Director David Frankham has joined bicoastal Smuggler. He was most recently with bicoastal The Artists Company….In partnership with bicoastal Cohn+Company, music video house Notorious Pictures, also bicoastal, has launched a commercial division and has signed U.K.-based director Tim Hope for spot representation in the U.S. The 2-D/3-D/live-action helmer was featured in Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Directors Showcase at the 2002 Cannes International Advertising Festival. He continues to work through London-based Passion Pictures for commercials outside the U.S., as well as for music videos…..Cine International and DRSA have merged to create Cine/DRSA International, New York. Valerie Light, Paul Rosen and Don Stogo will be partners/executive producers at the new company, which will be a division of Screen Gems….Commercial editorial company Harley’s House and music/sound design shop Primal Scream have entered into a creative alliance to provide ad agencies with a full slate of services from the same site. Primal Scream has moved into new headquarters, part of the recently expanded Harley’s House facility in Santa Monica. Per the deal, both companies maintain their current ownership and are free to work with other editing and music/sound design houses…..Editor Louis Lyne has joined Griot Editorial, Southfield, Mich….The partners of Boston editorial facility Spot, Larry Andersen and Carl MacNeal, have parted ways and are now running separate edit houses. Andersen is retaining the Spot name and relocating the company to nearby offices. MacNeal will be launching Edit Pod, Boston, also in a new location….New York-headquartered production company The Firm has signed London-based director Laurie Castelli for stateside commercial representation. Castelli is repped for spots in Europe by Democracy, London….Creative concept/design company Room and creative editorial house Cutting Room, sister shops based in Venice, Calif., have brought Greg Everage on board as executive producer….. Executive producer Dina Chang and senior editor Arash Ayrom have joined Humunculus, a Venice, Calif.-based broadcast design and animation house recently launched by founder Saam Gabbay who shares creative director duties with writer/director/producer/designer Brumby Boylston….
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