In 1998, a New Yorker profile highlighted seven women who sat at the apex of the movie-making machine. Sherry Lansing served as chairwoman and CEO of Paramount after pioneering as the first female president of production at 20th Century Fox. Amy Pascal ran Columbia Pictures, Stacey Snider co-led production at Universal Pictures (later becoming chairman in 1999), and Laura Ziskin headed Fox 2000. Their presence marked a breakthrough for female leadership in an industry traditionally dominated by men.
Fast forward to the present day, and the terrain has been reshaped by blockbuster mergers and the rise of streaming giants. The Disney-Fox acquisition shrank the historic “Big Six” to five studios, and Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros. has further condensed the field to four. At the same time, players such as Netflix, Apple and Amazon have rewritten the rules of distribution, forcing legacy studios to rethink strategy and staffing.
Recent cuts and high-profile exits
Amid this turbulence, the number of women occupying senior greenlight positions has slipped sharply. Netflix announced its largest layoff since 2022, eliminating roughly 1,000 jobs—about 6% of its global workforce. The most startling departure was chief content officer Bela Bajaria, a veteran of the streamer since 2016 who was promoted in 2023 to oversee all TV series, movies and live events worldwide. She will be succeeded by former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice. The round also saw the exit of head of film Dan Lin, a move that had been anticipated for months.
Parallel to Netflix’s reductions, the Paramount-Skydance merger triggered a cascade of departures. On October 6, 2026, Cindy Holland, who had joined Paramount Skydance as chair of direct-to-consumer in August 2025, announced she would leave the company, citing a focus on HBO stability under Casey Bloys. Just days earlier, on October 1, Warner Bros. co-chairs Pamela Abdy and Mike De Luca were also out. Their tenure had produced 30 Oscar nominations and 11 wins in the prior year, yet box-office performance faltered later in 2026.
Women who remain in the hierarchy
After the wave of exits, a handful of powerful women continue to shape the industry. Donna Langley, chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment, maintains a record of hits that includes major franchise releases. At Disney, Dana Walden was elevated to president and chief creative officer, a role that now encompasses film studio operations alongside television, streaming, gaming and global marketing. Courtenay Valenti, heading film, streaming and theatrical at Amazon MGM, recently promoted two women—Julie Rapaport and Alana Mayo—to senior development positions.
Within the newly formed Skydance leadership roster, only Dana Goldberg appears as a female executive among sixteen top-level names, alongside three other women in marketing and communications roles: chief marketing officer Rebecca Mall, CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss and chief communications officer Melissa Zukerman. The scarcity of women in greenlight roles matters because these executives decide which stories receive funding, at what scale, and which talent gets hired.
Consequences for representation behind the camera
Data from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reveal a troubling reverse in director representation. Out of the 111 directors who helmed the year’s top-grossing movies, only nine were women—a seven-year low. By contrast, the 2026 Sundance lineup saw 48% of its features directed by women, underscoring the gap between independent and studio-backed projects.
Greenlight power held by a dwindling number of women therefore narrows the pipeline for female storytellers. As Women in Film CEO Kirsten Schaffer warned, “We’re deeply concerned that with all of the consolidation we’re losing ground for women and people of color to attain and retain decision-making power.” Producer Nina Jacobson echoed the sentiment, describing the current climate as “It’s like a brutal game of musical chairs.”
The loss of influential women such as Bajaria, Abdy and Holland raises a broader worry: without visible role models and decision-makers, emerging talent may never receive the opportunity to rise. The industry’s future diversity hinges on whether new pipelines can replace the executives who are exiting.
