Women keep reaching new historic highs as writers and directors of indie films screening at major festivals. A new study from Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, has found that women represented 38 percent of directors on indie features and docs selected for major fests in 2019-2020, and 35 percent of writers. This bests last’s years numbers — also historic highs — of 33 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

“Indie Women: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in Independent Film 2019-2020” is an analysis of women’s employment on domestically and independently produced features that screened and/or were selected for 20 high-profile U.S. film fests, including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, AFI Fest, and New York Film Festival. More than 800 films and 8,000 credits from 2019-2020, and 9,000 films and 88,000 credits from 2008-2020, were examined. Gender was considered, but other demographics including race and sexual orientation were not taken into account.

“We have now seen gains over the last two consecutive years for women working as directors, writers, and producers in independent film,” Lauzen said. “The percentage of women working as directors on narrative films has more than doubled over the last decade, rising from 15% in 2008-09 to 33% in 2019-20.” There is, however, plenty of room for improvement. Overall, women make up just 34 percent of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers, and men 66 percent.

Across the films considered for the study, women tended to fare better in documentary than in narrative features. Women filled 40 percent of key behind-the-scenes roles on docs, but only 29 percent on narratives. Plus, there is a wide gender gap present in the narrative features that are picked for fests. Festivals selected an average of 12 narratives directed by men, versus of an average of six women-helmed features. There is much less of a divide when looking at the docs chosen: “an average of 11 documentaries directed by men versus an average of 10 documentaries directed by at least one woman.”

“For years, documentaries have provided more opportunities for women than narrative features. However, over the last couple of years, the employment gains made by women in the world of documentaries have outpaced the increases on narrative films. At 47% of producers on documentaries, women are approaching parity with their male counterparts,” Lauzen stressed. “The same cannot be said on narrative features where women comprise a little more than one third of producers.”

Key findings from “Indie Women: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in Independent Film 2019-2020” are below. You can read the full study here.

• In 2019-2020, the percentages of women working as directors and writers on independently and domestically produced films continued to climb, reaching recent historic highs. Women comprised 38% of directors, up from 33% in 2018-19, and 29% in 2017-18. Women accounted for 35% of writers, up from 32% in 2018-19 and 26% in 2017-18.
• Overall, the percentage of women working in key behind-the-scenes roles (directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, cinematographers) increased last year, growing from 32% in 2018-19 to 34% in 2019-2020. Despite these gains, it is important to note that independent films employed almost twice as many men in these roles. 66% of those working as directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, and cinematographers were male.
• In other roles, findings were mixed. While the percentages of women working as directors, writers, producers, and executive producers increased, the percentage of women working as editors declined slightly, and the percentage of women working as cinematographers remained the same.
• In 2019-2020, high-profile festivals in the U.S. selected and/or screened twice as many narrative features directed by men as by women. The festivals considered selected and/or screened an average of 12 narrative films directed by men, compared to an average of 6 films directed by at least one woman.
• In 2019-2020, fests selected and/or screened almost equal numbers of documentaries directed by women as by men. Festivals selected and/or screened an average of 11 documentaries directed by men versus an average of 10 documentaries directed by at least one woman.
• Women continue to enjoy higher employment on documentaries than on narrative features. Women accounted for 40% of those working in key behind-the-scenes roles on documentaries versus 29% of those working on narrative features.
• Films with at least one woman director had substantially higher percentages of women writers, editors, and cinematographers. On films with at least one female director, women comprised 73% of writers versus 12% on films directed exclusively by men. On films with at least one female director, women accounted for 43% of editors versus 18% on films directed exclusively by men. On films with at least one female director, women comprised 27% of cinematographers versus 8% on films directed exclusively by men.