The Original Six are a group of women directors who created the Women's Steering Committee (WSC) of the Directors Guild of America (DGA). Dolores Ferraro, Joelle Dobrow, Lynne Littman, Nell Cox, Susan Bay Nimoy and Victoria Hochberg formed the Women's Steering Committee of the Directors Guild of America in 1979. They carried out landmark research showing that women held only 0.5% of directing jobs in film and television, which they reported to the Guild, the studios and the press.[1]
As a result of the Original Six's research, the Directors Guild of America filed a class-action lawsuit against Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures in 1983 on the grounds of gender discrimination. On March 5, 1985, the case was dismissed when the judge removed the DGA as the class representative.[2][1]
The risk of legal action, along with pressure from the public and the DGA, was followed by a slow (but not smooth) increase in the number of women directors working in the entertainment industry.[3] Members of the Original Six continue to make films and television shows, to protest against gender discrimination in Hollywood and to support female employment on film and television at the directing level.
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