American Idol. Dancing With the Stars. Shark Tank. Survivor. They’re all major unscripted formats — and they’re all created by men.
According to a new study, which was commissioned by content behemoth Banijay Entertainment in concert with Everywoman Studios and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, three in four reality TV creators are men. The inequity is even more pronounced in the U.S., where more than 80 percent of those nonscripted creators are male.
The extensive study looks explicitly at the representation of women in decision-making roles from 2021 to 2023 in four countries: the U.S., the U.K., Brazil and France. It was commissioned in conjunction with the creation of Banijay Launch, a global accelerator program designed to support female creators with promising unscripted formats. The study’s findings were first revealed at an event at the Skirball Cultural Center on Tuesday night, where Banijay also announced it would be picking up a second cycle of its female accelerator program. In its first year, the latter saw over 500 applications from female creators across more than 30 territories.
Promising, if still problematic, the statistics aren’t as stark at the lower rungs of the industry, where the study found that women have made real inroads. In fact, at the supervising producer level, the industry has reached near-perfect parity; and the percentage of female executive producers has increased 10 percent, from 36.6 percent in 2021 to 46 percent in 2023. Taken altogether, the nonscripted industry’s producer class — which includes executive producers, supervising producers and show creators — skews 58.4 percent male across the four participating countries in the three-year timeframe.
The challenge, per the study, remains at the top level, the aforementioned show creators, who, notably, wield the most power and influence over what viewers consume. The study makes a collection of recommendations to improve upon the latter, including a push to create more mentorship programs, which would allow for learning and networking opportunities for those lower and mid-level producers. Among the others recommendations: prioritizing equity in salaries and opportunities, fostering a culture of communication and offering paid leave.
“We are heartened by Banjiay’s leadership in not only identifying gender gaps within the industry, but also in their commitment to improve advancement opportunities in the company itself. We know that if women are in the drivers seat as decision makers then it will provide more diverse roles onscreen as well as behind-the-camera,” said Geena Davis Institute president and CEO Madeline Di Nonno in a statement.
Added Sharon Levy, CEO of Banijay’s Endemol Shine North America: “We hope this report will be a spark that ignites conversations about getting more women in leadership roles for unscripted television and inspires the industry to come up with some actionable ideas to make that happen. Banijay Launch itself proves that we, as a major player, can do more, and we are, but the whole entertainment industry needs to step up and make it easier for women to reach these top spots. It’s time to tackle this massive gender gap head-on!”
