89% of films had no female supervising sound editors.
Women comprised 6% of sound designers. 95% of films had no female sound designers.

Top-grossing 100 films:

Overall, women accounted for 16% of directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, and cinematographers.
Women comprised 4% of directors.
Women accounted for 15% of writers.
Women comprised 18% of executive producers.
Women accounted for 18% of producers.
Women comprised 14% of editors.
Women accounted for 3% of cinematographers.

Top-grossing 500 films:

Women accounted for 23% of directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, and cinematographers.
By genre, the largest percentage of women, relative to men, worked on documentaries (33%), followed by action features (27%), dramas (26%), comedies and sci-fi features (20%), animated features (18%), and horror features (11%).
Women comprised 15% of directors.
Women accounted for 19% of writers.
Women comprised 22% of executive producers.
Women accounted for 29% of producers.
Women comprised 23% of editors.
Women accounted for 6% of cinematographers.
On films with at least one female director, women comprised 71% of writers. On films with exclusively male directors, women accounted for 13% of writers.
On films with at least one female director, women comprised 47% of editors. On films with exclusively male directors, women accounted for 19% of editors.
On films with at least one female director, women comprised 19% of cinematographers. On films with exclusively male directors, women accounted for 3% of cinematographers.
On films with at least one female director, women comprised 24% of composers. On films with exclusively male directors, women accounted for 7% of composers.

Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film

Of the top 100 films of 2018:

96.4% of the 112 directors were men and only 3.6% of directors were women. This is a gender ratio of 27 to 1.
The four women directors were Ava DuVernay (“A Wrinkle in Time”), Kay Cannon (“Blockers”), Abby Kohn (“I Feel Pretty”), and Susanna Fogel (“The Spy Who Dumped Me”).
16 Black directors (14.3%) worked across the 100 top films. 15 were male and only 1 was female. The number of Black helmers in 2018 is 2.7 times higher than the number in 2017 and twice as high as 2007.
Sony released 5 films from Black directors, and Universal Pictures 3 films. Both 20th Century Fox and Disney hired two Black directors to movies.
4 Asian directors (3.6%) worked across the 100 top films. All four were men.
Not one female A, B, or C camera operator worked across the top-grossing live action films.

Of the top-grossing 1,200 films from 2007 to 2018:

The percentage of female directors has not changed overtime. The 12-year high occurred in 2008, with 9 women helmers.
The average age of directors did not vary by gender (Males=46.5 years, Females=46 years), but career span did. Males work across 7 decades (20s-80s), whereas females work across 4 (30s-60s).
There were 704 individual or unique directors (658 men, 46 women). Men (1-17 films) had a larger directing span than women (1-4 films). 83% of female directors only made one film compared to 54% of their male peers.
The male director that has worked the most was Tyler Perry (17 films). The top performing female director was Anne Fletcher (4 films).
Males were more likely to direct action films than females, with a gender ratio of 68 to 1. Gender differences were also observed for science fiction films (34.7 males to 1 female) and thrillers (44 males to 1 female). Females were more likely than males to helm comedies (35.7% vs. 25.6%) and dramas (33.9% vs. 18%).
95.6% of female directors had agency representation. Creative Artists Agency (CAA) represents the most women helmers (39.5%), followed by United Talent Agency (25.6%) and William Morris Endeavor (23.3%).
38 of the 45 female directors (84.4%) are members of the DGA.
Warner Bros. distributed 12 films with female directors. The distributor least female friendly is Paramount Pictures. There is no year between 2007 and 2018 in which every distributor has hired or attached at least one female director to a film. The most frequent number of female directors across 12 years of film slates is 0.
79 movies had one or more Black directors attached. Black helmers were most likely to direct dramas (36.7%) followed by comedies (32.9%) and action films (13.9%). Black helmers directed 4 horror (5.1%), 4 thriller (5.1%), 3 science fiction/fantasy movies (3.8%), and 2 animated films (2.5%).
91.7% of the Black directors had current agency representation, with the most clients at CAA (33.3%), followed by WME (27.3%) and UTA (15.1%).
94.4% of the Black directors are members of the DGA.
Lionsgate has distributed the most movies (n=20) with Black directors. The majority (n=17) of these films were by Tyler Perry.
Unlike their Black counterparts, there has been no change in the number or percentage of Asian directors over the 12-year sample. Only 39 top directing jobs have been filled by Asian men and 3 by Asian women.
Two-thirds of all Asian directors (66.7%) only have one directing credit, which was significantly higher than their non-Asian peers (55.8%). Asian helmers were less likely than non-Asian helmers to have directed 2 or 3 movies.
Of the 41 movies helmed by an Asian director, 24.4% were animated, 19.5% action oriented, 19.5% horror, 12.2% drama, 12.2% science fiction/fantasy, 7.3% comedy, and 4.9% thriller.
71.4% of Asian directors have current representation. 40% are represented by CAA and a third by WME.
52.4% of Asian directors are members of the DGA.
Warner Bros increased representation of Asian directors in 2018 in comparison to 2017 and 2007. Universal Pictures has employed the highest number of Asian directors. Lionsgate has only worked with 1 Asian director in 12 years.
Overall, intersectionality is a large problem in the director’s chair. Only 9 directing assignments have been filled by women of color. These 9 jobs were held by seven women, 4 of whom were Black, two Asian, and 1 Latina. Only 2 women of color have helmed 2 motion pictures: Ava DuVernay and Jennifer Yuh Nelson.

Of the top 300 films from 2016 to 2018:

984 individuals received a “Produced by” credit. 82.1% of producers were male and 17.9% were female. This is a ratio of 4.6 male producers to every 1 female producer.
11.4% were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. 72.3% of all producing jobs were held by white males. White females account for 16.3% whereas underrepresented males account for 9.8%. Only 1.6% were women of color.
341 directors were responsible for the subset of 300 films, with 17.3% from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. This figure has increased significantly from 13.3% in 2016 to 22.3% in 2018.
Only four women of color have directed across the 300 top films in comparison to 55 men of color, a ratio of 13.7 to 1.
Films with an underrepresented producer were more likely to have a diverse director attached (30.8%) than those films without an underrepresented producer (12%).
266 individuals were credited as the director of photography (DP) across the top live action films. 97% were male and 3% were female. This translates into 33 male lensers for every 1 female lenser. None of the female DPs were underrepresented and men of color only account for 15.8%.
99.1% of A, B, or C camera operators were male and <1% were female. Of 281 gaffer jobs, not one was filled by a woman.
Only a handful of employment opportunities went to women in the following categories: best boy electric (1 female, 292 males), key grip (4 females, 272 males), or best boy grip (8 females, 266 males).
There were 375 credited editing jobs, with 84.5% filled with males and 15.5% filled with females. That’s about 5.5 males to every 1 female. 5.7% of editors were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.
79.9% of editors were white men, 14.4% white women, 4.3% underrepresented men, and 1.4% underrepresented women. The ratio of white men editing to under-represented women was 58.8 to 1.
301 composers were credited across the top live action films. 97.7% were male and 2.3% were female, a ratio of 42 to 1. The seven individual women composers each worked once.
9.6% of composers were from underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds. Twenty-eight of the diverse composers were men and only 1 was a woman.
273 individuals were credited as production designers, with 81.7% male and 18.3% female.
94.1% of production designers were white and only 5.9% were people of color. 77.4% were white males, 16.7% white females, 4.4% diverse males, and 1.5% diverse females.
78.5% of all hair department heads were women and 21.5% were men. 76.4% of make-up department heads were women and 23.6% were men.
There were 275 individuals credited as costume designers. 15.6% were male and 84.4% were female. Only 14% were from diverse racial/ethnic groups. 73.2% were white females, 12.9% white males, 11% diverse females, and 2.9% diverse males.
380 casting directors were credited. 83.4% of those positions were filled with women and 16.6% with men. Only 13.2% were underrepresented. White females (72%) were more likely to work as casting directors than white males (14.8%), women of color (11.8%) and men of color (1.3%).
Four crew positions on the directorial team were examined for gender. 31.7% of Unit Production Manager (UPMs) were women. Fewer women filled the first assistant director post (9%). Roughly a third of all second assistant directors (33.6%) and second seconds (31.9%) were women.

Of 2018’s C-suite, corporate board, & film team executives:

17.3% of top executive positions (C-Suite) were held by women, while 82.7% were held by males. Only 4 of these women were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. Viacom has the most gender-inclusive C-suite (31.8%). Sony and Comcast have no women in the top tier of executives.
One-quarter of corporate Board seats were held by women. Only 5 women of color were Corporate Directors.
50% of corporate Board seats at Viacom were held by women, while Fox was the lone company this year to have just one woman on its board.
Only 2 of the Chairs of major executive film teams were female.
The presence of women escalates as the analysis moves lower into the chain of command: 22.5% of President and Chief positions of executive film teams were held by women, 36.4% of VP-level roles. Across all these positions, only 8 women executives were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

Inclusion Initiative

Of projects submitted and accepted to the Sundance Film Festival from 2017-18:

In 2017, 21% of U.S. Dramatic features submitted were directed by women and 29% of those films accepted were directed by women.
In 2018, 22% of U.S. Dramatic features submitted were directed by women, yet 37% of those films accepted were directed by women.
28% of all feature films and episodic projects submitted were directed by women.
35% of all feature films and episodic content screened were directed by women.
27.7% of feature films and episodic content and 45% of shorts had at least one director of color attached.
Women of color directed 5.8% of projects submitted to U.S. Dramatic sections, and 7.4% of those that were accepted.
Men of color submitted 22% of U.S. Dramatic sections but were accepted at a rate of 15.7%.
Less than 15% of directors of submitted projects within each Festival category analyzed were women of color.
In U.S. Short films, women submit at 33.7% and are accepted at 45.5%.
People of color submit at 34.2% to the U.S. Shorts category and and are accepted at 45.5%.

The Sundance pipeline:

Of the underrepresented directors of top-grossing films from 2015 to 2018, 30% attended a Sundance Lab, screened a movie at the Festival, or had another touchpoint with Sundance prior their popular movie.
35% of the female directors who worked on a top-grossing film from 2007 to 2018 had a touchpoint with Sundance prior to directing that film.

Inclusion Initiative

Of the 14 A-category festivals that held an edition:

Just two of 226 films (0.88%) came from Black filmmakers.
Only two of 236 directors (0.85%) to work on the competition films were Black.
18.14% of main competition films at the major festivals were directed by women.
7.08% were from Arab directors, and 16.37% from Asian directors.

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