Anna Nicole Smith

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Lore & Background

The 2013 Celluloid Ceiling Report collected statistics from 2,813 individuals employed by the 250 top domestic grossing films of 2012. According to the report, women accounted for 18% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors. This reflected no change from 2011 and only a 1% increase from 1998. Specifically, women made up 9% of all directors, 15% of writers, 25% of all producers, 20% of all editors, and 2% of all cinematographers. 38% of films employed 0 or 1 woman in the roles considered, 23% employed 2 women, 28% employed 3 to 5 women, and 10% employed 6 to 9 women. A New York Times article stated that only 15% of the top films in 2013 had women for a lead acting role. The author of the study noted that, 'The percentage of female speaking roles has not increased much since the 1940s, when they hovered around 25 percent to 28 percent.' 'Since 1998, women's representation in behind-the-scenes roles other than directing has gone up just 1 percent.' Women '...directed the same percent of the 250 top-grossing films in 2012 (9 percent) as they did in 1998.'

Reader's Guide

In 2015, Forbes reported that '...just 21 of the 100 top-grossing films of 2014 featured a female lead or co-lead, while only 28.1% of characters in 100 top-grossing films were female... This means it's much rarer for women to get the sort of blockbuster role which would warrant the massive backend deals many male counterparts demand (Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible or Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, for example).' In the U.S., there is an 'industry-wide [gap] in salaries of all scales. On average, white women get paid 78 cents to every dollar a white man makes, while Hispanic women earn 56 cents to a white male's dollar, Black women 64 cents and Native American women just 59 cents to that.' Forbes' analysis of US acting salaries in 2013 determined that the '...men on Forbes’ list of top-paid actors for that year made 2½ times as much money as the top-paid actresses. That means that Hollywood's best-compensated actresses made just 40 cents for every dollar that the best-compensated men made.' Studies have shown that '...age and gender discrimination [together] can yield an even more significant wage gap.' Young women actresses tend to make more than young male actors. However, 'older [male] actors make more than their female equals' in age, with 'female movie stars mak[ing] the most money on average per film at age 34, while male stars earn the most at 51.' According to actress Jennifer Lawrence, '...women negotiating for higher pay worry about seeming 'difficult' or 'spoiled.''

Did You Know?

• The 2013 Celluloid Ceiling Report found that women accounted for only 2% of all cinematographers on the 250 top domestic grossing films of 2012.
• A New York Times article stated that only 15% of the top films in 2013 had women for a lead acting role.
• Forbes reported that in 2013, Hollywood's best-compensated actresses made just 40 cents for every dollar that the best-compensated men made.
• At the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, 82 women stood up for gender inequality, representing the number of female directors nominated for awards at Cannes over the years, compared to 1,645 male directors.
• In 2018, about 35% of films contained 10 or more female characters in dialogue roles, while about 82% had 10 or more male characters in speaking roles.