Recent articles on the Film Data Blog
Each week I look at a different film industry topic, focusing on the data and
statistics to reveal what’s really going on.
Are film festivals busiest during the first weekend?
As I write this, it looks likely that the Cannes Film Festival 2021 will take place in Cannes, France. In most years, that would be a rather inane comment but in our nearly-post pandemic world, it’s far from a certainty. There will be an online component to the festival and market but an indeterminate number […]
Do writer-directors make better movies than directors who don’t write?
In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. There’s no doubt that the roles are heavily linked, with both being critical in the […]
Do more experienced directors make longer movies?
Last week I was teaching a group of early-stage filmmakers and the topic of running time came up. Filmmakers often feel limited by the demands on them to make shorter movies. The indie film market doesn’t favour longer movies (partly because cinemas hate long movies) and due to the fact that a longer running time […]
Is movie casting dominated by a small number of women?
Last week I had a (good-natured) email exchange with a reader who asked a follow-up question to my piece entitled ‘Are movies dominated by a small number of old male composers?’. The research found that 95% of film composers were men, and that just the top 20 film composers accounted for 48.2% of box office […]