THE OBENSON REPORT

Covering Cinema From All Across The African Diaspora
Showing posts with label hollywood reporter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hollywood reporter. Show all posts

REPORT: No Growth In Film Jobs For Women

Nothing that we all don't already know, but it's always good to see the hard numbers. Would be good to see a similar report on blacks in the biz.

Posted yesterday, Friday, On Reuters...

No growth in film jobs for women: Report

Women working in the entertainment industry have yet to break through the "celluloid ceiling," making up just 15 percent of those in powerful behind-the-scenes roles, according to a study released Thursday by San Diego State University.

The annual study by Martha Lauzen, of the university's School of Theatre, Television and Film, surveyed the top 250 domestic-grossing films in 2007 and found no growth in the number of women employed in the positions of director, producer, writer, cinematographer and editor.

Lauzen also concluded that there was a 4 percent decrease in the role of women in Hollywood since 2001.

"Unfortunately, 21 percent of the films released in 2007 employed no women directors, producers, writers, cinematographers or editors," Lauzen said. "Of course, no films failed to employ a man in at least one of these roles."

In a breakdown, women accounted for 6 percent of directors, which is almost half of the women directors that worked in 2000 (11 percent). Lauzen also concluded that women accounted for 10 percent of writers, 22 percent of producers, 17 percent of editors and 2 percent of cinematographers in 2007.

The study analyzed behind-the-scenes employment of 2,883 people working on the top 250 domestic-grossing films last year, which included "Spider-Man 3," "Shrek the Third" and "Transformers."

Lauzen also did a historical comparison of those top films from 2007 and 1998, finding that the percentage of women in every role had declined.

The study also concluded that women were most likely to work on romantic comedies, romantic dramas and documentaries and least likely to work in horror, action-adventure or sci-fi features.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

It's Hard Out There For Indies - Dude, Where's My Distribution?

I'm working on a piece on the nature of film distribution, specifically in consideration of black cinema. Below is a very recent article from The Hollywood Reporter that I think makes for a telling companion piece. As you will see in the article, times are indeed tough for independent film distribution overall; and, as I'm sure we all know, when things are difficult for the "majority," they tend to be exponentially worse for those in the "minority."

January 2007

In a congested market, indies struggled to rise above the crowd.

These are sobering times for the independent film industry. Boxoffice revenue for films from indie distributors and specialty divisions dropped 11.9% from $1.32 billion in 2006 to $1.16 billion in 2007, while the number of indies in theaters increased from 501 to 530.

Even more disturbing, only 16 of the films grossed more than $20 million (nearly half of them by a slim margin), down from 20 in 2006.

The biggest story of 2007 might be that 350 indie films -- two-thirds of the list -- failed to reach even $250,000 in ticket sales, an increase from 313 in 2006. All this at a time when overall 2007 domestic boxoffice hit a record high of $9.62 billion, a 5% increase from 2006, according to Nielsen EDI.

"Films with big stars and great directors and reviews once could've been counted on to reach the low-seven figures," ThinkFilm head of U.S. theatrical Mark Urman said. "Today, they're routinely not making their opening advertising budgets."

"In the past, when there was a downturn in the marketplace, people would say 'It's cyclical,' " said IFC Entertainment chairman Jonathan Sehring, who heads the day-and-date First Take program, which offers films as Video On Demand offerings on cable. "But now I don't see it changing. The public is barraged by so many new entertainment options, and there are so many films in theaters, they can't help but cannibalize each other."

Read the rest of it HERE.