Women Working Behind the Scenes on Independent Films More than Blockbusters, Study Says
- In The Hollywood Reporter
- By Debbie Emery
- May 5, 2014
Author: Martha Lauzen
Though the Number of Lead Female Roles Rose in 2015, Hollywood is Still Failing Women of Colour
Though the Number of Lead Female Roles Rose in 2015, Hollywood is Still Failing Women of Colour
- In The Independent
- By Clarisse Loughrey
- February 10, 2016
Study: Female Protagonists on the Rise in Hollywood — but the Majority Are White
Study: Female Protagonists on the Rise in Hollywood — but the Majority Are White
- In Variety
- By Brent Lang
- February 9, 2016
The Celluloid Ceiling II: Production Design, Production Management, Sound Design, Key Grips, and Gaffers
The Celluloid Ceiling II: Production Design, Production Management, Sound Design, Key Grips, and Gaffers
EXCERPT
For over a decade, The Celluloid Ceiling study has tracked women’s representation as directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers on the top 250 domestic grossing films. In an effort to assess the larger picture of women’s employment in film, this study monitored their representation as production designers (20%), production managers/production supervisors (25%/44%), sound designers/supervising sound editors (5%/5%), key grips (1%), and gaffers (1%).
The study analyzed behind-the-scenes employment of 1,318 individuals working on the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2008 with combined box office grosses of approximately $9.4 billion.
Women @ the Box Office
Women @ the Box Office
EXCERPT
This study asked two basic questions: how do films with at least one woman working in a key behind-the-scenes role fare at the box office when compared to those employing only men in the same roles, and how do films featuring female protagonists fare at the box office when compared to those featuring males.
Examining the top 100 worldwide grossing films of 2007, the study found that when women and men filmmakers have similar budgets for their films, the resulting box office grosses are also similar. In other words, the sex of filmmakers does not determine box office grosses.
In addition, when the size of the budget is held constant, films with female protagonists or prominent females in an ensemble cast earn similar box office grosses (domestic, international, opening weekend) and DVD sales as films with male protagonists. Because films featuring male protagonists have larger budgets, they earn larger box office grosses. However, the differences in box office grosses are not caused by the sex of the protagonist but by the size of the budget. Films with larger budgets generate larger grosses, regardless of the sex of the protagonist.