Research
DGA Reports Slight Increase in Number of Women and Minority TV Directors in 2016–17 Season
“Insecure” employed 100 percent women and minority directors in 2016–17 The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has published the 2016–17 Episodic TV Director Diversity Report. The annual study...
Study: Young Female Characters Are MIA in Last Decade’s Top Films
The feeling of being overlooked, misunderstood, or ignored is common amongst adolescents. As such, there’s some inherent irony in a new study from Dr. Stacy L. Smith of the Media, Diversity &...
Study: 91 Percent of Showrunners Are White and 80 Percent Are Male
Despite the success of inclusive-on-both-sides-of-the-camera shows like “Queen Sugar” and “Insecure,” as well as Shonda Rhimes’ oeuvre, TV showrunners and writers are still overwhelmingly...
Report: Just 14 Percent of Studio First-Look Deals Are With Women-Led Companies
The latest round of first-look production deals have been finalized and, according to a report from Variety, there are very few pacts with women-led organizations. Of the 139 total first-look deals,...
DGA Study Finds Big Increase in First-Time Female TV Directors in 2016–17 Season
Reed Morano, who made her TV directorial debut with a fall 2016 episode of “Halt and Catch Fire”: IMDb/YouTube The number of first-time female episodic TV directors increased by 13 percent over...
Study: Number of Black and Asian Women on TV Reaches Recent Historical High, Behind the Scenes…
Study: Number of Black and Asian Women on TV Reaches Recent Historical High, Behind the Scenes Progress Stalls As the 2017–2018 television season gears up, you’re probably looking forward to...
Study: Stereotypes About Gender, Race, and Age Still Abound in Film
With the success of convention-defying, female-led films like “Hidden Figures,” “Wonder Woman,” and “Girls Trip,” it’s easy to think Hollywood is finally moving beyond reductive...
Study: The Last Decade’s Most Popular Films Are Lacking in Inclusivity
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the top-earning film of 2016 in the U.S. Conversations about more inclusivity and better representation in film have undoubtedly increased within the last decade;...
Study: There Is Significant Gender Disparity in German Film and Television
Don’t let “Toni Erdmann’s” success fool you: Gender inequality persists in German movies and TV. Per The Hollywood Reporter, a recent study from University of Rostock concluded that “women...
Study: West End Musicals Are Overwhelmingly Written by Men
London’s West End just earned a dubious honor: it’s just as inhospitable to women as Broadway. A new study from The Stage examined the West End musical productions that ran for at least three...
Study: Women and People of Color Are Being Shut Out of Theater Jobs
Probably more than any other entertainment field, the theater prides itself on being a haven for everyone, for being progressive, and for continuously pushing the envelope. So it’s extra...
Study: CAA Finds That Diverse Films of All Budgets Fare Better at Box Office
A recent study and corresponding database from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) found that diversity does, indeed, sell. As the Los Angeles Times writes, the research suggests that racially inclusive...
New Research Shows Number of Women-Directed Films Screening at Fests Hasn’t Improved
If you attend a high-profile U.S. film festival, you are three times as likely to see a feature film directed by a man as you are to see one directed by a woman. And you are twice as likely to catch...
Research: Women Writers Comprise 29% of Self-Reported Scripts on Black List Website
Elyse Hollander’s Madonna biopic “Blond Ambition” topped the 2016 Black List The lack of opportunities for women in Hollywood is disappointing, but isn’t really a surprise anymore. What may...
MPAA Report 2016: 52% of Movie Audiences Are Women & Other Takeaways
Women continue to make up the majority of moviegoers: According to the MPAA’s recent findings, women comprised 52 percent of all 2016 moviegoers — an increase from 2015’s 51 percent....
Only One of the 41 Drama Pilots This Season Is Directed By a Woman
So much for television being a haven for women. A report from Deadline finds that “Las Reinas,” starring Sonia Braga, is the only drama project helmed by a woman this pilot season. Liz...
Only One of the 41 Drama Pilots This Season Is Directed By a Woman
We’re just as upset as you, Dr. Bailey (Chandra Wilson, frequent “Grey’s Anatomy” director): ABCSo much for television being a haven for women. A report from Deadline finds that “Las...
2017 Diversity Report: Women and Minorities Still Woefully Underrepresented in Hollywood
“Television is looking up; it’s moving in the right direction,” Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA told the Los Angeles Times. “Film,...
Study: Number of Women Protagonists in Top 100 Films Climbed to 29% in 2016
This should brighten up your Tuesday a bit: Women made up 29 percent of the protagonists of the 100 top grossing films in 2016. According to the latest “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World”...
New Research Shows Number of Women Directors Hasn’t Changed Over the Last Decade
Our sentiments exactly, Ava DuVernay: Democracy Now!/YouTube A new study from USC Annenberg’s Media, Diversity, & Social Change (MDSC) Initiative found that the past 10 years have seen little...
2016 Celluloid Ceiling Study Shows Us That Women Still Aren’t Making Progress
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, co-director of “Kung Fu Panda 3,” 2016’s highest-grossing film with a woman director: channelAPA — Asian American Entertainment/ YouTube We here at Women and...
DGA Report Names Best and Worst Shows for Hiring Diverse Directors
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has released its 2015–16 Diversity Report. The study analyzes the ethnicity and gender of directors hired to helm episodic television series across broadcast,...
New TV Research Reveals Gender Inequality On-Screen and Off
While television is widely considered a more female-friendly medium than film, new research from Dr. Martha Lauzen demonstrates that the small-screen isn’t nearly as progressive when it comes to...
New Research Shows Gender Equality in Hollywood is Stalled
Credit: MDSC Initiative We spend every day at Women and Hollywood educating, advocating, and agitating for gender equality in Hollywood and the global film industry. We know that while there has been...
Bias and Stereotypes Hold Women Back from Theater Leadership Positions
Why are so few women in top leadership positions in theaters and how can these numbers improve? HowlRound, a commons by and for people who make performance, has shared new research seeking answers...
New DGA Study on First-Time TV Directors Reveals Only 19% Were Women
Credit: DGA The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has released the results of an annual study on the gender and ethnic diversity of directors who received their first assignments in episodic TV and...
FX is Taking Major Steps Towards Hiring People of Color and Women
FX isn’t proud of their track record when it comes to hiring women and people of color behind the scenes. DGA research shows that in the 2014–15 TV season, only 12 percent of FX’s directors...
Proof the Dudeocracy of Film Writers Exists Thanks to Latest Study of Top Critics
When we here at Women and Hollywood published The Dudeocracy of Film Writers, we were basing our theory on observations of the film writing industry, and what we saw going on around us. But now,...
U.S. Film Fests Screen Three Times as Many Male-Directed Narratives As Female Ones
New research from Dr. Martha Lauzen reveals that high-profile U.S. film festivals screen more than three times as many narrative films directed by men than women. It’s well-known that female...
Directors UK Research: “Systemic Bias Against Women Directors”
In one week most of the worldwide film industry will be in Cannes celebrating the “best in cinema.” There will be monumental press attention paid to these movies and these directors. While we...
Women Make Up Half the Movie Audience and Other Takeaways from the 2015 MPAA Report
The film world is in that lovely city of Las Vegas this week participating in its annual orgy of excess known as CinemaCon. This is when the major studios tout their upcoming big-budget movies and...
New Infographic Proves Hollywood Films Are Predominantly About Men
All too often, when female film fans assert that movies predominantly feature white men, we’re often challenged to “prove it.” Well now, thanks to researchers at Polygraph, we have more data...
2015 Vida Count: WOC, LGBTQ and Women with Disabilities Underrepresented in Publications
The 2015 VIDA Count was released Wednesday and though the figures demonstrate small gains overall, the picture looks different for women of color, LGBTQ women and women with disabilities. VIDA dubbed...
Male Directors Outnumber Female Directors 5 to 1 in Spain
A recent report from CIMA, the Spanish Association for Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media Professionals, found that women directors of narrative features were outnumbered by male directors...
UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report Demonstrates the Benefits of Inclusive Casting
#OscarsSoWhite is an ugly symptom of an ugly problem that goes deeper than one particular awards show. The third annual Hollywood Diversity Report from the UCLA Bunche Center details just how...
New LA Times Study: Academy Membership Still 91% White, 76% Male
Nine-tenths white, three-quarters male: That’s the current Academy membership, according to a new study by the LA Times. Back in 2012, the Times found that the Academy was 94% white and 77% male,...
20 of Hollywood’s Biggest Male Stars Have Never Worked With a Female Director
Of the top 100 grossing leading men in Hollywood, 20 haven’t worked on a single film with a woman director, Cosmopolitan has revealed. The magazine compiled a list of the big screen’s A-list...
The Roles That Win Actresses Oscars (Hint: Wedding Rings Are A Good-Luck Charm)
What kinds of roles do women win Oscars for? To answer that question, Fusion studied the history of the Academy Awards to learn more about the types of performances that Academy members favor....
Groundbreaking New Research Concludes “Hollywood Still Functions As A Straight, White, Boy’s Club”
With #OscarsSoWhite — and male — just under a week away, USC Annenberg’s Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative has released a groundbreaking new study offering a harsh, ugly...
WMC Study: Women Get Fewer Than 1 in 5 Oscar Nominations in Non-Acting Categories
When the Oscars take place on Sunday, February 28, just 22% of the non-acting award hopefuls at Dolby Theatre will be female. Depressingly, that’s actually an above-average rate for women...
Study: Only 21% of European Films Directed by Women
A new study has found that only one in five European films is directed by a woman, while 84% of public-funding resources go to male-directed films. Those are two of thedire statistics that emerge...
Study: Number of Female Protagonists On Screen Improved in 2015 — But Not By Much
Today sees the release of the It’s A Man’s (Celluloid) World report for 2015, the annual study which examines the portrayal of female characters featured in the top 100 domestic grossing films of...
Inaugural DGA Diversity Report: Women Make Up Only 6.4% of Film Directors
The DGA’s inaugural Feature Film Diversity Report confirms what we already knew: the employment numbers for women directors are deplorably low. The DGA crunched the numbers for the 376 features...
Study: Nearly Two-Thirds of Theater Productions Written by White Male Playwrights
This year’s edition of The Count — a tally of regional, non-Broadway theater productions by playwrights’ gender and race — is out, and the results are grim. In the last three...
Study: 2014’s Top 700 Films Confirm That Women Hire Women
A new study looking at the top 700 domestic films of 2014 concludes that women directed 13% of last year’s theatrical releases and demonstrates that female filmmakers are much more likelier than...
Research Shows Box-Office Hits with Female Protagonists Outearn Blockbusters With Male Leads
More data has been released comparing the box-office success of movies about women versus movies about men, and the results reinforce what we’ve been saying for ages: female-led movies not only...
New Canadian Research Reveals a Cold Shoulder to Women in Film and TV Up North
Blame Canada. Or, at the very least, hold Canada accountable. A report released this week reveals that, like the American entertainment industry, women are still incredibly underrepresented behind...
Study: “Female Directors Face a Fiscal Cliff in Their Careers Soon After Making a Short Film”
“Making a short film might be both the launch and the pinnacle of [many female filmmakers’] careers,” concludes a comprehensive new study that looks at how often women start on unequal terrain...
New Site Tracks Women Directors at Festivals, Publishes Stats for Venice and TIFF
When festivals announce their lineups, Women and Hollywood crunches the numbers to determine the percentage of female directors behind the films being screened. While the numbers vary according to...
10-Year Study Reveals Women in Key Roles Make Up Less Than a Quarter of Emmy Nominees
At the Emmys this Sunday, women writers, directors, producers and editors will make up a quarter of the nominees for TV’s highest honor. That 25% is a slight improvement over the last ten years,...
Study: More Women TV Creators and EPs Mean More Women Leads, Writers, Directors, Editors
If you want more women in TV, you gotta start at the top. That’s the main conclusion reached by a new study looking at the employment figures of who writes, produces and appears on television....