University researcher co-leads new project to address data gaps in UK Film Industry

A University academic specialising in the business of film is to co-lead a new research project that will seek solutions to data gaps in the UK independent film ecosystem.

Dr Michael Franklin will work with project leads at the British Screen Forum and fellow partners at Goldsmiths on the two-year programme, which, by providing more robust insights, aims to boost investment and profitability of UK film companies.

The study has been awarded a £200,000 grant by the BFI National Lottery Innovation Challenge Fund and will deliver two pilot case studies.

The first will focus on data sharing between distributors and exhibitors, providing both groups with new insights on films and film audiences to improve audience targeting and optimise marketing spend.

The second pilot will develop a new database that captures the commercial performance of films while respecting commercial sensitivities. In so doing, this study will provide a better understanding of market appetite and budget building.

“It has long been established that the lack of access to data and data insights acts as a drag on investment and on profit maximisation in the sector,” said Pete Johnson, Chief Executive of the British Screen Forum.

“With case studies led by Dr Franklin and Ben Keen (British Screen Forum) and with input from Dr Martin Smith (Goldsmiths), this pilot project aims to address the problem head-on with a view to finding innovative mechanisms to unlock data insights that can stimulate equity investment and boost revenues at various points along the film value chain.”

Dr Franklin, who is based in the Department of Communications, Drama and Film, will draw upon his expertise and experience in risk, market devices, data analytics, cultural economics, and international film business.

“In an increasingly dynamic – and challenging – landscape for UK independent film, the need for robust data has never been more critical,” he said. “This project is working on how the industry can best share such data across film value chain components to improve performance for the sector overall and benefit all parties involved.”

The BFI National Lottery Innovation Challenge Fund, as part of the BFI’s National Lottery Funding Plan, 2023-2026, seeks to find solutions to the UK screen sector’s most critical challenges.

Between 2024 and 2026, up to £1.8m will be distributed to not-for-profits across up to five topics. To-date, these have included the video games industry, AI for screen archives, and equality, diversity and inclusion data collection for film production.

“It’s not always recognised that, in recent years, trends have shown that the public watch more, not less, films than they ever have before,” said Rishi Coupland, the BFI’s Executive Director of Industry Development and Innovation.

“What is changing is that the ways in which our audiences access films, and their motivations for watching them, have diversified and multiplied. Here at the BFI, we have matched our support for the making, distribution and exhibition of independent film with an increased commitment to publishing a respected suite of research and data – including our upcoming report Small Screens, Big Focus.”