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Female filmmakers still locked out of big Hollywood productions, study finds

Women are a significant force in independently-made films but they remain largely locked out of big Hollywood productions, according to a new study.

Women filled 26% of key behind-the-scenes roles – directors, producers, executive producers, writers, editors and cinematographers – in feature-length films shown at leading film festivals over the past year, according to the survey, Independent Women, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.

They directed just 23% of all the films considered for the study – women directed 28% of documentaries and 18% of narrative features, said Martha Lauzen, the center’s executive director.

Over the same period, women directed just 6% of big studio productions. Of this summer’s box office line-up only one, Jupiter Ascending, was directed by a woman, Lana Wachowski, who co-directed with her brother.

“That to me is stunning,” said Lauzen. “It’s shockingly low. The film industry clearly has a problem with women.”

Independently produced films, which typically have lower budgets and skirt Hollywood hierarchy, have consistently kept the door ajar, if not fully open, to women. The findings, based on more than 9,000 credits at 23 film festivals from March 2013 to April 2014, were similar to a previous study in 20011/12. The 26% figure was a modest advance from the 24% recorded in 2008/9.

But Hollywood remained largely closed to women, especially directors, with the exception of the likes of Kathryn Bigelow, who directed The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. “The film studios seem to have a very hard time handing over the reins to a woman,” said Lauzen.

Lauzen challenged the optimism of Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, who recently said the role of women on and off the screen in films such as Gravity, Hunger Games, Frozen and The Heat showed things were changing.

“You look at the numbers and you wonder how can that be true? There’s a disconnect,” said Lauzen.

A separate study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film earlier this year found that in the top 100 domestic US grossing films, women comprised 15% of protagonists, 29% of major characters and 30% of speaking characters – a degree of marginalisation largely unchanged since the 1940s.

Cate Blanchett alluded to the issue in March while accepting the best actress Oscar for Blue Jasmine. “Those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences – they are not. Audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people.”

Source: Guardian