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Women Filmmakers Match Returns on Half-Sized Budgets
Researchers studied almost 200,000 movies made around the world over 30 years.
They compared movies made only by men with movies involving women writers or directors.
Movies written and directed by women usually had much smaller budgets.
Even so, their typical financial returns were almost the same as movies made only by men.
Movies with a woman writer but no woman director had even higher typical returns in this study.
This does not prove that women writers caused the higher earnings.
The biggest movie budgets were still given mostly to projects without women directors.
Films such as Barbie, Mamma Mia!, Gully Boy and Suffragette show that women filmmakers can also make commercially successful movies.
The study did not determine why women receive fewer of the largest budgets.
A study of 199,656 films released worldwide from 1994 to 2023 examined women’s participation in writing and directing.
Films written and directed by women had a median budget of $19.9 million and a median ROI of 0.89, nearly matching male-only films’ 0.88 ROI.
Films with women screenwriters but no women directors recorded a median ROI of 1.10, compared with 0.88 for male-only productions.
None of the 44 films in the top 1% of production budgets had a woman director, while women were involved in at least one key role in 26.2% of all films.
Examples of commercially successful women-led filmmaking include Barbie, Mamma Mia!, Gully Boy, Suffragette and several Indian productions.
- Who
- Researchers examining 199,656 feature-length narrative films, along with women writers, directors and filmmakers.
- What
- A study found that films involving women writers and directors often achieved returns comparable to male-only films despite receiving smaller budgets.
- Where
- Worldwide, with a separate financial sample consisting mainly of United States theatrical releases.
- When
- The films in the main dataset were released from 1994 through 2023; several cited examples were released between 2008 and 2024.
- Why
- To compare production budgets, profits, returns on investment and women’s participation in writing and directing.
Comparable returns and commercial potential
Cautions about interpretation and access
Financial performance
Comparable returns and commercial potential
Films written and directed by women achieved a median ROI of 0.89, nearly the 0.88 median for male-only films despite having roughly half the median budget.
Cautions about interpretation and access
The results describe median associations and do not establish that women’s involvement caused comparable or higher returns.
Screenwriting and returns
Comparable returns and commercial potential
Films with a woman screenwriter but no woman director had a median ROI of 1.10, about 25% higher than male-only productions.
Cautions about interpretation and access
Researchers cautioned that the comparison is an association, and some high-budget categories contained small numbers of films.
Access to major budgets
Comparable returns and commercial potential
Commercial successes such as Barbie, Mamma Mia!, Gully Boy and Suffragette demonstrate that films led by women can reach large audiences and revenues.
Cautions about interpretation and access
No film with a woman director appeared among the top 1% of production budgets, and the study did not explain why women receive less access to the largest investments.
Key facts
- Main dataset
- 199,656 feature-length narrative films released worldwide from 1994 to 2023
- Financial sample
- 4,245 films with verified budget and revenue data, mainly United States theatrical releases
- Women writers and directors
- Films with both roles held by women had a median budget of $19.9 million and median ROI of 0.89
- Male-only films
- Films with no women in either role had a median budget of $39.2 million and median ROI of 0.88
- Screenwriter-only finding
- Films with a woman screenwriter but no woman director had a median ROI of 1.10
- Largest budgets
- None of the 44 films in the top 1% of production budgets had a woman director
- Representation
- Women held at least one of the writing or directing roles in 26.2% of films; 10.5% had women in both roles
Sources
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