Special Report: Women Boomed This TV Season But The Fire Still Needs Stoking
Mindy Kaling, Shonda Rhimes, and Ali Wong - Dominik Bindl / Stefanie Keenan / Rodin Eckenroth / Stringer
This past year in television has brought us one step closer to the era of female creatives. There are more female showrunners, directors, and writers this year than last, and series with women in the lead role have hit an all-time high. Anecdotally, high-profile names like Shonda Rhimes, Quinta Brunson, and Ali Wong have rightfully stolen the spotlight this past season, showing the growing strength of women and women of color in media. ReFrame’s report on Gender and Hiring in TV for the 2022-2023 season has the data to prove that trend.
Since 2018, ReFrame, a gender equity coalition founded by the Sundance Institute and Women In Film Los Angeles (WIF), has evaluated the 200 most popular TV series for hiring rates of qualifying candidates in key roles based on IMDb Pro data. Qualifying candidates include women, non-binary or gender nonconforming individuals, and transgender individuals of all genders, and the key roles include positions of recognized, individual leadership, including everything from showrunner to stunt coordinator. ReFrame uses a point system based on the hired position of the qualifying candidate if they are a person of color, and what percentage of each key role is made up of women; series that meet the point threshold are awarded a ReFrame Stamp.
The combination of gender and popularity-based criteria works to prove the intersectionality of diverse hiring and success. The first responder procedural 9-1-1, for example, has been awarded a ReFrame Stamp for four out of its six seasons, including this year. Not only does it rank No. 167 on IMDb and is still climbing, but it has also created the spin-off 9-1-1: Lone Star to great success. Women of color both act and co-executive produce the series; Angela Bassett and Lyndsey Beaulieu co-executive produce the show, with Bassett additionally starring alongside Aisha Hinds.
ReFrame’s report shows even better numbers this year compared to last. For example, of the 200 series analyzed, 32.5% hired a female showrunner compared to 29.5% in the 2021-2022 season; additionally, 9.5% hired a woman of color showrunner compared to 7% last year. A couple of notable examples include Grey’s Anatomy and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, both created and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes, of course, is not a new player but shows a lasting commitment that has paved the way for future creatives. Rhimes created the hospital drama Grey’s Anatomy almost 20 years ago, and the series still features a female lead and female showrunners, with Meg Marinis replacing Krista Vernoff for the upcoming 20th season. Rhimes currently showruns Queen Charlotte — a spinoff of her other successful period romance series Bridgerton — which spotlights women of color stars India Amarteifio, Adjoa Andoh, Golda Rosheuvel, and Arséma Thomas. Both series applied for a ReFrame Stamp, showing their commitment to gender-balanced and racially diverse hiring. Several other shows on the list, including Partner Track (showrunner by Georgia Lee), Swarm (showrunner by Janine Nabers), and XO Kitty (showrun by Jenny Han), also boast women of color leads, executive producers, and showrunners.
Directing is also improving in terms of gender equity and is almost at gender parity. Of the 1,977 episodes analyzed by the report, 791 (40%) were directed by 325 qualifying individuals, an 11% increase in episodes directed from last year. Furthermore, 10.7% of episodes were directed by women of color. On 67 of the 200 series (33.5%), women directed at least 50% of episodes. Regarding the coming-of-age dramedy XO Kitty, 80% of the episodes were directed by three women, with the remaining two episodes directed by one man. However, these high numbers are not seen in the data trends regarding pilots. Directors hired for pilots earn more money, have a greater impact on the overall vision, and often receive an executive producer credit and additional pay on later episodes. Only 27% of the new series on the list were directed by women and only three of the 113 pilots were directed by women of color. Breakout drama miniseries Beef is one of these few, and it demonstrates the high potential of hiring female directors of color. Three of the series’ 10 episodes, including the pilot, were directed by Hikari; starring Ali Wong, Patti Yasutake, and Ashley Park, and executive produced by Wong and Alice Ju, Beef garnered 13 Emmy nominations.
Gender-balanced hiring is especially high in writing roles, which are widely at or above parity. 50.08% of the episodes analyzed were written by qualifying candidates and 57% of the 200 most popular shows reached gender parity for credited writers. On the two extremes of the spectrum, 11.5% did not credit a single qualifying candidate and 5.5% of series had 100% of episodes credited to qualifying candidates. Hiring is improving for women of color as well; 18.46% of the episodes analyzed were written by women of color, a 12.3% increase over last year. For example, out of the eleven writers credited for the ABC mockumentary sitcom Abbott Elementary, four of the six women writers are women of color. The series, starring creator and co-executive producer Quinta Brunson, Janelle James, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, has won three Emmys in its two seasons.
Gender-Balanced Hiring By Medium
While networks are doing especially well hiring women in writing, with 55% of episodes credited to at least one woman, streaming companies had the highest consistency for gender balance in directing and writing. Among streamed series, women held approximately 40-50% of directing and writing roles compared to approximately 35% and 55% in the respective categories for network and 30-40% for cable. The same comparative trends were true for women of color, though the numbers between streaming, network, and cable were slightly more even, especially for directing. Women directed 32.2% of streaming pilots and streamed series had the highest percentage of qualifying candidates as showrunners at 37.6% (12.8% women of color); that number was only 28.6% (3.6% women of color) for networks and 12.9% (0% women of color) for cable.
Gender-Balanced Hiring By Studio
Out of the seven largest studios that ReFrame examined, Amazon and Netflix made the most gains in terms of the percentage of the company’s produced series that met gender-balanced hiring criteria. Amazon rose 39.1% while Netflix rose 24.95%, giving it the highest overall percentage of gender-balanced series for 2023. 31 of the 94 stamped series aired on the platform and Netflix-distributed series Beef, Ginny and Georgia, Never Have I Ever, Partner Track, Queen Charlotte, and XO Kitty all also boast women of color leads and executive producers. On the flip side of streaming, Apple dropped 66.6% for gender-balanced series, going from the top hirer of qualifying candidates to almost the lowest. Disney — which has its fingers in the streaming, network, and cable pies — and NBCUniversal sustained small losses in gender-balanced percentages but are still on a competitive level with Amazon and Netflix. While Warner Bros. Discovery was a top contender last year, it faced significant drops this year, and Paramount fell even lower this year than its comparatively low figures last year.
ReFrame points out significant ups and downs in Stamps earned year to year for each company and encourages companies to use the Stamp program as a layer of accountability for achieving sustained change in the entertainment industry. In addition to the Stamp, the organization offers the ReFrame ReSource, a guide for mitigating bias and creating more equitable hiring practices. ReFrame’s data report shows the gains in and positive outcomes of gender-balanced hiring in media and ReFrame, along with many other organizations, offers resources for women in media and companies looking to work toward increased diversity. The industry seems to be moving in a positive direction, but there is of course still a long way to go.
