What gets a director a second film?
I tracked 146,603 people who directed a first feature to see what separates the ones who got to make another.
StephenFollows.com - Using data to explain the film industry
I use data to understand how the film industry works and then share that to help filmmakers get their films funded, shot and seen.
Live Last read · last published · next check
Latest posts
Are movie end credits getting longer?
I saw Spiderman: 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.
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
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 family ties in the film and TV industries.
How old is the average Oscar voter?
The Academy has never published its members’ ages, so I worked them out for 6,134 of its current members.
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 were never going to buy a ticket.
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.
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 about audiences than it does about how we measure.
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 47 roles roles are built on deception.
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.