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The most employed women in the British film industry
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The most employed women in the British film industry

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Stephen Follows
Dec 01, 2014

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The most employed women in the British film industry
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Female director with clapperboard

Last week I looked at the most employed people in the UK film industry.  This week I thought I would merge this approach with a topic I have written a lot about previously, namely gender. I took a look at the women in the British film industry who have the most credits over the last 10 years across all UK films budgeted over £500k. In summary...

  1. 11% of the people who have directed two or more UK films 2003-13 are women

  1. Women in the British film industry are far better represented in producing than in writing and directing

  1. 25 of the top 104 UK producers are women

  1. Novelist J.K. Rowling is the woman with the most writing credits in UK film 2003-13

Directors

Women in the British film industry - Gurinder Chadha
Women in the British film industry - Mary McGuckian

Just 11% of the people who have directed two or more UK films 2003-13 are women. [table id=34 /]

Producers

Women in the British film industry - Liza Chasin
Women in the British film industry - Tessa Ross

Women in the British film industry are far better represented in producing than in writing and directing. 25 of the top 104 UK producers are women (i.e. those who have produced at least 11 UK feature films 2003-13). [table id=33 /]

Screenwriters

Women in the British film industry - Jane Goldman
Women in the British film industry - JK Rowling

Novelist J.K. Rowling is the woman with the most number of writing credits in UK film 2003-13. I've included all writing credits, hence the appearance of J.K. Rowling and Jane Austin. However, if we look strictly at screenplay credits, as opposed to source material, then Jane Goldman ('Kick-ass' and 'X-men') and Abi Morgan ('The Iron Lady' and 'Brick Lane') share the top spot. [table id=35 /]

Epilogue - Most employed women in the British film industry

I used the BFI's tracking data for films made between 2003 and 2013 to define what was and wasn't a UK film.  I have no doubt that some of these classifications will be disputed as (a) the BFI are not perfect and (b) film can be a subjective field.  If any of the people listed above feel aggrieved that their number of credits is incorrect then please do drop me a line. This research looks at number of credits, not number of days worked.  Consequently, someone who worked one day apiece on ten films will get ten credits whereas someone else who performed ten days work on a single film will be listed as having one credit.  There is little I can do to account for this possible unfairness.


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