DGA has made little progress in feature film viewing over the past five years, even in the face of improvements in television, a new report shows

The Directors Guild of America unveiled a new feature film diversity and inclusion report on Thursday that highlights the limited progress made in films over the past five years when it comes to hiring women and people of color. Unlike what happens on TV.

Of the 1,026 DGA-covered feature films released in theaters between 2018 and 2022, only 16% were directed by women and 17% were directed by directors of color. The proportion of women in leadership positions varied over the five-year period, from a low of 12% in 2018 to a high of 22% in 2020. Similarly, the proportion of directors of color varied from a low of 13% in 2019 to ‘ a peak of 25% in 2021. .

Comparing the data for 2018-2022 with that of the most recent DGA report for 2013-2017, it is clear that opportunities for female directors have increased only slightly, an increase of 8% compared to the previous five-year period. Leadership positions for people of color increased by just 4%.

In the area of ​​television, as the DGA announced last summer, the changes between 2014 and 2021 were much more serious. The number of episodes directed by women and people of color more than doubled over this period, from 16% each in 2014 to 38% and 34% respectively in the Covid-19-affected 2020-2021 season.

A Feature World analysis of hires at different budget levels found that from 2018 to 2022, women directed 13% of high-budget and 18% of low-budget releases, while people of color directed 17% of both. In the same period, white women held 11% of the jobs. Men of color held about 14% of directorships, while women of color held only 4%.

Perhaps the only bright spot in the data was the fact that over the past five years, more and more women and people of color have been hired to direct their first DGA-funded feature film. Of the 382 films directed by debutantes between 2018 and 2022, 27% were directed by women and 20% by people of color. While there are clearly systemic issues that need to be addressed, the report also finds that opportunities for diverse filmmakers have not been improved by an overall decline in feature film production from 292 theatrical releases covered by the DGA in 2018 to 162 in 2022. The objective is: Of course, if the DGA sees a steady upward trend in the appointment of women and POC directors, this will be a sign of sustainable growth.

In a statement accompanying the D&I report, DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter acknowledged that “the DGA’s most recent five-year analysis highlights the ongoing systemic underrepresentation of women and directors of color in directing.” While significant progress has been made in the rental of episodic television networks, it remains “The rental of feature films has been inconsistent from year to year, with little or no growth over the past five years.”

Glatter added, “The DGA remains united in our commitment to continue to push for meaningful action from producers that improves access and representation in line with our diverse membership.”

In compiling its latest report, the Directors Guild made minor changes to the methodology, including all DGA-covered features with a theatrical release from 2018 to 2022, including day and date releases and independent of domestic box office results. The 2013-2017 report examined all DGA and non-DGA released theatrical films for women, and only DGA covered theatrical film releases for directors of color because ethnicity data for non-DGA projects could not be verified. For both groups, the current report examined only theatrical releases with domestic box office receipts of $250,000 or more.

While the change in methodology expanded the data reviewed by the DGA, it had no impact on the hiring statistics for directors of color. This change steadily increased the share of films directed by women from 12% to 16% over the five-year period, accounting for around half of the overall increase for female directors from the 2013-2017 report to the 2018-2022 report. Documentaries, animated films and re-releases are not included in the report.

In the future, the DGA will continue to collect data on additional genres and underrepresented communities where further analysis can shed light on hiring trends.