IMDbPro and ReFrame, an initiative of Sundance Institute and Women in Film, today announced the recipients of the ReFrame TV Stamp for gender-balanced hiring. Ninety-four of the 200 most popular scripted series of the 2022-23 season have met the criteria with Emmy-nominated comedies leading the way. Five of the eight top comedies – Abbott Elementary, Only Murders in the Building, The Bear, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Wednesday — met the gender-balanced production criteria, while only one of the eight nominated series in the Outstanding Drama category (Yellowjackets) earned the Stamp, a decline from last year when three of the eight drama nominees qualified.
The ReFrame TV Stamp, launched in 2018, is awarded to scripted series that hire women or people of other underrepresented genders (including those who are trans, non-binary or gender non-conforming) in at least 50% of key roles including: showrunner, writers, directors, producers, lead, co-leads, and department heads. Additional points are awarded to productions that hire women of color in these key positions, and to those with overall gender parity in their crews.
The report saw a 4% increase in episodes directed by women at 40%, up from 36% last year. It also found 50.08% of episodes were written by women, up from 48.4% last year, as well as a big jump in popular series featuring a woman in the lead acting role at 54%, up from 45.5% last year.
There also are more women running the show. 32.5% of all series had at least one female showrunner, up from 29.5% last year. 9.5% had a woman of color showrunner, up from last year’s 3.5%.
“Our research shows that scripted television has been far outpacing studio features in the movement towards gender parity, in front of and behind the camera,’ said Andria Wilson Mirza, Director of ReFrame. “For the first time, we have hit the 50% mark in episodic writing credits for women, and 40% in directing. As we celebrate this positive progress, and the shows and showrunners that drove these averages up, we want to also point out that a third of the series that earned the Stamp this year have since been canceled. As we look forward to a return to development and production of scripted television, it’s imperative that gender parity remains a priority, and that progress doesn’t stall or backslide just as women are gaining ground.”
The report also includes a company report card, indicating the percentage of shows from each studio, streamer and network that met the criteria. Netflix, Disney and Amazon each saw year-over-year increases in the percentage of Stamped series in their lineup, while fewer series from Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Apple earned the Stamp.
You can read the report and see the full list here.
