Date: 7th December 2000

Bleak Hiring Report Issued By DGA


The entertainment industry has failed to make good on its pledge to hire more women and minorities as directors, the Directors Guild of America said in a report released Wednesday. In a statement accompanying the report, DGA president Jack Shea said, "The employers have repeatedly promised to do everything they can to provide more opportunities for women and minorities to establish their careers as members of the directorial team. This report clearly shows they are not actively pursuing the fulfillment of that promise." In fact, opportunities for women and minorities actually declined significantly last year, with figures showing that female directors worked 7.4 percent of total days worked by all DGA directors versus 8.5 percent during the previous year. The report found that African-American tape directors worked 2.5 percent of the total days worked by Guild directors last year, down from 6 percent in 1998. "This is the lowest employment level for DGA African-American tape directors since 1990," the report said. The only area of improvement was reflected in theatrical movies where the percentage of total days worked by African-American directors rose from 4.2 percent of total days worked by DGA directors in 1998 to 5.4 percent in 1999. DGA Vice President Martha Coolidge said, "The report should serve as a wake-up call to industry employers that they must heighten their efforts to provide equal employment opportunities for women and minority DGA members."

Source: Studio Briefing