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White Males Still Direct Most Prime-Time Shows, DGA Report Says — In Fact, the Ratio Has Gone Up

Sep 28, 2012  •  Post A Comment

Most prime-time television is directed by white men, with the ratio actually ticking upward last season, reports TheWrap.com, citing a report by the Directors Guild of America.

The percentage of prime-time TV episodes directed by Caucasian men rose by a point to 73% during the 2011-12 TV season, up from 72% in the 2010-11 season, the story notes.

Only 11% of episodes were directed by white women — the same as in the previous season — while the percentage of episodes directed by male minorities dropped to 13% from 14%. Female minorities directed 4% of episodes, up from 3%.

“Our industry has to do better,” said Paris Barclay, co-chair of the DGA National Board’s diversity task force. "In this day and age, it’s quite disappointing that so many shows failed to hire even a single woman or minority director during the course of an entire season — even shows whose cast and crew otherwise is notably diverse."

Several shows were singled out for having no female or minority directors, including "Dallas," "Supernatural" and "Veep," the story notes.

One Comment

  1. Aren’t we through with quotas? Judging percentages based on the total population is so very wrong. Why don’t they tell us what percentage of all DIRECTORS are male, female, gay, black, white, Hispanic, Agnostics, afraid of clowns, etc. before worrying about how many are currently working from each segment of society. Like most businesses, it’s all about who can make the best product and get the largest audience and commercial advertising revenue. If there are no Tahitian, atheist, transvestites who call themselves a Director, then leave that out of the statistic.

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