According to a new study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which examined the number of women and racial minorities among the directors of the most profitable films of the past year, there have been no significant changes in Hollywood, writes Hollywood Reporter, reports UNN.
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Despite hopes that 2024 would be a year of recovery after the strikes by screenwriters and actors in 2023, the share of female directors in the top-grossing films remained at the same level as the previous year - 13.4%.
And this is almost the same figure as in 2023 (12.1%), although it is much higher than in 2007, when only 2.7% of directors were women.
Scholar Stacey Smith said that the film industry has proven the ability to increase the proportion of women directors and maintain this progress, but noted that there is still much work to be done. She added that women directors still far outnumber men and are rarely given opportunities to work behind the camera.
According to the study, 24.1% of directors last year belonged to racial or ethnic groups that are usually underrepresented in the film industry. This figure was almost the same as in 2023 (22.4%) and significantly higher than in 2007 (12.5%). The highest percentage of such directors was recorded in 2021 - 28.6%. In particular, 5.3% of directors last year were women of other races.
The study also showed that none of the major studios have released at least 10 films with female ethnic minority directors in the last 18 years.
The largest number of such films was released by Universal and Walt Disney Studios - 7 and 6 respectively.
An analysis of critics' reviews over the past 18 years showed that films directed by men received higher scores from critics in 2024. However, there was no difference in scores over the entire study period.
Stacey Smith noted that the results clearly show that women from ethnic minorities have the skills and talents to make quality films. However, they still get the fewest opportunities to work behind the camera in top films. This indicates that talent and qualifications are not the main criteria for hiring decisions.