Liz Laine Reps, Chicago, has expanded its representation of graphic, live action and motion design house Eyeball to include New York. Liz Laine Reps continues to handle the NYC-based Eyeball in the Midwest and on the West Coast. Liz Laine Reps pairs Liz Laine with Katy Richter; the indie firm represents a stable of animation companies and directors….Grace & Wild Studios, headquartered in Farmington Hills, Mich., has brought Josh Yurich aboard as director of business development. He will explore new business opportunities and assist in the expansion of the company’s interactive media service offerings. Yurich spent the past two years assisting with the startup of Digital Extensions, a global digital production agency based in Miami. During his time there, he built and maintained relationships with traditional and digital agencies throughout the Midwest and East Coast, and sold website and microsite design/development, social media applications, and mobile applications….DP Jan Richter Friis and costume designer Kelle Kutsugeras are now repped exclusively by WME for features, commercials and music videos….
USC Annenberg Report: Female Protagonists Reach Parity With Men In Top-Grossing Films Of 2024
For the first time in recent history, the percentage of top-grossing films featuring female protagonists equaled the percentage of films with male protagonists, according to a pair of annual studies released Tuesday.
Movies like "Wicked,""Inside Out 2" and "The Substance" lifted Hollywood's theatrical releases to gender parity in leading roles in 2024. Of the 100 top domestic grossing films in 2024, 42% had female protagonists, and 42% had male protagonists, according to a report issued by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.
The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which also released its annual study Tuesday, found that 54% of the top 100 films at the box office in 2024 featured girls and women as protagonists. That's a massive jump from just the year prior, when 30% of films featured women in lead roles. In 2007, when the USC annual study began, that figure was just 20%.
"This is the first time we can say that gender equality has been reached in top-grossing films," Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, said in a statement.
"In 2024, three of the top five films had a girl or woman in a leading role, as did five of the top 10 films — including the number one film of the year, Disney's 'Inside Out 2,'" added Smith. "We have always known that female-identified leads would make money. This is not the result of an economic awakening but is due to a number of different constituencies and efforts — at advocacy groups, at studios, through DEI initiatives — to assert the need for equality on screen."
Other metrics suggested the gains in leading roles masked still-endemic disparity throughout Hollywood. The percentage of female characters in speaking roles... Read More