StephenFollows.com - Using data to explain the film industry

StephenFollows.com - Using data to explain the film industry

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
Nine lessons from almost 100 film distribution case studies
Across four decades and budgets ranging from $2,000 to $2.5m, the same nine lessons keep surfacing. None of them are what the industry tells you to…
 • Stephen Follows
How many Hollywood movies are made outside America?
I crunched the data behind the state of "non-American" Hollywood movies, and considered how any system of American tariffs might work.
 • Stephen Follows
Which colours dominate movie posters and why?
I analysed 58,687 movie posters from the past century to see which colours dominate, how their use has shifted over time and what each hue signals to…
 • Stephen Follows
How the film industry's new shape is an amazing opportunity for filmmakers
The market has stabilised enough to act on. Here are 15 shifts over the past five years that make it easier to plan, build momentum, and maintain…
 • Stephen Follows
Was Harvey Weinstein thanked more often than God at the Oscars?
I analysed almost 2,000 Oscar speeches to discover if the claim that Harvey Weinstein was thanked more often than God is true. Plus, we'll find out…
 • Stephen Follows
How to make money in film when nobody can predict a hit
I read forty years of academic research and analysed 49,834 films to answer the question I get asked most. Here are the 18 ways people actually make…
 • Stephen Follows
Why the film business is considerably riskier than it used to be
From cinema habits to corporate consolidation, a decade of structural shifts has made film success harder to achieve and harder to measure.
 • Stephen Follows
Why your film can't secure distribution (from 300+ brutally honest film market professionals)
I interviewed 327 film professionals about what filmmakers get wrong when trying to secure a film distribution deal and then did not hold back with the…
 • Stephen Follows
What film professionals can learn from A24's business model
How a carefully balanced mix of creative risk-taking, financial discipline and audience-first thinking turned an indie studio into a cultural…
 • Stephen Follows
What Netflix’s patents reveal about the future of watching movies
I read through almost 500 Netflix patents to look at what the streaming has been tackling, building and disrupting.
 • Stephen Follows
What does the patent behind Netflix’s acquisition of Ben Affleck’s AI company actually do?
I read all 68 pages of the patent behind Ben Affleck’s stealth AI start-up that Netflix just bought in order to understand exactly how the system works…
 • Stephen Follows
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