2ND ANNUAL DGC CENSUS REVEALS PROGRESS, WORK REMAINS

BIPOC membership up at Directors Guild, but gaps persist in both income and representation 

Toronto – The Directors Guild of Canada has released the results of the 2023 DGC Census with 1,100 newly completed questionnaires since our first report published in the fall of 2022. BIPOC representation stood at 25% among new respondents, bringing the overall share of BIPOC members from 18.3% in 2022 to 19.4% in 2023.

The DGC Census was the first-of-its-kind in the Canadian film & television industry, providing detailed data from a full pan-Canadian, membership-wide voluntary self-identification questionnaire in 2022. This year’s report is our first follow up in the Guild’s commitment to provide annual data.

“Yearly updates to this census continue to give us a benchmark for accountability and lets us know if the work we are putting in towards inclusion is effective,” said DGC President Warren P. Sonoda. “While the data this year is promising and more in line with the Canadian population, we still have a long way to go to ensure that we represent the diversity of stories and audiences across the country.”

Statistics combining census questionnaires and DGC membership data show that members identifying as men continue to be the highest-earning in the Guild, collecting an average total income per year of $85,872.51 compared to $77,748.12 for women, $55,409.95 for members who identify as gender non-conforming and $59,479.22 for members who identify as non-binary. White / Caucasian members also have a higher total income per year than any other group with a mean of $82,814.92 and a median of $67,607.12, as compared to a mean of $73,021.17 for Black members and $63,913.96 for Indigenous members.

As with our first census, in addition to ethnic origin, our questionnaire allows DGC Members to voluntarily self-identify on a broad range of demographic characteristics including age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability status, covering creative and work-related categories including directing, design, logistics, locations, accounting, production and post-production.

The findings in other categories were similar to those in 2022. DGC membership records indicate the Guild membership is composed of 56.4% men and 43.2% women, which is incrementally closer to gender parity from the 2022 figures of 57.5% men and 42.4% women. Two figures that need further study as they are still significantly underrepresented are the 2.5% of all members identifying as transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming (which was 1.8% in 2022) and members living with a disability, which comprise of 8.4% of members – up from 7.9% in 2022. However, a significant number of members who completed the questionnaire again chose not to disclose their disability status.

Download the report here.