Inspiring Women of The Film Industry - Zoe Jones, Marketing Director, Digital Cinema Media

In the spirit of Digital Cinema Media’s partnership with D&AD, around the theme ‘Inspired by Film', Zoe Jones, Marketing Director at Digital Cinema Media takes a look at inspiring women in the movie industry for her inaugural Huffington Post Blog.

Sandra Bullock’s powerhouse leading role in sci-fi blockbuster Gravity has helped rocket the multi-award winning film to a global Box Office performance of more than $712m and counting. In Gravity, Bullock’s character Ryan Stone pulls off a seemingly impossible mission back to earth, but achieving the reality of gender equality across the film and media industry can still seem light years away…

Sandra Bullock occupies 87% of Gravity’s running time, more than any other Oscar nominee in 2014. However, according to research published in The New York Times, this year’s lead actors average 85 minutes on screen, while the lead actresses average only 57 minutes.

In her recent acceptance speech at the Oscars, Cate Blanchett directly challenged the film industry on its representation of women. She thanked distributor Sony Classics: “For so bravely and intelligently distributing the film and to the audiences who went to see it and perhaps those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people.”

In the UK, female cinemagoers account for 53% of the market (Film Monitor) which on average reaches more than 172m admissions (Rentrak) per year. Contrary to stereotypes, these women aren’t just turning out in force for the latest romcom, they’re just as up for Oscar winners, heart-stopping horror or big budget blockbusters. However the representation of women both onscreen and behind the camera does not always reflect this reality.

The Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film in the US recently analysed on-screen representations of female characters in the top 100 films of 2013. The findings revealed that female characters remain dramatically under-represented with only 13% of the top 100 films featuring equal numbers of major female and male characters, or more major female characters than male characters.

So following the outpouring of female empowerment around International Women’s Day – what can be done to better inspire women through film? It’s not all depressing news, a number of actresses, directors and executives are paving the way and inspiring us all.

Geena Davis

Oscar winning actress Geena Davis has taken direct action to address gender imbalance. She has spent the last decade campaigning against on-screen inequality as the founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Specifically focusing on children’s entertainment she is dedicated to addressing the gender imbalance, reducing stereotyping and creating a wide variety of female characters. According to Davis’ research in family films there is only one female character for every three male characters while in group scenes only 17% of the characters are female. She claims that the repetitive viewing patterns of children ensure that these negative stereotypes are ingrained and imprinted over and over. Speaking at the launch of UN Women, Davis explained: “If girls can see it, they can be it.” UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon added: “Our job is to give girls and young women the inspiration and the tools to be what we know they can be.”

Jennifer Lawrence

Another Oscar winning actress, Jennifer Lawrence’s career has already seen her work across genres including her iconic role as Katniss in The Hunger Games. The franchise, with two films still to come, has already taken $1.6bn globally and is another example of strong, female lead entertaining audiences worldwide. Lawrence has also been frank in the past when it comes to discussing the expectations Hollywood has on women in the industry when it comes to their weight. She has previously slammed the notion of women being made to think that they have to look like 'perfect models' or being 'hungry to make other people happy'.

Nina Jacobson

Nina Jacobson is a studio exec turned independent producer who brought The Hunger Games to the big screen after her daughter was captivated by the books. Her career includes stints at DreamWorks, Universal and Disney, where she served as President of Walt Disney Motion Picture Group. As an executive, she shepherded The Sixth Sense, Remember the Titans, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Pirates of the Caribbean. As well as running her own production company, Color Force, Jacobson is also active with Teen Line, Feminist Majority Foundation, and Inner City Filmmakers.

Kathryn Bigelow

With The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director. She has an impressive body of work including Point Break, Strange Days and, most recently, Zero Dark Thirty. She is also a film producer, screenwriter, television director and talented painter.

Megan Ellison

As the producer of Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty and The Master, Megan Ellison has become a powerful force in Hollywood. The daughter of software tycoon Larry Ellison, the third wealthiest man in America, Ellison has used her wealth to carve out a hugely influential role in financing smart and adventurous movies. Just this year her company, Annapurna Pictures, has also backed Her, American Hustle and The Grandmaster which between them received 17 Oscar nominations.

This article originally appeared on The Huffington Post 11/04/2014