Report Finds Wide Diversity Gap Among 2014’s Top-Grossing Films; New York Times, 8/5/15

Manohla Dargis, New York Times; Report Finds Wide Diversity Gap Among 2014’s Top-Grossing Films:

"That is one of the findings in a study, “Inequality in 700 Popular Films,” being released on Wednesday, that looks at gender, race, ethnicity and what one of the report’s researchers, Stacy L. Smith, describes as an “epidemic” when it comes to lack of diversity. The report was produced by the Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism..."

The “Inequality” report comes at a time of increasing criticism about the industry’s on-screen and off-screen practices, giving further empirical support to what has become a steady stream of righteous complaint. In May, the American Civil Liberties Union sent letters to state and federal agencies seeking an investigation of the hiring practices of the major Hollywood studios, networks and talent agencies. That same month, Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, and four other female senators sent a letter to the major studios asking them to respond to an earlier Annenberg/University of Southern California study that found that only 4.1 percent of top-grossing films over the last decade had female directors.

The “Inequality” report is part of a growing wealth of data about the industry’s practices that are, study by study, making the case for change."