Gender-Balanced Film Hiring Sees Its First Significant Decline in Six Years, According to ReFrame Report

ReFrame, a gender equity coalition established in 2017 by the Sundance Institute and Women in Film (WIF), has released a new study revealing a significant decline in gender-balanced hiring in the film industry for 2025. This report raises concerns about the continuing struggle for gender equity in Hollywood.

The study evaluated the teams behind IMDbPro’s 100 most popular films from the previous year, finding that only 26 films qualified for the ReFrame Stamp, which indicates gender-balanced hiring. Notable titles included Ballerina, a spin-off of John Wick, Final Destination Bloodlines, and The Housemaid. This represents a 13% decrease and marks the first major setback in gender-balanced projects in six years, following a period of stagnation where approximately 30% of films were awarded the Stamp from 2020 to 2024.

In 2023, representation among directors peaked, with 20 women and nonbinary directors listed in the Top 100 films. However, in 2025, that number plummeted to just 11 women directors, with only seven women of color in lead roles. Notably, no transgender or nonbinary individuals were represented as directors or in lead roles during this period.

Cathy Schulman and Keri Putnam, founders of ReFrame, stated, “The ReFrame Stamp was designed as a stepping stone, with moderate measures for substantive inclusion of women, nonbinary and trans people in key roles in front of and behind the camera to qualify as gender-balanced. This was meant as a floor, not a ceiling, on our way to inclusive hiring. The fact that even this baseline remains a minority achievement is alarming. Instead of raising the bar, we’re now seeing productions falling below it. This is not progress. This is a reversal.”

WIF CEO Kirsten Schaffer echoed these concerns, stating, “This report’s findings point to a significant divestment in women-led projects — creating a narrowing pipeline of opportunities for women and gender-diverse people across the industry. Collectively, we have the power to change that. By making intentional choices guided by the ReFrame Stamp criteria, those with hiring power have a clear path to building a more equitable industry, one production at a time.”

The analysis further revealed that just 26% of films with production budgets of $100 million or more qualified for the ReFrame Stamp. Notably, Netflix was the only company to secure the Stamp for over 50% of its releases. Conversely, for the third consecutive year, Apple failed to release any Stamped films in the Top 100.

Among the Top 100 films, 82% directed or co-directed by women qualified for the Stamp, compared to only 19% of those directed by men. While 27 films credited women as writers, only five included female writers of color. However, there was some progress in the area of producing, with women credited as producers on 55 films, an increase of seven compared to the previous year.

The analysis identified directors of photography, composers, and VFX supervisors as the least-inclusive roles, with no year since 2017 seeing the percentage of women, nonbinary, and trans individuals hired in these positions exceed ten.

ReFrame’s organizers emphasized that every production has the potential to achieve gender parity, irrespective of subject matter or the gender of its director or lead talent. The ReFrame Stamp is awarded to feature films that hire qualifying candidates—women or individuals from underrepresented gender identities—in at least 50% of key roles, including Writer, Director, Producer, and more. Additional points are granted for productions that also employ candidates of color in these positions and for achieving overall gender parity in their crews.

IMDbPro’s Top 100 most-popular list is determined by the page views of over 250 million monthly visitors to IMDb worldwide. The ReFrame Stamp is specifically applied to feature-length narrative films produced and distributed in the U.S., excluding unscripted or documentary works.