Black and Asian Filmmakers Directed Less Than 10% of Last Decade’s Top Grossing Films — Report
According to a new report entitled “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair?: Gender, Age, & Race of Film Directors Across 1,000 Films From 2007-2016” conducted by the USC’s Annenberg Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative, Black and Asian filmmakers directed less than 10% of of the top 1,000 films in the last decade. The study reports that Lionsgate was most beneficial for black directors as they helmed 18% of their qualifying films, while Asian directors fared best with Universal Pictures where they directed a little over 6% of their top films. However, Disney fared the worst of any of the major studios with zero black directors helming any of their 101 qualifying films.
READ MORE: USC Annenberg to Issue Report Cards Grading the Entertainment Industry on Diversity
The report also delves into the continued plight of female directors working in Hollywood, concluding “there has been no meaningful change in the prevalence of female directors across the top films” in the past decade. As reported by IndieWire’s own Kate Erbland yesterday, only 4% of female directors helmed any of the top 1,000 films, making that an approximate ratio of 24 men to any one woman. Furthermore, only 20% of all female directors make more than one film in Hollywood compared to over 45% of male directors who get the opportunity to try again.
For more information and to examine all of their findings, read the complete study in full.
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