'Not enough women working in film industry', report warns

 
Gender gap: Sam Taylor-Wood is one of a few female directors working in the film industry (Picture: Reuters)
Matt Watts23 July 2014

A damning report has revealed a lack of women working in the film industry, sparking calls for cinema to address gender disparity.

A study compiled by the British producer and writer Stephen Follows has revealed more than three-quarters of the crew involved in making 2,000 of the biggest grossing films over the past 20 years have been men, while only 22 per cent were women.

Follows said he hoped the “terrifying” report would finally force the industry to combat the gender issue.

The report looked at the gender of employees, from make-up artists and animators to sound engineers and directors, who had worked on the 100 biggest box-office blockbusters each year since 1994.

Women made up a majority only in costume and wardrobe departments and casting.

Visual effects, usually the largest department for big feature films, had an average of only 17.5 per cent of women, while 95 per cent of camera and electricals staff were male.

Women accounted for only 13 per cent of the editors, 10 per cent of the writers and just 5 per cent of the directors.

The British Film Institute, which gives £27m a year to the industry, said it was trying to tackle diversity issues. It said new funding quotas were being introduced in September which would stipulate that for films to be eligible for BFI funding they should have a certain percentage of actors and crew who were female, gay, disabled and from ethnic minorities.

The chairman of British Film Commission, Iain Smith, who has also produced films, including The Fifth Element said: “In spite of efforts to achieve greater gender balance within the industry, especially in these busier times, the reality seems to be that it’s getting worse not better. These statistics must propel industry and inform government policy to increase the pursuit of proper diversity in the workforce.”

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