A record number of filmmakers have taken charge of major Hollywood films in the past 12 months, according to an annual gender study that found an “impressive imbalance” when it comes to other off-camera roles.
The annual Celluloid Ceiling report from San Diego State University found that women represented 16% of the directors who worked on the 100 highest grossing films in 2020, up from 12% in 2019 and only 4% in 2018.
Dr. Martha Lauzen, founder of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, which conducts the research, said that the increase in filmmakers leading major projects for two consecutive years may show that the balance of gender is finally improving.
“Even without the release of some of the most highly anticipated big budget films this year by women – including Eternals by Chloé Zhao and Black Widow by Cate Shortland – the percentage of women working as directors has increased in 2020,” said Lauzen.
“The good news is that we have already seen two consecutive years of growth for women who drive. This breaks a recent historical pattern in which the numbers tend to rise one year and fall the next. The bad news is that 80% of the best films still don’t have a woman in charge. ”
Despite the improvement when it comes to directors, the study found that other off-camera roles were still dominated by men.
Lauzen added that “the imbalance in backstage roles remains impressive,” with almost 70% of films employing less than five women in key positions as a director, writer, executive producer, producer, editor or cameraman.
The study, which has been running for more than two decades, also tried to take into account the on-demand digital audience, driven considerably by the Covid-19 pandemic home requests. In this analysis, just under 10% of directors were women, compared to 16% of filmmakers in the biggest box office hits.
Despite the reduced release schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced festivals to go digital and cinemas to close, filmmakers like Cathy Yan of Birds of Prey and Patty Jenkins of Wonder Woman in 1984 took care of some of the biggest releases of the year.
This year’s Oscar race could see a female winner as best director in a category that produced just five nominees in its history.
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young), Kelly Reichardt (First Cow), Zhao (Nomadland) and debuting director Regina King (One Night In Miami) are all seen as potentials this year and if one of them won, they would just become the second woman winning the award after Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker in 2010.
Before last year’s awards season, a Guardian analysis found that the gender divide was still evident, especially when it came to films for the Oscar contest.
The Guardian found that Taron Egerton, Michael B Jordan and Adam Driver – three of the youngest actors who were nominated for an Oscar for best actor last year – never worked on a film directed by a woman.
Category leader and eventual winner, Joaquin Phoenix, worked only once with a filmmaker during his 34 film career.