A new study on diversity in Hollywood found that the biggest film roles still mostly go to white men.
The annual UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report, which was published Thursday, analyzed 2022 Hollywood film releases and found ethnic and gender inclusivity in movies slid back down to pre-pandemic levels after making incremental progress.
The study found that women and people of color were getting increased opportunities in series and films on streaming platforms compared to theatrically released films.
The reliance on movies starring white men was likely an attempt to draw audiences back to movie theaters, despite Black, Latino and Asian American viewers making up about half of routine moviegoers. Studios had fewer wide releases in 2022 and box office totals were only about 67% of their pre-pandemic levels.
The report’s release comes more than two weeks after “Everything Everywhere All At Once” won six Oscars, including best picture as well as best actress for Michelle Yeoh and best supporting actor for Ke Huy Quan.
“It definitely was not an industry that was back all the way. But I really think it gives a picture of a two-tiered system that’s been created,” Ana-Christina Ramón, director of the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative at UCLA, said. “What will be interesting to see is what happens in 2023 if it continues to have this bifurcation.”
“The fear is that diversity is something temporary or could be easily cut at any point in either theatrical or streaming,” Ramón added.
The overall data saw the number of women and people of color involved in front of and behind the camera roughly doubled over the last decade, but those numbers have not improved dramatically in the past five years and have not kept up with U.S. demographics.
Only 22% of lead actors were people of color, while women made up 39%. People of color accounted for 17% of directors and 12% of writers while 15% of films were directed by women.
Women had more success writing movies, composing 27% of the year’s theatrical releases. However, compared to white men, the budgets for films directed by women or people of color were lower across the board.
“With the industry unstable, what we could see was the culture that Hollywood has always relied on when in need of a surefire hit,” Ramón said. “They think of surefire hits as a code for no diversity, for white-led. It’s something that they’re comfortable with.”