The annual UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report is continuing to chart the spaces in which filmmaking remains unequal. The 2025 report, which examined the top 100 English-language film releases on major streaming platforms (Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, and Peacock) in 2024, found that, while films with more racially diverse casts performed better on streaming platforms, female filmmakers are still underrepresented when it comes to big budget features.
“We’re glad to see gains for diversity with streaming films, but the gap between movie budgets for streaming and theatrical releases gets wider and wider,” Michael Tran, a sociologist and co-author of the report, said in an official statement. “It’s especially troubling since only a select few, specifically men, are given the chance to dip into the upper echelons of financial backing.”
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That gap had a staggering discrepancy: No woman or other-gender person, regardless of race or ethnicity, had the opportunity to direct a streaming film with a budget of $100 million or more in 2024. White women continue to be the most likely to direct films with the smallest budgets; all of their films had a budget less than $20 million, except for the animated “Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie.”
The UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report began separating streaming films from theatrical releases for analysis in 2023. At the time, white men still directed the “supermajority of big budget films,” with 56 percent of white women directors having budgets smaller than $20 million.
Two years later, and the statistic is not much different.
In total, 65.5 percent of the top streaming films had budgets less than $20 million, compared to 34.6 percent for theatrical films. On the other end, only 4.4 percent of streaming films had budgets of $100 million or more, which is almost 6 times less than the 26 percent share in top theatrical films. And male filmmakers were the “only directors with this level of resources,” as the study found.
Yet streaming still remains more diverse than theatrical: Directors of color accounted for four out of 10 directors for streaming-released films, as opposed to only two out of ten for theatrical movies. “Hollywood loves formulas, but they need more elements that resonate with the audiences of today,” Ana-Christina Ramón, co-founder of the report and director of the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative at UCLA, said in a statement. “You can’t expect an increasingly diverse population of avid movie viewers and ticket buyers to settle for a generic film with little to no diversity that may have been a hit over ten years ago. In order for Hollywood to survive financially and to remain relevant, it must invest in storytellers who bring diverse perspectives and new ideas to the table.”
Ramón added, “Streaming platforms are one of the few places where the stories and faces that reflect the people of this country can be found on and off screen.”
The Hollywood Diversity Report series is in its twelfth year. While there are still strides to be made for behind the camera gender equity, the study discovered a milestone for on-camera parity: In 2025, the report found that for the first time, 1 in 2 leads of streaming films were people of color, which is almost double the percentage for top theatrical films.
“Films should reflect the realities of this country in terms of representation,” Darnell Hunt, the executive vice chancellor and provost at UCLA, and co-founder of the report, said in a statement. “We’re past the point where we can let the wholesale erasure of people’s identities, perspectives and experiences slide. Having diverse stories pushes the boundaries of what we know and understand. Inclusive storytelling is needed now more than ever.”
