Study: More women, minorities being hired as TV directors

LOS ANGELES The hiring of ethnic minorities and women as first-time TV series directors is up sharply, according to a Directors Guild of America study released Wednesday.

They’re part of record growth and diversity in the “pipeline” of incoming directors, the study of the 2016-17 TV season found. The percentage of minority first-time episodic series directors has more than doubled since the 2009-10 season, while the percentage of female firsttime directors has nearly tripled.

“The fact is, it all starts with the pipeline,” guild president Thomas Schlamme said in a statement, with hiring decisions made now affecting who will be in the employment pool “in two years, five years, 10 years’ time. Our research shows that when employers actually do the work of being inclusive, they find talented directors who overwhelmingly succeed in establishing longer-term careers.”

Schlamme credited the guild’s effort to educate the industry and hold employers accountable through contracts for bringing about what he called “meaningful improvement” in diversity.

Comparing the 2016-17 season with 2015-16, the guild found that 56 (25 per cent) of all first-time hires last season were ethnic minorities, up from 24 (15 per cent) in the preceding season. The 73 female first-time directors hired in 2016-17 represented 32 per cent of incoming directors, compared with 38 (24 per cent) the season before.

The study didn’t include a breakdown by ethnicity among the minority first-time directors.