StephenFollows.com - Using data to explain the film industry

Earlier this week, the national board of SAG-AFTRA (the actors’ union) voted to keep Duncan Crabtree-Ireland in charge until June 2032 and to add ‘CEO’ to his title.

The question I get asked most is how to raise the money needed to make a film.

A few weeks ago I went to a screening of American Graffiti at the ActOne Cinema in Acton, followed by a Q&A in which Mark Kermode chatted with Walter Murch.

One of the biggest forces in the film industry (beyond familial nepotism) is your professional network.

A few weeks ago, Digger, starring Tom Cruise and directed by Alejandro G.

Last week, I got sent a tweet accusing DiscussingFilm of never posting the Rotten Tomatoes score for a new Universal film, or a single negative review, implying Universal had paid them off.

Last night I had the absolute pleasure of watching American Graffiti (1973) at the ActOne Cinema in Acton, and then listening to Mark Kermode quiz Walter Murch about how he built its sound.

Another Film Data Scientist video investigation into a pressing topic of our time.

On Friday, two new films opened in US cinemas.

Digger, starring Tom Cruise, opens today.

A few days ago, a new UK film distributor, True Brit Entertainment, went into administration.

On 21 September, Paramount Skydance settled an antitrust case with California and 11 other states and agreed to an unusual deal.

As with all the best questions I answer, this one came from Ted Hope.

Part of my long-term mission is to foster a broader culture of data-led, fact-based discussions of film.

I had the privilege of seeing Terminator 2 in the cinema a few weeks ago, in a 4K restoration released to celebrate its 35th anniversary.

In my latest Film Data Scientist video, I’m looking at on-screen death rates to figure out how representative movies are of real life.

I am writing this as I fly out of Toronto, after spending five days at the film industry’s brand-new major market, TIFF: The Market, attached to the 51st Toronto International Film Festival.

Two years ago, top UK producer Tim Bevan was speaking at the BFI London Film Festival about his new movie Blitz.

In early 1986, Frank Oz held preview screenings of Little Shop of Horrors in San Jose.

We are eight months away from the 2027 Cannes Film Festival, and already all but one of the five-star hotels have stopped taking bookings.

Next week sees the start of the 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, along with the inaugural year of its new sister event, TIFF: The Market.

Despite the massive changes in production, exhibition, and home entertainment over the past twenty years, it’s always surprising to me how similar the sales side of the film business has remained.

In my latest Film Data Scientist video, I’m going deep on “The Greatest Movies Ever Made”©®™ to understand what makes a movie great and why that classification may slip over time.

Earlier this year, the head of the Berlin Film Festival, Tricia Tuttle, was criticised by Germany’s culture commissioner, Wolfram Weimer, for standing next to filmmakers wearing keffiyehs and brandishing Palestinian flags.

If you’re an avid reader of culture journalists, then it seems as though there is always some country or other “taking over Hollywood”.

Ted Hope reached out to ask: What percentage of first-time feature filmmakers made a second film within five years?

I saw Spider-Man: Far From Necessary over the weekend and, like everyone else in the cinema, I sat through the entire end crawl to watch the ‘post-credits scene’ that has become so ubiquitous among superhero movies.

A few weeks ago I published the first half of my conversations with the people who read cold scripts for a living.

Last week I gave a keynote at the Locarno Film Festival, following a request by the organisers to give the well-connected audience a ‘slap in the face’.

I’m working on a big project around the Oscars, and it's revealing just how sparse the research landscape is on Oscar voters.

A couple of years ago, Sony re-released a movie that had flopped only a few months earlier.

Every year, tens of thousands of screenwriters pay to enter contests.

Hollywood Gadfly reached out to ask me to look into the data around the recent UCLA Hollywood Diversity report (you can read his take here).

In my latest Film Data Scientist video, I’m sciening the shit out of Matt Damon to see how we like these apples.

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.

A year ago I spoke at the Creators Conference of the German Producers Alliance in Munich, detailing the interesting bifurcation in German cinema.

My latest Film Data Scientist video, this time investigating why so many film posters seem to have forgotten the names of their lead actors.

Marketing is a key part of any film’s success, but training and case studies are much more likely to focus on the filmmaking than on film promotion.