Directors Guild of America study says Hollywood in 2017 still remained 'overwhelmingly white and male'

New York: A new study by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) finds that despite high-profile releases like Get Out and Wonder Woman, film directors remained overwhelmingly white and male among the movies released in 2017.The DGA examined all 651 feature films released theatrically in 2017. It found that among those films to make at least $250,000 at the box office, 12 percent of directors were women and 10 percent were people of color.[caption id="attachment_4568411" align="alignnone" width="825"]

Wonder Woman poster. Image from Today[/caption]Those figures represent almost double the number of female directors in 2013, according to the DGA, but a downturn of 7 percent for minority filmmakers.“It’s outrageous that we’re once again seeing such a lack of opportunity for women and people of color to direct feature films,” said DGA president Thomas Schlamme. “Our new study shows that discriminatory practices are still rampant across every corner of the feature film business. These numbers hit home how the chips are stacked against women and people of color. But as we kept going, it became clear that no matter how you slice the 2017 numbers, the outcome is virtually the same,” he added. “There is a misconception that things are better in the smaller, indie film world, but that’s simply not the case. From financing and hiring, to distribution and agent representation — every aspect of the entire system disadvantages women and people of color.”