Celluloid Ceiling study (LAT, TW)

By Nancy Tartaglione

According to a new report by San Diego State University's Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, the number of women in prominent filmmaking positions has remained stagnant since 1998. The Celluloid Ceiling study, which The Wrap and The Los Angeles Times report on today, finds that a woman is more likely to hold a seat on a Fortune 500 company board, serve as a member of the clergy or work as an aerospace engineer than direct a Hollywood movie.

Women held 16% of key jobs on the top 250 films of 2010 which is equal to 2009 figures and about the same level as in 1998.

"People were talking about the Bigelow effect, and would her success open the door for other women," Martha Lauzen, executive director of the center, is quoted by The LAT as saying with regard to Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar win last year as Best Director for "The Hurt Locker." "It affected her career, but we're not at that point where there's a halo effect that reaches out to other women."

"These numbers are just remarkably stable," Lauzen told The Wrap.

While there are certainly a number of top female directors, "Citing a few women can be tremendously misleading, because you never know how a group is going until you count their numbers," Lauzen told TW.

One reason that the number of women working in film hasn't increased more quickly may be the fee-for-hire system used to staff movies, Melissa Silverstein, co-founder of the Athena Film Festival and editor of Women and Hollywood, told The LAT.

"Directors, writers — they're technically not employees of the movie studios," said Silverstein. "So the studios keep no statistics, except of course for counting box office." And without statistics, there's no urgency to change, Silverstein said.