The Reframe study states that there has been “no notable increase in the number of films that meet the criteria for the Stamp”, which is awarded to features that hire women or individuals of other underrepresented gender identities/expressions in at least 50% of key roles.
ADVERTISEMENTReFrame, the gender equity coalition founded by WIF and Sundance Institute, and IMDbPro have announced that 29 out of the 100 most popular films of 2023 have received the ReFrame “stamp” for gender-balanced productions.
Those 29 inlcude Oscar nominees Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, May December, Nyad, Past Lives, and Flamin’ Hot.
3 of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture meet the ReFrame Stamp criteria for gender-balance: Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, and Past Lives - all of which feature prominently on our Best Films of 2023 list.
This is consistent with the prior year, which also saw 30% of Best Picture Nominees meet the mark (Avatar: The Way of Water, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Women Talking).
Per the official report: “The ReFrame Stamp is awarded to features that hire women or individuals of other underrepresented gender identities/expressions (including those who are trans, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming) in at least 50% of key roles."
These include writer, director, producer, lead, co-leads, cinematographer, production designer, costume designer, editor, composer, music supervisor, VFX supervisor, line producer, unit production manager, 1st assistant director, stunt coordinator and intimacy coordinator.
"Additional points are awarded to productions that hire qualifying candidates of color in these key positions, and to those with overall gender parity in their crews.”
The report offered some fascinating - and alarming - findings.
The 29% figure remains in line with year-over-year findings since ReFrame began analyzing this list.
Here is the breakdown:
- 2020 - 29%
- 2021 - 28%
- 2022 - 29%
- 2023 - 29%
The study states that there has been “no notable increase in the number of films that meet the criteria for the Stamp.”
“The finding that the same amount of films qualify for the Stamp year-over-year indicates we are not experiencing any meaningful increase in the overall gender diversification of above- or below-the-line hires in feature films released by major studios.”
Other findings include:
- 19 out of the top 100 films in 2023 were directed by women and one was directed by a non-binary person - an increase from 14 women directors in 2022.
- Nine of the films were directed by women of colour in 2023 - only two were directed by women of colour in 2022.
- Lead roles for women in the 100 films on the list stood at 36 in 2023 – another decrease (-21.74%) compared to last year, which saw 46 lead roles in 2022.
- Of the 100 most popular films, 30 hired women writers, and 8 of these (26.67%) were writers of colour - a slight decrease from 2022, which saw 32 women writers hired. 0 trans or nonbinary people wrote top films in 2022 or 2023.
- There were only three films which hired women cinematographers in 2023, a step down from 2022, which counted seven. This makes Director of Photography the most male-occupied role.
- Following DoP, first assistant directors were 91% male and composers 90% male.
In terms of studio performance, here is the lowdown:
- Compared to 2022, most studios increased their proportion of Stamped releases (A24, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Paramount) or remained largely unchanged (Apple, Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Independent Distributors).
- In 2023, 50% of the films released by A24 and Amazon Prime Video earned the ReFrame Stamp - an improvement over 2022, when A24 reached 40% and Amazon had 0%.
- Sony had the least representation, with only 1 of their 12 films on the list earning the ReFrame Stamp.
Click here for more on ReFrame and IMDb’s full report.
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