For a closer look at our own baseline statistics in the area of racial and ethnic diversity, we opened up our own records to Dr. Stacy L. Smith and her accomplished team at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, University of Southern California. , Their report Race & Ethnicity in Independent Films: Prevalence of Underrepresented Directors and the Barriers They Face was completed in Spring, 2014.The report assesses the prevalence and experiences of statistically underrepresented directors in film. Dr. Smith examined the ethnicity and race of all directors (more than 1,000) of U.S. dramatic and documentary films screened at the Sundance Film Festival from 2002–2013. Researchers also identified relationships between diversity behind and in front of the camera for 118 Festival films from the past four years and compared this data with that of the 500 top-grossing films released theatrically between 2007–2012. Finally, 20 filmmakers from typically underrepresented groups were interviewed about the barriers they face in their industry.

(Sundance Institute, in collaboration with Women In Film Los Angeles, also published two research reports from Dr. Smith at her team exploring barriers and opportunities for women filmmakers starting from Sundance data. This research shaped the goals of the Women Filmmakers Initiative, which can be found here.