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ReFrame Spotlights Gender-Balanced Films and TV with New Stamp

"Girls Trip" received ReFrame's stamp of approval: Michele K. Short/Universal Pictures

ReFrame, a project sponsored in part by the Sundance Institute and Women in Film, has announced a new tool in the quest to provide information on women’s representation, on-screen and behind the scenes: the ReFrame Stamp will be given to films and TV projects that hire female-identifying individuals on both sides of the camera.ReFrame has also awarded stamps to the qualifying top-grossing films of 2017, including “Girls Trip,” “Wonder Woman,” and “Lady Bird” in its first recipient list.

Stamps are bestowed based on a point system. For feature films ReFrame assigns points based on the prevalence of women working in eight key production roles: writer, director, producer, lead, co-lead, speaking parts, department heads, and crew. Extra points are given for women of color. For example, if a film features a woman lead — i.e. the first person on the call sheet is a woman — the project receives a point. If the lead is a woman of color, the project gets two points. In order to receive a stamp projects must earn four points, with at least two points from the director, writer, and/or lead categories.

Stamp criteria for TV projects have not yet been released.

While the stamp is currently based on gender binary data, ReFrame aims to create a third category for individuals who identify as nonbinary. Overall the organization aims to “be as intersectional as possible” and has vowed to “evolve the stamp as the industry and technology evolve.”

To come up with the list, ReFrame used data from IMDbPro when analyzing seven of the eight categories for the top 100 films for 2017. They also used The Geena Davis Inclusion Quotient to analyze female representation in in G, PG, and PG-13 films. “In areas where gender was not marked on IMDbPro, interns and staff researched names to determine gender,” the press release reveals. “We believe the margin of error to be less than one percent, based on gender information captured in IMDbPro and research conducted internally. We will continue to refine this process in future years.”

So far the organization has only awarded stamps to 2017’s top-earning films. So, beginning June 15, studios, networks, and production companies can submit eligible projects for ReFrame Stamp consideration, prior to the annual list’s publication. They will be examined using IMDbPro data. “If the producers believe a stamp should have been awarded but was not and/or there are any questions about accuracy, a panel of Ambassadors will be convened to review the decision.”

Projects with the ReFrame Stamp will be listed on ReFrame’s website and IMDbPro.

The 2017 Narrative & Animated Feature ReFrame Stamp Recipients are below, courtesy of ReFrame. You can find out more about the stamp’s film criteria here.


Everything, Everything / USA 2017 (Director: Stella Meghie, Screenwriter: J. Mills Goodloe, Producers: Elysa Koplovitz Dutton, Leslie Morganstein, Distributor: Warner Bros.)

Girls Trip / USA 2017 (Director: Malcolm D. Lee, Screenwriters: Kenya Barris, Tracy Oliver, Producers: Malcolm D. Lee, William Packer, Distributor: Universal Pictures)

Home Again / USA 2017 (Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer, Screenwriter: Hallie Meyers-Shyer, Producers: Nancy Meyers, Erika Olde, Distributor: Open Road Films)

Kidnap / USA 2017 (Director: Luis Prieto, Screenwriter: Knate Lee, Producers: Halle Berry, Gregory Chou, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Joey Tufaro, Distributor: Aviron Pictures)

Lady Bird / USA 2017 (Director: Greta Gerwig, Screenwriter: Greta Gerwig, Producers: Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill, Scott Rudin, Distributor: A24)

My Little Pony: The Movie / USA 2017 (Director: Jayson Thiessen, Screenwriters: Meghan McCarthy, Rita Hsiao, Michael Vogel, Producers: Haven Alexander, Stephen Davis, Brian Goldner, Marcia Gwendolyn Jones, Distributor: Lionsgate)

Pitch Perfect 3 / USA 2017 (Director: Trish Sie, Screenwriters: Kay Cannon, Mike White, Producers: Elizabeth Banks, Paul Brooks, Max Handelman, Distributor: Universal Pictures)

Smurfs: The Lost Village / USA 2017 (Director: Kelly Asbury, Screenwriters: Stacey Harman, Pamela Ribon, Producers: Mary Ellen Bauder, Jordan Kerner, Distributor: Columbia Pictures)

Snatched / USA 2017 (Director: Jonathan Levine, Screenwriter: Katie Dippold, Producers: Peter Chernin, Paul Feig, Jessie Henderson, Jenno Topping, Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox)

The Post / USA 2017 (Director: Steven Spielberg, Screenwriters: Liz Hannah, Josh Singer, Producers: Kristie Macosko Krieger, Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg, Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox)

The Shape of Water / USA 2017 (Director: Guillermo del Toro, Screenwriters: Guillermo del Toro Vanessa Taylor, Producers: J. Miles Dale, Guillermo del Toro, Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Wonder Woman / USA 2017 (Director: Patty Jenkins, Screenwriter: Allan Heinberg, Producers: Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zach Snyder, Richard Suckle, Distributor: Warner Bros.)


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