Behind the Screen: Diversity in Film & TV

Women directing successful, big-budget feature films seems to be a rarity, but why is this? Even rarer is a woman picking up an award for directing. Do women not have an interest in directing, or is it a sexism problem within the industry? Since the first Oscar statues were handed out in 1929, only five women have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, and even worse, only one woman (Kathryn Bigelow) has won. Following suit, the Golden Globe for Best Director has only been won by one woman (Barbra Streisand), with only five women being nominated. Despite the current conversations surrounding the gender pay gap, #MeToo, and #TimesUp, Hollywood is still choosing to disregard the accomplishments of women by snubbing them during awards season. Kathryn Bigelow with her Oscar for Best Director for  The Hurt Locker  (2008). ( source ) While it looks like things may be changing, with the likes of Greta Gerwig, Ava DuVernay, Patty Jenkins, and Dee Rees al...

With movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp taking the film industry by storm in the hope to bring light to the struggles of women in the work place in regard to sexual harassment, assault, abuse, and general inequality, screen stars are taking action; demanding the exposure and expulsion of abusers, help for survivors, and equal pay. Hollywood is becoming more vocal and political than ever in the current climate, and diversity is one of the issues on the cards. In her powerful speech at this year's Academy Awards, actor Frances McDormand - winner of the Best Actress award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017) - addressed the crowd and an audience of over 26 million  watching at home. After the formalities of thanking the cast and crew, McDormand placed her Oscar on the floor and asked that all of the female nominees of the night take a stand. Aside from the 10 acting nominees each year (Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress both have 5 nomine...

The #OscarsSoWhite trend on Twitter in early 2016 was a turning point in the discussion on diversity within the film industry, questioning why - for the second year running - there was a lack of non-white actors, despite the 20 acting nominations each year ( Cox, 2016 ). The Academy is noted for having a large amount of white male voters, and a mostly white committee overall. Alongside the obvious lack of people of colour in every category, many have also noted a distinct absence of women in the technical categories. The 2018 awards - which took place this last weekend - saw Rachel Morrison becoming the first woman nominated for Best Cinematography for her work on Mudbound (Dee Rees, 2017), and Jordan Peele becoming the first African-American to win Best Original Screenplay for Get Out (Peele, 2017). While there was a notable shift in the tone of this year's ceremony, with many speaking in support of current movements such as #MeToo , #TimesUp , and the campaign for greater  Gu...