Even with a significant reduction in the number of television episodes directed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the percentage of dramatic television episodes directed by women and directors of color continued to increase. 34% of dramatic television episodes in the 2020-21 season were helmed by directors of color, and 38% were directed by women, the Directors Guild of America announced today in its latest Episodic Television Director Inclusion Report.
There were 2,691 DGA-covered episodes in the 2020-2021 season, a reduction of 36% from 4,186 episodes in the 2019-20 season. Despite the significant decline in overall episodes, gains in diversity by percentage of episodes directed continued year over year.
While the shares of episodes directed by women and directors of color continued to see incremental growth, gains were not evenly shared. Latino and Asian directors saw minimal gains, continuing to remain underrepresented at 9% and 7% respectively.
“When the pandemic hit, a big question on our minds was whether progress on inclusive hiring would backslide as the production environment changed radically with the implementation of necessary COVID Safety Protocols,” said DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter. “Despite all the production challenges, the good news is that inclusive hiring continued its upward climb last year–both in overall hiring, as well as hiring of first-time directors. That said–although there has been continued progress, the goal of a level playing field for all has not yet been achieved. In addition, the statistics clearly reveal this, especially for our Latino and Asian members.”
The DGA issued its first-ever inclusion report on the other members of the directorial team (UPMs, First ADs, Second ADs) in dramatic television revealing that women represented 39% of members employed in full-season series positions and directorial team members of color represented 24% of the directorial team employed in full-season series positions.
“We are proud to be issuing our first-ever inclusion report of the directorial teams in episodic television,” said Glatter. “By focusing on full-season hires–we have been able to create an important new baseline of current studio hiring practices for the directorial team. Unfortunately, this report reveals that the studio hiring practices for the directorial team raises areas of concern, particularly regarding the hiring of ADs and UPMs of color who represent less than one-fourth of all team members hired last season.”
Episodes Directed / Hiring Breakdown
Of the approximately 2,700 episodes produced in the 2020-21 season, the portion helmed by directors of color increased by 5 percentage points to 34%, up from 29% the prior season and more than doubled from just 16% since 2014. Episodes directed by women increased by 3 percentage points to 38%, up from 35% the prior season and more than doubling from 16% since 2014.
Breaking down the data, in the 2020-21 season:
• 38% of episodes were directed by women, up from 35% the prior season
• 18% of episodes were directed by African Americans, up from 15%1
• 9% of episodes were directed by Latinos, up from 7%
• 7% of episodes were directed by Asian Americans, flat with the prior season
• Less than 1% of episodes were directed by Native Americans, flat with the prior season
Individual Directors / Hiring Breakdown
There were 896 individual directors hired to work in the 2020-21 season. 39% were women and 61% were men. 15% were African American, 8% were Asian American, 64% were Caucasian, 9% were Latino, .02% were Native American, 4% were unknown/decline to state.
The report indicates that the percentages of episodes directed by women and directors of color align closely with the percentages of individual directors.
Studio Numbers
The major studios oversaw the production of nearly three-quarters of the episodes covered in this report. (See chart in rotation atop this story for studio hiring records. Keep in mind that companies that oversaw the production of fewer than 50 DGA-covered episodes were not included in the rankings as hiring patterns were less conclusive since a few episodes or a single series could swing percentages far into one direction or another. The most recognizable of those studios that were not included in the ranking were Amazon, Apple and MGM.
Perched atop the Studio Hiring By Ethnicity Chart is Lionsgate which talled 72 episodes, 58% of which had directors of color. Leading the way in the Studio Hiring By Gender Chart is HBO with 71 episodes, 46% of which were directed by women.
First-Time Episodic Directors
In the 2020-21 season which was affected by the pandemic, employers hired 113 directors who had never directed episodic television for the 2,691 episodes directed.
Overall, the percentage of these first breaks going to directors of color grew to 39% (up from 29% last year), while the portion going to women was 46%, down 2% from last year’s 48%.
Seventy-two (64%) first break jobs were given to directors affiliated with the show and 41 (36%) jobs were given to career-track directors. The pools of career-track directors and affiliated hires differ in terms of diversity – with the pool of career-track directors having higher percentages of people of color and women than affiliated hires. Women represent 55% of career-track director hires vs. 40% of affiliated directors. 44% of directors of color are career-track directors while 38% are affiliated with the show.
These inclusion differences are important because as DGA data compiled since 2009 shows, two-thirds of career-track directors continue on to direct on another series, where only 25% of affiliated directors went on to direct for a series with which they had no affiliation.
Gender and Ethnicity Breakdown–Directorial Teams
The DGA has created a report about the status of inclusion in the director’s team in dramatic television based on full-season hires and not individuals hired for just a day or few days on an individual episode.
In the 2020-21 season, there were 170 DGA-covered U.S.-based scripted TV series. The DGA’s analysis included episode lengths up to 60 minutes in both single camera and multi-camera scripted series. The report includes programs made for SVOD, Pay Television, Network and Basic Cable and excludes pilots.
For the purposes of analysis–a single job was defined as follows: a crew hire in a work category of UPM (Unit Production Manager), 1AD (First Assistant Director), Key 2AD (Second Assistant Director), Second 2AD (Second Second Assistant Director), Additional 2AD (Additional Second Assistant Director), and DGA-covered Location Managers.
465 of the directorial team jobs went to women, making up 39% of the total.
280 directorial team jobs went to directorial team members of color, making up 24% of the total.
African Americans represented 13% of the jobs, Latinos represented 6%, Asian Americans 4% and Native Americans 0.6%.
A breakdown of the individual directorial team job categories by gender and ethnicity revealed the following:
- UPMs: 201 total jobs; 33% female; 11% people of color
- 1ADs: 338 total jobs; 31% female; 22% people of color
- 2ADs 641 total jobs; 46% female; 29% people of color
