Both USC Annenberg and San Diego State University released year-end diversity reports looking at behind-the-scenes representation in the biggest films of 2022. And the results showed that Hollywood has fallen sharply behind in the past year.
Both studies – the “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair” report from USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and the “Celluloid Ceiling” report from the San Diego State Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film – examined the number of women who directed the year’s 100 highest-grossing films. This year, according to the USC study, only 10 women directed one of the 100 highest-grossing films at the domestic box office: Olivia Newman (“The Crawdads Song”), Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”), Olivia Wilde (“Don’t Worry Darling”), Jessica M. Thompson (“The Invitation”), Kat Coiro (“Marry Me”), Rosalind Ross (“Father Stu”), Halina Reijn (“Bodies Bodies Bodies”), Kasi Lemmons (“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody”), Chinonye Chukwu (“Till”) and Maria Schrader (“She Said”). Prince-Bythewood, Lemmons and Chukwu are the only women of color.
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That number matches USC’s 9 percent of 111 directors, down from 12.7 percent in 2021 and a high of 15 percent in 2020. SDSU had slightly different numbers, reporting that 11 percent of directors were women in 2022, down from 12 percent in 2021 and 16 percent in 2020.
The Celluloid Ceiling report also examined the year’s top 250 grossing films and found that films with at least one female director often featured more women in key behind-the-scenes roles than films directed by men. In films with women in the lead, 53 percent of screenwriters were female (compared to 12 percent for films with male directors), and 39 percent of editors (19 percent for films with male directors), 19 percent of cinematographers (4 percent for films with male directors) and 18 percent of composers (6 percent for films with male directors) were women.
The Annenberg report also examined filmmakers from underrepresented communities throughout the year. This year, only 11 directors were Asian, five were multiracial, four were black and three were Hispanic or Latino, according to the report. Universal Studios worked with five non-white directors this year, more than any other major studio, while Lionsgate, STX and 20th Century Studios did not employ a single one in 2022. Sony Pictures hired four female directors, leading the way among major studios, while 20th Century and Walt Disney Studios worked with zero female directors.
“Many people have traditions when looking back on the past year and the year ahead,” said Dr. Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, in a statement. “At the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, our tradition seems to be to lament how little has changed for women and people of color behind the camera in popular film. We want to see a change not only in tradition, but in hiring practices that continue to marginalize women and people of color as directors.”
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