Vimeo just announced the launch of a new initiative aimed at supporting female filmmakers, Variety reports. The project, called "Share the Screen," is a new effort by the company intended to help shrink the gender gap in filmmaking.

The new program will offer financing and workshops for female filmmakers, and will invest in a "minimum of five projects" from women, to be released globally on Vimeo On Demand in 2016. Vimeo will also create a new section of its website called "Female-Directed, Vimeo-Approved," where it will host videos directed by women. The company got the ball rolling last year, when it picked up a short film from Saturday Night Live's Aidy Bryant called Darby Forever.

Not much has changed since 1998

A 2012 report found that women comprised just 18 percent of "directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films." And of those 250 films, just 9 percent were directed by women. The report also found that the number of women who held these positions in Hollywood hadn't grown significantly since 1998.

Vimeo has begun to position itself as the "minor leagues" of Netflix, HBO, and Hulu (a place where filmmakers are free to toy around with unconventional ideas), which could make it an important launch pad for women struggling to find a place in Hollywood.