TV drama leads in gender equity behind camera
TV Drama outranks Documentary, Online and Features when it comes to equity in Women Producers, Writers & Directors.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News, Top Stories
New data from Screen Australia shows strong results industry-wide for women producers in the TV drama and online drama categories.
2022/ 23 Gender Matters data shows TV drama sees continued increases from 62% producers, 56% writers, and 39% directors in 2020/21, up to 64% producers, 58% writers, and 43% directors in 2021/22.
This category demonstrates a sustained upward trend, with women producers achieving parity consistently since 2015/16.
Documentary presents smaller variations. While still below parity, it remains comparable to the previous year at 48% producers, 42% writers, and 36% directors in 2021/22 compared to 52% producers, 40% writers, and 37% directors in 2020/21.
While online drama saw slight decreases across all key roles, both producers and writers remained above parity in 2021/22 at 63% and 52% respectively. Directors dropped to 37% in the same period.
Protagonist data continues to achieve or exceed parity, with notable female representation present across approved drama applications at Screen Australia in both the production and development categories.
TV/VOD drama production applications shows consistent improvement with an increase from the 2021/22 year to 64% in 2022/23, another seven-year high. Online drama production also increased to 61% in 2022/23.
Screen Australia’s Head of Content Grainne Brunsdon said, “Screen Australia’s commitment to gender parity is reflected in the continued gains in the successful applications by female creatives to the agency. These results are a valuable reminder that ongoing engagement with the industry is central to meaningful and sustainable change.”
Chair of the Gender Matters Taskforce and filmmaker Rosie Lourde said, “Screen Australia’s Gender Matters KPI data proves that the industry-wide equity work invested to date is working in many areas, and that a holistic ecosystem of change is necessary to ensure the wins for gender parity are not lost as the industry evolves.”
You can read more at Screen Australia.