The script doctor will see you now – OTX to test movie screenplays

The new Script Evaluation Division will examine a film’s chances of success through in-house expertise and a panel of nationally representative moviegoers.

Films will be analysed during four processes, starting with an evaluation which identifies which genre the script falls into. Past films in similar genres and target audiences are then identified before the box office performance of similar films are examined.

The script will then be analysed for ‘playability’, where Ipsos OTX Media CT’s team will compare it to similar-genre films before giving an appraisal on the potential impact that specific scenes and sub-plots will have on the target audience. Too many romance or horror elements, for example, in a science fiction film could cause genre confusion and alienate the target audience.

Next up is the ‘marketability’ stage where the OTX team will “hone in” on the script’s assets and liabilities to help position the film’s marketing campaign.

Finally, the firm will summarise the script for quantitative validation – presenting as a a ‘pitch’ and testing it among a sample of 1,500 moviegoers to gauge their interest in seeing the completed film in cinemas.

Vincent Bruzzese (pictured), president of the Worldwide Motion Picture Group at Ipsos OTX, said: “One of the most important questions this multistage process answers is ‘should we make this movie?’ Over the years we have been asked to evaluate scripts from a large number of theatrical clients and our resulting track record convinced me to finally centralise this service for the industry.”