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Gender withinUK film crews

by

Stephen Followswww.stephenfollows.com

Contents

Introduction 1

1. Gender split of UK film crews, 2009-2013 2

2. Gender split by filmmaking department 4

3. Gender split in key creative roles 5

4. Comparison between UK films and US box office 6

5. What has changed in the past five years? 9

6. Does the gender of a crew matter for audiences? 12

About this survey 16

Find more details and other film data reports at stephenfollows.com/blog 1

Introduction

Thank you for reading my study of gender within UK film crews

On my blog I explore data and statistics within the film industry. This started as sharing existing publicstatistics but quickly grew to include the gathering of new data.

The film industry is heavily influenced by shifting opinions, so I find it useful to delve into the data to seewhat’s true and what is conjecture.

Last month, I released a study into gender within film crews, based upon a dataset of the 100 highestgrossing films at the US Box Office for each year between 1994 and 2013 (a total of 2,000 films).Additionally, in order to see how a film’s genre affects gender employment I created a second dataset ofthe 100 highest grossing films of each genre.

As with all my research, my aim wasn’t to prove a particular point but to see what interesting results thedata provides. One of the outcomes was a number of people asking me how the UK compares withHollywood. Therefore, I have re-run my research, focusing on UK films.

If you would like to know more, offer help/ advice on future research or to just drop me a line, I can bereached at www.stephenfollows.com/contact.

It’s always nice to hear from people who enjoy or use my research. I am also open to new collaborationsand commercial projects.

Enjoy the results,

Stephen FollowsAu gu s t 2 0 1 4

About The Author – Stephen Follows

Stephen is a writer and producer who runs the production company Catsnake Filmfrom Ealing Studios. He has produced two feature films and over 100 short films,and his writing has won Virgin Media Shorts, was nominated for a BritishIndependent Film Award and long-listed for a BAFTA.

In addition, Stephen also teaches producing at film schools (NFTS, The Met FilmSchool, Nashville Film Institute), weekend courses (Practical Producer, 7 StepProducer, Guerrilla Filmmakers Masterclass) and bespoke events (BFI, BritishCouncil, London Screenwriters Festival).

He blogs about film data every Monday at www.stephenfollows.com


1. Gender split of UK film crews, 2009-2013

Key Findings

26.2% of the crew members on the British films released between 2009 and 2013 were female. When split by budget, the figure is 27.5% for films costing over £500,000 and 25.3% for films

under £500,000.

Headline Result

Figure 1.1 Gender split of crew on British films, 2009-2013

F i gu re 1 .1 s ho ws the gen der s p l i t of c re w memb ers on the f e atu re f i l ms s hot i n the U K and rel eas ed b etwe en 2 0 0 9 an d 2 0 1 3 .

Men73.8%

Women26.2%

stephenfollows.com/blog


Figure 1.2 Gender split of crew on British films budgeted over £0.5 million, 2009-2013

F i gu re 1 .2 s ho ws the gen der s p l i t of c re w memb ers on the f e atu re f i l ms b u dge ted ov e r £ 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 s hot i n the U K an d r el ea s edb etween 2 0 0 9 an d 2 0 1 3 .

Figure 1.3 Gender split of crew on British films budgeted under £0.5 million, 2009-2013

F i gu re 1 .3 s ho ws the gen der s p l i t of c re w memb ers on the f e atu re f i l ms b u dge ted u nder £ 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 s hot i n th e U K and rel e as edb etween 2 0 0 9 an d 2 0 1 3 .

Men72.5%

Women27.5%

Men74.7%

Women25.3%




2. Gender split by filmmaking department

Key Findings

Of all the departments, the Transportation department is the most male, with only 7.7% women. The only departments to have a majority of women are Make-up, Casting, Costume and

Production. Visual Effects is the largest department on most major movies and yet only has 16.5% women

Headline Result

Figure 2.1 Gender split of departments on British films, 2009-2013

F i gu re 2 .1 s ho ws the gen der s p l i t of c re w memb ers wi thi n t he majo r dep ar tments on the f eatu res f i l ms s hot i n the U K a ndrel eas ed b etwe en 2 0 0 9 an d 2 0 1 3 . T he As s i s tant D i rec tors de p artment i nc l u des ad di ti onal di rec t ors s u c h as 2 n d u ni t di re c tors .Heads of dep ar tment hav e no t b een i nc l u ded as th ey ar e c ha rte d el s ewhe re i n thi s r ep ort

92.3%

91.1%

90.5%

88.8%

88.3%

83.7%

83.5%

79.5%

79.1%

73.3%

72.5%

66.1%

58.4%

47.5%

38.4%

17.7%

17.6%

7.7%

8.9%

9.5%

11.2%

11.7%

16.3%

16.5%

20.5%

20.9%

26.7%

27.5%

33.9%

41.6%

52.5%

61.6%

82.3%

82.4%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Transportation

Special Effects

Sound

Camera / Electrical

Stunts

Animation

Visual Effects

Editorial

Music

Assistant Directors

Thanks

Art

Other

Production

Casting

Costume / Wardrobe

Makeup

Men Womenstephenfollows.com/blog


3. Gender split in key creative roles

Key Findings

Casting Directors and Costume Directors are mostly female, whereas all other key creative rolesare overwhelmingly male.

Only 6.4% of composers on British films released between 2009 and 2013 were women.

Headline Result

Figure 3.1 Gender of key creative roles on British films, 2009-2013

F i gu re 3 .1 s ho ws gen der s p l i t of key c rea ti v es on the f ea tu re f i l ms s hot i n the U K an d r el ea s ed b etw een 2 0 0 9 an d 2 0 1 3 .

93.6%

92.2%

86.0%

85.1%

84.8%

72.8%

68.0%

62.9%

34.4%

22.4%

6.4%

7.8%

14.0%

14.9%

15.2%

27.2%

32.0%

37.1%

65.6%

77.6%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Composers

Cinematographers

Directors

Editors

Writers

Producers

Production Designer

Art Director

Casting Directors

Costume Design

Men Womenstephenfollows.com/blog


4. Comparison between UK films and US box office

Key Findings

By almost every measure, film crews on British films have a higher percentage of women thanfilms crews of the highest grossing films in America.

British films are much more likely to hire a female director than Hollywood films. Editors are the only under-represented role which have a higher percentage of women in

America, compared with Britain.

Headline Result

Figure 4.1 Gender split of crew on British films and top grossing films in America, 2009-13

F i gu re 4 .1 c omp a res th e g end er s p l i t of c rew memb ers on th e f eatu re f i l ms s hot i n the U K and rel eas ed b etw een 2 0 0 9 an d 2 0 1 3wi th th at of c rew m emb ers on the 5 0 0 hi ghes t g ros s i ng f i l ms at the U S Box Of f i c e b etwe en 2 0 0 9 -2 0 1 3 (top 1 0 0 f i l ms of e ac h y ear) .

Figure 4.2 Percentage of women as directors, writers and producers of British films and topgrossing films in America, 2009-13

F i gu re 4 .2 c omp a res th e p erc e ntage of women as di rec t ors , wri te rs and p ro du c ers on the f eatu re f i l ms s ho t i n the U K an d r el eas edb etween 2 0 0 9 an d 2 0 1 3 wi th t hat of key c rea ti v es on the 5 0 0 hi ghes t gr os s i ng f i l ms at the U S Box Of f i c e b etween 2 0 0 9 -2 0 1 3 (top1 0 0 f i l ms of eac h y ea r )

73.8%

77.8%

26.2%

22.2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

UK films (2009-13)

US box office (2009-13)

Men Women

14.0%15.2%

27.2%

3.2%

10.7%

19.1%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Directors Writers Producers

UK films (2009-13) US box office (2009-13)




Figure 4.3 Percentage of women in key creative roles on British films and top grossingfilms in America, 2009-13

F i gu re 4 .3 c omp a res th e p erc e ntage of women i n key c rea ti v e rol es on the f eatu re f i l ms s hot i n the U K an d rel eas e d b et ween 2 0 0 9and 2 0 1 3 wi th th at of c rew m e mb ers on the 5 0 0 hi ghes t gros s i ng f i l ms at the U S Box Of f i c e b etween 2 0 0 9 -2 0 1 3 (top 1 0 0 f i l ms ofeac h y ear ).

6.4%

7.8%

14.0%

14.9%

15.2%

27.2%

32.0%

37.1%

65.6%

77.6%

1.5%

1.9%

3.2%

16.6%

10.7%

19.1%

18.1%

14.3%

79.2%

80.0%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Composers

Cinematographers

Directors

Editors

Writers

Producers

Production Designer

Art Director

Casting Directors

Costume Designer

US box office (2009-13) UK films (2009-13)stephenfollows.com/blog


Figure 4.4 Percentage of women in major of departments on British films and top grossingfilms in America, 2009-13

F i gu re 4 .4 c omp a res th e p erc e ntage of women i n maj or dep artmen ts of the f e atu re f i l ms s hot i n the U K an d rel eas e d b et ween2 0 0 9 and 2 0 1 3 wi th tha t of k e y c reati v es on th e 5 0 0 hi ghes t gros s i ng f i l ms a t the U S Box O f f i c e b etween 2 0 0 9 -2 0 1 3 ( top 1 0 0 f i l msof eac h y e ar

7.7%

8.9%

9.5%

11.2%

11.7%

16.3%

16.5%

20.5%

20.9%

26.7%

27.5%

33.9%

41.6%

52.5%

61.6%

82.3%

82.4%

9.2%

10.3%

13.0%

5.2%

14.7%

16.2%

16.9%

21.9%

17.3%

24.8%

26.2%

20.4%

36.2%

36.8%

65.5%

69.7%

60.8%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Transportation

Special Effects

Sound

Camera / Electrical

Stunts

Animation

Visual Effects

Editorial

Music

Assistant Directors

Thanks

Art

Other

Production

Casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Makeup Department

US box office (2009-13) UK films (2009-13)stephenfollows.com/blog


5. What has changed in the past five years?

Key Findings

The percentage of women on British films has barely changed in the past five years.

Headline Result

Figure 5.1 Gender split of crew on British films, 2009-2013

F i gu re 5 .1 s ho ws gen der s p l i t of c rew memb ers on the f ea tu re f i l ms s hot i n the U K and rel eas ed b e tween 2 0 0 9 and 2 0 1 3

Figure 5.2 Gender split of crew on British films budgeted over £1 million, 2003-2013

F i gu re 5 .2 s ho ws gen der s p l i t of c rew memb ers on the f ea tu re f i l ms b u dget ed ov er £ 1 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 , s hot i n the U K an d r el eas edb etween 2 0 0 3 an d 2 0 1 3 . T he b u dget l ev el has n ot b een a dju s ted f or i nf l a ti on.

73.6%

73.9%

74.2%

75.1%

72.1%

26.4%

26.1%

25.8%

24.9%

27.9%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Men Women

72.7%

73.0%

72.9%

72.7%

74.0%

72.6%

72.2%

73.7%

72.5%

72.7%

71.4%

27.3%

27.0%

27.1%

27.3%

26.0%

27.4%

27.8%

26.3%

27.5%

27.3%

28.6%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Men Women




Figure 5.3 Gender split of key creative roles on British films, 2009-13

F i gu re 5 .3 s ho ws the gen der s p l i t of key c rea ti v es on the f e a tu re f i l ms s hot i n the U K and r el eas ed b e tween 2 0 0 9 and 2 0 1 3

14%

15%

14%

13%

14%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Directors

Men Women

15%

14%

16%

17%

16%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Writers

Men Women

28%

27%

26%

28%

29%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Producers

Men Women

5%

7%

7%

7%

6%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Composers

Men Women

6%

8%

9%

7%

10%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Cinematographers

Men Women

16%

14%

13%

14%

17%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Editors

Men Women

63%

65%

64%

69%

65%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Casting Directors

Men Women

35%

28%

29%

31%

36%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Production Designers

Men Women

79%

82%

76%

71%

78%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Costume Designers

Men Women



Figure 5.4 Percentage of women in the crew of British films and top grossing films inAmerica, 2009-13

F i gu re 5 .4 c omp a res th e p erc e ntage of women on the f eatu r e f i l ms s hot i n the U K an d rel e as ed b et ween 2 0 0 9 and 2 0 1 3 wi th th atof key c rea ti v es on the 5 0 0 hi ghes t gros s i ng f i l ms at the U S Box Of f i c e b etw een 2 0 0 9 -2 0 1 3 (t op 1 0 0 f i l ms of eac h y ear )

Figure 5.5 Percentage of women as directors, writers and producers of British films and topgrossing films in America, 2009-13

F i gu re 5 .5 c omp a res th e p erc e ntage of women as di rec t ors , wri te rs and p ro du c ers on the f eatu re f i l ms s ho t i n the U K an d r el eas edb etween 2 0 0 9 an d 2 0 1 3 wi th t hat of key c rea ti v es on the 5 0 0 hi ghes t gr os s i ng f i l ms at the U S Box Of f i c e b etween 2 0 0 9 -2 0 1 3 (top1 0 0 f i l ms of eac h y ea r )

26.4% 26.1% 25.8% 24.9%

27.9%

22.6% 22.4% 21.7% 22.4% 21.8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

UK films (2009-13) US box office (2009-13)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Directors

UK films (2009-13)


0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Writers

UK films (2009-13)


0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Producers

UK films (2009-13)





6. Does the gender of a crew matter for audiences?

Key Findings

All of the films that were most popular with men were written and directed by men 42% of the films that were most popular with women were written by women The films with the highest proportion of men in the audience were Action films Over the past decade, the films with the highest percentage of men in the audience were United

93, V For Vendetta and Captain America. The films with the highest percentage of women in the audience were Penelope, Jane Eyre and

Wild Child.

Do female audiences prefer to watch films made by female filmmakers?There are many reasons why the under-representation of women in the film industry could be seen as aproblem. These include female crew members finding it harder to get hired/paid, employers selectingworkers from a pool that is half the size it should be, fewer female role models for aspiring creatives and,of course, justice / equality / fairness.

Another possible reason is a reduced female perspective in stories/characters, so I took on a side projectto investigate the question “Do female audiences prefer to watch films made by female filmmakers?”

In order to answer this question we need to ask the following sub-questions…

1. Do men and women go to the cinema in equal numbers?2. Do men and women watch the same films?3. What gender are the filmmakers behind the films that each gender prefers?

Q1. Do men and women go to the cinema in equal numbers?Roughly, yes. The UK population is 51% female and that the average person in the UK visits the cinema2.7 times a year. There is no difference between the frequency of cinema visits between genders.

Figure 6.1 Percentage of UK population Figure 6.2 Percentage of UK population whowho visit a cinema at least once a year visit a cinema at least once a month

S ou rc e: BF I/ U KF C Y earb o oks , CAV IAR 2 3 and Qu art erl y Rep o rts , CAA F i l m M oni t or

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

% of UK Men % of UK Women

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

% of UK Men % of UK Women

stephenfollows.com/blog stephenfollows.com/blog


Q2. Do men and women watch the same films?The BFI regularly carry out exit polls on new film releases to discover more about who is watching filmsin UK cinemas. Taking this dataset for 251 films released between 2003-2012, I have been able to buildup a list of the films with the highest proportion of men in the audience and the equivalent for women.This gives us a league table of sorts, revealing the 'Most Male' and 'Most Female' films of the past decade.

Figure 6.3 Films with the 'Most Female' Audience in UK cinemas 2003-12Film Male FemalePenelope 10% 90%Jane Eyre 14% 86%Wild Child 15% 85%Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging 16% 84%Sex and the City 19% 81%One Day 19% 81%Bridesmaids 21% 79%Hairspray 22% 78%Miss Potter 22% 78%The Other Boleyn Girl 22% 78%Marley & Me 22% 78%The Devil Wears Prada 22% 78%The Queen 23% 77%High School Musical 3 24% 76%Mamma Mia! 25% 75%Evelyn 26% 74%Calendar Girls 27% 73%Sex and the City 2 27% 73%S Club Seeing Double 28% 72%Enchanted 29% 71%

F i gu re 6 .3 s ho ws f i l ms wi th th e hi ghes t p erc e nta ge of wome n i n the au di enc e f orthe 2 5 1 f i l ms f ea tu re d i n BF I e x i t p ol l s , rel eas e d i n U K c i nem as b etween 2 0 0 3 -1 2 .

Figure 6.4 Films with the 'Most Male' Audience in UK cinemas 2003-12Film Male FemaleUnited 93 89% 11%V for Vendetta 82% 18%Captain America: The First Avenger 78% 22%Green Zone 76% 24%Resident Evil: Apocalypse 75% 25%Severance 74% 26%Dredd 74% 26%Alien Vs Predator 74% 27%Layer Cake 73% 27%Senna 73% 27%Transformers: Dark of the Moon 73% 27%Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol 73% 27%300 72% 28%Terminator Salvation 72% 28%Alexander 72% 28%Iron Man 71% 29%Match Point 71% 29%Dodge Ball: A True Underdog Story 71% 29%Wrath of the Titans 70% 30%Shaun of the Dead 70% 31%

F i gu re 6 .4 s ho ws the f i l ms wi t h the hi ghes t p er c enta ge of m en i n the au di enc ef or the 2 5 1 f i l ms f eatu r ed i n B F I ex i t p ol l s , rel eas e d i n U K c i nemas b etween 2 0 0 3 -1 2 .


Q3. What gender are the filmmakers behind the films that each gender prefers?Once I had complied these league tables I researched who were the key filmmakers behind these 40movies. The results tell a clear story...

The 'Most Male' films are written and directed exclusively by men, four out of five of the producers aremale and three-quarters of the principal cast (i.e. top seven names) are also men. In total, 83% of thepeople involved with these films were men.

However, the pattern is not the same for women. While there are far more female filmmakers in the'Most Female' chart, men are still the majority at 54%.

The only place where women outnumber men is in the principal cast. It should be noted that 42% of thewriters for the 'Most Female' chart are women, which is way above the UK average of 12% for all films.

Figure 6.5Gender of the key creatives for thetop 20 films with the 'Most Female'audiences in UK cinemas 2003-12

Figure 6.6Gender of the key creatives for the

top 20 films with the 'Most Male'audiences in UK cinemas 2003-12

F i gu re 6 .5 s ho ws the gen der o f the wri te r, p r odu c er , di rec t o r an d p ri nc i p al c as t (u p to s ev en p eop l e) f o r the 2 0 f i l ms wi t h thehi ghes t p erc en tage of wom en i n the au di enc e ( ou t of th e 2 5 1 f i l ms f eatu red i n BF I ex i t p ol l s , rel eas ed i n U K c i nemas i n 2 0 0 3 -1 2 ).

F i gu re 6 .6 s ho ws the gen der o f the wri te r, p r odu c er , di rec t o r an d p ri nc i p al c as t (u p to s ev en p eop l e) of the 2 0 f i l ms wi th thehi ghes t p erc en tage of men i n the au di enc e ( ou t of the 2 5 1 f i l ms f eatu ri ng i n BF I ex i t p ol l s , rel eas e d i n U K c i nemas i n 2 0 0 3 -1 2 ).

15%29%

42%

59%

85%71%

58%

41%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Directors Producers Writers PrincipalCast

Female Male

0%12%

0%

28%

100%88%

100%

72%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Directors Producers Writers PrincipalCast

Female Male

stephenfollows.com/blog stephenfollows.com/blog


Q4. Which genres do men and women prefer?Using the audience data above we can see how popular different genres are with each gender.

Figure 6.7 Genres of the top 20 films with the 'Most Female' audiences in UK, 2003-12

F i gu re 6 .7 s ho ws the gen res of the 2 0 f i l ms wi th the hi gh es t p erc entag e of wom en i n the a u d i enc e of the 2 5 1 f i l ms f ea tu red i n BF Iex i t p ol l s , rel e as e d i n U K c i ne mas b etween 2 0 0 3 -1 2

Figure 6.8 Genres of the top 20 films with the 'Most Male' audiences in the UK, 2003-12

F i gu re 6 .8 s ho ws the gen res of the 2 0 f i l ms wi th the hi gh es t p er c entag e of men i n the au di enc e f or the 2 5 1 f i l ms f eatu re d i n BF Iex i t p ol l s , rel e as ed i n U K c i ne mas b etween 2 0 0 3 -1 2

Biopic2%

Comedy30%

Drama26%Family

6%

Fantasy4%

Historical2%

History2%

Musical6%

Period drama2%

Romance19%

Teen2%

Action23%

Adventure8%

Comedy6%Crime

2%Documentary

2%

Drama12%

Fantasy2%

History4%

Horror10%

Romance2%

Sci-Fi12%

Sport4%

Thriller12%

War4%




About This Research

Data SourcesThe raw data came from industry sites (including IMDb and Opus), other publicly available data sites(including Wikipedia and official movie websites) and trade publications (including BFI StatisticalYearbooks and CAA Film Monitor).

It was not possible to rely on a single source, as I could not find one place that had accurate enough data.I spoke to IMDb about licencing their database but they were unwilling to do so as my plan was to raisethe $15,000 annual fee via crowd-funding.

MethodologyThe principle lists of films shot in the UK from the BFI and the British Council.

For the avoidance of doubt, whenever I refer to ‘the crew,’ I do not include the cast. I have defined ‘crew’as all the people it took to make a film, excluding actors, voice artists, extras and background artistes.

Assessing GenderThe size of this study meant that it would be impossible for me to manually inspect each person’sbiography and assess their gender. Therefore I found ways of automating this process. In about half ofthe cases I was able to find external, verifiable evidence of a person’s gender using publicly availabledata.

In the past I have found that IMDb’s ‘gender’ attribute is only set in some cases, and in a few cases isactually wrong. A case in point is Emmy-award winning director cinematographer of Mad Men and TheSopranos, Phil Abraham, who is listed as a woman.


For the remaining people I built a program to analyse the probability that they were a man or a woman.This used lists of names and genders as well as the data from the names for which I did know a gender. Ifat least 90% of people with a certain first name were a man then I assumed that all of the unknownpeople with that first name were also men. I spot-checked this method a number of times and feelsatisfied that it produced suitable accuracy for my needs.

If all these methods failed to assess gender to a high enough degree of certainty then I listed them as‘Unknown gender’ in my data. Across all my data, 3% of names were classified as ‘Unknown’ and Iexcluded this when calculating the male and female percentages. Given more time or resources I wouldlike to go back and discover genders for the missing 3%, but even if I were to do so it couldn’t affect theoverall headline figures enough to be significant.

Limitations and Subjective DecisionsBelow are some of the limitations to this research, as well as the subjective decisions I made along theway, which could have influenced the results.

Reported data – To perform this kind of analysis I am reliant on the producers, studios and crewmembers taking the time to display their up-to-date credit details publicly. This means that ifsomeone was uncredited on the film and had not taken to the time to add themselves to a sitesuch as IMDb then I have no way of knowing that they should be included in that film’s crew. Ifeel that this will be a very small number of people as such sites are used by industry professionalsas evidence of experience. Furthermore, I see no reason to assume either gender have a higherpropensity to under-report their professional credits, so I doubt this factor will affect my results inany significant way.

Film tracking – In order to track all British films I relied upon data gathered by the BFI. Thismeans that my dataset is of all films made, whereas my previous research into top grossing film inAmerica used the top grossing 100 films of each year at the US Box Office. This means that someof the differences could be a result of these different criteria for selection.

British-ness – A film is officially defined as ‘British’ if it passes the DCMS’s Cultural Test or gainsofficial co-production certification. This interpretation of a film’s nationality may differ from somepeople’s idea of which films are ‘British’. For example, films passing the test (and thereforeincluded in this research) include ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Fast and Furious 6’ and ‘John Carter’.

ThanksThis survey would not have been possible without the continued support of Sophie Lifschutz and AlyssaThorne – thank you both :).

Find Out MoreI publish all of my investigations and their findings at http://www.stephenfollows.com, where you canalso see my previous surveys, research and data.

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