Women increasingly call the shots on TV
Directors Guild reported that of the 225 first-time directors, 32.4% were women
LOS ANGELES— Recent allegations of sexual misconduct by entertainment bigwigs have invigorated the campaign to put more women in charge.
In television, however, the revolution has already begun. Last season, 262 female directors worked in episodic TV in the U.S., a 45-per-cent increase from the previous year, according to the Directors Guild of America.
“There’s obviously still work to be done, but we keep making obvious strides,” said Elisabeth Moss, star and co-producer of The Handmaid’s Tale. Nine of that show’s 10 episodes were helmed by women, including Reed Morano, who became only the third woman to win an Emmy as Best Director for a dramatic series.
“When you look at the landscape of television now, and how much content is led by women and made by women, it’s exactly where we should be going,” Moss said.
TV directors don’t carry as much clout as their counterparts in film and theatre. Traditionally, showrunners rule the roost in television: creators such as Ryan Murphy or Shonda Rhimes, who often serve as head writer. But that’s starting to change as high-def home entertainment sys- tems and streaming services with bigger budgets force everyone to up their game.
Few shows in recent years have been as cinematic as American Horror Story, Scream Queens and Feud, all from Murphy. And it’s no coincidence that his production company has dramatically increased the number of female directors in rotation: from zero during Horror’s first sea- son to seven in its latest.
Last year, Murphy launched his Half Initiative, which pledged to create more opportunities behind the camera for women and minorities. Since then, 60 per cent of the directing jobs on his shows have been filled by females.
Rachel Goldberg had made an impressive collection of short films, but couldn’t break into the big leagues until Murphy tapped her to direct an episode of American Horror Story: Cult that aired earlier this year.
Goldberg is currently attached to four feature films.
Another game changer is Ava DuVernay, who used the success of her Oscar-nominated feature film Selma — and her friendship with Oprah Winfrey — to develop Queen Sugar, a series for Winfrey’s OWN network that employs only female directors.
DuVernay hasn’t abandoned her movie career; her highly anticipated adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time is scheduled to open in March. But the fast-rising star believes that episodic TV is often the best launching pad for burgeoning talents. It’s tough to secure feature-film work without some small-screen experience.
The Directors Guild reported in September that of the 225 first-time TV directors, 32.4 per cent were women, up from 24 per cent the previous year, an all-time high. But feature films are moving in the opposite direction. Female directors accounted for only 7 per cent of the 250 top-grossing domestic releases in 2016, a 2-per-cent drop from the previous year, according to a study by San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.
Steph Green, director of Bates Motel and Luke Cage, and many of her peers give a lot of credit to Gwyneth Horder-Payton, a trailblazer whose TV career began as an assistant director on FX’s The Shield. HorderPayton, who went on to direct more than 70 TV episodes, makes a point of having aspiring directors shadow her on set. Others are following suit.
“Everything I can do to give back and teach is super important to me because it’s the only way,” Goldberg said.
“People did it for all of us. So it’s only right that we do it for others.”