How well are women represented in the UK independent film industry?

Posted on November 27, 2013

New figures from the British Film Institute suggest a “breakthrough” over the past three years for female screenwriters, while the number of women directing UK independent films remains low. How well are women represented in this industry?

How well are women represented in the UK independent film industry?
New figures from the British Film Institute suggest a “breakthrough” over the past three years for female screenwriters, while the number of women directing UK independent films remains low. How well are women represented in this industry?

Under-representation of women in key creative and production roles in the film industry has been well-documented for many years. The latest figures from the British Film Institute (BFI), looking at female screenwriters and directors of UK independent films, provide a varied set of results.

According to the BFI, there has been something of a “breakthrough” over the past three years with the representation of female screenwriters in the top 20 UK independent films reaching 37%.

The BFI also break this figure down by profitable films, with profitability estimated from an indicator developed by the BFI research and statistics unit. Of the profitable UK independent films over the same period, 30% had a female screenwriter.

So what do the BFI mean by “breakthrough,” exactly? Well, their statement is linked to the wider findings of all UK independent films released in the UK territory over the three-year period. Of the 441 writers who worked on the 372 UK independent films released over that period, only 16% were women – a level that the BFI state is similar to the levels observed over the past 15 years. But if you look at the top 20 UK independent films for 2010-12 there is a significant jump – of the 27 screenwriters associated with these films, 10% were female.

The BFI claim that the difference from the average for the whole dataset “suggests the possibility of a breakthrough by female writers into the top ranks of UK feature film screenwriting”.

Some of the female writers associated with the top 20 UK independent films hitting the box office in 2010-12 are Jane Goldman (The Woman in Black), Deborah Moggach (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Bridget O’Connor (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and Jane English (StreetDance 3D).

The Imposter, placed second in the BFI’s profability ranking of the UK indie films over the same period, also had a female screenwriter (Poppy Dixon).

The report also found that although women remained particularly under-represented as writers in UK-USA studio titles in 2010-12, those who did manage to work on UK-USA titles achieved significant success. Sarah Smith, Emma Thompson and Jane Goldman are

Under-representation of women in key creative and production roles in the film industry has been well-documented for many years. The latest figures from the British Film Institute (BFI), looking at female screenwriters and directors of UK independent films, provide a varied set of results.

According to the BFI, there has been something of a “breakthrough” over the past three years with the representation of female screenwriters in the top 20 UK independent films reaching 37%.

The BFI also break this figure down by profitable films, with profitability estimated from an indicator developed by the BFI research and statistics unit. Of the profitable UK independent films over the same period, 30% had a female screenwriter.

So what do the BFI mean by “breakthrough,” exactly? Well, their statement is linked to the wider findings of all UK independent films released in the UK territory over the three-year period. Of the 441 writers who worked on the 372 UK independent films released over that period, only 16% were women – a level that the BFI state is similar to the levels observed over the past 15 years. But if you look at the top 20 UK independent films for 2010-12 there is a significant jump – of the 27 screenwriters associated with these films, 10% were female.

The BFI claim that the difference from the average for the whole dataset “suggests the possibility of a breakthrough by female writers into the top ranks of UK feature film screenwriting”.

Some of the female writers associated with the top 20 UK independent films hitting the box office in 2010-12 are Jane Goldman (The Woman in Black), Deborah Moggach (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Bridget O’Connor (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and Jane English (StreetDance 3D).

The Imposter, placed second in the BFI’s profability ranking of the UK indie films over the same period, also had a female screenwriter (Poppy Dixon).

The report also found that although women remained particularly under-represented as writers in UK-USA studio titles in 2010-12, those who did manage to work on UK-USA titles achieved significant success. Sarah Smith, Emma Thompson and Jane Goldman are examples of female writers working on top UK-USA studio releases.

The BFI research highlights continued under-representation of women among directors of UK independent films – only 11% of the 413 directors associated with the UK indie films over the three year period were female.

Female representation was slightly higher in the top 20 at 18% but drops to 9.4% when assessed by the top 20 profitable UK indie films over the three year period. Notable female directors that made the list are Dania Pasquini (StreetDance 3D), Phyllida Lloyd (The Iron Lady) and Debbie Isitt (Nativity 2).

Of the 45 directors of UK-USA studio titles in 2010-12 that were assessed by the BFI, only three had female directors. The three female directors were Sarah Smith (Arthur Christmas), Susanna White (Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang) and Lone Scherfig (One Day). As the BFI sum it up; “clearly, this remains a difficult segment of the market for women to break into”.

Referenced from http://www.theguardian.com/film