A deep dive into how over 10,000 movies and millions of audience signals help us work out if making sense makes cents.

Last month, I looked at how many film festivals still insist on premiere status, and found that most don’t. Only a small fraction of events require your film to be the first screening anywhere, while ...

When people begin exploring data on films, one of the first things they look for is the production budget. It sounds simple enough: how much did the film cost to make? Knowing that number helps when ...

A few years ago, David Wilkinson got in touch to ask for advice on his crowdfunding campaign. One of the topics he wanted to chat about was the ‘cost’ of offering a “Thanks” credit to his backers.

Colour is one of the quickest ways a poster can tell you what kind of film it’s selling. Before you’ve read the title or registered the actors, your brain has already clocked the palette and filed it ...

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 ...

Yesterday, Donald Trump announced a plan to impose a 100% tariff on all foreign-made films. He claimed that international tax incentives were draining American productions from US soil and accused ...

This article is part of my ‘Big Ideas’ series, in which I explore the evolving landscape of the film industry. Each instalment will focus on one of the key shifts highlighted below, digging deeper ...

Last week I ran a course in Malaysia for the Met Film School and the Malaysian Government. Malaysia is set to be a popular destination for Hollywood projects, thanks mostly to the 30% tax break and ...

Some see the Oscars as the pinnacle of artistic achievement, a night of cinematic excellence that honours the best of the best. Others view it a TV reality show in which over-paid and over-dressed ...

I have been asked for years whether “Go Woke, Go Broke” is true for movies. So it was a real honour to be able to give the keynote today at the Zurich Summit and answer the question. Over the last few ...