Men Still Dominate Hollywood: San Diego State University Study

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Men still rule Hollywood. A new study by San Diego State University showed only 1 percent of the top grossing films in 2017 employed 10 or more women compared to 70 percent of films that hired 10 or more men.

The 20th annual Celluloid Ceiling report was conducted by Dr. Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.

The study found women comprised only 18 percent of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2017, virtually the same percentage of women working in these roles 20 years ago (17 percent in 1998). By role, women accounted for 11 percent of writers, 19 percent of executive producers, 25 percent of producers, 16 percent of editors, and 4 percent of cinematographers.

Women made up 11 percent of directors in 2017, an increase of 4 percentage points from 7 percent in 2016 but even with the level achieved in 2000.

“The film industry has utterly failed to address the continuing under-employment of women behind the scenes,” Lauzen said. "This negligence has produced a toxic culture that supported the recent sexual harassment scandals and truncates so many women’s careers."

This year’s study also considers the employment of women on the top 100 and 500 domestic grossing films. The analysis of the top 500 films reveals that features with at least one woman director employ higher percentages of women writers, editors, cinematographers, and composers than films with exclusively male directors. For example, on films with female directors, women comprised 68 percent of writers. On films with exclusively male directors, women accounted for 8 percent of writers.

The Celluloid Ceiling report comes after Hollywood endured a tumultuous year where powerful men, such as disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, were accused of sexual assault or misconduct. The accusations, shared through the #MeToo campaign, prompted the industry's most well-known actresses to launch the Time's Up legal defense fund, an effort to help victims of assault.

The Celluloid Ceiling has tracked women’s employment on top grossing films for the last 20 years. It is the longest-running and most comprehensive study of women’s behind-the-scenes employment in film available. This year’s study monitors 5,342 credits. Since 1998, the study has tracked a total of more than 60,000 credits.

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