Behind the Scenes of Women In the Film Industry
Written by Isabella Fang | Edited by Jackie Wang
While it may seem apparent that women have made substantial gains in their rise to stardom on-screen, the reality behind the camera paints a much more dismal picture. A sheer lack of representation and skewed power dynamics are not only evident backstage, but female entrepreneurs in media and entertainment face similar hurdles. Historically, women’s efforts to break through the cinematic ceiling have been thwarted by systematic marginalization, the value and potential of female actors measured solely by their appearances. In the 21st century era of modern film movements and technology, women are continuously ostracized from the crew lineup in a majority of movies and short-changed for their work, encapsulating the male-dominated screen industry. Female employment in film has hardly budged in the past 25 years despite the push for gender-equal hiring practices.
On the enterprising and operational side of the film industry, the roles and responsibilities of women are scarce. In a study by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which tracks the gender and race/ethnicity of characters in the 100 top-grossing films annually, only 41 percent of leads or co-leads were women. Opportunities for women of color fared even worse with only 11% as leads or co-leads. Women over 45 were also much less likely to be featured in a movie than their male counterparts at a dismaying ratio of 7 to 27 movies. In the same age bracket, women of color were virtually invisible in leading roles.
Over the past quarter of a century, a study sponsored by San Diego State has examined over 2,800 credits on the 250 top-grossing films. As the most comprehensive and long-term research report monitoring women’s employment in film, the records revealed that 24 percent of all producers, directors, cinematographers, writers, and editors were women, a 1% decrease from 2021. In the US, women comprised 17% of directors, 17% of writers, and 22% of editors in 2021. Currently, vacancies regarding the representation of women in film are most conspicuous in cinematography, with a mere 7% of women occupying this position. For the 100 top-grossing films, there were similar results with 28% of producers, 18% of editors, 17% of writers, 11% of directors, and 8% of cinematographers being women. In addition, only 9% of composers and 27% of collective C-suite roles were held by women. Unquestionably, the movie industry’s headway toward diversity and representation of women has stagnated.
Although two decades of advocacy endeavors and an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation to settle charges with 6 major Hollywood studios regarding sexist recruitment procedures have been witnessed, the proportions of female directors have barely doubled from 9% to 18%. The time and effort required to expect progress in other positions is difficult to wrap one’s head around.
The most glaring source of structural sexism and underrepresentation in film studios is discriminatory attitudes towards salary, employment, and promotion in the industry, inhibiting women from obtaining top decision-making roles. Even at the highest level of professional status in screen industry entrepreneurship, women are disadvantaged when it comes to support, operations, and funding. After tenure, women receive less independent financing and studio deals than men. The shortage of women-owned productions and, thus shortage of films starring women, contributes to the subjective assessment of past women-produced films’ performances.
False assumptions and expectations towards female entrepreneurs and staff such as incompetency, less credibility/experience, and lower success rates have been invented out of organizational biases. Entrenched set culture has also impeded the ability of women to build workplace relationships and network with male colleagues. Whether made consciously or unconsciously, prejudiced decisions lead to under-distribution and under-marketing of movies produced by women, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Altogether, women-owned production companies are underappreciated in media and the wider entertainment industry.
The prospect of transforming an industry inherently pitted against women resides in women with senior roles in film, who assist in propelling more female employees toward the business. Films with at least one female director appointed women for 53% of writers, 39% of editors, 19% of cinematographers, and 18% of composers. On the flip side of the coin, films with exclusively male directors appointed women for only 12% of writers, 19% of editors, 4% of cinematographers, and 6% of composers. Exceptions for mainstream film production companies and distributors such as Disney, 20th Century Studios, and Paramount have also been making strides to achieve gender parity in lead or co-lead roles. Additionally, lower-budget film projects, independent films, and documentaries are slowly seeing a rise in female representation than larger-budget features.
For women to ascend the ladder of media and entertainment in the ever-evolving film industry, the broken rungs of gender inequality must be repaired. As a driving force in denying the entry of women into behind-the-scenes and senior spots, the predisposition for policy and decision-makers themselves to employ few to no women on their film teams is striking. When women participate in the development of films, they receive equivalent critical acclaim as male directors, yet, the recognition, nomination, and awards for women are lacking. Hope for female representation relies on bringing more women into high-tier positions, which opens up greater opportunities and rewarding experiences for women. Within the next decade, all-inclusive research strategies regarding the gender breakdown of cast and crew should be implemented. Simply supporting films created by women along with raising awareness of their work and gender disparities engendered by the screen industries is conducive to ensuring the empowerment and success of all women. Gender-balanced productions capture the diverse strengths of women. Casting this issue into the limelight plays a massive role in ensuring women working behind the scenes in film can gain the representation they deserve.
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