Women are writing, directing and producing more independent films than ever, but they’re still getting less work than their male counterparts.
The survey looked at over 10,700 credits on more than 970 independent films in 2018 to 2019, and over 80,000 credits on more than 8,000 films over 2008 to 2019. Indeed, men made up 68% of indepedent filmmaking jobs overall,compared to just 32% of women in roles like directors, producers and writers, the survey found. Independent films generally refer to smaller-budget movies made by production companies that aren’t major Hollywood studios.
In the past 11 years, just 4% of the top-grossing films have been directed by women. To combat this disparity, filmmakers and Dr. Stacy L. Smith, the founder and director of media, diversity and social change at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, launched the 4 Percent Challenge at the Sundance Film Festival this year, asking production companies and studios to hire a female director in the next 18 months.