May 19, 2016
Hiring of Women and Ethnic Minority Directors Shows Slight Improvement
Network Hiring Progresses as Basic Cable and Pay-TV Lag Behind
LOS ANGELES – As the TV networks announce their fall lineups and begin to make director hiring decisions for the new season, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) today released a sneak peek of data from its upcoming 2015-16 Episodic Television Director Diversity Report. The preview reveals that the hiring of women and ethnic minority directors showed only a slight improvement. More than 4,100 episodes were analyzed – a 5% increase over the prior period.
In the 2015-16 season, women directed 17.1% of episodes – up from 15.8% in the 2014-15 season; and ethnic minorities directed 18.5% of episodes – up from 17.7% in the 2014-15 season. There was a marked difference in hiring patterns between the major networks – which were the clear leaders in diverse hiring – and the basic cable and pay-TV networks. This summer, the DGA will release the full annual report which will provide an in-depth analysis of all episodic director hiring across network, basic cable, pay-TV and SVOD series for the entire season.
“It’s important for us to share hiring data during this critical period. As the networks convene in New York to present their fall lineups and court billions in advertising dollars, they’re also deciding on who they’ll hire to direct – to bring these stories to life for an increasingly diverse audience,” said DGA President Paris Barclay. “There’s much work to be done by the networks, studios and producers to repair the broken hiring pipeline they’ve shaped, and then neglected over the years. We’ll be providing an in-depth analysis of the entire television season later this summer with a very close eye on new entrants to the pipeline, analyzing who is getting hired for those critical breaks as first-time episodic television directors.”
The DGA is committed to realizing the vision of a diverse and inclusive industry, and has worked toward this goal for decades.