LOS ANGELES – Recent allegations of sexual misconduct by entertainment bigwigs have invigorated the campaign to put more women in charge.
In television, however, the revolution has already begun. Last season 262 female directors worked in episodic TV, a 45 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Directors Guild of America. That's roughly one in five of all the directors employed.
"There's obviously still work to be done, but we keep making obvious strides," said Elisabeth Moss, star and co-producer for Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale." Nine of that show's 10 episodes were helmed by women, including Reed Morano, who became only the third woman to win an Emmy as best director for a dramatic series.
"When you look at the landscape of television now, and how much content is led by women and made by women, it's exactly where we should be going," Moss said.
TV directors don't carry as much clout as their counterparts in film and theater. Traditionally, showrunners rule the roost in television — creators such as Ryan Murphy or Shonda Rhimes, who often serve as head writer. But that's starting to change as high-def home entertainment systems and streaming services with bigger budgets (and bigger ambitions) force everyone to up their game.
"The demands of visual storytelling have never been greater and, speaking for myself, they couldn't have come soon enough," said "West Wing" veteran Tommy Schlamme, who was elected president of the Directors Guild in June.
"I remember early in my career, I always wondered why networks and studios and producers didn't want TV directors to reach into their toolbox and use the best visual vocabulary they had to tell the story," Schlamme said. "There were restrictions. That never made any sense because I would watch 'Citizen Kane' on television, which was getting bigger and bigger, and it still looked like a visual masterpiece."
The Half initiative
Few shows in recent years have been as cinematic as "American Horror Story," "Scream Queens" and "Feud," all from Murphy. And it's no coincidence that his production company has dramatically increased the number of female directors in rotation — from zero during the first season of "Horror" to seven in its latest.