SAG: 2002 Show Increase In Number & Share Of Roles For Latino & African-American Performers.

Screen Actors Guild today released casting statistics for 2002, revealing increases in the number and share of roles for Latino/Hispanics and African-American performers in motion pictures and television programs. Women aged 40 and over also made some progress, showing a slight increase in their share of total female roles compared to 2001.

Data is based on all television and theatrical productions (excluding commercials and animation) reported to the Guild via casting data reports provided by producers, under the provisions of SAG collective bargaining agreements.

Latino performers realized a net increase of 379 roles, driven primarily by episodic television. Their share of total TV and theatrical roles rose to 6.0%, an increase from 4.8% in 2001, marking their greatest share since SAG began tracking employment.

African-Americans realized a small increase of 39 roles, and also gained their highest share of roles ever, 15.5% of all roles cast, an increase from 14.4% in 2001.

By contrast, the total number of both Asian-Pacific Islander and Native American roles decreased in 2002.
Asian/Pacific Islanders’ 2.5% share of total roles cast represents no change from 2001. On the other hand, Native Americans were the only minority group to show a decrease in share of roles, receiving only 0.2% of the roles cast in 2002, a drop from the 0.37% share in 2001.

Women 40 and over captured 29% of all female roles, which represents an increase of 2 share points over the 27% share garnered in 2001

Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert states: “While it is somewhat heartening to see the growth in the number of roles for some performers, including an increase in the share of female roles going to women aged 40 and over, we still have a long way to go. Asian and Native American performers are left behind yet again and producers still do not provide casting numbers for performers with disabilities. Despite these obstacles, Screen Actors Guild will continue to fight to gain access for all performers. We look forward to the day when all of the employment statistics truly reflect the American Scene in realistic and positive ways.”

Race and Ethnicity

SAG’s casting data indicates that 24.2% of all roles in 2002 went to African-American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islanders and Native American performers, an increase from the 2001 figure of 22.1%. This represents the largest annual share of roles by these performers in the history of the Guild. A total of 4,085 lead roles went to African-Americans, Latino/Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders or Native American Indians in 2002. This represents an increase in lead roles of 1% from 2001.

African-Americans achieved about the same share of roles in theatrical films (15.7%) as they did in television roles (15.5%). The combined 15.5% share is the largest in history, and is slightly higher than the African-American share of the United States population (12.9%)

Latino performers also achieved about the same share in theatrical films (5.8%) as they did in television roles (6.0%). Although their share of total roles is at a historically high 6.0%, it is still far less than the approximately 13% Latino/Hispanic share of population in the United States.

Asian/Pacific Islanders’ 2.5% share of total roles cast represents no change from 2001. This 2.5% share is still below Asian/Pacific Islanders’ 3.7% share of the U.S. population. Share of theatrical film and television roles were approximately equal at 2.4% and 2.5% respectively.

The number of roles for Native American performers decreased, resulting in a corresponding drop in share of roles, receiving only 0.2% of the roles cast in 2002, a drop from the 0.37% share received in 2001. Native Americans share of feature film roles fell dramatically from 0.8% in 2001 to only 0.3% in 2002. The 0.2% share is far below the approximately 1.5% share of total U.S. population.

Gender and Age

Although women continue to make up the majority of Americans, they only received 38% of the total roles cast, while men received 62%. This ratio is very similar to data found in previous years. In addition, men worked about 68% more days than women in all productions: 51% more days than women in roles cast for television production and over twice as many days as women in feature films. This varied somewhat by ethnic group. Caucasian and Latino/Hispanic men worked about 65% more days in all productions than Caucasian and Latino/Hispanic women, while African-American men worked over 84% more days than African-American women. Asian/Pacific Islander and Native American women worked approximately the same number of days as their male counterparts.

Approximately 72% more roles were cast with SAG members who were under the age of 40, than those 40 or over. Actors 40 or over comprised only 37% of the total roles cast, while over 42% of the total U.S. population is in that age range.

Older women continue to face greater challenges in finding roles than older men. In all productions, women 40 years and older were cast in only 11% of the roles, while men aged 40 and over accounted for nearly 26% of roles cast. As noted earlier, however, of all female roles cast, women aged 40 and over did make some progress compared to 2001. Women 40 and over captured 29% of those roles compared to only 27% % of those roles in 2001, an increase of 2 share points. By comparison, of all male roles cast, men 40 and over captured 42% of those roles.

Of movies that grossed more than $10 million domestically over the past year, the number of films that featured a female lead increased 45% from 20 films in 2001 to 29 films in 2002, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Conclusion

While some performer categories suffered declines in both number and share of roles, the number of roles for Latino/Hispanic and African-American performers increased in 2002 compared to 2001 and reached historically high share levels. Other groups did not do as well in 2002.