COLUMN: Women need to be in television production
Earlier this month, San Diego State University released its 18th annual “Boxed In” report, a study centered on women’s roles in the television industry. From the people working behind the scenes to leading actresses on the scene for 2014 to 2015, the number of women in television continues to be lower than their male counterparts in corresponding fields. Of course, this is no surprise. But the numbers themselves prove interesting to dissect, if only in the hopes that they will continue to change in the years to come.
Female directors account for 14 percent of the market, which is up a meager 1 percent from the previous year. However, the study found that in cases where at least one woman was a creator on the show, the number of female writers increased, which no doubt puts a positive light on the encouraging community female television leaders can create. The stereotype that women can be catty in the workplace just doesn’t hold up. But obviously, we still have a long way to go, as the report goes on to say.
The report’s author, Martha Lauzen, states, “The findings suggest that creators and executive producers play an instrumental role in shifting the gender dynamics for both on-screen characters and other individuals working in powerful behind-the-scenes roles.” She goes on to point out that broadcast programs with at least one female creator show a writing staff comprised of 50 percent female writers. On programs without a female creator, the number of female writers drops to a mere 15 percent, which clearly demonstrates the great disparity and unfair disadvantage women have in the writers’ room helmed by a man.
The study not only takes into account broadcast and cable networks, but it also opens up its field of research to include original series from streaming services. As the television industry expands outside the confines of a literal boxed television screen, it will be interesting to see how these numbers shift and change, if at all. A possible indicator may be Amazon’s original series Transparent which could be a positive push in the right direction. Not only is Transparent creator and showrunner Jill Soloway a woman, but she also pointedly aims to employ diverse people of different minorities and sexual orientations. The show itself is also a marvel in subject matter: Three grown siblings find out their over 60-year-old father actually wants to be a woman. Though the premise may read as an unfunny ’90s sitcom, the actual drama of the show is dealt with the utmost of art. There are comedic moments, but Transparent is a very serious show with thematic sophistication. Additionally, the show is not only an Emmy winner, but has also been renewed for a total of three seasons, emphasizing just how successful a series of such a taboo subject can actually fare.
When it came to which networks did the best in employing women, the study also found that ABC paved the way with 45 percent of their characters being women. ABC is responsible for shows such as Scandal, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder and Nashville. Several of those series have been created by trailblazing USC alumna Shonda Rhimes — another leading force in the industry who is notable for hiring women on her shows and for her self-created production company, Shondaland, a universe where women are the protagonists. Also among that list is ABC’s Nashville, a show not only created by esteemed female screenwriter Callie Khouri — who is responsible for the pioneering 1991 feminist film Thelma & Louise — but is currently run by Dee Johnson (a woman), and is composed of eight women on a 13-person staff, in addition to two female writing assistants.
The most upsetting finding of the report was not the example of ageism in the industry, where a 20-year-old actress is most often paired with a 40-year-old actor and never vice versa. That type of discrimination is basically an absolute fact by this point, as is the ageism where most actresses are “too old” by the time they are 35. Rather, the real crime here is in the numbers for female directors of photography. As was the case last year, the number of female cinematographers working in television shows in the past year was 2 percent. That’s right — just 2 percent.
Where women seem to have broken the celluloid ceiling and effectively infiltrated the producer and writer arenas, of which there are 38 percent and 26 percent women represented in the industry, respectively, somehow women have not been able to break into the cinematography world. As a film school student surrounded by equally inspiring women and men working on projects at USC, I find it hard to believe that there is a shortage of female talent. The excuse, “well, women just don’t want to be directors of photography,” rings completely false. Therefore, it remains clear that directors in television, comprised of 86 percent men, seem to want a male presence directly behind the lens.
The bias is clearly at play in Hollywood today, and I don’t see the trend changing any time soon. The only way for this statistic to dramatically adjust in the next 10 years is if female directors become increasingly more dominant in the field. Because, as the report has shown with the number of female producers directly corresponding positively to female writers on staff, we need more female directors to employ a positive female presence in order to actually see change happen. But whether that will actually occur remains to be debated.
Minnie Schedeen is a junior majoring in cinematic arts and critical studies. Her column, “Film Fatale,” runs every Tuesday.