The Realities of Hollywood & Diversity
An annual diversity survey found that the U.S movie industry is no more diverse than it was a decade ago, and “there was no meaningful or sustained change in 2017,” for female, black or Asian directors in Hollywood
Does this surprise us?
I mean come on now. The saying “Whiter than the Oscars,” really holds true when it comes to Hollywood.
The report, commissioned by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism surveyed 1,100 films made in the last 11 years and found that just 4% were directed by women- this equates to 22 male directors hired for every woman.
Say what? Yes, 22 male directors were hired for every woman!!! Let’s hold on to our seats there is more.
The Study also found that female directors started later in their careers and ended earlier than their male counterparts, and 83.7% of women never directed a second movie, as opposed to 55.3% of men.
I mean do women of color have to take a stand and march on Hollywood with our picket signs to get a seat at the table? I’m thinking so.
According to Jacqueline Bobo’s book, Black Women Film and Video artists, “there is a substantial body of work created by Black women film/video makers that is overlooked not only by many distributors, but also by critical reviews and scholarly analyses, with the notable exception of those by black women scholars, have been few and far in between.
Hollywood’s ‘female director problem’ has been the source of much dialogue over the past years, says the report’s author, Stacy L Smith. She also states, “until major media companies take concrete steps to address the biases that impede hiring, nothing will change.”
Diversity, or rather the lack thereof, should be an ongoing topic that Hollywood should be discussing until there is true change.
But, the saying “why fix it if it isn’t broke” remains so true. When it comes to diversity that means we all must look at who commissions and makes the programs.
Sources: www.Annenberg.usc.edu; www.respectability.org