Diversity, Equality Are Coming–Like it or Not

Content Insider #865 – Equals Plus

By Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com

“Okay, the tiniest thing can trigger recall. Sights, sounds, smells. You never know.” – Robyn McCall, “Equalizer,” Paramount, 2023 – 2024

It takes a lot to get us back into the old TV viewing routine of ensuring we’re in front of our big screen at a specific time on a specific day.

But a few months ago, we made it a point to turn on and tune in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) March Madness.

Well, to be honest, we only watched half of the basketball contests – the women’s action – which, according to the online NBA chatter, was the only contests folks like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Shaq, Charles Barkley and hordes of others were following.  

We know, there was a men’s series that was also going on, but it almost seemed like the only folks following their games were the players’ relatives.

Suddenly, Disney’s ESPN became a must-watch for people for more than just the Super Bowl, breaking a 40-year viewership record.

Sudden Appeal – The NCAA’s female Final Four may/should have broken the barrier for the importance and place of women in sports but also entertainment.  The events proved people are as interested in following women’s sporting events and now it’s time for recognition, visibility and earnings to follow suit.  

Sure, a lot of the excitement was the hype surrounding the rivalry between LSU’s Angel Reese and Iowa’s Caitlan Clark (yes, they were both good).

But once we got sucked in, we found the women’s games as exciting – if not more so – as the men’s NBA games.  

Of course, that made us question why the sports coverage industry – and more importantly, the total entertainment industry – was literally ignoring half of the world’s population.

Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that males make most of the decisions and call most of the shots in the industry.

We’ve been told that Greta Gerwig had to jump through all kinds of hoops to make Barbie—a film that went on to earn more than $1.4B at the box office for Warner Bros.

At the same time, Christopher Nolan just had to say, “Here’s what I want to do, and this will be the budget for Oppenheimer which brought in a little over $1B globally.  

Nolan was given an Oscar as was Barbie’s Ryan Gosling but then the Academy is made up largely of old white guys so …

Adding fuel to the issue was the release of a European film gender parity report that found because of the progress that has been made in the industry, women should achieve equality with men by 2080 (https://tinyurl.com/3ddzdy9f).

Long Haul – The population may be almost 50/50 male/female but they still have a long way to go to achieve total equality.

Of course, that’s almost good news for women in the M&E industry ,compared to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report (https://tinyurl.com/3jx3pzxx)

The disparity has become important because businesses, industries and governments have to do everything possible to optimize the talent available and compensate people properly.   

The brutal fact is that equality is important because the talent pool has been shifting in recent years but shift of authority/responsibility and compensation have not kept pace.  

The UN World Population Report and Pew Research noted that the ratio between men/women is rapidly shrinking and that by 2050, women will outnumber men.

As a result, a shift in the sex ratio means education, talent utilization and compensation will also have to improve to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s opportunities.

This is especially true if AI technology is to be efficiently and effectively implemented to benefit everyone across all industries – technology, education, professional services, financial services, government and public service as well as manufacturing and distribution.  

The concentration of AI talent overall has surged, increasing six times between 2016 and 2022.

The extent of this need varies across industries including technology/information/media, education, and professional/financial services. Currently, female representation in AI is less than 30 percent. 

Yes But – Comparing the skills that are needed by company employees to contribute to an organization’s success, women often have better performance in many of the areas but still, the glass ceiling remains.  

With labor market demands shifting to new working arrangements, frontier technologies and new sets of skills; the World Economic Forum suggested that females may be in a better position to address the business world’s needs.

It’s important because whether you want to admit it or not, women live longer than men; and, according to the Imperial College, will probably contribute more during their extended lifetimes. 

Most important is the fact that women – or anyone – shouldn’t have to work longer/harder for the same pay.

Take a Stand – Increased visibility on what all people earn for similar jobs could balance earnings equality but human resources experts say that women have to be more aggressive when it comes to equal pay for equal work.  

Following the pandemic, women have entered/reentered the workforce at a slightly higher rate than men.  And just in case you’re curious, the pressure is on guys since Pew noted that Covid killed more men than women – 

We feel that one of the best ways to achieve this equality is for the film/show industry to present the equality as perfectly normal.

Until the dramatic uptick in attendance/viewership of the NCAA Women’s Final Four, women’s sports were an afterthought with little attention given to the women’s performance even as ratings/viewership of the men’s contests fell – 18.87 vs. 15.14 viewers for the women’s and men’s contests respectively.

This year’s events made women’s sporting events a hot ticket item with new event/contest rights negotiations taking place in all areas – soccer, golf, tennis, volleyball, and other sports including … basketball.

Winners Around – South Carolina’s coach Dawn Stanley (center) celebrated with the entire team as they won the NCAA women’s collegiate title.  But with viewers topping the women’s contests compared to the men’s games, women’s basketball and all female sports were the biggest winners.

Showing that ESPN was committing in a major way, during the company’s annual shareholder meeting Disney’s CEO Bob Igor said, “I think it’s quite evident that the popularity of women’s sports has grown tremendously, and ESPN expects the growth of women’s sports to be a major part of the organizations growth in the years to come.”

The interest and commitment are already being felt as networks and streamers are quickly adding female sports broadcasters, commentators, directors, producers and production personnel.

There are also signs that studios, broadcasters and streamers are taking a new look at their other entertainment assets (films/shows) to ensure they are doing more than just meeting equality quotas but doing more to erase their preconceived stereotypes of women in front of and behind the camera.  

Stacked Deck – It’s subtle – often not acknowledged – but people often select team members who look/think like them and it will take a change in the leadership and better understanding of how/why you chose a member of the team to actually produce change in the industry.  

“The glass ceiling for women filmmakers still exists in the European film industry,” according to Lisa Perottet, general coordinator of the Lab Femmes de Cinema.

It’s not unlike the annual findings published by San Diego State University in their Women in TV Film report as well as UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity report.  

In other words, the diversity/equality issue is a common challenge/opportunity across the industry as governments in Europe and the Americas stress the need for change.

Pre-pandemic, the BFI (British Film Institute adopted a sweeping set of diversity standards that must be met by any film seeking financial support from the Institute’s Lottery Funding.

The industries in most European countries have instituted programs to mentor, train and network women to assist them in climbing the career ladder more quickly. Taking their equity program a step further; last year, the UK carried out a program to celebrate black women in international film. Belgium also has a similar program for women producers, directors and non-binaries.  

Recognition – In recent years, the percentage of female film producers has not only increased but has also shown they can deliver financial and audience success for project backers.  

Six years after the #MeToo movement swept the entertainment industry, Stephen Follows, a highly regarded film industry data researcher, reported that the number of female production staff members has increased about 30 percent with the ratio relying heavily on the project’s budget.

Shifting Mix – Whether it’s in business, government or entertainment; the increase of females in decision-making positions has also resulted in more women being chosen for jobs.  More women on the screen is slowly become the growing norm.  

As you might expect, a woman at the helm also translated into a greater number of acting roles for females, but that was probably also due to the storyline.

In addition, the focused assistance in preparing women for the broader budget and activities managed by directors/producers takes time and effort from everyone in the industry.  

But … the new focus on females as professional members of the production of a project at any level has also reduced the number of storyline “embarrassments,” delivering a much more positive projection of females in films.

New View – Women are increasingly pushing back in the industry as to how females are portrayed by male directors.  Representations like Sharon Stone in Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct compared to Uma Thurman in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and everyone benefits … especially the audience.  

Despite Greta Gerwig’s Barbie global phenomenon racking up more than $1B in ticket sales, it got a hard pass when it came to being considered for best picture Oscar nomination.

Right behind the film’s success, Taylor Swift rocked venues around the globe with her Eros Tour bringing in more than $1B.

Then, she bypassed the traditional studio release route with a film chronicling the tour and a deal with AMC for nearly $300M in theater ticket sales.

The one-two punch produced added scrutiny over gender diversity in the M&E industry.

People across the industry are seriously challenging two old-fashioned misconceptions – women aren’t fit to handle leadership and that women are best suited for support roles.

Not to make excuses for the content industry (movies, broadcast/streaming shows, creation, production, post, distribution) but the stumbling changes in the industry’s working mechanism, infrastructure, processes/procedures and staffing opinions and “insights” have evolved over the past 125 plus years when men took over the industry that Alice Guy-Blanche developed and perfected narrative filmmaking.

Yes, the father of the film/show industry was … a woman – https://tinyurl.com/3cxks2s5 !

Despite this historical role in the industry, it has only been in recent years that governments, companies and educators/research analysts/professional organizations have been focusing on how to improve, enhance and enrich the industry for everyone … including the audience.

We attribute the new interest/emphasis on DEI (diversity, equality, inclusion) to the rapid ascent of streaming which opened opportunities for people to see, enjoy, experience movies/shows from everywhere.  

Suddenly, people could see video stories of people who looked like them, faced challenges/opportunities like theirs and saw that folks like them could overcome obstacles regardless of color, sex, infirmity and weren’t limited because they weren’t born an old white guy.

Despite the recent pandemic and strike setbacks, key influentials and organizations have recognized and are addressing the disproportionate effects on women and people of color in the industry.

One of the major facts they have uncovered in recent years is that the film/show industry doesn’t need more women but rather women in the right positions.

The modest gains made by women and gender minorities in the content production sectors haven’t come at the expense of men but rather the improvement and expansion of the industry as a whole because they continue to be significantly underrepresented in leadership roles.

The pandemic/industry strike(s) caused women and individuals of color to lose ground in the move up the ladder – https://tinyurl.com/yxahy4v4, https://tinyurl.com/58c7pzra, https://tinyurl.com/y6hzrc5t .

Burnout, stress and exhaustion also affected women more than men; but industry leaders are increasingly realizing they must prepare and advance women in roles of responsibility and authority in addition to providing the support needed off the set and outside of the office.

New Attention – Renewed focus (and pressure) is needed in the M&E industry to ensure equity and equality in future projects because people like to see someone like themselves on the screen.  The globalization of content creation, production and distribution can only stimulate an improved balance.  

The content industry (film, broadcast, streaming) is continuing to evolve and mature and increasingly diverse audiences expect to see diversity on the screen with diverse narratives they can enjoy, identify and relate with.

Audiences seek out and enjoy personally relevant films/shows in theaters and at home.  

This past year, there was a major drop in films that were greenlighted with many bypassing theatrical windows going directly to streaming.  At the same time, there were fewer shows – especially scripted – with shorter seasons.

The result was smaller writing, production, acting teams and reduced earnings for those in front of and behind the scenes. 

Those cost savings can be translated into a reduction in the depth and breadth of diverse viewing options for audiences.

Studios, broadcasters and streamers need to pay attention not only to their present viewing audience but also the younger, emerging audience.

As Robyn McCall emphasized in Equalizer, “Stamina, patience, technique. All necessary to build a firm foundation.”

And that’s especially true if the home viewing providers are going to take advantage of the “sudden” rise in people’s viewing interest in women’s sports.  

Historically, female athletes, teams, leagues and organizations have been paid significantly less than their male counterparts.

We think they feel this is their time and we’re going to see major negotiations take place in the year(s) ahead to increase the need for more female coverage teams, improved exhibition airing slots, dramatic increases in athlete/team/organization paydays and more expensive marketing advertising and brand ambassador budgets.

In addition, the new focus/attention will raise interest and attention across the entire film/show/entertainment arena.

As the increasingly popular expression goes … Buckle up buttercup.

Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 800 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications. Internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise, especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields. Extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media and industry analysts/consultants