|
Agnes Godard, one of the camerawomen honored
at Films de Femmes Festival this past April
|
How
are women faring behind the silver screen? Have behind-the-scenes
women ridden the gender-bending tidal wave extolled by so many reporters,
ushering in a new era of filmmaking equality? Or are they stuck in
a world where the status quo rules, making women behind the scenes
a relative rarity even as the new millennium ensues?
A quick glance at various media reports only adds to the confusion.
While myriad articles in the trades and popular press reported on
women working behind the scenes in 1998, many offered a mixed bag
of truths and half-truths, relying on varying amounts of hope, hype
and hearsay to tell their often upbeat yet misleading stories. For
example, MovieMaker magazine featured women cinematographers Tami
Reiker and Ellen Kuras on its October 1999 cover accompanied by the
optimistic headline, "Gender Bias: Is Hollywood Over It?" The story
implied that women's employment is improving at a rapid pace. The
lead sentence effused, "there will come a time in Hollywood, and it
won't be long, when the whole 'gender thing' is history." The story
neglected to mention that women comprised a mere 1% of all cinematographers
working on the top (U.S.) grossing films in 1998, up from 0% the year
before -- hardly the employment revolution suggested by the article.
A review of the research chronicling women's progress in the
film industry reveals modest but steady improvement over the last
decade, with women's employment hitting a plateau in the last few
years. In 1987, women comprised 8% of all producers, directors, writers,
cinematographers, and editors working on the top 100 films (by U.S.
box office gross), increasing to 10% in 1992 and 15% in 1997. Women
have made little progress, however, over the last few years. In 1998,
women accounted for 17% of individuals in these powerful roles, decreasing
to 16% in 1999.
Broken down by role, women fare best as producers and worst
as cinematographers. In the top 100 grossing films (by U.S. box office)
of 1998, women represented 26% of producers, 21% of executive producers,
13% of editors, 12% of writers, 8% of directors, and 1% of cinematographers.
Of the various explanations offered for women's under-representation,
perhaps none is so frequently mentioned or strongly held as the belief
that films made by women earn less than those made by men. However,
analysis of box office grosses by gender reveals that films employing
at least one woman behind the scenes (as executive producer, producer,
director, writer, cinematographers or editor) had a slightly higher
average U.S. box office gross than films without any woman working
behind the scenes in 1998. Of the top 221 films (by U.S. box office
gross), 51 had no women working behind the scenes in the above mentioned
roles. On average, these films grossed $25.6 million. The other 170
films, with at least one woman working behind the scenes, grossed
an average of $31.6 million.
Indulging the various myths surrounding women's employment
certainly raises the industry's collective comfort level, assuring
all that the "gender thing" is history. However, the real numbers
on reel women reveal little change in behind-the-scenes employment
in recent years, suggesting a protracted evolutionary journey filled
with small victories and sustained hope.
Martha M. Lauzen is a professor of communication at San Diego State
University and the author of numerous studies on women working in
the film and television industries. Article based on her book
"Challenging Conventional Wisdom: Behind-the- Scenes Employment of
Women in the Top 250 Films of 1998." |
