Women Filmmaking Stats

The Philly Inquirer critic Carrie Rickey has come up with some provocative statistics about women in the film business:

First, the stats:

60% of Oscar nominated documentary features are directed by women,
40% of Oscar nominated foreign-films are directed by women,
25% of Sundance 2007 features and shorts are directed by women
10% of best-picture Oscar nominees are directed by women (although “Little Miss Sunshine” is co-directed by Valerie Faris)
6.25 % of top-250 domestic box office grossers in 2006 are directed by women
1.8 % of top-1000 domestic box office grossers in 2006 are directed by women.
As every journalist knows, you can spin stats to support any argument. I don’t want to spin, only to ask the question do these stats mean good news or bad news? I’ll supply the evidence without spin. You’re the jury. I want your verdict. Analyze this:

1. Women directors dominate this year’s Oscar’s documentary category with Amy Berg’s “Deliver Us From Evil,” Heidi Ewing’s and Rachel Grady’s “Jesus Camp, “Laura Poitras’ and Jocelyn Glatzer’s “My Country, My Country.”

2. This year’s foreign-film nominations include Susanne Bier’s “After the Wedding” and Deepa Mehta’s “Water,” giving what Variety used to call “femme helmers” two out of five slots– the last time this occurred was in 1985, when Agnieszka Holland’s “Angry Harvest” and “Coline Serreau’s “Three Men and a Cradle” were nominated.

3. 2006 marks the fourth time in 79 years that the Academy nominated a female director. Previous nominees: Lina Wertmuller for “Seven Beauties” (1975), Jane Campion for “The Piano” (1993) and Sofia Coppola for “Lost in Translation.” None of them won, although both Campion and Coppola bagged statuettes for original screenplay.

4. Of this year’s 250 top grossers, 6.25% are directed by women, which is actually down a tick from 7% in 2005 (and this takes into consideration Faris’ half equity in “Little Miss Sunshine). This year’s list: “Step Up” (38), “Little Miss Sunshine” (48), “The Holiday” (59), “John Tucker Must Die” (75), “Take the Lead” (91), “The Nativity Story” (97), “Stick It!’ (105), “Marie Antoinette” (137), “Friends With Money” (147), “Something New” (163), Material Girls” (164), “Water” (192) and “Secret de Ma Mere” (225).

5. By genre, three women directed titles are rom-coms (”The Holiday,” “Friends With Money” and “Something New”), two are family coms (”Little Miss Sunshine” and “Secret de Ma Mere”), two are teen coms (”John Tucker Must Die” and “Material Girls”), two are dance musicals (”Step Up” and “Take the Lead”), two are historical dramas about women and religion (”The Nativity Story” and “Water”), one is an unconventional biopic (”Marie Antoinette”) and one a sports comedy (”Stick It!”).

6. Of the films on the Top 1000 Box Office list (not adjusted for inflation), 20 are directed by women. Noteworthy: most of them are comedies. Marshall directed four of the top 20, likewise Meyers. Heckerling has three titles and Ephron two. Brit Maguire and Aussie Armstrong are the only foreigners on the list.

7. There’s more correlation than usual between box office and Oscar nominations with these titles: Nine of the 20 women-helmed Top 1000 box office grossers received Oscars nominations. Shrek won best animated feature. It remains to be seen how “Little Miss Sunshine will fare. Of these 20, half are already classics: “Shrek,” “What Women Want,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Wayne’s World,” “Big,” “A League of Their Own,” “Bridget Jones,” “The Parent Trap,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” and “Little Women.”

The question is, what do they mean, exactly? The best I've been able to come up with, over years of asking why women filmmakers don't do better in America (movie producers and writers, and TV directors, producers and writers all do better than directors) is that in some profound way, all the factors that serve to ruin many of our best male filmmakers also divebomb talented women. I've seen many women make their great indie early efforts--women with a voice--and then disappear. They are diverted out of movies, into television, or marginalized. But the other factor is that other cultures support women filmmakers, who are able to work in industries where movies aren't so hideously risk averse and expensive. Women in Hollywood are given the assignments that men don't want: romantic comedies, family movies. And their eagerness to please allows them to compromise. Julie Taymor is an example of a powerful artist who does not compromise, but finds easier voice in opera or theater or television than she does in movies. It's so hard to make good movies here anyway, that even the best and brightest can't get it done.

Comments

[Sergio]

Could it be the subject matter? I had NO interest in watching an icky "rom-com" like The Holiday (though I liked Something New quite a lot) or corny dance musicals like Take The Lead or Step Up. Aren't there ANY women directors out there who are interested in making, what could be considered, more male orientated genres like horror or action movies? I wager that even a male centered "rom com" like The 40 Year Old Virgin or a horror film like The Descent, which had an all female cast, could have been directed by a woman. What if a woman director stood her ground and said, no more family friendly movies. I want to direct a hard core, gut busting horror film. Filmgoers wouldn't care who's behind the camera as long as it delivers what they want.

[Brenda]

3. What female director is nominated? Little Miss Sunshine is nominated for best picture, notably NOT for direction.

5. "Friends With Money" is NOT a rom com. (Maybe part of the problem is that people assume: "woman director + Jennifer Aniston = romantic comedy"?) The movie's a dark comedy about four women dealing with aging, decaying marriages and class issues. There is a sort of romantic conclusion, but it is pretty out of left field and cynically rendered; I didn't love the movie (mostly because Aniston was horrendously miscast in a key role), but it doesn't belong in the same category as "The Holiday."

Other than that, thanks for posting this; these are interesting stats. (And a little encouraging, at least.)

Sergio: Maybe it's not so much women's interest in directing the films as the opportunities that are out there for women? Why would a studio give money to a woman who wanted to make a film in what is generally considered a "male" genre? If you're in charge of the studio: It seems less risky to have a man, who understands what male fans want. Those assumptions (and really, gendering movie genres) have to change before women get to make more diverse choices. (Also: you want to see a gory film by a female director? Check out Julie Taymor's "Titus". It is hardcore.)

[Sergio]

Brenda

Why should a woman director (or any director for that matter come to think of it) wait for Hollywood to give her a chance to direct what would be considered a typical "male" genre movie? If there is woman who wanted to direct a horror film, why couldn't she go out and do the film independently? The Descent, which I mentioned in my previous post, was an independently made very modestly budgeted movie. And as another example, there was a horror film shown at Sundance, that people have been raving about, The Signal, which is low budget inde film made by a trio of Atlanta-based filmmakers. Hollywood isn't the only game in town.

And you're right about Taymor's Titus. There's gore aplenty in that film and in the same vein (pun intended) what about Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark? By the way, what ever happened to Bigelow?

[Ron Taylor]

There seems to be an assumption in some quarters that women do not make films which appeal to a wider audience. But it could be that women are not being offered the scripts that appeal to a wider audience.

[Edie]

These stats are interesting but they don’t show the male/female ratio of all directors. Could it be that there just aren’t as many female directors out there? I don’t know. I do know that a month ago I through together an evening called “Flicks by Chicks” funny films by funny females.
My intent was to make it a monthly event and encourage women to get out and make some shorts. the problem is that I found it very difficult to find short films by female filmmakers... And I'm in Hollywood. I was able to find 8 or 10.... but I’m certain that if the call was open to men I would have found hundreds. So I don’t know what the stats mean.... I think one thing to do is ask the top universities in film making what the percentage is of females who graduate with a focus on directing... and not say acting.

[bryan brooks]

Hey guys here’s a funny short film I found on youtube by a 19 year old female filmmaker. It's really good, shot on film I think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_zagIaFw4o