“Although BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, People of Colour] filmmakers have made significant advances in just a few years and are approaching proportionate representation, both BIPOC and women remained underrepresented among all streaming film directors in 2024,” the report highlighted, led by Dr Ana-Christina Ramón.
This finding is all the more unfortunate because it marks a downturn after a period of slow progress.
And when they do get involved, female directors are given tiny budgets: 92.8% of streaming films directed by White women had a budget of less than US$20 million.
Even more striking: no woman, of any ethnicity, has directed a film with a budget over US$100 million, unlike three White men and one BIPOC man. As such, the glass ceiling has never been more visible.
Female screenwriters in decline
Female screenwriters are also experiencing a silent but persistent decline.
In 2024, only 37% of streaming films were written by women, compared to 41% in 2023. This four-point drop puts female writers far behind their male counterparts.
Among the 172 screenwriters credited for the 100 films analysed, White and Black women are less represented than men from their respective ethnic groups.
Conversely, women from LatinX, Asian, multiracial, MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and Indigenous communities achieve or even exceed parity with men in their group – although they remain very few in absolute terms.
Once again, the impact is visible on screen. Films written by women of colour are those with the most diverse casts, both in terms of ethnic origin and female representation.
In fact, 93.8% of these films have a cast composed of more than 30% actors of colour, and 81.3% have more than 40% women on screen. Yet these profiles are still in the minority among Hollywood writers.
Female leads are gaining ground… but the gap persists
There is a ray of light when it comes to female lead roles, where women have achieved majority representation.
Indeed, 61% of lead roles in streaming films in 2024 were played by women, compared to 51% in 2023. This is a significant increase, putting female actors ahead of their male counterparts for the first time in the history of the report.
However, this progress remains fragile. Looking at the distribution of roles by budget, White women are overrepresented in low-budget films, with 76% of them confined to productions costing less than US$20 million.
Conversely, White men are the most represented group in big-budget films.
Women of colour are also affected by this economic bias. Nearly 48% of films with lead characters played by female actors of colour have a budget of less than US$10 million.