Data Also Indicates That Films That Pass the
Bechdel Test, Measuring the Portrayal of Women in Film, Surpass the
Box Office of Films That Fail The Test
Leaders in the promotion of inclusion and equity, global
entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and
tech-forward innovation company shift7, today announced the
findings of research examining the correlation between female-led
films and box office success, as well as the box office
implications of films that pass the Bechdel Test, a measure of the
representation of women in film, television and other works of
fiction.
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The data analysis looked at the top-grossing U.S. films released
between January 2014 to December 2017, and found that female-led
films outperformed male-led films at all budget levels.
CAA and shift7 came together through TIME’S UP, where they
collaborate in a storytellers’ content-focused working group that
works to improve the portrayal of all women in media and
entertainment. The group is led by Head of Pascal Pictures and
former Chairman of Sony Pictures Amy Pascal, shift7 CEO and 3rd
U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith, and Producer and Founder
of 3dot Productions Liza Chasin. The group also includes CAA Agent
Alexandra Trustman, actor/advocate Geena Davis, and other prominent
women in entertainment. Together, they built upon CAA’s existing
database resource and index issued in 2017 that explored the
correlation between diverse casting, diverse audiences, and box
office success.
The resulting analysis uses box office performance and
production budget data for top-grossing films from Gracenote, a
Nielsen company. The team examined 350 top grossing films released
between 2014 – 2017, for which budget data had been reported in
Studio System by Gracenote, the entertainment industry's most
trusted information source. Films were categorized into five budget
levels: under $10 million, $10 million - $30 million, $30 million -
$50 million, $50 million - $100 million, and over $100 million.
Within that grouping of 350, they further identified the films that
had women listed as the lead actor (e.g., listed first in billing
blocks, press notes, or distributor-issued final credits) and found
that in every budget level category, films with female leads
performed better in worldwide box office averages.
“This is powerful proof that audiences want to see everyone
represented on screen,” said Pascal. “Decision-makers in Hollywood
need to pay attention to this.”
Popularized through a comic strip by Alison Bechdel, the Bechdel
Test (bechdeltest.com) is a simple test for the following three
criteria: (1) the film has to have at least two women in it; (2)
the two women speak to one another in the film; and (3) they speak
about something other than a man. When compared by total box office
results, the analysis found that films that passed the Bechdel Test
outperformed films that failed. Further, the research showed that
every film that surpassed $1 billion in global box office also
passed the Bechdel Test.
“The Bechdel Test is a low bar to clear, and it’s surprising how
many movies don’t clear it,” said Chasin. “Understandably, the
studios think about the bottom line, so it’s great to see a growing
body of data that should make it easier for executives to make more
inclusive decisions.”
Smith notes that the issue of inclusion on screen has broader
implications for the economy, and that by 2020, America is
projected to have two million unfilled jobs in science, technology,
engineering, and math. “What we see on screen affects how we see
ourselves and each other, and can increase or decrease confidence,”
said Smith. “When people who have been traditionally
under-represented are stereotyped, or left out of the story
entirely, we diminish confidence and deprive people of role models
and directly hold back the country’s economic and social
potential.”
Academy Award-winning actor and advocate Geena Davis applauds
CAA and shift7’s efforts to further the conversation about gender
balance in media. “I started commissioning data back in 2004,
realizing there is so much unconscious bias in this space. The
truth is that seeing women and girls on screen is not only good for
everyone – especially our children – it’s also good entertainment
and good business,” said Davis, who founded and chairs the research
organization The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
“This analysis affirms data showing that diversity has a
positive impact on a company’s bottom line,” said TIME’S UP
President and CEO Lisa Borders. “As studios consider their
fiduciary responsibilities to their investors, these findings offer
a clear approach to delivering the best results.”
CAA’s Christy Haubegger notes, “Women comprise half the box
office, yet there has been an assumption in the industry that
female-led films led were generally less successful. We found that
the data does not support that assumption."
CAA and shift7’s comprehensive data analysis can be found at
https://shift7.com/media-research.
ABOUT SHIFT7
shift7 works collaboratively on systemic problems, scouting and
scaling promising solutions and solution-makers, and catalyzing
innovation ecosystems. shift7 adds proven tech-forward, open,
sharable practices to drive equitable economic, social and
environmental progress.
ABOUT CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY (CAA)
Leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency
(CAA) represents many of the most successful and innovative
professionals working in film, television, music, video games,
theatre, and digital content, and provides a range of strategic
marketing and consulting services to corporate clients. CAA is also
a leader in sports, representing more than 1,700 of the world’s top
athletes in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis,
and golf, and works in the areas of broadcast rights, corporate
marketing initiatives, licensing, and sports properties for sales
and sponsorship opportunities.
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Beth McClinton, Creative Artists Agency,
Beth.McClinton@caa.comSusan Alzner, shift7, media@shift7.com