Passes the Bechdel test

Short Term 12

Name: Short Term 12
Released: 2013

2013. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, written by Destin Daniel Cretton.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
8 women characters. 6 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 127.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

The film

At a foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers, Grace is a young counselor trying to do her best for kids who often have been pulled from the worst kinds of home situations. Even then, life is not easy as Grace and her colleagues care for kids who are too often profoundly scarred, even as they try to have lives of their own. Now, things are coming to a head as Grace readies for marriage even as some her charges are coming to major turning points in their lives. To cope, Grace will have to make difficult perceptions and decisions that could put her career, and more importantly her charges, at dire risk.

Released: 23 Aug 2013
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.9 / 10
Metascore: 82 / 100
Awards: 38 wins & 72 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Grace 307 lines, woman
Mason 184 lines, man
Jayden 57 lines, woman
Scott 47 lines, man
Mark 41 lines, man
Dr. Hendler 28 lines, woman
Nurse Beth 24 lines, woman
Jack 22 lines, man
Jessica 20 lines, woman
Sammy 17 lines, man

Full cast, 56 people

Brie Larson as Grace Howard
John Gallagher Jr. as Mason
Kaitlyn Dever as Jayden Cole
Rami Malek as Nate
LaKeith Stanfield as Marcus
Kevin Hernandez as Luis
Melora Walters as Dr. Hendler
Stephanie Beatriz as Jessica
Lydia Du Veaux as Kendra
Alex Calloway as Sammy
Frantz Turner as Jack
Diana Maria Riva as Nurse Beth
Harold Cannon as Mason's Dad
Silvia Curiel as Mason's Mom
Bran'dee Allen as Shawnta
Danny Roper as David
Elyssa Gutierrez as Anna
Garryson Zamora as Thom
Michael Marto as Connor
Patricia Barrett as Tracy
Tanya Marie A. Bitanga as Nikki
Zoe Wilkens as Spring
Angel Amaral as Trevor
Arnold Barrera as Mariachi Band Member, Trumpet
Joseph Bruley as Mariachi Band Member, Guitar
Fred Herrera as Mariachi Band Member, Guitarron
Shika Moran as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Nikki Chapman as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Fay DeLaCruz as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Cameron Gore as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Anthony Puentes as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Veronica Puentes as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Laura Macias as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Ana Shiravi as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Mohammad Shiravi as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Edward Goldstein as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Etta Goldstein as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Brett Goldstein as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Alexandra Estrada as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Michelle Nordahl as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Jared Callahan as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Joel P. West as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Jessica Nordahl as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Andrea Macias as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Kaily McCoy as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Thaddeus McRae as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Kenny Laubbacher as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Pamela Luna as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Valentina I. Valentini as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Brad Kester as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
James Abraham as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Angelina Assereto as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Merrily Cretton as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Spring Cretton as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Patrick James as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party
Christopher Jun as Guest at Mason's Parents' Party

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 127

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 3	0	0
4 to 6	4	4
7 to 9	21	38
10 to 12	23	22
13 to 15	19	13
16 to 18	10	3
19 to 21	1	0
22 to 24	26	0
25 to 27	21	32
28 to 30	8	2
31 to 33	28	14
34 to 36	3	2
37 to 39	12	23
40 to 42	3	21
43 to 45	13	10
46 to 48	5	5
49 to 51	29	22
52 to 54	3	10
55 to 57	26	17
58 to 60	13	4
61 to 63	1	1
64 to 66	3	3
67 to 69	10	1
70 to 72	6	2
73 to 75	17	0
76 to 78	3	4
79 to 81	5	14
82 to 84	8	15
85 to 87	14	8
88 to 90	1	0
91 to 93	17	8
94 to 96	1	5
97 to 99	0	0
100 to 102	11	3
103 to 105	2	1
106 to 108	17	0
109 to 111	3	0
112 to 114	2	0
115 to 117	17	0
118 to 120	4	2
121 to 123	53	2
124 to 126	0	1
127 to 127	3	11

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

JESSICA: Go! GRACE: Jacket!

JESSICA: All the kids earn their level based on behavior. There's 6: Gold, Silver, Green, Orange, Yellow, and Restriction. The higher the level, the … GRACE: Last call for Community meeting! GRACE: Alright, who's secretary today? GRACE: Okay Kendra, kick us off.

GRACE: You like to draw? JAYDEN: No I hate it. GRACE: What are these for? JAYDEN: Mmm, all the cool people use it to attempt suicide, but I just, you know, cut paper...kinda boring.

KENDRA: Restriction, and I'm horny. GRACE: Okay Kendra. Thanks for being honest. And that's a normal feeling. But, it's how you choose to deal with it that makes the difference. KENDRA: So you get horny too miss? GRACE: No. But that's just because I'm weird.

JAYDEN: You better have something good. GRACE: Hey, could you hang out with Mark a little?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 59 are women's.

466 lines from women, 323 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

8 women and 11 men in the cast. 6 women and 5 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 799. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 13 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 54% of the words (4,428), men 46% (3,710). Women have 59% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton (man)
Written by: Destin Daniel Cretton (man)
Produced by: Joshua Astrachan (man), Asher Goldstein (man), Ron Najor (man), Maren Olson (gender not listed)
Shot by: Brett Pawlak (man)
Edited by: Nat Sanders (man)
Music by: Joel P. West (man)
Production design by: Rachel Myers (woman)
Costumes by: Joy Cretton (woman), Mirren Gordon-Crozier (woman)
Cast by: Kerry Barden (man), Rich Delia (man), Paul Schnee (man)