When the 2019 Oscar Award nominations were announced this month it was sadly no surprise to see that once again female directors had been entirely overlooked; in the category of Best Director, only one woman has ever won the award and only five have ever been nominated in the past 91 years. The gender gap in Hollywood is no secret and has only become more and more apparent over the past few years, but unfortunately the lack of recognition for female directors is a far more deep rooted problem than simply the prejudice of a select few in the industry who have the power to distribute awards.
In reality, the problem of female directors' underrepresentation lies within a systematically oppressive industry which prevents women from being hired in influential positions behind the camera in the first place. You can't give award to female directors if they simply are not being given prominent roles. The lack of hiring of female directors is especially prominent when it comes to big budget films; TimesUp recently released a study showing that from the 1200 top grossing films made between 2007 and 2018, only 4% had been directed by a woman. In response to this shockingly low figure the #4PercentChallenge campaign was launched, encouraging people in the industry to take the pledge to work with one female director in the next 18 months.
"Because only 4% of the top 100 studio films over the last DECADE have been directed by women, #TIMESUP is initiating a challenge, the 4% challenge, and I intend to take it: I commit to working with a female director in the next 18 months." -@TessaThompson_x #TIMESUPX2 pic.twitter.com/GjsuqeryKj
? TIME'S UP (@TIMESUPNOW) 26 de enero de 2019
The campaign kicked off on Thursday at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival during a panel with Nina Jacobson, Paul Feig, Amy Schumer, Angela Robinson and Franklin Leonard. Tessa Thompson set the ball rolling with a speech that evening in which she highlighted the underrepresentation of women in Hollywood and took the pledge to diversify her work. So far over 60 actors, actresses, and producers have joined her in taking the pledge on twitter, including Reese Witherspoon, J.J. Abrams, Josh Gad, and Olivia Wilde.
Count me in @TessaThompson_x #TIMESUPX2 ?????Support #FemaleFilmmakers https://t.co/Kj4FJqTBhs
? Reese Witherspoon (@RWitherspoon) 26 de enero de 2019
Love this!@bad_robot is 100% on board!
? JJ Abrams (@jjabrams) 27 de enero de 2019
Thank you @TessaThompson_x, @TIMESUPNOW and @Inclusionists! https://t.co/YCvIGqF4I4
Money Matters
In collaboration with the Sundance Institute, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a statistical report analysing the demographic data about filmmakers included in the festival in 2017 and 2018. Results showed that, although women still accounted for far less than half of the representative body, while only 28% of projects all submitted to the festival were directed by women, they made up 35% of those which were selected for show. Similarly, the number of female directors featured at Sundance has increased by 20% in the past 10 years, with more and more female filmmakers getting their voices heard.
However, the study also showed that, while the representation and opportunity for women in the industry is improving for small-scale independent films, this does not translate to the big Hollywood projects. While the results show an ever increasing number of female directors in indie films, the numbers plummet when it comes to high budget films. Of course this is even more prevalent for women of colour; while female directors make up only 4% of the directors of the top grossing films in Hollywood, female directors on colour account for less than 1%.
^ Patty Jenkins, director of 'Wonder Woman'.
Ultimately the investigation clearly demonstrates that this underrepresentation of female directors in Hollywood is not for lack of interest or of talent, as numbers on the indie scene are increasing year after year, but rather a lack of budget being given to these women for bigger projects. The only women in Hollywood ever to have been given a budget of over $150 million is Patty Jenkins for 'Wonder Woman' in 2017, and this remains the top nationally grossing DC film in the US, thus proving that, when given the money and opportunity, women crush the game.
The campaign is here, actors and producers have taken the pledge. Now it's time that Hollywood puts their money where their mouth is and supports women directors in 2019. Time is most definitely up.
