Author: Martha Lauzen

It’s a Man’s Celluloid World: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top Grossing U.S. Films of 2024

• It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World report

EXCERPT:

In 2024, the percentage of top grossing films featuring female protagonists equaled the percentage of films with male protagonists.  42% of the 100 top domestic grossing films had female protagonists and 42% had male protagonists.  16% of films featured ensembles.  The percentages of female characters in speaking roles increased only 2 percentage points, from 35% in 2023 to 37% in 2024.  The percentage of major female characters rose a single percentage point, from 38% in 2023 to 39% in 2024.  Ageism remains an issue.  The percentage of female characters plummeted from 35% in their 30s to 16% in their 40s.  In stark contrast, the percentage of male characters increased as they moved from their 30s (25%) to their 40s (31%).  More than twice as many male characters as females were 50 and older.   Now in its 23rd year, It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World is the longest-running and most comprehensive project examining women’s representation in film available.

The Celluloid Ceiling: Employment of Behind-the-Scenes Women on Top Grossing U.S. Films in 2024

• The Celluloid Ceiling Report

The Celluloid Ceiling has tracked women’s employment in films for the last 27 years and provides the longest-running and most comprehensive historical record of women’s behind-the-scenes representation in U.S. films available. Overall, women comprised just 23% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the 250 top films of 2024.  Taking the long view, this represents an increase of just 6 percentage points from 17% in 1998.  By role, women accounted for 27% of producers, 22% of executive producers, 20% of editors, 20% of writers, 16% of directors, and 12% of cinematographers working on the 250 top films.  The study also tracked the numbers of women working as composers in 2024.  Women accounted for 9% of composers working on the 250 top films.  Films with at least one woman director employed substantially more women in other key behind-the-scenes roles than films with exclusively male directors.  The report also includes the percentages of women working on the 100 top grossing films.

Indie Women: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in U.S. Independent Film, 2023-24

• Indie Women: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in U.S. Independent Film, 2023-24

EXCERPT

This year’s Indie Women study tracked the employment of behind-the-scenes women working on independently and domestically produced feature-length documentaries and narrative films screening and/or streaming at 20 high-profile film festivals in the U.S.  While these fests continue to stream/screen more narrative films with male than female directors, for the first time they selected more documentaries with female than male directors in 2023-24.  The festivals streamed/screened an average of 11 narrative films directed exclusively by men and 7 directed by women.  However, the festivals screened/streamed an average of 9 documentaries directed by at least one woman and 8 directed exclusively by men.  Women achieved historic highs working as directors (45%) and writers (45%) on documentaries, while the percentages of women working on narrative features declined in every role considered in 2023-24.  Higher percentages of women worked as directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, and cinematographers on documentaries than on narrative features.  Overall, women accounted for 44% of these behind-the-scenes individuals working on documentaries, even with 2022-23, and 32% of those working on narrative features, down from 35% in 2022-23.  The study also reports on women working as composers on independent films.  Women comprised 18% and men 82% of composers on independent features (narrative and documentary films).  Composers, who happen to be women, fared better on documentaries (24%) than on narrative features (15%).

Living Archive: The Celluloid Ceiling Documenting 26 Years of Women’s Employment in U.S. Films 

• Living Archive: The Celluloid Ceiling Documenting 26 Years of Women’s Employment in U.S. Films report

EXCERPT

Since 1998, the annual Celluloid Ceiling study has tracked women’s employment in some of the core crafts of filmmaking, including directing, writing, producing, editing, and cinematography.  It is the longest-running and most comprehensive study of women’s behind-the-scenes employment available.  The Living Archive compiles the findings from every year of the project in a single reference document.  The takeaway from this report is that while the percentages of women working in the roles considered have risen over the last quarter century, many of those gains have been meager.  The percentage of women working as editors on the 250 top grossing films increased by a single point from 20% in 1998 to 21% in 2023.  The percentage of women working as producers climbed 2 points, from 24% in 1998 to 26% in 2023.  The percentage of women working as cinematographers rose just 3 points over the last 26 years, from 4% in 1998 to 7% in 2023.  The percentage of women writers increased 4 points from 13% in 1998 to 17% in 2023.  The percentage of women working as executive producers rose 6 points from 18% in 1998 to 24% in 2023.  Directors, who have received the lion’s share of attention on industry panels and in media reports, experienced the largest increase, climbing 7 percentage points from 9% in 1998 to 16% in 2023.  The extended timeline highlighted in this report provides a sobering historical record of the unrelenting underemployment of women in the U.S. mainstream film industry.