StephenFollows.com - Using data to explain the film industry

StephenFollows.com - Using data to explain the film industry

Does winning a screenwriting contest mean agents will want to read your script?
I asked the people who read cold scripts for a living, agents, managers and their assistants, what makes them read on and what makes them hit delete.
 • Stephen Follows
Do diverse movies really make more money?
I researched 8,854 actors, directors and writers across 26 years of hit films, then asked the same question 108 different ways. The answer says less…
 • Stephen Follows
Quantising Matt Damon's performances to decode his trick
Audiences are nearly twice as likely to describe Matt Damon as trustworthy or honest, compared with actors in general, despite the fact that 21 of his…
 • Stephen Follows
What just happened to TheNumbers.com should worry us all
If you work in or around the film industry, there is a decent chance you have used the work of The Numbers this month, whether you realise it or not.
 • Stephen Follows
The film Germany needs to make
I crunched 25 years of trade press coverage, ticket sales across 36 countries and Netflix's global charts to work out what a German breakout hit would…
 • Stephen Follows
Why movie posters make no sense
Once you notice that the names at the top of a movie poster rarely match the faces beneath, you start to wonder why it happens so often. The Film Data…
 • Stephen Follows
What it costs to self-distribute and promote an independent film
I collected 57 published accounts of filmmakers opening their books on marketing and release spend, from a $1,000 theatrical opening to a $500,000…
 • Stephen Follows
Hollywood gives men second chances it doesn't give women
I followed the careers of 1,765 directors of top grossing films to work out who gets another go after a first film that doesn't quite land, and who…
 • Stephen Follows
No, filmmakers aren't getting younger…
A 20-year-old just directed the number one film in the world, and it feels like cinema is finally having a youth movement... Unfortunately, the data…
 • Stephen Follows
Why are Hollywood movies bad?
I studied the data behind 2,271 movies to reveal why Hollywood's big budget fare is often so poor. It's not random but the the inevitable consequence of…
 • Stephen Follows
Does the Black List find talent or launch it?
Every year the Black List crowns Hollywood's best unmade screenplays. I traced two decades of scripts and 1,682 writers to see if the list a brilliant…
 • Stephen Follows
To what extent is AI being used in movies and TV today?
I went through every craft in post-production, from VFX and de-ageing to voice, dubbing and the cutting room, checking the AI hype against more than two…
 • Stephen Follows
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