• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

2

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

3

Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45

1

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

2

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

3

Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
MPW

3 solutions to Hollywood’s woman problem

By
Marin Gazzaniga
Marin Gazzaniga
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Marin Gazzaniga
Marin Gazzaniga
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 6, 2015, 1:27 PM ET
Director Kathryn Bigelow poses for her new film 'Zero Dark Thirty' in New York
Director Kathryn Bigelow poses for her new film 'Zero Dark Thirty' in New York December 4, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT) - RTR3B7GRPhotograph by Andrew Kelly – Reuters

While it’s no secret that Hollywood isn’t a great place to be a woman looking for work, it’s hard not to be shocked by the latest report from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The study finds that only 15.8% of the writers, directors and producers of the top 100 films of 2014 were women. Given that, it’s perhaps not so surprising that only 21 of those top-grossing movies featured a female lead or co-lead.

Typically, the industry’s response to these types of statistics has been to launch women-oriented training programs. In the past two years, Sony, Viacom, Warner Bros., HBO and Fox are have all rolled out training or fellowship programs for women and/or minorities. The Writers Guild West lists another fifteen programs aimed at nurturing diverse writers for TV and film on its website.

While these programs are clearly a step in the right direction, there’s not yet any hard evidence that they’re working. Indeed, the Annenberg report notes that the 2014 stats on women directors are essentially the same as they were in 2013 and even 2007.

 

So, if not training programs, what changes might actually start to increase the number of powerful women in Tinseltown? Here, three recent ideas that caught our eye:

A price cut for women. A Canadian film studio is offering a 50% discount in fees to female directors or showrunners. This offer comes from Peter Apostolopoulos, president of TriBro Studios, and his co-producer Greg White. Their motivation? “We have daughters and we want a world where their gender has no bearing on the potential for them to succeed,” said Apostolopoulos. Of course, it would be nice if men were also motivated by sisters, mothers, friends, spouses or even talented female strangers to improve gender parity in Hollywood, but we’ll take it.

This strategy goes after the bottom line. The entertainment industry is known for being particularly risk-averse, which often means that production companies just keep calling the same people to head up their new projects. Apostolopoulos and White hope their move will give producers a financial motivation to try putting women at the helm. It will be interesting to see if it moves the needle on the number of women directors in Canada (which has a similar record to the U.S.)

Make the plumber a woman. A few years ago, Geena Davis, who founded her own Institute on Gender and Media, offered two easy ways to immediately increase women’s onscreen representation. First, change a bunch of the names in scripts that are in production from men’s to women’s. “With one stroke you’ve created some colorful un-stereotypical female characters that might turn out to be even more interesting now that they’ve had a gender switch.” And second, describe any crowd scene as half female. The Institute reports that a recent poll of industry executives “familiar with [their] message” found that their ideas may be getting through. Of those polled, “over a quarter changed the aspirations/occupations of female characters or their dialogue. Close to one-fifth changed story development and 16% increased female characters as secondary characters.”

[fortune-brightcove videoid=4249957256001]

 

Give Hollywood a break. A tax break, that is. In New York, the Writers Guild East, has been lobbying for tax incentives to bring more writer’s rooms to New York, and included in the bill is a new approach: A credit for hiring a woman or minority. Lowell Peterson, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) explains, “We know the tax credit has been extraordinarily successful in attracting jobs to New York; producers most definitely calculate various aspects of their budgets with the tax credit in mind and make decisions accordingly. We anticipate the same thing would be true with this diversity tax credit.”

As with the TriBro Studios offer, the idea is to provide a financial motivation to get industry pros to try hiring fresh faces. “We believe there is a strong bench of writers who are women or people of color for whom this incentive would help open the door, to overcome the inertia in which people hire folks they already know,” says Peterson. While the bill didn’t make it all the way through the latest legislative session, it is expected to come up again—likely in the January-May 2016 session.

Subscribe to The Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the world’s most powerful women.

About the Author
By Marin Gazzaniga
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in MPW

amodei
AIAnthropic
Anthropic is worth $965 billion and just hired 1,000 coaches for nonprofits: ‘The fox can’t guard the henhouse’
By Glenn Gamboa and The Associated PressJune 11, 2026
14 hours ago
pope
EuropePope
‘Human dignity has no passport’: Pope rips into developed world for indifference to immigrants
By Nicole Winfield, Helena Alves, Renata Brito and The Associated PressJune 11, 2026
14 hours ago
Bridgit Mendler speaks on stage at Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2026 in Aspen, Colorado.
Startups & VentureBrainstorm Tech
The space economy’s next frontier is in ground infrastructure, Northwood Space CEO says
By Sebastian HerreraJune 10, 2026
1 day ago
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma
SuccessCareers
Xbox’s CEO spent her early career taking out trash and selling coupon books—she says the secret to her rise was never obsessing over a dream career
By Preston ForeJune 10, 2026
2 days ago
Meryl Streep says she was ‘ready to retire’ when the call for ‘Devil Wears Prada’ came—so she demanded they double her salary or nothing
SuccessThe Promotion Playbook
Meryl Streep says she was ‘ready to retire’ when the call for ‘Devil Wears Prada’ came—so she demanded they double her salary or nothing
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJune 10, 2026
2 days ago
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma speaks on stage at Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2026.
Big TechMicrosoft
‘Not an Allbirds Moment’: Xbox’s new CEO says she is grounding the console in gaming roots, not AI
By Sebastian HerreraJune 9, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
Energy
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
By Sasha RogelbergJune 10, 2026
1 day ago
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
Environment
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
By Catherina GioinoJune 9, 2026
3 days ago
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
Innovation
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
By Amanda GerutJune 9, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of June 11, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 11, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 11, 2026
14 hours ago
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
Asia
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
By Kate O'Keeffe and BloombergJune 8, 2026
3 days ago
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
Success
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
By Preston ForeJune 8, 2026
4 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.