StephenFollows.com - Using data to explain the film industry

StephenFollows.com - Using data to explain the film industry

Are movie end credits getting longer?
I timed the end credits of 6,515 films, from 1920 to today, and found they're almost thirteen times longer than they were in the 1950s.
 • Stephen Follows
What makes an agent actually read a cold email from a screenwriter?
I asked 38 agents, managers and assistants who read cold scripts what earns a reply and what gets deleted unread
 • Stephen Follows
What percentage of Hollywood film professionals are nepo babies?
I studied the biographies of 6,921 people, who wrote, directed, and starred in 2,600 top-grossing movies this century to discover how many had existing…
 • Stephen Follows
How old is the average Oscar voter?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn't publish its members' ages, so I worked it out.
 • Stephen Follows
Does going viral sell cinema tickets?
Using box off and audience data to determine when a meme is likely to actually put people in a cinema seat, versus when it just entertains people who…
 • Stephen Follows

July 2026

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
The inside story of how one of film data's most trusted sites vanished overnight, and why every website you rely on is more fragile than you think.
 • 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
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