According to figures released last month by the Directors Guild of America, just 19% of TV episodes during the 2015-16 season were directed by women.
That figure represents a 1% increase on the previous season, meaning that while progress is being made, it's not happening quickly enough. During 2015-16, the number of TV episodes directed by nonwhite females remained unchanged at a paltry 3%.
So it's heartening to report that one Netflix series, Marvel comic book drama Jessica Jones, is taking positive steps to speed up change behind the camera. Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg announced yesterday during a Transform Hollywood panel that all 13 season two episodes will be directed by women, ScreenCrush reports.
This represents a significant increase from season one, when four of 13 Jessica Jones episodes were directed by women.
Jessica Jones becomes the second TV series to announce an all-female directorial team in 2016. Queen Sugar, the drama series created by Selma's Ava DuVernay for the Oprah Winfrey Network, adopted the same policy for its seven-episode season.
Season one of Jessica Jones, which stars Krysten Ritter as a badass former superhero who opens her own detective agency, launched on Netflix in November 2015. Season two is expected in 2018, after Ritter appears as Jessica Jones in another Netflix Marvel series, The Defenders.
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