A new University of Southern California report pinpoints areas that need improvement — as well as a few small wins.
A new study from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reveals Hollywood studios are still mostly lagging when it comes to inclusivity.
USC’s survey covers the 1,600 top films from 2007 to 2022, with a particular focus on the most popular films of last year. It examines nearly 70,000 speaking roles according to gender, race and ethnicity, sexual preference, and disability, as well as the demographics of directors, screenwriters and other behind-the-scenes jobs.
2022 was, at least, a high point for girls and women of color in lead roles. According to the report, 19 movies featured an underrepresented female-identified lead, up from just one in 2007. (That was Perfect Stranger with Halle Berry in the lead role.) There were also more Asian characters in 2022 and a big uptick in women movie soundtrack composers.
But across pretty much every other area, Hollywood studios were found wanting.
„These legacy companies need to reimagine the way that they’re doing business to represent the world around them, and that’s currently not the status quo,“ said Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder and report co-author Stacy Smith in an interview with NPR.
