Why So Few Female Directors? 2012 Data and Solutions

Guest post by Kate Chaplin

The River Bend Film Festival was so kind to ask me to give a presentation entitled, "Why so few female directors." I was first asked to give presentation in October of 2011 to a group of filmmakers and it freaked me out. Who was I to describe what it's like for every female filmmaker? Who am I to know what the truth to this problem is? But it was a topic that is very close to my heart. As a mother of two girls who I want to inspire to be anything they want in this world, I gave it my all. I researched for months. I dove into my own experiences of being the only woman on set and being harassed and bullied. I tried my best to come up with solutions and even counter solutions that others have been suggesting for years that have found little results. Over the months since my first talk, which is online here [and embedded below] I have done more research, heard more testimonials from women and gotten the most amazing feedback -- and backlash.

Each time I announce that I've given a Directing While Female talk I take heat publicly and privately from male filmmakers who do not see the fact that only 9% of directors are female is a problem. "It's hard for all filmmakers," they say. Which is totally true but I've been flat out told many times that I won't succeed in filmmaking because I'm a woman. It's different being told a career is hard vs. you can't do it because of how you were born.  The week before giving a presentation (I've done this 4 times now) I have nightmares of people throwing chairs, having a pie thrown in my face, or someone storming out of the room. So far, this has not happened. Those who come to my presentations leave smiling, empowered and having learned something new that they can turn into action.

I talk a lot about ads being negative triggers for women in telling them their place in the world. I love after giving a talk seeing those men and women posting on social media ads that most of us blow off, and questioning them. I love seeing the people who came to the talk being excited they found a movie that passed the Bechdel Test. In the few hundreds of people my talks have reached, I'm seeing a change in perception. I'm seeing conversation start. I'm one person in this large group like Her Film Project, The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film (to name a few). I'm scheduled to do more talks and am so happy that I can share my latest with you. If you are interested in me coming to your school, library or organization, my contact info is below.

Website: www.katechaplin.com
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Twitter @katechaplin
IMDB

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Kate Chaplin is a director, writer and producer who has been named “The Queen of Indie Film” and “A Powerful Woman” by the Indy Star (Indianapolis, Indiana). Chaplin is a multi-award winning filmmaker, author and public speaker. Chaplin’s projects have appeared on MTV, VH1, Discovery Channel, in film festivals, sci-fi conventions, in print and online. Chaplin's project First They Came for… won the Indy Award, the Gold Award in Hollywood, and was nominated for the Hoosier Lens Award. Ms. Chaplin works on many film productions as a Co-Producer, Assistant Director, or Script Supervisor. Ms. Chaplin is passionate about film and sought after to provide film classes at local schools, libraries and leadership organizations to help inspire others to learn more about filmmaking.

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