A DIFFERENT
AMERICA ON SCREEN
But latest CASTING DATA REPORT shows some
UNDER-REPRESENTED groups making GAINS
ollowing a 15-year trend,
ethnic minority performers
made incremental gains over
the past two years, although
mostly represented in supporting
roles, according to the latest
casting data collected and analyzed
for 2005 and 2006. Casting data for
women and senior performers has
remained relatively unchanged.
“With the public continuing to demand
full inclusion in film and television programming, we are proud to be a leading voice in
the industry,” SAG President Alan Rosenberg said.“While we are also pleased to announce the largest percentage share for
ethnic minorities to date, we cannot be content with the current levels of representation
in each category, as they do not reflect the
current demographics of our country. We
will continue to insist on greater access to
employment opportunities and accurate depictions of the American Scene.”
Although the casting data shows the
highest ethnic minority representation on
record, most ethnic groups were down a
fraction of a percent in proportion to total
roles, while the number of actors classified
as“Unknown/Other”grew from 2.1 percent
in 2005 to 3.3 percent in 2006. (Currently, the
ethnic categories included in the casting
data reports are African American,
Latino/Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander,
Native American Indian and Caucasian.)
It would be impossible to determine
whether the reduction in the ethnic minority
group representations are attributed to
performers classified by producers as
“Unknown/Other”versus an actual drop in
the ethnic group’s proportion to all roles.
With the significant rise in the percentage of
performers who are perceived to be
“Unknown/Other,” however, it can be
reasonably concluded that this increase is
due to the growing number of actors who
would identify themselves as being part of
Share of All 2006 TV/Theatrical Roles
Including % Difference from 2005
(Excluding Animation)
African-American
14.5%
-0.3%
Latino/Hispanic
6.3%
-0 .4%
Asian/Pacific Islander
3.4%
+0.3%
Unknown/Other
3.3%
+1.2%
N.American Indian
0.20%
-0.2%
Caucasian
72.3%
-0.6%
Source: Casting Data Reports, compiled based on information provided by producers
ethnic groups not listed in the casting data,
such as South Asian or Middle Eastern,
as well as those who would identify as
multi-racial.
Role distribution by gender continues the
well-established patterns of prior years,
whereby males garnered the lion’s share of
roles. With regard to age, previous casting
trends prevail, with a majority of roles going to
actors under the age of 40. The nexus of
gender and age creates an enormous impact
on female performers over the age of 40 as
their employment rates fall substantially
compared to male counterparts over the age
of 40. For example, the percentage of men
over 40 account for 40 percent of all roles for
men, whereas women over the age of 40
make up only 26 percent of all roles for women.
“Screen Actors Guild’s longstanding
commitment to accurately reflect the
American Scene is exemplified in iActor, an
invaluable database of our members that
can eliminate rationalizations for exclusion
by giving the employers the tools they need
to identify individuals who have historically
been underrepresented,” Rosenberg said.
“The serious lack of women over the age of
40 is only one indicator that while we may
be getting closer to reaching our goal of a
truly representative film and television
landscape, it is time for all industry
stake-holders to help make it happen now
and not generations from now.”
To view a detailed press release on the
latest findings and all Casting Data Report
charts, please visit www.sag.org.
SCREEN ACTOR Winter 2007 | 55
“What are the
Casting Data Reports?”
Casting Data Compared to U.S. Census
In an ongoing joint effort by Screen Actors Guild
and producers to realistically portray “the American
Scene,” producers who are signatory to the Guild’s
television and theatrical contracts must submit hiring data of performers on all productions from theatrical feature films, theatrical low budget films,
television episodic programs and television nonepisodic programs. Specifically, with the purpose to
improve conditions for equal employment access
and opportunities, hiring data based on gender, age,
and race/ethnicity of performers are examined to determine hiring trends of our traditionally underemployed and disenfranchised membership.
Beginning in 2004, the “Theatrical – Low Budget
Presentations”section has been added to accommodate the reporting and analysis of low budget
theatrical data, as the Guild determined the importance of tracking Low Budget and Modified Low
Budget films since such film agreements contain
Diversity in Casting incentives.
72.0%
58.6%
58.0%
2006 Casting Data
2006 Casting Data
54.8%
2000 U.S. Census
2000 U.S. Census
45.2%
40.0%
41.4%
26.0%
MEN: Under 40
MEN: 40 and Over
WOMEN: 40 and Over
WOMEN: Under 40
Source:Casting Data Reports, compiled based on information provided by producers
Share of All 2006 TV/Theatrical Roles
(Excluding Animation)
76%
Under 40
40 and Over
72%
68%
“What Can I Do To Help
Change the Face of Film
and Television?”
60%
58%
57%
40%
40%
39%
Log In and Be Seen!
29%
26%
23%
All Male Roles
Male Leads
Male Supporting
All Female Leads
Female Leads
Female Supporting
Did you know that on iActor you can identify
yourself to the casting community by what ethnicities/nationalities you can portray, what language
skills you have and a variety of other talents and
skills that will ensure that they know exactly who
you are and what you can do. Show the industry just
how diverse the SAG membership really is.
Source: Casting Data Reports, compiled based on information provided by producers
Join In and Be Seen!
Please visit the Diversity section of the website
and/or contact the Diversity Department to find out
what the department and the committees are doing.
Join your fellow Guild members as we advocate and
educate on the local and national levels through
these committees and task forces:
Share of All 2006 TV/Theatrical Roles
(Excluding Animation)
75.4%
72.3%
70.9%
15.4%
13.2%
2.5% 1% 0.1%
es
Lead Rol
Caucasian
African-American
14.5%
6.2%
4.0% 4.0%
6.5%
0.4%
les
g Ro
Supportin
Latino/Hispanic
Asian/Pacific
6.3%
3.4% 3.3% 0.3%
All Roles
Unknown/Other
N. American Indian
• Ethnic Employment Opportunities Committee
(EEOC)
• Performers with Disabilities (PWD) Committee
• Women’s Committee
• Senior Performers Committee
• President’s National Task Force on Spanish
Language Media
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT)
Actors Committee
• President’s National Task Force for American
Indians
• Hollywood Committee for American Indians
Source: Casting Data Reports, compiled based on information provided by producers
SCREEN ACTOR Winter 2007 | 57
“What Does the
Affirmative Action/
Diversity Department
Do for Me?”
6
We champion your
civil rights…
We educate…
We lobby those who
can hire you…
We reach out to
the community…
We support your
committees…
We work tirelessly to advocate
diverse hiring of under-represented
groups,
including
minorities,
women and the disabled, in the
entertainment industry.
The department offers career
development programs, hiring statistics in our Casting Data Reports;
support of national Committees for
underrepresented groups… and
much more.
To find out more, visit the Diversity
section of www.sag.org and take a
look at the many ways we strive to
achieve our goal of “casting the
American Scene.” ■
Hollywood
Rebecca Yee
National Director/Senior
EEO Counsel
diversity@sag.org
(323) 549-6644
New York
Adam Moore
Associate National Director
nydiversity@sag.org
(212) 827-1542
SCREEN ACTOR Winter 2007 | 59