Female Creatives See Gains In Representation On Docs As Their Overall Participation In U.S. Indie Film Production Decreases, New Study Finds

When looking at films made and released to major festivals in the U.S., women behind the scenes are beginning to see more representation in docs than narrative features, per the latest Indie Women study, released today by Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. 

According to the study (read it here), over the course of the last year, top U.S. festivals have for the first time featured more documentaries directed by women than by men. The festivals highlighted screened or streamed an average of nine documentaries helmed by at least one woman and eight directed exclusively by men. Meanwhile, the same festivals were found to have spotlighted an average of 11 narrative features from men and just seven directed by women.

From 2023-2024, women achieved historic highs working as directors (45%) and writers (45%) on documentaries, as the percentages of women working on narrative features declined in every role considered. When taking both narrative and documentary projects into account, women comprised 37% of individuals working in key behind-the-scenes roles. — two percent less than in 2022-23. But while the percentage of women working on narrative features dropped from 35 to 32% over the last year, the percentage working behind the scenes on docs was much higher, at 44%.

In general, women fared best as producers (41%) and directors (41%), followed by executive producers (36%) and writers (36%), editors (34%), and cinematographers (20%).  The field of composing was highlighted as one particularly in need of improvement within the indie space, when it comes to representation, given that women comprised just 18% of composers on indie features, with men taking up 82% of slots.

The Indie Women study also highlighted the fact that films with at least one woman director had substantially higher percentages of women working as writers, editors, and cinematographers than films with male directors. On woman-led projects, women comprised 76% of writers, 50% of editors, and 32% of cinematographers.  On those with only men at the helm, women accounted for just 10% of writers, 21% of editors, and 7% of cinematographers.

First conducted in 2008, Indie Women considers women’s employment on domestically and independently produced feature-length films streaming and/or screening at 20 high-profile U.S. festivals including AFI Fest, SXSW Film Festival, and the Tribeca Festival. This year’s report examined 8,570 credits on over 650 films in 2023-24, and over 124,900 credits on more than 11,500 films over the period of 2008 to 2024.