The last two years saw box office chaos, a flurry of commitments from studios to underrepresented communities, and the second-ever woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director (Chloe Zhao). But did 2020 and 2021 bring any true change in the composition of directors working behind the camera? A new study offers insights on where there has been progress and where there’s room to grow.
The report, entitled Inclusion in the Director’s Chair, shows that there has been progress behind the camera. Across 1,542 directors and 15 years of top-grossing movies, 5.4% were women. The percentage of women directors reached 15% in 2020, an all-time high. The increase from 2018 to 2020 persisted into 2021, when the percentage of women directors was 12.7%.
The study is the latest from Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, and resumes the Initiative’s annual look at gender and race/ethnicity of top-grossing directors.