DGA Has Seen Little Progress In Feature Representation Over Last Five Years, Even Amidst Improvements In TV, New Report Reveals
21.12.2023 - 20:09
/ deadline.com
The Directors Guild of America on Thursday unveiled a new Feature Film Diversity & Inclusion report, which spotlights the limited progress that’s been made in the feature space over the last five years, when it comes to the hiring of women and people of color, in stark contrast to what’s transpired in TV.
Of the 1,026 DGA-covered features released theatrically from 2018-2022, just 16% were helmed by women, with 17% being helmed by directors of color. Directing jobs for women ranged across the five-year period from a low of 12% in 2018 to a high of 22% in 2020. Similarly, directors of color ranged from a low of 13% in 2019 to a high of 25% in 2021.
In comparing the data for 2018-2022 to that of the DGA’s last report for 2013-2017, it’s evident that women directors have seen only incremental growth in opportunity, up 8% from the previous five-year period. Directing jobs for people of color were up just 4%.
In TV between 2014 to 2021, the DGA revealed last summer, change has been much more significant. Episodes directed by women and people of color more than doubled during this period, going up from 16% in both cases in 2014 to 38% and 34%, respectively, during the Covid-impacted 2020-2021 season.
Feature-world analysis of hiring at different budget levels revealed that women directed 13% of High Budget and 18% of Low Budget releases from 2018-2022, with people of color directing 17% of both. Across the same period, white women helmed 11% of features. Men of color held around 14% of feature directing jobs, with women of color taking up just 4%.
Perhaps the only bright spot in the data was the fact that over the last five years, there’s been an increase in hiring of women and people of color to direct their first