Over the past few of years, the number of female directors landing high-profile film gigs seems to have been going up dramatically. At least, from an anecdotal perspective. However, over the past decade, the total percentage of female directors in the top 100 films of each year has remained largely stagnant. Well, according to a new report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative (via Variety), 2019 finally saw a dramatic change to that trend.
The new study looked at the top 100 films of 2019 and found that female filmmakers were responsible for 10.6% of those projects. That’s up dramatically from the dismal 4.5% of 2018 and the trend of hovering around 4.8% since 2007. So, why the uptick? Well, according to the study, a couple of major reasons likely attribute to this surprising number.
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The study says that women getting more opportunities for larger films can be traced back to recent advances in awareness thanks to Time’s Up and other campaigns. In addition, the fact that film festivals are placing a higher priority on inclusivity allows for many of these female directors to screen their projects, giving more notoriety and buzz for their films. And now, with women directors becoming more and more prominent, we’re starting to see the big studios take notice and offer jobs that were previously seen as male-oriented given to female filmmakers, such as superhero films like “Black Widow” and “Eternals,” among others.
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Of course, 2019 was a great year for women filmmakers. Projects like Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,” Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” Minhal Baig’s “Hala,” and Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart” have all received acclaim over the past 12 months. In addition, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the work of directors Jennifer Lee (“Frozen II”) and Anna Boden (“Captain Marvel”) for directing films that both earned well over $1 billion at the box office.
Now, with 2019 showing a vast improvement, there’s going to be even more eyes on next year’s study to see if the past 12 months weren’t an anomaly and are a sign of positive change.