--- title: There Are Slightly More Female Directors in Hollywood: Study description: One-third of the top 250 films from last year did not employ a single woman in the roles of director, writer, producer, editor or cinematographer. canonical: https://time.com/4175947/women-female-directors-celluloid-ceiling-report/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-12T05:01:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:58:34.591Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Hollywood Just Got a Tiny Bit Better About Sexism og:description: But not by much og:url: https://time.com/4175947/women-female-directors-celluloid-ceiling-report/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt247da04b587457d6/698878a78e0601a45046415b/elizabeth-banks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cast member Elizabeth Banks poses at the premiere of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" in Los Angeles, California November 16, 2015. The movie opens in the U.S. on November 20. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni - RTS7H8L og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hollywood Just Got a Tiny Bit Better About Sexism twitter:description: But not by much twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt247da04b587457d6/698878a78e0601a45046415b/elizabeth-banks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hollywood Just Got a Tiny Bit Better About Sexism  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jan 12, 2016 5:01 AM UTC  Elizabeth Banks poses at the premiere of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" in Los Angeles on Nov. 16, 2015. Elizabeth Banks poses at the premiere of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" in Los Angeles on Nov. 16, 2015.Mario Anzuoni—Reuters  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jan 12, 2016 5:01 AM UTC Women are [routinely](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-women-of-hollywood-speak-out.html) [shut out](http://time.com/3856444/kathryn-bigelow-aclu-sexism-hollywood/) of big opportunities in Hollywood, but a new study shows that their representation behind the camera increased slightly in 2015\. Last year just 9% of directors were female, up two percentage points [from 2014](http://time.com/3665482/women-directors-hollywood-2014-1998/), according to the annual Celluloid Ceiling report by San Diego State University. Some of last year’s biggest hits were helmed by women, including Sam Taylor-Johnson’s [_Fifty Shades of Grey_](http://time.com/3695996/fifty-shades-sam-taylor-johnson/), Elizabeth Banks’ _Pitch Perfect 2_ and Nancy Meyers’ [_The Intern_](http://time.com/4043699/nancy-meyers-on-anne-hathaway-amy-schumer-and-why-the-rom-com-is-in-a-coma/)_._ (Angelina Jolie’s _By the Sea_, Marielle Heller’s _Diary of a Teenage Girl_ and _Jupiter Ascending_, which Lana Wachowski co-directed with Andy Wachowski, all brought in smaller box office sums.) **MORE:** [Meet the Unusual Director of _Fifty Shades of Grey_](http://time.com/3695996/fifty-shades-sam-taylor-johnson/) Still, progress has been modest. The study found that a whopping one-third of the top 250 films from last year did not employ a single woman in the roles of director, writer, producer, editor or cinematographer. By contrast, 1% of those films employed zero or one man in those roles. Women were mostly boxed out of the action and horror genres, finding more gainful employment on documentary and comedy films. The study only reinforces what female filmmakers have been [saying for years](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-women-of-hollywood-speak-out.html). Women who are considered “inexperienced” struggle to make the jump from indie film to big-budget pictures. Consider how Colin Trevorrow [went](http://www.gq.com/story/colin-trevorrow-star-wars) from directing the low-budget _Safety Not Guaranteed_ in 2012 to massive blockbuster _Jurassic World_ this summer or Gareth Edwards [jumped](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-spinoff-hires-godzilla-706636) from indie film _Monsters_ to _Godzilla_ in 2014 and the upcoming [_Star Wars_](http://time.com/4154301/most-anticipated-movies-2016/)spin-off, _Rogue One_. But if women are not hired for big projects, they can’t get that experience they’re told that they need. Last spring, the ACLU petitioned state and federal agencies to look into the issue, spurring the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to begin an investigation into Hollywood. Upon hearing the news, _Zero Dark Thirty_ filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow, one of the few women directors to helm a big budget flick, [told](http://time.com/3856444/kathryn-bigelow-aclu-sexism-hollywood/) TIME, “Hollywood is supposedly a community of forward thinking and progressive people yet this horrific situation for women directors persists. Gender discrimination stigmatizes our entire industry. Change is essential.” **MORE:** [Kathryn Bigelow: We Must End Gender Discrimination in Hollywood](http://time.com/3856444/kathryn-bigelow-aclu-sexism-hollywood/) Overall, women made up 19% of directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors and cinematographers who worked on the top 250 movies of 2015\. The study compared those statistics to those of 1998 and found more women are acting as producers, cinematographers and editors than 10 years ago, but the percentage of writers and directors has actually declined. A female director made a huge difference when it came to how many other women were employed on set. For instance, women made up over half of the writing staff on films with a female director and only 10% of the writing staff on films with a male director. “The numbers for 2015 indicate little change in women’s behind-the-scenes employment. The celluloid ceiling remains a reality for women working in this community,” Martha Lauzen, the executive director of the Center for the study of Women in Television and film at SDSU said in a press release. Things may improve this coming year. J.K. Rowling wrote the script for the upcoming _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_, while Katie Dippold co-wrote the new, all-female _Ghostbusters_ reboot. Jennifer Yuh will return to the _Kung Fu Panda_ franchise this winter as a co-director, while writer Sharon Maguire will go back to the Bridge Jones saga for _Bridget Jones’ Baby_ (written by Helen Fielding and Emma Thompson) in the fall. **MORE:** [_The Intern_ Director Nancy Meyers: Why the Rom Com Is in a ‘Coma’](http://time.com/4043699/nancy-meyers-on-anne-hathaway-amy-schumer-and-why-the-rom-com-is-in-a-coma/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4175947/women-female-directors-celluloid-ceiling-report/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4175947/women-female-directors-celluloid-ceiling-report/"},"headline":"Hollywood Just Got a Tiny Bit Better About Sexism","datePublished":"2016-01-12T05:01:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:58:34.591Z","description":"But not by much","url":"https://time.com/4175947/women-female-directors-celluloid-ceiling-report/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt247da04b587457d6/698878a78e0601a45046415b/elizabeth-banks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt247da04b587457d6/698878a78e0601a45046415b/elizabeth-banks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cast member Elizabeth Banks poses at the premiere of \"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2\" in Los Angeles, California November 16, 2015. 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