Representation in Hollywood

Women in Hollywood: (based on UCLA data)

• Women make up about 50% of the U.S. population and minorities slightly more than 40%. A majority of the nation’s population will be minorities by 2050, according to U.S. Census estimates.

• The numbers of acting roles for women and people of color in film have been progressively increasing since UCLA researchers first started tracking data. And results from the last two years of film are heartening.

• The researchers analyzed 139 films with the highest gross global ticket receipts of 2018. They found that 41.0% of lead roles went to women and 26.6% to minorities. And among all acting roles in those films, 40.4% went to women and 30.9% to people of color.

• Things improved somewhat in most casting roles in 2019. Women had 44.1% of lead acting roles and 40.2% of the total cast in the 145 films from 2019 examined in the report; people of color made up 27.6% of lead actors and 32.7% of all film roles in 2019.

• Each year, the report also analyzes the range of cast diversity among the top-grossing movies. In every previous report, films with the least diverse casts — those in which less than 11% of the cast were minority actors — made up the largest share of the top-grossing movies.

• By 2019, that was not the case: Just 15.9% of the top-grossing movies had casts that were less than 11% minorities. By comparison, more than half of the top films in 2011 had less than 11% minority casts.

• When it comes to writing and directing, minorities and women have gained a little ground on their white and male counterparts in recent years, but still have a long way to go.

• In 2018, just 7.1% of the directors of top-grossing films were women and 19.3% were people of color. In 2019, women posted meaningful gains to reach 15.1%, but minorities directed just 14.4% percent of the top box office movies, a slight increase over recent years.

• Women earned 14.8% of writing credits on the films analyzed in 2018, and minorities claimed 10.4%. Both figures improved for 2019, with 17.4% of writing credits going to women and 13.9% to people of color.

• “Getting writing, directing and acting jobs is a critical step for women and people of color because success in the industry is largely driven by the credits you have,” Hunt said.

• The statistics for people of color in key entertainment roles are particularly striking considering their visibility, buying power, ideas and experiences in the population at large — including as consumers of entertainment. People of color accounted for at least 50% of domestic ticket sales for six of the top 10 films in 2018. In 2019, minorities bought at least 50% of tickets for nine of the top 10 films.

• In 2018, films with casts made up of 21% to 30% minority actors had the highest median global ticket receipts. In 2019, the films that tended to perform the best at the box office were even more diverse, with casts in the 41% to 50% minority range. Despite that buying power, the analysis suggests, fundamental structural change in Hollywood is not yet evident.

• Among digital programs, just 10.3% of show creators were minorities; in broadcast, 10.7%; and for cable, 14.7%.

• Women held 28.6% of show creator titles for digital programs, 28.1% for broadcast and 22.4% for cable.

• In 2018–19, only 24.0% of credited writers were minorities and only 21.8% of all episodes airing or streaming were directed by minorities, on average, across broadcast, cable, and digital platforms.

White men still dominate the high-level TV executive jobs. As of 2020, chair/CEO positions were overwhelmingly held by white people (92.0%) and men (68.0%); and the statistics were similar for of senior executives (84.0% white, 60.0% male) and unit heads (87.0% white, 54.0% male).

• Black actors reached proportional representation (12.9%) among lead actors in cable scripted shows in 2017–18 and lead actors in cable scripted programs (14.1%) in 2018–19. Black actors were also overrepresented in total cast diversity for broadcast (18.0%) and cable shows (18.2%) in 2018–19. The U.S. population is about 13% Black.

• The 2020 Hollywood Diversity Report also includes a workplace analysis of 11 major and mid-major studios, which found that 91% of C-level positions are held by white people and 82% are held by men. Among all senior executive positions, 93% percent are held by white people and 80% by men. Further down the chart, gender equality is somewhat better: Studios’ film unit heads are 86% white, but only 69% male.

• “What’s being green-lit matters,” said the report’s co-author, Ana-Christina Ramon, director of research and civic engagement for the UCLA College division of social sciences. “And although the industry is changing in front of the camera, white men are still doing the overwhelming majority of the green-lighting and making the major decisions behind the scenes at the studios.” That phenomenon largely dictates what stories get told and who gets the all-important jobs in front of and behind the camera.

Diversity improves among TV actors, but executives still overwhelmingly white and male:

• An analysis by the researchers at UCLA College found that women hold only 32.0% of studio chair and CEO jobs; minorities just 8.0%

• Across broadcast, cable and digital, only 24.0% of credited writers are minorities and only 21.8% of episodes were directed by minorities in 2018–19.

• Representation of women and minorities in acting roles has improved since last year’s report.

• Ratings and social media engagement data show that audiences respond to diversity.

Women and minorities made gains in nearly all of the 13 television employment categories tracked by the report. But both groups still are not represented proportionately to their share of the U.S. population overall, even though audiences continue to show interest in programs whose casts, directors and writers represent the nation’s diversity.  

“There has been a lot of progress for women and people of color in front of the camera,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of the division of social sciences in the UCLA College and a co-author of the report. “Unfortunately, there has not been the same level of progress behind the camera. Most notably in the executive suite, there has been very little change since we began compiling data five years ago. That’s very telling, particularly in light of our current racial reckoning.”

The report, which is compiled and published by researchers in the UCLA College social sciences division, tracks two seasons of scripted broadcast, cable and digital programming — 453 shows in 2017-18 and 463 shows in 2018-19.

In 2018-19, minority actors were almost proportionally represented (35.0%) among lead roles in scripted cable shows. (Minorities represent 40.2% of the population overall.) Women actors achieved parity in lead roles for of digital scripted shows (49.4%) and almost did so among lead roles in scripted cable shows (44.8%).

In all other job categories reviewed in the report, men hold almost twice as many jobs as women and whites hold at least twice as many as minorities. Still, there are signs of continued, albeit slow, improvement. Of all lead acting slots on broadcast shows in 2018–19, people of color held 24.0%, almost a fivefold increase from 2011–12 when it was 5.1%.

The analysis found that the greatest racial and gender disparities are in behind-the-camera jobs such as show creator, writer and director:

“Just as with film, it’s those at the top of the television industry who have the most power to foster talent and invest in programming,” said Ana-Christina Ramon, a co-author of the report and director of research and civic engagement in the UCLA division of social sciences.

“The underrepresentation of people of color in the executive suite, and as creators, writers and directors is problematic, even if there are more people of color in acting roles. When people of color do not control their own narrative, their characters’ storylines may lack authenticity, may be written stereotypically or their characters may even be depicted as ‘raceless.’”

Each Hollywood Diversity Report has further established that audiences value and respond to diversity.

Among Black households, all 10 of the top-rated broadcast TV shows in 2018–19 featured casts that were at least 21% minority. But the phenomenon held among white households, too: eight of the top 10 broadcast scripted shows among white viewers had casts that were at least 21% minority.

Social media engagement tends to be strong when casts are more diverse, too. Judging viewers’ activity on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter activity around scripted cable TV shows, figures spiked when the shows had majority-minority casts.

Among other findings in the report:

• Latinos and Asian Americans remain significantly underrepresented in nearly all industry positions.
  
  
• There is minimal presence in any job category for people of Middle Eastern and North African descent, and virtually zero representation for Native Americans.

“Over time, work has been done to improve representation among certain groups — like Black actors in particular — but the near absence of Native Americans in these jobs is potent evidence that systems of racial erasure continue to exist,” Hunt said.

Hollywood has its most diverse year:

2020 was a strange year for Hollywood film releases but it was also, "the industry's most successful year on the diversity front".

That's according to a report by UCLA which also found movie watchers in the US are becoming more diverse and prefer content with greater diversity.

• The number of ethnic minorities involved in watching or making American movies also increased.

The top 185 English-language films released were examined:

• Eight of the top 10 theatrically released films had casts in which minorities made up more than 30%, including Bad Boys for Life, starring Will Smith - which had 50%.

• Christopher Nolan's Tenet and Sonic the Hedgehog each had between 31%-40%.

This is very different from around a decade ago. In 2011, more than half of the films had cast diversity of less than 11% - but in 2020 that fell with less than 10% of films in that lowest level.

The report found more people were watching films with diverse casts as well as the entertainment industry hiring more diverse staff for both onscreen and creative roles.

For the first time since the report launched, ethnic minorities were represented in the lead actor and total cast categories at levels proportionate to the US population, with writers credited for the top films almost doubling from 2019.

But there's a lot more work to do, with few examples of women and minorities running films with the biggest budgets. "There is a clear underinvestment of films made by, written by, and led by women and people of colour," Ana-Christina Ramon, the report's co-author said.

White film directors were more than twice as likely as minority directors to lead a film with a budget of $100m (£72m) or more - with women and minorities more likely to direct films that fell into the lowest budget category of less than $20m (14.4m). The most underrepresented groups in all categories, relative to their population in the US, are Latino, Asian and Native actors, directors and writers.

"Hollywood would benefit greatly from embracing 2020's revelations about the possibilities associated with major advances on the diversity front," the report states.

What can the UK film industry take from this report?

Katie Smith-Wong is a British-Asian film critic and says one lesson is Hollywood's move towards greater diversity in casting and writing.

"They're acknowledging there are different ethnicities and audiences out there who are looking to find a different branch of story," she tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

The release of Black Panther in 2018, she says, showed there's an audience around the world which needs stories and talent to be recognised from across ethnicities, cultures and histories.

In the UK, Katie feels the influence of diversity is not as strong in the mainstream, with films here not celebrating positive stories as much and leaning more to plots of hardship. "In Hollywood, you see there are more supporting roles, whereas in the UK, it's hard to find ones that don't avoid stereotypes."

In June 2020, an open letter was published calling on the UK's film and TV industry to "tackle structural and systemic racism" in broadcasting and film-making. Among the things the letter asked for was black and brown independent producers to be empowered and for the lack of diversity on productions to be constantly challenged. "There is diverse talent in the UK, we've seen that in a show like Small Axe and the Rocks film. There needs to be more people willing to support different voices that might appeal to more audiences. Because at the end of the day, originality counts," she adds.