women director statistics

>>THE CELLULOID CEILING STUDY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The Celluloid Ceiling:
Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in the Top 250 Films of 2001

Martha M. Lauzen, Ph.D., School of Communication, San Diego State University,
San Diego, CA 92182, 619.594.6301

Copyright © 2002 -- All rights reserved.
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Men directed more than 9 out of 10 films released in 2001 and served as cinematographers on virtually every film.

Overall, women comprised 19% of executive producers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2001. This slight increase of two percentage points over last year is due solely to small gains in the representation of women executive producers and producers. In contrast, the percentage of women directors dropped dramatically from 11% in 2000 to 6% in 2001. Further, the representation of women writers declined from 14% in 2000 to 10% in 2001. The percentages of women editors and cinematographers remained stable at 19% and 2% respectively.

The following summary provides employment figures for women in each of the above stated roles and offers a historical comparison of 2001 figures with similar data dating back to 1987.

>>FIGURE 1 Graph Comparison Statistics of 2001
>>FIGURE 2 Graph Comparison Statisticsof 2001
>>FIGURE 3 Graph Comparison Statisticsof 2001

Findings

This study analyzed behind-the-scenes employment of 2,155 individuals working on 214 films (36 foreign films omitted) with combined domestic box office grosses of approximately $7.9 billion.
Approximately one-fifth (22%) of the films employed no women in any of the roles considered.
Overall, women comprised 19% of all executive producers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 grossing films of 2001. This represents an increase of two percentage points over 2000.
Women accounted for 17% of all executive producers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 100 grossing films of 2001. This represents an increase of two percentage points over 2000 but is even with 1998 levels.
A historical analysis of women working on the top 250 grossing films indicates that while the percentages of women executive producers and producers increased slightly, the representation of women directors and writers decreased substantially. The percentages of women editors and directors of photography remained stable. The representation of women executive producers increased one percentage point from 16% in 2000 to 17% in 2001. Similarly, the percentage of women producers increased one percentage point from 24% in 2000 to 25% in 2001. In contrast, the representation of women directors dropped from 11% in 2000 to 6% in 2001. The percentage of women writers declined from 14% in 2000 to 10% in 2001. The percentages of women editors and cinematographers remained stable at 19% and 2% respectively.
A historical analysis of women working on the top 100 grossing films reveals that the percentage of women producers increased while the representation of women directors, writers, executive producers, editors, and directors of photography decreased. The percentage of women producers increased from 22% in 2000 to 25% in 2001. In contrast, the representation of women directors fell from 7% in 2000 to 4% in 2001. The percentage of women writers declined from 13% in 2000 to 8% in 2001. The representation of women executive producers decreased from 17% in 2000 to 15% in 2001. The percentage of women editors declined from 13% in 2000 to 12% in 2001. The representation of women directors of photography decreased from 2% in 2000 to 1% in 2001.
A comparison of women’s employment on the top 100 films in 2001 with 1987 figures reveals virtually no movement for women directors, writers, cinematographers, and editors. Over the last 15 years, the percentages of women directors, writers, and cinematographers have increased one percentage point. The representation of women editors has decreased one percentage point. Since 1987, virtually all gains for behind-the-scenes women can be attributed to increases in the percentages of women executive producers and producers.
Films with women directors employed significantly greater percentages of women than films with male directors. Films with male directors employed an average of 2 women in the other behind-the-scenes roles considered. In contrast, films with women directors employed 4 women in the other behind-the-scenes roles considered.
Domestic box office gross did not differ significantly by the gender of directors. In other words, films directed by women and films directed by men generated similar box office grosses.
By genre, behind-the-scenes women were most likely to work on romantic comedies and romantic dramas and least likely to work on action and horror films. It is unclear whether women chose to work in certain genres or were relegated to these genres as a result of stereotypical expectations.
Women comprised 17% of all executive producers working on the top 250 films and 15% of executive producers working on the top 100 films of 2001. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of the top 250 films and 69% of the top 100 films had no female executive producers.
Women accounted for 25% of all producers working on the top 250 films and the top 100 films of 2001. Forty-two percent (42%) of the top 250 films and 35% of the top 100 films had no female producers.
Women comprised 6% of all directors working on the top 250 films and 4% of directors working on the top 100 films of 2001. Ninety-four percent (94%) of the top 250 films and 96% of the top 100 films had no female directors.
Women accounted for 10% of writers working on the top 250 films and 8% of writers working on the top 100 films of 2001. Eighty-six percent (86%) of the top 250 films and 87% of the top 100 films had no female writers.
Women comprised 2% of all cinematographers working on the top 250 and 1% of cinematographers working on top 100 films of 2001. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of the top 250 films and 99% of the top 100 films had no female cinematographers.
Women accounted for 19% of all editors working on the top 250 films and 12% of editors working on the top 100 films of 2001. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of the top 250 films and 85% of the top 100 films had no female editors.