DGA Inclusion Report Shows Stable Rate for TV Director Hiring

The Directors Guild of America has released data tied to hiring trends in episodic television from the 2023-2024 season, showing fairly stable numbers over the past three years including during the strikes period..

The results indicate increases in employment rates among women and directors of color over the past decade. Data also focused on women and people of color within directorial teams as well as both LGBTQ+ and disabled members of directorial teams. The Guild has been tracking such data since 2022.

“The good news is that the industry has made measurable gains in the employment of women directors and directors of color in episodic television over the past ten seasons,” said DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter. “Although these gains have held steady through the beginning of 2024, we must remain vigilant in this time when employers have pulled back on production. Our Diversity and Inclusion data is critical for putting pressure on the industry to do a better job in advancing opportunities for directors from historically marginalized communities. So, we are proud to expand the reach of our data to also include trends for the LGBTQ+ and disabled communities as we continue our commitment to advocate for an equal playing field for all.”

The data analyzed 1,430 DGA-covered television episodes produced over the course of the the 2023-2024 season, finding 37% of all episodes were directed by women, signaling a 16% increase from the decade prior with 39% and 40% for the two previous seasons. This same data set found 39% of episodes were directed by people of color, the same amount as for the past two seasons and a 18% increase from the decade prior.

Since the 2014-2015 television season, hiring rates rose from 3% to 13% among women of color and from 15% to 26% among men of color. Representation of white women grew from 13% to 20%.

Although the strike led to a decrease in episodic television production during the 2023-24 season, 1,430 episodes produced reflected hiring across six of seven different demographic categories.

Data on television episodes produced in 2023 signify 8.6% of content was directed by members of the LGBTQ+ community and 0.6% of content by a member of the disabled community.

“We encourage the studios to continue to build on the progress they have made over the prior decade as production levels recover following various disruptions to work over the last few years,” said Edward Ornelas, co-chair of the DGA’s Television Diversity Task Force. “We are particularly focused on finding ways to increase behind the camera representation for the Latino community, which continues to lag despite its status as a large historically marginalized group.”

For female members of directorial teams, hiring rates over the course of the 2023-2024 season were listed at 41%, and at 21% for directors of color.

“The diversity of directorial teams working in episodic television remains low, especially when compared to hiring gains for episodic directors,” said Heidi McGowen, a UPM member who serves on the Television Diversity Task Force. “To foster a profession that truly reflects a wide range of perspectives, studios must prioritize increasing inclusion at every level. The DGA is committed to creating pathways that expand employment opportunities for underrepresented members of directorial teams.”