STEPHEN FOLLOWS

Stephen Follows 0 Comment May 24, 2021. In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. HOW MANY SHOTS ARE IN THE AVERAGE MOVIE?SEE MORE ON STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM HOW MUCH DOES THE AVERAGE MOVIE COST TO MAKE? A budget of over $18 million may put you in the higher tier of movies but it isn’t even a quarter of the median budget for Adventure films ($76m). Other expensive genres include Sci-Fi ($61m), Fantasy ($60m) and animated movies ($60m). At the other end are music-based movies (median budget of just $7m), Horror ($8m) and Romance ($11m). WHICH LANGUAGES ARE MOST COMMONLY USED IN MOVIES? The most popular languages in modern movies. Across those 8,798 movies studied, 81.4% featured English as one of their main languages. Other popular languages included French (featured in 12% of movies), Spanish (8.6%), German, (5.2%) and Hindi (4.9%). If these numbers seem high, remember that a movie will show up on the list even if just a few HOW DO MOVIE GENRE TASTES CHANGE WITH AGE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman Goldenrod Revision February 4th, 2003 Green Revision January 20th, 2003 Yellow Revision January 13th, 2003 Pink Revision January 10th, 2003 Blue Revision December 17th, 2002 Shooting Draft November 6th,

2002

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at a collapsible card table. HOW MANY PEOPLE WORK ON A HOLLYWOOD FILM?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

HOW IS A CINEMA'S BOX OFFICE INCOME DISTRIBUTED? A typical deal is “35% vs an MG of £100”, meaning that the exhibitor must pay the distributor either 35% of the box office or �100, whichever is the greater. The UK has among the highest exhibitor splits in the world. This is partly due to the relatively high cost of media advertising in the UK and also due to historic

deals between

LINCOLN BY TONY KUSHNER LINCOLN By Tony Kushner Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Shooting Script December 20, 2011

STEPHEN FOLLOWS

Stephen Follows 0 Comment May 24, 2021. In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. HOW MANY SHOTS ARE IN THE AVERAGE MOVIE?SEE MORE ON STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM HOW MUCH DOES THE AVERAGE MOVIE COST TO MAKE? A budget of over $18 million may put you in the higher tier of movies but it isn’t even a quarter of the median budget for Adventure films ($76m). Other expensive genres include Sci-Fi ($61m), Fantasy ($60m) and animated movies ($60m). At the other end are music-based movies (median budget of just $7m), Horror ($8m) and Romance ($11m). WHICH LANGUAGES ARE MOST COMMONLY USED IN MOVIES? The most popular languages in modern movies. Across those 8,798 movies studied, 81.4% featured English as one of their main languages. Other popular languages included French (featured in 12% of movies), Spanish (8.6%), German, (5.2%) and Hindi (4.9%). If these numbers seem high, remember that a movie will show up on the list even if just a few HOW DO MOVIE GENRE TASTES CHANGE WITH AGE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman Goldenrod Revision February 4th, 2003 Green Revision January 20th, 2003 Yellow Revision January 13th, 2003 Pink Revision January 10th, 2003 Blue Revision December 17th, 2002 Shooting Draft November 6th,

2002

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at a collapsible card table. HOW MANY PEOPLE WORK ON A HOLLYWOOD FILM?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

HOW IS A CINEMA'S BOX OFFICE INCOME DISTRIBUTED? A typical deal is “35% vs an MG of £100”, meaning that the exhibitor must pay the distributor either 35% of the box office or �100, whichever is the greater. The UK has among the highest exhibitor splits in the world. This is partly due to the relatively high cost of media advertising in the UK and also due to historic

deals between

LINCOLN BY TONY KUSHNER LINCOLN By Tony Kushner Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Shooting Script December 20, 2011 WHICH LANGUAGES ARE MOST COMMONLY USED IN MOVIES? The most popular languages in modern movies. Across those 8,798 movies studied, 81.4% featured English as one of their main languages. Other popular languages included French (featured in 12% of movies), Spanish (8.6%), German, (5.2%) and Hindi (4.9%). If these numbers seem high, remember that a movie will show up on the list even if just a few HOW ARE MOVIE ADVERTISING BUDGETS SPENT? The marketing of movies is a fascinating topic. There is an inherent contradiction, because it is both very visible and highly opaque at the same time. We see movie marketing every day on almost all possible platforms and yet filmmakers struggle to learn about the WHAT ARE AVERAGE FILM DISTRIBUTION FEES? The industry feels that the average Sales Agent commission is 19%. The industry feels that the average International Distributor commission is 27%. The industry feels that the average US Distributor commission is 30%. The industry feels that the average Cinema / Movie Theatre commission is 44%. According to those working in Sales & Distribution HOW MANY FILMS ARE MADE AROUND THE WORLD? According to 2011 figures, India’s “Bollywood” is the largest film producing nation, responsible for a whopping 1,255 films. Nigeria’s “ Nollywood ” is close behind with 997 films, followed by America’s “Hollywood” with 818 films. Edit: It’s worth noting Nadia Denton ‘s HOW LONG IS THE AVERAGE MOVIE TRAILER? Across the trailers I gathered data on, the average length was 114.2 seconds (i.e. one minute and 54 seconds). To give you a sense of how long that is, click here to watch an 114-second long trailer for the 2008 Tom Cruise film Valkyrie . Just under a third of movie trailers are between two and two and half minutes long. DEFINING THE AVERAGE SCREENPLAY, VIA DATA ON 12,000+ SCRIPTS Defining the average screenplay, via data on 12,000+ scripts. Last week, I published my analysis of 12,309 feature film screenplays and the scores they each received from professional script readers. A byproduct of that research was that I had a large number of data points on a whole bunch of screenplays. This allowed me to look at

what the

HOW OFTEN ARE SCREENWRITING CREDITS SHARED? The Hollywood cliche of a screenwriter is of a troubled genius who struggles valiantly alone to give birth to the highest form of art there is – a movie screenplay. In truth, screenwriting is far more often a collaborative process. Two of the major ways people collaborate on movie scripts are: Teamwork– Teams of writers DOES ONE PAGE OF A FILM SCRIPT REALLY EQUAL ONE MINUTE OF A few weeks ago, John August dropped me an email which included a simple question: “How accurate is the page-per-minute rule of thumb?” The rule John is referring to is that a film based on a (properly formatted) 90-page screenplay will be roughly 90 minutes long. This is useful to a number of people, including; THE GREAT GATSBY SCREENPLAY BY BAZ LUHRMANN & CRAIG PEARCE A BLACK SCREEN. The blackness is pierced by a single, pulsing green light We drift, as if by boat, across a dark bay toward the light. Then, we hear a troubled voice.

FILM VS DIGITAL

Film vs digital among Hollywood movies. The first year in which top-grossing films were shot on digital cameras was 2002, however it wasn’t until 2012 that at least half of the films were shot digitally. Sci-fi movies are twice as likely to be shot digitally compared to War films.

STEPHEN FOLLOWS

Stephen Follows 0 Comment May 24, 2021. In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. HOW MANY SHOTS ARE IN THE AVERAGE MOVIE?SEE MORE ON STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM HOW MUCH DOES THE AVERAGE MOVIE COST TO MAKE? A budget of over $18 million may put you in the higher tier of movies but it isn’t even a quarter of the median budget for Adventure films ($76m). Other expensive genres include Sci-Fi ($61m), Fantasy ($60m) and animated movies ($60m). At the other end are music-based movies (median budget of just $7m), Horror ($8m) and Romance ($11m). WHICH LANGUAGES ARE MOST COMMONLY USED IN MOVIES? The most popular languages in modern movies. Across those 8,798 movies studied, 81.4% featured English as one of their main languages. Other popular languages included French (featured in 12% of movies), Spanish (8.6%), German, (5.2%) and Hindi (4.9%). If these numbers seem high, remember that a movie will show up on the list even if just a few HOW DO MOVIE GENRE TASTES CHANGE WITH AGE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman Goldenrod Revision February 4th, 2003 Green Revision January 20th, 2003 Yellow Revision January 13th, 2003 Pink Revision January 10th, 2003 Blue Revision December 17th, 2002 Shooting Draft November 6th,

2002

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at a collapsible card table. HOW MANY PEOPLE WORK ON A HOLLYWOOD FILM?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

HOW IS A CINEMA'S BOX OFFICE INCOME DISTRIBUTED? A typical deal is “35% vs an MG of £100”, meaning that the exhibitor must pay the distributor either 35% of the box office or �100, whichever is the greater. The UK has among the highest exhibitor splits in the world. This is partly due to the relatively high cost of media advertising in the UK and also due to historic

deals between

LINCOLN BY TONY KUSHNER LINCOLN By Tony Kushner Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Shooting Script December 20, 2011

STEPHEN FOLLOWS

Stephen Follows 0 Comment May 24, 2021. In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. HOW MANY SHOTS ARE IN THE AVERAGE MOVIE?SEE MORE ON STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM HOW MUCH DOES THE AVERAGE MOVIE COST TO MAKE? A budget of over $18 million may put you in the higher tier of movies but it isn’t even a quarter of the median budget for Adventure films ($76m). Other expensive genres include Sci-Fi ($61m), Fantasy ($60m) and animated movies ($60m). At the other end are music-based movies (median budget of just $7m), Horror ($8m) and Romance ($11m). WHICH LANGUAGES ARE MOST COMMONLY USED IN MOVIES? The most popular languages in modern movies. Across those 8,798 movies studied, 81.4% featured English as one of their main languages. Other popular languages included French (featured in 12% of movies), Spanish (8.6%), German, (5.2%) and Hindi (4.9%). If these numbers seem high, remember that a movie will show up on the list even if just a few HOW DO MOVIE GENRE TASTES CHANGE WITH AGE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman Goldenrod Revision February 4th, 2003 Green Revision January 20th, 2003 Yellow Revision January 13th, 2003 Pink Revision January 10th, 2003 Blue Revision December 17th, 2002 Shooting Draft November 6th,

2002

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at a collapsible card table. HOW MANY PEOPLE WORK ON A HOLLYWOOD FILM?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

HOW IS A CINEMA'S BOX OFFICE INCOME DISTRIBUTED? A typical deal is “35% vs an MG of £100”, meaning that the exhibitor must pay the distributor either 35% of the box office or �100, whichever is the greater. The UK has among the highest exhibitor splits in the world. This is partly due to the relatively high cost of media advertising in the UK and also due to historic

deals between

LINCOLN BY TONY KUSHNER LINCOLN By Tony Kushner Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Shooting Script December 20, 2011 WHICH LANGUAGES ARE MOST COMMONLY USED IN MOVIES? The most popular languages in modern movies. Across those 8,798 movies studied, 81.4% featured English as one of their main languages. Other popular languages included French (featured in 12% of movies), Spanish (8.6%), German, (5.2%) and Hindi (4.9%). If these numbers seem high, remember that a movie will show up on the list even if just a few HOW ARE MOVIE ADVERTISING BUDGETS SPENT? The marketing of movies is a fascinating topic. There is an inherent contradiction, because it is both very visible and highly opaque at the same time. We see movie marketing every day on almost all possible platforms and yet filmmakers struggle to learn about the WHAT ARE AVERAGE FILM DISTRIBUTION FEES? The industry feels that the average Sales Agent commission is 19%. The industry feels that the average International Distributor commission is 27%. The industry feels that the average US Distributor commission is 30%. The industry feels that the average Cinema / Movie Theatre commission is 44%. According to those working in Sales & Distribution HOW MANY FILMS ARE MADE AROUND THE WORLD? According to 2011 figures, India’s “Bollywood” is the largest film producing nation, responsible for a whopping 1,255 films. Nigeria’s “ Nollywood ” is close behind with 997 films, followed by America’s “Hollywood” with 818 films. Edit: It’s worth noting Nadia Denton ‘s HOW LONG IS THE AVERAGE MOVIE TRAILER? Across the trailers I gathered data on, the average length was 114.2 seconds (i.e. one minute and 54 seconds). To give you a sense of how long that is, click here to watch an 114-second long trailer for the 2008 Tom Cruise film Valkyrie . Just under a third of movie trailers are between two and two and half minutes long. DEFINING THE AVERAGE SCREENPLAY, VIA DATA ON 12,000+ SCRIPTS Defining the average screenplay, via data on 12,000+ scripts. Last week, I published my analysis of 12,309 feature film screenplays and the scores they each received from professional script readers. A byproduct of that research was that I had a large number of data points on a whole bunch of screenplays. This allowed me to look at

what the

HOW OFTEN ARE SCREENWRITING CREDITS SHARED? The Hollywood cliche of a screenwriter is of a troubled genius who struggles valiantly alone to give birth to the highest form of art there is – a movie screenplay. In truth, screenwriting is far more often a collaborative process. Two of the major ways people collaborate on movie scripts are: Teamwork– Teams of writers DOES ONE PAGE OF A FILM SCRIPT REALLY EQUAL ONE MINUTE OF A few weeks ago, John August dropped me an email which included a simple question: “How accurate is the page-per-minute rule of thumb?” The rule John is referring to is that a film based on a (properly formatted) 90-page screenplay will be roughly 90 minutes long. This is useful to a number of people, including; THE GREAT GATSBY SCREENPLAY BY BAZ LUHRMANN & CRAIG PEARCE A BLACK SCREEN. The blackness is pierced by a single, pulsing green light We drift, as if by boat, across a dark bay toward the light. Then, we hear a troubled voice.

FILM VS DIGITAL

Film vs digital among Hollywood movies. The first year in which top-grossing films were shot on digital cameras was 2002, however it wasn’t until 2012 that at least half of the films were shot digitally. Sci-fi movies are twice as likely to be shot digitally compared to War films.

STEPHEN FOLLOWS

Stephen Follows 0 Comment May 24, 2021. In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman Goldenrod Revision February 4th, 2003 Green Revision January 20th, 2003 Yellow Revision January 13th, 2003 Pink Revision January 10th, 2003 Blue Revision December 17th, 2002 Shooting Draft November 6th,

2002

ADAPTATION (2000-11) SCRIPT ORLEAN (O.S.) (wistful) John Laroche is a tall guy, skinny as a stick, pale-eyed, slouch-shouldered and sharply handsome despite the fact

that he

HOW DO MOVIE GENRE TASTES CHANGE WITH AGE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

LINCOLN BY TONY KUSHNER LINCOLN By Tony Kushner Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Shooting Script December 20, 2011

FILM VS DIGITAL

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at a collapsible card table.

NEBRASKA 10 15 2012

1 EXT. BILLINGS, MONTANA - LAUREL ROAD - DAY 1 A MAN in his 70s walks along a narrow stretch of grass separating a busy road from a railroad

yard. The man

HOW MANY PEOPLE WORK ON A HOLLYWOOD FILM?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

THE GREAT GATSBY SCREENPLAY BY BAZ LUHRMANN & CRAIG PEARCE A BLACK SCREEN. The blackness is pierced by a single, pulsing green light We drift, as if by boat, across a dark bay toward the light. Then, we hear a troubled voice.

STEPHEN FOLLOWS

Stephen Follows 0 Comment May 24, 2021. In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman Goldenrod Revision February 4th, 2003 Green Revision January 20th, 2003 Yellow Revision January 13th, 2003 Pink Revision January 10th, 2003 Blue Revision December 17th, 2002 Shooting Draft November 6th,

2002

ADAPTATION (2000-11) SCRIPT ORLEAN (O.S.) (wistful) John Laroche is a tall guy, skinny as a stick, pale-eyed, slouch-shouldered and sharply handsome despite the fact

that he

HOW DO MOVIE GENRE TASTES CHANGE WITH AGE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

LINCOLN BY TONY KUSHNER LINCOLN By Tony Kushner Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Shooting Script December 20, 2011

FILM VS DIGITAL

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at a collapsible card table.

NEBRASKA 10 15 2012

1 EXT. BILLINGS, MONTANA - LAUREL ROAD - DAY 1 A MAN in his 70s walks along a narrow stretch of grass separating a busy road from a railroad

yard. The man

HOW MANY PEOPLE WORK ON A HOLLYWOOD FILM?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

THE GREAT GATSBY SCREENPLAY BY BAZ LUHRMANN & CRAIG PEARCE A BLACK SCREEN. The blackness is pierced by a single, pulsing green light We drift, as if by boat, across a dark bay toward the light. Then, we hear a troubled voice. WHICH LANGUAGES ARE MOST COMMONLY USED IN MOVIES? The most popular languages in modern movies. Across those 8,798 movies studied, 81.4% featured English as one of their main languages. Other popular languages included French (featured in 12% of movies), Spanish (8.6%), German, (5.2%) and Hindi (4.9%). If these numbers seem high, remember that a movie will show up on the list even if just a few HOW MANY SHOTS ARE IN THE AVERAGE MOVIE? Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Total number of shots = 2,503. Average shot length = 3.4 seconds. Shortest shot = 0.2 seconds. Longest shot = 35.8 seconds. The chart below shows the length of the shots in each movie, expressed as a percentage of all shots (i.e. 15% of all shots in Transformers 2 were between 1 and 1.5. seconds long). WHEN AND HOW THE FILM BUSINESS WENT DIGITAL Last week, I looked at six trends for how the film business is changing. It got a great response and I was heartened to see such interesting, lively debate about it. One of the topics raised by a few people was the move from analog to digital processes. I didn’t include the move to digital as a HOW MANY FILMS ARE MADE AROUND THE WORLD? According to 2011 figures, India’s “Bollywood” is the largest film producing nation, responsible for a whopping 1,255 films. Nigeria’s “ Nollywood ” is close behind with 997 films, followed by America’s “Hollywood” with 818 films. Edit: It’s worth noting Nadia Denton ‘s WHAT ARE AVERAGE FILM DISTRIBUTION FEES? The industry feels that the average Sales Agent commission is 19%. The industry feels that the average International Distributor commission is 27%. The industry feels that the average US Distributor commission is 30%. The industry feels that the average Cinema / Movie Theatre commission is 44%. According to those working in Sales & Distribution HOW LONG IS THE AVERAGE MOVIE TRAILER? Across the trailers I gathered data on, the average length was 114.2 seconds (i.e. one minute and 54 seconds). To give you a sense of how long that is, click here to watch an 114-second long trailer for the 2008 Tom Cruise film Valkyrie . Just under a third of movie trailers are between two and two and half minutes long.

FILM VS DIGITAL

Film vs digital among Hollywood movies. The first year in which top-grossing films were shot on digital cameras was 2002, however it wasn’t until 2012 that at least half of the films were shot digitally. Sci-fi movies are twice as likely to be shot digitally compared to War films. HOW MUCH DOES THE AVERAGE MOVIE COST TO MAKE? A budget of over $18 million may put you in the higher tier of movies but it isn’t even a quarter of the median budget for Adventure films ($76m). Other expensive genres include Sci-Fi ($61m), Fantasy ($60m) and animated movies ($60m). At the other end are music-based movies (median budget of just $7m), Horror ($8m) and Romance ($11m). HOW IS A CINEMA'S BOX OFFICE INCOME DISTRIBUTED? A typical deal is “35% vs an MG of £100”, meaning that the exhibitor must pay the distributor either 35% of the box office or �100, whichever is the greater. The UK has among the highest exhibitor splits in the world. This is partly due to the relatively high cost of media advertising in the UK and also due to historic

deals between

DOES ONE PAGE OF A FILM SCRIPT REALLY EQUAL ONE MINUTE OF A few weeks ago, John August dropped me an email which included a simple question: “How accurate is the page-per-minute rule of thumb?” The rule John is referring to is that a film based on a (properly formatted) 90-page screenplay will be roughly 90 minutes long. This is useful to a number of people, including;

STEPHEN FOLLOWS

Stephen Follows 0 Comment May 24, 2021. In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. WHEN AND HOW THE FILM BUSINESS WENT DIGITALSEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

DEFINING THE AVERAGE SCREENPLAY, VIA DATA ON 12,000+ SCRIPTSSEE MORE ON STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM HOW MANY SCREENWRITERS DOES IT TAKE TO WRITE A MOVIE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

HOW OFTEN ARE SCREENWRITING CREDITS SHARED? The Hollywood cliche of a screenwriter is of a troubled genius who struggles valiantly alone to give birth to the highest form of art there is – a movie screenplay. In truth, screenwriting is far more often a collaborative process. Two of the major ways people collaborate on movie scripts are: Teamwork– Teams of writers WHAT PERCENTAGE OF INDEPENDENT FILMS ARE PROFITABLE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

LINCOLN BY TONY KUSHNER LINCOLN By Tony Kushner Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Shooting Script December 20, 2011 HOW MANY PEOPLE ATTEND THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL? 29,626 people were accredited in 2013, 68% of those who attend the Cannes film festival coming from Europe. 4,589 press attend the Cannes

film festival

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at a collapsible card table.

NEBRASKA 10 15 2012

1 EXT. BILLINGS, MONTANA - LAUREL ROAD - DAY 1 A MAN in his 70s walks along a narrow stretch of grass separating a busy road from a railroad

yard. The man

STEPHEN FOLLOWS

Stephen Follows 0 Comment May 24, 2021. In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. WHEN AND HOW THE FILM BUSINESS WENT DIGITALSEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

DEFINING THE AVERAGE SCREENPLAY, VIA DATA ON 12,000+ SCRIPTSSEE MORE ON STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM HOW MANY SCREENWRITERS DOES IT TAKE TO WRITE A MOVIE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

HOW OFTEN ARE SCREENWRITING CREDITS SHARED? The Hollywood cliche of a screenwriter is of a troubled genius who struggles valiantly alone to give birth to the highest form of art there is – a movie screenplay. In truth, screenwriting is far more often a collaborative process. Two of the major ways people collaborate on movie scripts are: Teamwork– Teams of writers WHAT PERCENTAGE OF INDEPENDENT FILMS ARE PROFITABLE?SEE MORE ON

STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM

LINCOLN BY TONY KUSHNER LINCOLN By Tony Kushner Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Shooting Script December 20, 2011 HOW MANY PEOPLE ATTEND THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL? 29,626 people were accredited in 2013, 68% of those who attend the Cannes film festival coming from Europe. 4,589 press attend the Cannes

film festival

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at a collapsible card table.

NEBRASKA 10 15 2012

1 EXT. BILLINGS, MONTANA - LAUREL ROAD - DAY 1 A MAN in his 70s walks along a narrow stretch of grass separating a busy road from a railroad

yard. The man

DEFINING THE AVERAGE SCREENPLAY, VIA DATA ON 12,000+ SCRIPTS Defining the average screenplay, via data on 12,000+ scripts. Last week, I published my analysis of 12,309 feature film screenplays and the scores they each received from professional script readers. A byproduct of that research was that I had a large number of data points on a whole bunch of screenplays. This allowed me to look at

what the

ADVICE FOR FILMMAKERS TRYING TO NAVIGATE THE FILM INDUSTRY So, today I thought I’d use my blogiversary (yup, I’m sticking with that word) to answer that query. Below is a collection of six areas of advice for filmmakers on how they can get into, and progress through, the film industry. 1. Know thy audience. ARE FILM CRITICS LOSING SYNC WITH AUDIENCES? A few weeks ago I was contacted by a journalist at the New York Times, who asked if I felt that film critics were losing touch with the tastes of the broader public. Naturally, I turned to the data to have a look at what’s going on. I built up a database of 10,449 movies WHAT PERCENTAGE OF INDEPENDENT FILMS ARE PROFITABLE? The profitability of independent films is a complicated topic for a whole variety of reasons. The indie film sector is: Decentralised. It relies on a constantly shifting chain of third parties across the world, with no requirement to report to a centralised body, no third party verification and lacks even agreed reporting standards. Opaque. Some revenue streams WHAT ARE AVERAGE FILM DISTRIBUTION FEES? The industry feels that the average Sales Agent commission is 19%. The industry feels that the average International Distributor commission is 27%. The industry feels that the average US Distributor commission is 30%. The industry feels that the average Cinema / Movie Theatre commission is 44%. According to those working in Sales & Distribution THE SHOCKING STATE OF CORPORATE FINANCE AMONG UK FILM The shocking state of corporate finance among UK film companies. The vast majority of film research is focused on either the sector as a whole, or studies the performance of a subset of films. There is very little research into the companies behind the films and how the corporate side of the film business operates. THE RISE AND RISE OF THE FILM BUSINESS IN CHINA The good news – the film business in China is growing incredibly quickly. Chinese cinema admissions grew by 236% between 2009 and 2013. By contrast, the UK and US are highly developed markets with little room for growth. Ticket prices are increasing, rising 26.7% 2009 to 2014. These factors combined have meant that China is a larger and DOES ONE PAGE OF A FILM SCRIPT REALLY EQUAL ONE MINUTE OF A few weeks ago, John August dropped me an email which included a simple question: “How accurate is the page-per-minute rule of thumb?” The rule John is referring to is that a film based on a (properly formatted) 90-page screenplay will be roughly 90 minutes long. This is useful to a number of people, including; THE GREAT GATSBY SCREENPLAY BY BAZ LUHRMANN & CRAIG PEARCE A BLACK SCREEN. The blackness is pierced by a single, pulsing green light We drift, as if by boat, across a dark bay toward the light. Then, we hear a troubled voice. WHICH FAMOUS ACTORS HAVE A WORSE CAREER THAN AL PACINO? The actor who’s career best matches the newly-defined term ‘Pacinoing’ is Eric Bana. The second best Pacino in my study was Robert De Niro, followed by Jim Sturgess and Orlando Bloom. De Niro should get extra points for managing to Pacino over such a long period of time and over so many movies, both of which adds to the level of

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RECENT ARTICLES ON THE FILM DATA BLOG Each week I look at a different film industry topic, focusing on the

data and

statistics to reveal what’s really going on.

Blog / Directing

/ Screenwriting

DO WRITER-DIRECTORS MAKE BETTER MOVIES THAN DIRECTORS WHO DON’T

WRITE?

Stephen Follows 3

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May 24, 2021

In past research, we’ve seen just how much overlap there is between the role of film director and screenwriter – 74.9% of directors have received at least one movie writing credit and 34.3% of writers have received a directing credit. There’s no doubt that the roles are heavily linked, with both being critical in the

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Blog / Directing

DO MORE EXPERIENCED DIRECTORS MAKE LONGER MOVIES?

Stephen Follows 0

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April 26, 2021

Last week I was teaching a group of early-stage filmmakers and the topic of running time came up. Filmmakers often feel limited by the demands on them to make shorter movies. The indie film market doesn’t favour longer movies (partly because cinemas hate long movies) and due to the fact that a longer running time

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Acting / Blog

IS MOVIE CASTING DOMINATED BY A SMALL NUMBER OF WOMEN?

Stephen Follows 2

Comments

April 12, 2021

Last week I had a (good-natured) email exchange with a reader who asked a follow-up question to my piece entitled ‘Are movies dominated by a small number of old male composers?’. The research found that 95% of film composers were men, and that just the top 20 film composers accounted for 48.2% of box office

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Blog / Film Critics

ARE FILM CRITICS LOSING SYNC WITH AUDIENCES?

Stephen Follows

22 Comments

March 15, 2021

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a journalist at the New York Times, who asked if I felt that film critics were losing touch with the tastes of the broader public. Naturally, I turned to the data to have a look at what’s going on. I built up a database of 10,449 movies

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