Hollywood's Gender Divide and its Effect on Films Examining the Gender of Writers, Producers, and Directors Who Make films that fail the Bechdel Test There’s this thing called the Bechdel Test. It measures just how male-dominated our beloved Netflix nights really are. To pass, films need to satisfy three requirements: #1 It has at least two women in it #2 Who talk to each other, about #3 Something besides a man It’s a low bar, but many good movies don’t pass. Birdman fails. Avatar fails. Fucking Toy Story fails. On bechdeltest.com, a site for crowdsourcing Bechdel Test results, about 40% of films don’t pass. It’s a sad state since women exist in life, like, half the time. Why? Rather than generalize a sexist system, one theory is simple: filmmakers, unintentionally, make movies about themselves (i.e., write what you know). Since the most powerful producers, writers, and directors are men, male-themes permeate into Hollywood’s output. To see if women are more likely to write about women (i.e., pass the Bechdel test), we compiled the genders of the producers, writers, and directors on thousands of films. First, let’s examine the screenwriters’ gender for 200 films that we know and love.

The 200 Highest Grossing Films: Bechdel Test Results and Gender Diversity of the Writing Team

#1 Film has at least two women in it #2 Who talk to each other, about #3 Something besides a man. Box Office is inflation-adjusted and includes films 1995 - 2015*. Test results via bechdeltest.com. More on methodology here.

Writers Producers Directors 53% Fails Test 47% Passes Test Films with an All-Male Writing Team 38% Fails Test 62% Passes Test At Least One Woman Writer All Women Writers 0% Fails 100% Passes Search *We looked at films only over the past 20 years to control for progress in gender diversity. That is, in the 50s, we expect men to make a predominate number of films due to low participation of women in the workforce, overall.

Male vs. Female Decision-Makers and the Bechdel Test When writing teams are entirely male, about 50% of films fail the Bechdel test. Add a woman to the mix and only a third of films fail. The seven films written entirely by women all pass the Bechdel test. Uncanny, right? That’s a small sample: only 200 movies. So let’s look at every film (about 4,000 movies) rated on bechdeltest.com. Percent of Films that Fail the Bechdel Test,

Based on Gender Composition of Writers, Producers, and Directors

4,000 films via bechdeltest.com, 1995 - 2015

All Men At Least 1

Woman 2+

Women All Women

Girls, we do not, in fact, run this mother. Men are pervasive in startups, CEOs, engineering, politics – Hollywood is no exception. But in Hollywood, it’s plainly visible in the product. When men make films, what’s on-screen reflects the behind-the-scenes brotopia. There are plenty of flaws with the Bechdel Test, but it’s a crude way to measure the inclusiveness of a film (and we have 4,000 films rated on the metric). The fact that a filmmaker’s gender correlates with the test, we can stop arguing about the merits of the Bechdel Test and start discussing Hollywood’s diversity problem (i.e., 85% of filmmakers are men...more on this later). Here’s each of the films that we examined and the (mostly-male) individuals involved:

Films that Fail the Bechdel Test and the Creators' Gender 4,000 films via bechdeltest.com, 1995 - 2015. Box Office is Inflation-adjusted. More on methodology here. When a Film's... Writers View All Are Only Men Have At Least 1 Woman Have 2+ Women Are Only Women Producers View All Are Only Men Have At Least 1 Woman Have 2+ Women Are Only Women Directors View All Are Male Are Female Search Filter All $ Box Office $ All Writers Producers Directors 12% of films fail - To Pass, Film Satisfies Three Basic Requirements: #1 it has at least two women in it #2 Who talk to each other, about #3 Something besides a man 18 fail and 40 pass = Fails Bechdel Test = Passes Bechdel Test Films that Don't Meet your Filter Criteria (46% of our 4,000 Film Dataset) When a film's... Writers: Male Producer: Male Director: Male

Why Inclusiveness Matters When women are not visible on-screen, we reinforce stereotypes off-screen. Hollywood is promoting a culture of female invisibility, where women can’t save the planet, win the big game, or fight the bad...wait for it... guy . Instead, they’re props who can only gab about men. Here’s a look at the individuals creating such films: the most prolific directors, producers, and writers in Hollywood. Bechdel Test Results for Notable Producers, Directors, and Writers Bechdel Test Results via bechdeltest.com for films 1995 - 2015 Top Producers Top Directors Top Writers Good Will Hunting It’s important to call out the studios. They make, buy, and distribute films. For example, while the new Star Wars sequel was boss (with Rey and Finn as leads!), Lucasfilms hasn’t had the best track record: 4 out of 7 Star Wars fail the Bechdel Test.

Studios and the Percent of Films that Fail the Bechdel Test Companies with Over 25 Films Rated on bechdeltest.com, 1995 - 2015 US-based Studios (overall 45%) International Studios (overall 34%)

European studios are far more progressive than the US. France is killing it. Canal+ has about 200 films in our dataset, and a low 34% fail the Bechdel Test. US studios are a relative embarrassment: Warner Bros. (53% fail), Columbia (53% fail), and DreamWorks (55%). Even more depressing? When we compiled the gender of each producer, director, and writer on these films. Men outnumbered women 5:1. Of the 4,500 directors, only 500 were women. When we sort the data by a film’s popularity, it’s even worse:

Writers for 4,000 films, sorted by Box Office Revenue 1995 - 2015, Box Office is Inflation-adjusted 4:1 Men 5:1 6:1 8:1 8:1 Men $0-$10M $11-$50M $51-$100M $101-$500M $500M+ Directors for 4,000 films, sorted by Box Office Revenue 1995 - 2015, Box Office is Inflation-adjusted 5:1 Men 9:1 11:1 23:1 22:1 Men $0-$10M $11-$50M $51-$100M $101-$500M $500M+

When there is a woman on the team, it’s typically on small-market indie films. On blockbusters, Hollywood has fewer women directors per capita than the military has female generals . Whether or not there's unconscious bias against women, things aren't changing. Films made in 1995, on average, failed the Bechdel Test 37% of the time. Today? 38%. Films made in 1995 had about 18% women in director, producer, and writing roles. Today? 17%. One potential solution was recently proposed by Spike Lee: implement something akin to the NFL’s Rooney Rule. To slow-down the automatic white-guy hire, NFL teams must interview minority candidates for coaching positions. Hollywood should do the same: mandatory interviews for one person of color and one woman for every showrunner / director / writer / producer position. Something is keeping these numbers from moving. Until they change, we’re left with films lacking the depth of so many new perspectives. Real life passes the Bechdel test; our imagined world can, too. Thinking about who should helm a film? Try our Bechdel Test Simulator first. A BECHDEL TEST SIMULATOR: MAKE A MOVIE THAT PASSES My Director is... OR: | My Producers Are... OR: | + | My Writers Are... OR: | + | Likelihood of Failing the Bechdel Test 0%