Source: PBS Makers

Every year, women are faced with numerous reports and studies telling us how poorly we are represented in Hollywood, both as creators and on the screen. (NYFA’s infographic.)

In 2013, it was 6–9% of women are directors. In 2014, it was 6.8%. While it’s certainly important to be aware of the numbers, the statistics are oft quoted, but not fully analyzed. The 6.8% (or 4–7% depending on what study you read) that gets thrown around as the percentage of women directors in fact considers only the number of women who directed one of the 250 top-grossing films.

A couple years ago, I attended a women in entertainment conference at a university in Los Angeles. They handed out a sheet of similar statistics to every attendee. The woman sitting next to me had a daughter who hoped to get into the film industry. The day before, her daughter attended the conference and left feeling rather defeated because of the emphasis placed on the unequal numbers.

This is precisely why these statistics do more harm than good. Before future filmmakers even start their careers, the continuous recitation of the numbers deflates hopes of potential Ava DuVernays or Kathryn Bigelows.

Ava DuVernay directing a scene for Selma

A friend my age recently posted some of these stats on Facebook and mentioned how discouraging they were. People commented with advice like, “Don’t be a statistic. If you want it in your life, make it happen” and “Someone doing better than you is no reason to give up.”

Agreed on all accounts. In a time when technology is rapidly growing and the film and television industry is changing, it’s easier now than ever before for someone to create their own content without having to wait on an option or greenlight by a studio. Buy a camera, edit your film on your laptop, find funding through sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Seed &Spark, and distribute your own films through TUGG or Gathr.

So much emphasis is placed on the studio system by film critics and industry experts, it often seems like if women aren’t succeeding at the studio level, women aren’t succeeding at all. I don’t agree with this viewpoint.

Take Kathryn Bigelow, for example, the only Oscar winning (female) director in the past eighty years. The film that won her an Oscar, The Hurt Locker, was made on a shoestring budget ($14 million.) All of her films have been independently financed, not backed by a studio.

At the beginning of 2013, her latest, Zero Dark Thirty opened in wide release. The film grossed over $200 million at the box office and was nominated for five Oscars. Working outside of the studio system can succeed.

As many directors have commented, content is king (or queen, if we’re going to insist on gender-based labels.)

Sarah Gavron directing Suffragette (2015)

Lake Bell, who in 2013 directed her first feature, In a World, said she’s received more lucrative offers for her second film. “It’s not necessarily what I want to do next,” Bell told Variety. “Maybe a woman is less inclined to want to take someone else’s huge mess that a studio’s been trying to make from a concept that’s already had 15 cooks in the kitchen. I’m not acting by monetary gain.”

The directors who are consistently working seem to be happy creating content they choose rather than bowing to a studio’s wishes. Look at Nicole Holofcener, Ava DuVernay, or Jane Campion, among others.

Why do women have to buy into the system? Film critic Manohla Dargis cited that until women are being considered for tentpole movies and wide release films (think 4,000 screens), the system is failing.

Personally, I don’t think making big budget films or breaking box office records equals parity. Yes, money talks, but in a society where four people in the same room can be watching separate content on separate screens, content is gaining more weight.

That doesn’t mean I don’t believe parity is important. It is, but I believe in even the smallest of strides, we are working towards that. Our obsession with parity creates another problem, which is by constantly telling young artists the system is broken, we’re doing them a disservice by failing to mention what is working.

What Happened, Miss Simone?

While awards show season tends to be pretty disappointing for women, the Director’s Guild Awards nominations this year tell another story.

In the DGA’s new category, First Time Feature Film Director, Marielle Heller, who directed The Diary of a Teenage Girl, was nominated. Women captured three of the directing noms for a TV movie or mini-series, including Angela Bassett for Whitney, Laurie Collyer for The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, and Dee Rees for Bessie. Liz Garbus received a documentary directing nomination for her film What Happened, Miss Simone?

In addition to film directing nominations, Jill Soloway and Gail Mancuso earned noms for directing a comedy series, for Transparent and Modern Family, respectively. Lesli Linka Glatter earned her sixth DGA nomination for dramatic series directing for Homeland. Sofia Coppola and Beth McCarthy-Miller grabbed nominations for directing variety specials. Amy Schumer got a nomination in variety series for her show. Coppola for A Bill Murray Christmas and McCarthy-Miller for Adele Live.

Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones

Three of the most talked about television shows of the past year were all created by women. Transparent, created by Jill Soloway, won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series in September and the second season hit Amazon in December. Jessica Jones, the first Marvel TV series to focus on a female superhero, hit Netflix this November. Jones is created by Melissa Rosenberg, a screenwriter who wrote the Twilight movies, but is making her a new mark with Jones’ dark fare. The second season of Jessica Jones was just announced by Netflix. Another Netflix hit, Making a Murderer, is a docuseries that has captured the nation for the past month. Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, who were both film students at Columbia when they heard about Steven Avery, have been working on the documentary for the last decade.

Yes, it would be wonderful if five of the best picture nominees were directed by women, but as I said, small strides. Simply citing stats or pointing out the inequality at awards shows is defeatist.

If you want to create, create. There are more avenues out there for artists — male or female — than ever before. You may not hit a home run the first time, but at least you’re out there doing it. Don’t sell yourself short. (And this doesn’t apply to just filmmakers, but writers, actors, anyone with a drive to do something creative.)

In the words of Kathryn Bigelow, who has been directing films for thirty years: “Never give up on your dream. Be tenacious. Work on stories you truly, truly believe in, because then no obstacle is too great.”