Published Tuesday 10th May 2016
Read more on the University of Southampton’s website
Our Research Fellow Dr Natalie Wreyford is counting all the women working in key production roles on British films from 2003-2015. Each year will have its own report, and other reports taking into account changes across the years will also be produced.
The following report will be discussed at our public event ‘Calling the Shots? Counting Women Filmmakers in British Cinema Today’ to be held at the BFI Southbank, 7pm, Tuesday, May 10th, 2016.
Calling the Shots: Women working in key roles on UK films in production during 2015
Report produced by AHRC-funded research project ‘Calling the Shots: women and contemporary film culture in the UK, 2000-2015’ based at the University of Southampton. The source data for this report is the BFI’s Research and Statistical Unit, which generated a list of 203 films in production during 2015 that qualified as British.
Report Authors: Dr Shelley Cobb, Prof Linda Ruth Williams, and Dr Natalie Wreyford
In 2015, women constituted just 20% of all directors, writers, producers, exec-producers, cinematographers and editors on 203 UK films in production during 2015. Of those women, only 7% were of Black, Asian, or Ethnic Minority identity, making BAME women less than 1.5% of all personnel working in these 6 key roles last year.
25% of the 203 British films in production had NO women in any of the six key production roles (director, writer, producer, exec-producer, cinematographer, and editor).
Percentages in each production role:
Women comprised 13% of directors; on 5 films with a woman director they were co-director/second director. On 4 of those films women were co-director or second director alongside a man. Less than 2% of all directors were BAME women.
74% of films with a woman director also had a woman producer.
Women accounted for 20% of all screenwriters. 13% of all 203 films had women screenwriters only. 69% of women screenwriters worked on a film with at least one woman producer. Less than 2% of all screenwriters were BAME women.
27% of producers were women. 43% of the 203 films had no women producers. Only 8% of the 203 films had no men producers. Less than 2% of all producers were BAME women.
Of all exec-producers, women accounted for 18% of the total. 5 films had all women exec-producers. 81 films had all men exec-producers. Only 1% of all exec-producers were BAME women.
Women comprised 17% of editors. 50% of women editors worked on a film with at least one woman producer. Less than 2% of editors were BAME women.
7% of all cinematographers were women. 8 of the 13 women cinematographers (61%) worked on films with at least one woman producer. 2 women cinematographers worked with a woman director; one of those held both positions. 0% of all cinematographers were BAME women.
% of women in each role
