Women Film Entrepreneurs Face ‘Grave Disparity’ in Funding, Study Finds
A study released by Women in Film Los Angeles finds that women-owned companies lag far behind men-owned companies in studio-subsidized film and TV deals.The report, titled “Women Entrepreneurs in the Screen Industries: Obstacles and Opportunities” and conducted by Pepperdine University associate professor Alicia Jessop, concludes that only 18.6% of studio-subsidized film deals and 35.7% of studio-subsidized television deals were with women-owned companies and only 18% of production companies with non-studio funding were women-owned.By comparison, the study released on Wednesday states that on average men-owned independent production companies receive more than seven times the amount of funding received by women-owned independent production companies.Said WIF Board president Amy Baer said in a statement: “The origin of this study was actually quite personal to the WIF Board. At a 2018 Board meeting, several highly accomplished women were sharing anecdotal frustrations about the obstacles to launching enterprise in the screen industry, while constantly watching men of equal experience and stature repeatedly and successfully land investment.