Category: Research

Boxed In: Women On Screen and Behind the Scenes on Broadcast and Streaming Television in 2025-26

• Boxed In Report

Excerpt:

In 2025-26, the percentages of women working as creators and directors on original U.S. programs on streaming services plummeted, indicating that last year’s increases were a momentary surge as opposed to the beginning of a positive trend in employment.  The percentage of women creating streaming series bounced from 27% in 2023-24 up to 36% in 2024-25 and down to 24% in 2025-26.  The percentage of women creating broadcast programs declined slightly from 20% in 2024-25 to 19% in 2025-26.  The numbers of women creating shows on both platforms are now lower than they were almost a decade ago in 2017-18.  The percentage of women directing streaming programs rose from 23% in 2023-24 to 32% in 2024-25, falling to 22% in 2025-26.  The numbers of women directing broadcast programs contracted but not as severely from 18% in 2024-25 to 16% in 2025-26.  On screen, the numbers of female characters in major roles also declined in 2025-26.  On streaming programs, female characters comprised 44% of major characters, down from 49% in 2024-25.  On broadcast programs, females in major roles declined slightly from 47% in 2024-25 to 46% in 2025-26.

Living Archive: The Celluloid Ceiling Documenting 28 Years of Women’s Employment in U.S. Films 

• Living Archive: The Celluloid Ceiling Documenting 28 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 most of the percentages of women working in the roles considered have risen over the last quarter century, many of the increases have been meager.  For example, the percentage of women cinematographers rose 3 points, from 4% in 1998 to 7% in 2025.  The percentage of women directors climbed 4 points from 9% in 1998 to 13% in 2025.  The percentage of women working as producers increased 4 points, from 24% in 1998 to 28% in 2025.  The percentage of women working as executive producers rose 5 points from 18% in 1998 to 23% in 2025.  The percentage of women writers climbed 7 points from 13% in 1998 to 20% in 2025.  The percentage of women working as editors on the 250 top grossing films was the same in 2025 (20%) as in 1998.  The extended timeline highlighted in this report provides a sobering historical record of the chronic underemployment of women in the mainstream film industry.

It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World:  Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top Grossing U.S. Films of 2025

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

EXCERPT:

In 2025, the percentage of top grossing films with female protagonists plummeted, declining from 42% in 2024 to 29% in 2025.  53% of films had male protagonists, and 18% featured ensembles.  The percentage of female characters in speaking roles increased slightly to 38% in 2025, up 1 percentage point from 37% in 2024.  The percentage of major female characters declined 3 percentage points, from 39% in 2024 to 36% in 2025.  Ageism remains an issue.  The majority of female characters are in their 20s and 30s, while the majority of male characters are in their 30s and 40s.  Women aged 60 and older were dramatically underrepresented, accounting for just 2% of all major female characters.  Men aged 60 and older comprised 8% of all major male characters.  

The Celluloid Ceiling: Employment of Behind-the-Scenes Women on Top Grossing U.S. Films in 2025

• The Celluloid Ceiling Report

In 2025, 75% of the top 250 grossing films employed 10 or more men in pivotal behind-the-scenes roles, but only 7% employed 10 or more women.  Last year, women accounted for 23% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 grossing films, even with 2024.  Women comprised 21% of individuals in these roles on the top 100 grossing films, up 1 percentage point from 2024.  By role, women made up 28% of producers, 23% of executive producers, 20% of editors, 20% of writers, 13% of directors, and 7% of cinematographers working on the top 250 films.  Women accounted for 26% of producers, 21% of executive producers, 20% of editors, 20% of writers, 10% of directors, and 7% of cinematographers working on the top 100 films.  The study also tracked the numbers of women working as composers in 2025.  Women accounted for 7% of composers working on the top 250 films and 8% on the top 100 films.  

Indie Women: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in U.S. Independent Film, 2024-25

• Indie Women: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in U.S. Independent Film, 2024-25

EXCERPT

This year’s Indie Women report tracked the employment of behind-the-scenes women working on independently and domestically produced feature-length documentaries and narrative features screening and/or streaming at 20 high-profile film festivals in the U.S.  Overall, gender inequality widened in 2024-25 with the fests screening/streaming almost twice as many narrative features directed by men as by women over the last year.  The fests considered featured an average of 13 films directed by men and 7 by women.  In 2023-24, the ratio was 11 to 7.  In addition, after two consecutive years in which the fests streamed/screened equal or slightly higher numbers of documentary features directed by women, that trend reversed in 2024-25 with docs directed by men outnumbering those by women, 12 to 10.  Women were more likely to direct, write, produce, edit, and shoot documentaries than narrative features.  Women comprised 45% of individuals working in these roles on documentaries but 33% on narrative features.  This difference is especially evident for women working as directors (41% documentaries, 32% narrative features), editors (38% documentaries, 27% narrative features), and cinematographers (22% documentaries, 13% narrative features).  The study also reports the percentages of women working as composers.  Women comprised 15% and men 85% of composers on independent features (narrative and documentary films) in 2024-25, down from 18% in 2023-24.  Composers, who happen to be women, fared slightly better on documentaries (16%) than on narrative features (14%).

Streaming Women: Representation and Employment in Original U.S. Films Released by Streaming Services in 2022

• Streaming Women report

EXCERPT

In 2022, more original U.S. films on major streaming services featured female than male protagonists.  49% (49.4%) of films featured sole female protagonists, 38% (38.3%) of films featured sole male protagonists, and 12% (12.3%) of films had ensembles.  Females comprised 44% (43.8%) of major characters, and 40% (40.1%) of all speaking characters.   The report also considers the representation of women in behind-the-scenes roles.  In 2022, women comprised 26% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers.  By role, women accounted for 8% of cinematographers, 22% of directors, 23% of writers, 27% of producers, 29% of executive producers, and 30% of editors.   The study reports the findings of a content analysis of over 1,800 characters and more than 1,100 behind-the-scenes credits on original U.S. films released by Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max and Netflix in 2022.  It is the only study currently available that provides 2022 data for the major streaming companies.

Thumbs Down 2022: Film Critics and Gender, and Why It Matters

• Thumbs Down 2022

Excerpt:

First conducted in 2007, Thumbs Down considers the representation of individuals working for print, radio/television, and online outlets in the U.S. and whose reviews appear on the Rotten Tomatoes website.  The study found that male reviewers now outnumber female reviewers by more than 2 to 1.  In the opening months of 2022, men comprised 69% (69.2%), women 31% (30.5%), and nonbinary individuals 0.3% of reviewers.  For women, this represents a decline of 4 percentage points from 35% in 2020.  Further, male critics outnumber female critics in every job category, type of media outlet, and film genre considered.  The findings indicate that men reviewers award slightly higher average quantitative ratings to films with male protagonists than women reviewers, films directed by women comprise a smaller proportion of reviews by men than women, and that when reviewing films directed by someone of their own gender, male and female critics are more likely to mention the name of the director in their review.  Over the years, Thumbs Down has considered over 29,000 reviews written by more than 1,900 reviewers.  This year’s edition examined more than 4,000 reviews written by over 330 individuals. It is the most comprehensive and longest-running study of women’s representation and impact as film reviewers available.  

The Celluloid Ceiling II: Production Design, Production Management, Sound Design, Key Grips, and Gaffers

• The Celluloid Ceiling II Report

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

• The Women @ the Box Office Report

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.