Filmmaking / Directing : GENDER JUSTICE : Debunking 3 Myths Hollywood Still Believes About Female Directors by Sherry Kelly

An interesting article and although I lack present day experience, my past experience and observation was that the playing field was much more slanted. It's unfortunate that those of us from the old days were spoon fed those myths as 'reality'. It's good to see that the times are changing - not as quickly as I would like to see, but they are changing. As a small time producer (of shorts) I MUCH prefer working with women Directors/Writers & Crew. My only request to women is to leave your ego and man-bashing at the door.

Good read Sherry Kelly !

Good point Janet Elizabeth Swainston ! I always bring that up when there are similar discussions on minorities in various industries. There needs to be data (not just feelings and desires) to support any conclusions/assumptions.

Actually the article is about systemic industry bias towards choosing male directors over female directors for projects, and examines the myths to why, and presents statistics. The number of women who wish to be directors is irrelevant in this context. This is about directors, male and female, and how gender unfortunately plays a role in how they are generally perceived (falsely and unfairly) and how gender often affects selection. ;) Great article, BTW. Thanks for sharing!

It also points out that female directors have to do much more than their fellow male directors just to prove themselves worthy of being selected. And despite doing more in Indie films, the time span between a female director's breakout film to being hired for a studio movie is much much longer. So we have a lot of female directors directing Indies, but directing bigger studio films is still a major hurtle -- hence the importance of Wonder Woman being a box office success. It proved those myths wrong. ;)

The article does set out to be about "systemic industry bias towards choosing male directors over female directors" but it inevitably doesn't' succeed, but it does bring up good points of interest that require more data to be conclusive about.

The myths they chose have no data to classify them as the MOST COMMON anything. For all we know, they are either valid data points OR outliers. And, the data they used to try and disprove these myths is also biased and in some cases lack correlation.

Myth 1, for instance, does an OK job proving that you don't need a breakout indie film to be considered for a studio film -- male or female. They use this to then draw a conclusion like "[female directors] must wait 2.2 years longer between [first breakout indie and first US studio film] than their male counterparts". Yet, the data they supply only shows an observation with no data to support it. In other words, for all we know, this trend is because, in their sample size, the women -- on average -- probably started later than their male counterparts. They neither prove or disprove this as the case.

Myth 2's data doesn't have ANY data indicating how many qualified men or women vied for the ability to direct the big-budget films in the sample size. Then, they don't state the stats used to qualify a film as a "safer financial bet" or the sources of the revenue (i.e. domestic or international) which is important because then you'll have to consider the impact of not just the director but also marketing/promotion of male vs. female-led stories in those markets (considering revenues could be impacted not by who the director is but who the story is about). Clearly, more information is needed.

Myth 3 concludes that "For every female studio director hired, there were 7 female candidates not hired, compared to 1 in 3 for male directors. Men are hired 2.75 times as often as women, taking relative talent pool sizes into account." which tells us NOTHING about the data used to draw the conclusion. In other words, how do we know that the men are not hired 2.75 times more than women because there are more applying. Simply put, if you have 100 candidates and 15 are women, are the odds greater that you'll end up with a man or woman? This is DIRECTLY relevant to the number of women who wish to be directors.

This evidence is NOT obvious and falls very short. However, the points they were trying to make are worth exploring so that we can ensure proper hiring practices that do not exclude women due to bias.

For me, all the myths being debunked are hearsay and are speculative without data to make them real.

The myths are not hearsay. They are common reasons often cited in the industry for choosing a male director over a female director -- an industry comprised of women and men making hiring choices. This is a societal issue. Plus a bias can be subconscious; you may not realize it until confronted, hence systemic. And if you don't like the data/stats/information shown in the article then look to other statistical sources. Again, the article is about working directors, and how gender bias can play an unfortunate role when being considered for a project.

I see. Well, I wish they had included that data that makes them "common reasons" and showed where they were cited by the industry. I'm a data-driven person, so I will believe anything with a solid foundation of data (that I wish was in the article).

But, I do hope that if the gender issue is based on more than the lack of #'s that it gets resolved and more advocates from both male and females in the industry.

Brandon, in the third paragraph they clarify: "To wit, here are the most common reasons cited (usually privately) by the industry when deciding to hire male directors over female directors for studio gigs..."

Then they examine those commonly perpetuated reasons, focusing on 3 myths and show their findings (data) to debunk/examine those myths.

It's a pretty good article. The data they show is pretty consistent with all the other studies done on gender bias issues in the industry. And sadly the numbers haven't changed much, or they have gotten worse. I was shocked when I first learned of these statistics years and years ago. How can this be?!

But... These issues are complex. Not suggesting there's anything malicious going on, but clearly there are issues—cognitive biases and societal biases. So articles like this one and the various other studies help us to see what's happening overall.

Most agree: The more perspectives we include—diversity of thought—the better. :)

Anyway, if looking for further or additional material on related subject matter, there's a documentary about the often disparaging and derogatory portrayal of women in the media and by the media, and the lack of female voices within the media industry (including "Hollywood"), or in political power positions and the negative effects of such. That documentary is titled "Miss Representation." It was produced way back in 2011, but sadly, again, the statistics shown in the documentary have not changed much. Note: In the film they often highlight the misogyny at Fox News, so it is interesting to look at this now after many at Fox News have finally been charged for sexual harassment. Here's the trailer, should you wish to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2UZZV3xU6Qhttps://www.youtube.com/watch.... ;) Oh, and the same group who produced this film made another about how we as a society are failing our boys and men too: "The Mask You Live In." Both really good documentaries. :)

Sorry, here's a better, longer trailer for "Miss Representation": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ap2xnMcvpw.

And here's a trailer for "The Mask You Live In": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc45-ptHMxo.

A lot of folk like to bump their gums regarding this (& all sorts of) perceived and real inequities. I'm not much of a talker, so all the chatter bores me. I'm more of a doer type - when I see a problem, I fix (try) it. I constantly encourage and promote women where ever & however I can. Lets hear less talk and see a lot more action - hey, that's just the kinda guy I am.

Beth Fox Heisinger - great recommendations! I'll give them a watch! thanks for sharing your perspective! It is always good to share ideas and perspectives, so thank you!