Film Scout 2020 Final Results!
Legion M’s SCOUT program took a HUGE step forward at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. While we’ve been using SCOUT at film festivals for years now, this time we upgraded in a very big way with a shiny new app for iOS and Android devices.
Once again, it worked. Last year over 40,000 votes were cast leading us to acquire Memory: The Origins of Alien in conjunction with Screen Media. This year we received more than 100,000 votes, and we used that data to find our next Legion M project — which we’ll be announcing soon!!
The Film Scout app also identified our “Class of 2020 Elite Scouts” and, now that we had two years worth of data, introduced an entirely new rank to the Film Scout program: DOUBLE ELITE!
HOW SCOUT WORKS
If you aren’t already familiar with SCOUT, you should read this article before going any further. This year, we had information (cast, writer, director, synopsis and, when available, a trailer) on 128 films from the festival in the Film Scout system. Each scout was presented with randomized matchups, pitting two films against each other. They were then asked to:
Rate each movie on a scale of 1 to 5 stars
Choose which of the two movies they would PREFER to see if they were both playing at the same time
PREDICT which of the two movies they thought OTHER Scouts would rate higher
As any Scout will tell you, these can be very tough decisions. It didn’t matter if you loved or hated both movies; you HAD to choose a winner.
The first two items on that list (your ratings and preferences) are opinions. These opinions, when aggregated across thousands of Scouts around the world allow us to leverage the “wisdom of the crowd” and provide invaluable data that we can use to make decisions. When we talk about the competitive advantages of a company owned by fans, this is EXACTLY what we are referring to. It not only gives you a voice in the direction of your company, but also gives your company data from which to make better decisions!
The third item on the list (your productions) can be graded. This data allows you to see how you stack up as a Film Scout, and it allows us to identify the people in the Legion who truly have their finger on the pulse. The best of the best are then invited to join our “Elite Scout” team, where they are given even more opportunities to help us evaluate films.
From Park City, Utah to Olympic Park, South Korea, Legion M’s SCOUT program allowed fans to be part of Sundance no matter where in the world they are!
SCORING SYSTEM
Every scout who evaluated at least one matchup was given a score. That score is composed of two components:
PARTICIPATION: This is your reward for putting in the time. The more matchups you voted on, the more participation points you received. The instructions stated that you needed to rate at least 40 of the 127 matchups to qualify for the Elite Scout program, so we made 40 matchups the maximum for participation points. In other words, completing matchups 41-127 did NOT increase your participation score (although it may have affected your accuracy score).
ACCURACY: While everyone has an opinion (and each is as valid as the next), the true measure of a Film Scout is their ability to PREDICT what others will think. The accuracy portion of your score was calculated by considering the number of matchups in which you correctly predicted the results, the total number of matchups you completed, and a “weighting factor” based on the relative difficulty of each matchup (e.g. was it an easy choice to make between highly and poorly rated movies, or a tough choice between two movies that were very close in rating). The better job you did making the right calls, the better your accuracy score.
Your TOTAL score is the combination of your PARTICIPATION and ACCURACY scores. A perfect score would be 10,000 points. As as last step, we normalized the 2019 scores (which used a slightly different scoring system) with the 2020 scores so that the two could be combined to create a CAREER SCORE for those who participated both years.
SCOUT allows Legion M to identify who truly has their finger on the pulse…
Once the scores were calculated, the top 10% of eligible scouts were automatically enrolled in our Elite Scout Program. Those people, who represent the “best of the best” from Sundance, will be sent a special ELITE SCOUT pin, and may be eligible for exclusive benefits, rewards, and special assignments in the future.
The field was grouped into the following levels:
Double Elite - Scouts with an Elite ranking (see below) for TWO consecutive years
Elite Scout - Top ~5% of all scouts (top 10% of those qualifying for Elite Scout consideration)
Gold Division - Next 10% (6% - 15% cumulative) of all scouts
Silver Division - Next 15% (16% to 30% cumulative) of all scouts
Bronze Division - Next 20% (31% to 50% cumulative) of all scouts
Scout - All remaining scouts
Over 1,800 scouts participated during FILM SCOUT 2020.
139 scouts have made ELITE STATUS over the last two years!
AND THE WINNER IS…
Results for 2019 and 2020 can be found in the table below. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF OUR WINNERS! If you are a new Elite Scout, look out for an email with details regarding your "Elite Scout” pins.
For everyone else — don’t despair if you finished lower than you hoped. Scouting is an ability that can be honed and improved over time. We look forward to providing MANY more chances for you to vie for Elite Scout status as we continue to grow and evolve the SCOUT program.
As always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us at team@legionm.com.