Upheaval in the Film Industry Has Not Led to Increased Opportunity for Women

To say that 2020 and 2021 were rough years for the film industry grossly minimizes the disruption felt in every corner of the business. Theaters shuttered their doors for months, the theatrical window disappeared for many films, and the power structure in Hollywood, at least temporarily, flipped to make streamers king of the hill, a position long enjoyed by film studios.

For festivals, the proving ground for independent films, the pandemic accelerated the push toward modernization. Frequently criticized for offering a tired and restrictive experience, many festivals shifted to hybrid models, incorporating online screenings and forums with traditional in-person events. Writing for Documentary Magazine, Addie Morfoot dubbed the hybrid model the future of film festivals, with the updated format expanding the reach of festivals and helping them serve a more diverse population.

Somewhat surprisingly, all of this upheaval failed to significantly jostle the percentages of women working in film. According to the latest Indie Women study, women comprised 39% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on independently and domestically produced feature-length films screening at 20 high-profile film festivals in the U.S. from July 2021 through June 2022. This represents an increase of 1 measly percentage point from 2020-21.

Similarly, the percentages of women working on the top (domestic) grossing films in 2021 remained unchanged, according to the Celluloid Ceiling study released earlier this year. Women accounted for 21% of those working in key behind-the-scenes roles on the top 100 films, the same as in 2020.

The differences in the numbers for independent films versus top grossing films are striking. In 2021-22, women comprised 34% of individuals working on independently produced narrative features, significantly more than the 21% percent working on large-budget features. Women accounted for 43% of those working in behind-the-scenes roles on documentaries, slightly more than twice the percentage working on top grossing films.

Focusing solely on directors, women made up 44% of helmers on independently produced documentaries and 35% on narrative features, but only 12% on top grossing films. These comparisons reveal the considerable gap between the number of women who desire to make films and the number of women Hollywood sees fit to hire on large-budget films.

In other roles, on independent features (narrative and documentaries) women fared best as producers (44%), followed by executive producers (42%), writers (35%), editors (33%), and cinematographers (21%). On the 100 top grossing films, women fared best as producers (24%), followed by executive producers (24%), editors (21%), writers (16%), and cinematographers (6%). There were almost twice as many female producers and executive producers working on indie features as on top grossing films, and more than three times as many cinematographers.

For years, when asked why the numbers of women were so low on studio features, executives opined that they couldn’t find women to work on their films, or that women weren’t interested in making the kinds of films Hollywood produces. The numbers from the Indie Women study, and interviews with women stating they are eager to work on large-budget films, directly challenge and contradict these excuses. In a recent interview with The New York Times Magazine, actress/producer/director Elizabeth Banks stated, “I would’ve liked to have made ‘Mission: Impossible,’ but women aren’t directing ‘Mission: Impossible.’ I was able to direct an action movie [Charlie’s Angels], frankly, because it starred women and I’m a female director, and that is the confine right now in Hollywood.”

Despite the higher numbers of women working in independent film than in big-budget films, many fests continue to select more films by male than female directors. For example, the festivals included in the study streamed or screened an average of six narrative films with at least one woman director, compared with an average of 10 narrative films with exclusively male directors. The ratio was almost even for documentaries, with festivals screening an average of 10 films with at least one woman director versus an average of 11 films by exclusively male directors.

On a positive note, whether by accident or design, films with women directors were substantially more likely to fill other key behind-the-scenes positions with women. For example, on films with at least one woman director, women comprised 34% of cinematographers. On films with exclusively male directors, women accounted for 10% of cinematographers. On films with at least one woman director, women comprised 50% of editors, versus 19% of editors on male-directed films.

Remarkably, the pandemic did little to dislodge the established gender order in independent and large-budget features. The findings from the latest studies reveal that the deeply embedded nature of misogynist hiring practices lends them robust stability even when the number of films released in a year declines or when distribution models shift. That same stability also makes it difficult for women to make substantial gains under normal market conditions.