Films Directed by Women, People of Color Plateaued in 2024, Study Finds

Little progress has been made for women and people of color as directors in Hollywood, according to a new study by USC‘s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

In a year that was hoping to signal recovery following the 2023 writers and actors strikes, 2024 saw no major changes for women directors of top-grossing movies, according to the study. Of 112 directors, 13.4 percent were women, nearly equivalent to 2023’s 12.1 percent. However, there has been some progress since 2007, when 2.7 percent of directors were women.

“The film industry has demonstrated that it can increase the percentage of women directors and hold that progress,” Dr. Stacy L. Smith said. “Yet, there is much more room to improve. Women directors are still significantly outnumbered and rarely get multiple opportunities behind the camera. Hollywood cannot be satisfied with the change that has occurred when there is still work to be done.”

Last year, 24.1 percent of directors were also from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group, which was on par with 2023’s 22.4 percent but significantly higher than 2007’s 12.5 percent. The highest point for underrepresented directors remains in 2021 when 28.6 percent of directors were people of color. In addition, 5.3 percent of directors were women of color, per the report.

The report found that none of the major studios have released at least 10 films by women of color in the last 18 years. Universal and Walt Disney Studios have released the most films with women of color directors since 2007, with seven and six movies, respectively.

The study also looked at critics’ review scores across 18 years and found that while films with men directors had higher critics’ scores than films by women directors in 2024, there was no difference across all 18 years. There were also no differences in critics’ scores in 2024 or across the study time frame for underrepresented directors. According to the report, women of color actually received the highest median and average critics scores across the 18 years evaluated, compared to white women and men, as well as underrepresented men.

“These findings indicate clearly that women of color bring skills and talents to the craft of moviemaking that result in quality output,” Smith added. “Yet, they still receive the fewest opportunities to work behind the camera in top movies. It is only fair to conclude that talent and qualifications are not the primary basis for hiring decisions.”