Women in Filmmaking: Short Films and Industry Representation

By Michael Wood Head of Performance

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As you may be aware, we run an annual short film competition which is currently in it’s second year. We run this competition in order to support growing talent in the UK, and hope that the competition and the prizes will support filmmakers in putting together their next project. We also host an awards night which includes the opportunity to network with other members of the industry.

In particular I was thrilled to see a large number of the short films entered come from female directors and producers – with a female producer or co-producers accounting for nearly 55% of all submissions received.

This representation is great to see however is not reflected across the industry as a whole. Female-focused production companies are on the rise, however women are still drastically underrepresented. Statistics from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film detail that on the top 100 grossing films of 2018, women represented:

4% of directors
15% of writers
3% of cinematographers
18% of producers
18% of executive producers
14% of editors

Their research also notes that on the top 500 films of 2018, movies with at least one female director employed greater percentages of women writers, editors, cinematographers, and composers than films with exclusively male directors.

Efforts have been made in the UK to raise female representation, such as 40% of the films screened at the 2019 BFI Film Festival being directed or co-directed by a woman (increasing from 38% in 2018). There are also female focused initiatives available such as the WFTV Pat Llewellyn Bursary and the Female Film Force presented by Bumble.

I wrote in a previous article about the successes of short films in competitions and on the festival circuit, which can lead into future funding and the support in transitioning to feature films.

The statistics for the Short Films submitted into the Performance Short Film Competition 2019 are detailed below.

Submissions received –

We received a total of 234 submissions
36% of the submissions were directed by women
55% of the submissions were produced, or co-produced, by women
32% of the submissions were directed by and produced, or co-produced, by women

Shortlisted submissions –

Our shortlist consists of 30 short films
40% of the shortlisted short films were directed by women
48% of the shortlisted short films were produced, or co-produced, by women
36% of the shortlisted short films were directed by and produced, or co-produced, by women

I can’t wait to meet some of the talented women involved with the making of our shortlisted films, at the Performance Short Film Competition 2019 Awards Night taking place in November.

In the meantime, please enjoy this selection of 10 Marvelous Shorts By Women Filmmakers as curated by Film Shortage.

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