Yesterday the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a report that said an overwhelming majority of film critics — 78% — are male, and only 22% are female. So there’s a bias and under-representation factor to contend with. So the people who do the hiring have to start hiring fewer guys and more gals…right? One question: given that (a) film critics have been getting pink-slipped left and right over the last decade or so, certainly from print media excepting the trades, and (b) those that have full-time reviewing gigs for websites will never be paid a flush salary unless they work for a major news org or rise to the rank of editor, how many diehard cineastes really want to be a film critic in the first place? It’s a very tough racket.
