Click directly to the article...
Antony Funnell, the presenter of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Future Tense" talks to some of those who use advanced algorithms to make better decisions in various sectors.
Epagogix - a "weapon of choice" in helping executives to make tough decisions, says BBC article
MovieArb -- a new film investment vehicle -- is using Epagogix to provide key forecasting information.- Ted.com (Technology, Entertainment, Design) How algorithms shape our world.
Ira Basen of Canada's The Globe and Mail notes Epagogix's accuracy and usefulness for studios...- BBC Focus on Epagogix and "the top five automated talent spotters"...
- Boom magazine's editor reviews Epagogix.
- Motley Fool says - "...data mining is transforming the commercial place [its practitioners] throw a healthy dose of cold water on conventional wisdom.
- One of the more unusual and innovative ways computer number-crunching has been put to use comes out of Hollywood.
- Epagogix are "Super Crunchers" asserts Professor Ian Ayres in his acclaimed new book on Why Thinking-By-Numbers Is The New Way To Be Smart.
- "Hollywood is an intensely risky business...there is certainly an openness to what [Epagogix] is talking about..." says Variety's Steven Gaydos in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live.
- FLOPBUSTERS! Britain's famous Sun newspaper gives a uniquely succinct take on Epagogix's value proposition.
La Science du "blockbuster" - an overview of Epagogix in Montreal's Le Soleil.- "Nobody knows everything" ...that’s what the computers are there for, says The Guardian (UK).
- Malcolm Gladwell, noted author of 'Blink' and 'The Tipping Point' aims his pen at Epagogix... What if you built a machine to predict hit movies?... 'It was incredible [the accuracy of Epagogix's forecasts] ...it was like someone saying to you 'We’re going to show you how to count cards in Vegas'. - Senior Warner Brothers Executive quoted by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker Magazine, Oct 16th 2006.
- Epagogix reported on "In Business" - BBC Radio 4’s industry innovations programme (MP3 11.4 MB).
- 'This is an incredibly valuable tool' - Watch a video of Malcolm Gladwell describing Epagogix’s unique abilities.
Is there a formula to predict Oscar Winners? Deutsche Welle Radio’s Matthew Lawton asks Epagogix’s Nick Meaney this timely question and investigates other aspects of the 'artistic' versus the 'commercial' imperatives of film-making (MP3 3.43 MB).- Peter Körte, the well-respected cultural editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeiting takes an in-depth look at Hollywood and interviews Nick Meaney and Sean Verity, members of Epagogix’s team about the potential impact of their services.
Malcolm Gladwell’s groundbreaking analysis of the impact and implications of Epagogix’s approach translated into the German language by Switzerland’s Neue Zurcher Zeitung, NZZ online.- The Independent newspaper - Epagogix role in changing Hollywood environment.
Marco de Martino provides a summary overview of Epagogix’s methodology for the news website Panorama.it
...or read all media reports. Charles Hummel: "Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)."
Epagogix in the News and Media
Top Featured Articles
Aug 07: "Super Crunchers...are delivering staggeringly accurate results"
Super Crunchers - Why Thinking-By-Numbers Is The New Way To Be Smart. Yale law professor and noted econometrician and commentator, Ian Ayres' new book has been embraced by the "best and brightest" business thinkers. With a fast-moving and compelling style, Ayres shows the value of evidence-based decision-making in various arenas. In the world of movies, Ayres identifies and highlights the value that Epagogix adds to film-makers, film financiers -- and film audiences.
Read Epagogix references (English)
Super Crunchers is published by Bantam Books, a Division of Random House Inc. ISBN 978-0-553-80540-6
16 Oct 06: What if you built a machine to predict hit movies?
Writing in the New Yorker magazine, Malcolm Gladwell, the noted author of ‘Blink’ and ‘Tipping Point’ reflects on thought-provoking meetings with Epagogix's Dick Copaken, and takes an in-depth look at why different people like different kinds of film, examining Hollywood's approach to balancing subjective creative vision with objective audience tastes and investor requirements. He examines the historic context and application of rules and systems, neural networks, and talks to Epagogix’s staff about their innovative methods, modelled against a specific sample movie.
Read the full article (English)
08 Oct 06: "This is an incredibly valuable tool"
Noted American writer Malcolm Gladwell at the podium at the annual New Yorker Magazine Festival. Gladwell talks astutely and entertainingly about how a far-sighted major Hollywood studio chief introduced him to Dick Copaken, a noted Washington DC lawyer who loves film and who became actively involved with the launch of Epagogix - a UK company, based on an innovative British idea. Epagogix has a contract with this studio, which recognises the creative and commercial value of Epagogix's output. Gladwell illustrates Epagogix's approach very well, within the constraints of the company's strict confidentiality agreements and IP protection requirements, although in some places, by necessity, he must speculate about or condense details of Epagogix's genesis and process. Please note that contrary to a statement later in the film, Epagogix does not only focus on major studios, but also reviews scripts for independents.
Watch the video (English)
25 March 12: One of the Great Unseen Drivers of Our World
Antony Funnell, the presenter of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Future Tense" talks to some of those who use advanced algorithms to make better decisions in various sectors. His guests include Epagogix CEO Nick Meaney.
Listen to the broadcast (English)
23 Aug 11: When Algorithms Rule The World
BBC Technology Reporter Jane Wakefield looks at the "weapon of choice" in negotiating consumer and business decisions - the algorithm, and highlights Epagogix's role in helping executives make 'tough decisons'. The article focuses mostly on the binary uses of Epagogix's forecasts (shall we make the movie or not?), rather than on Epagogix's ability to work with studios to enhance the Box Office prospects of a given script.
Read the full article (English)
02 Aug 11: Film Financing -- a risk managed approach
Using Epagogix to provide key forecasting information, MovieArb, a private equity-style vehicle will invest in slates of 10 movies to be widely-distributed in the USA. Epagogix will help to determine whether appropriate Box Office hurdles can be met or surpassed, and will provide quantified script suggestions to enhance the Box Office potential of selected projects.
Read the full article (English)
19 Jul 11: Ted.com (Technology, Entertainment, Design) How algorithms shape our world
Kevin Slavin -- the co-founder of gaming company Area/Code delivers a broad-ranging lecture for the prestigious Ted.com on how algorithms are re-shaping many areas of business and everyday life -- including Epagogix's endeavours in the movie industry.
Watch the video (English)
26 Nov 10: The algorithm method
Ira Basen of Canada's The Globe and Mail notes Epagogix's accuracy and usefulness for studios, despite his concern that it removes "risk-taking" from movie making -- which is praise indeed for a risk-management tool that is designed to help studios and independent producers to avoid calamity and assists in ensuring that each film satisfies its intended audience.
Read the full article (English)
Nov 09: The (x+y)/z = hit Factor
BBC Focus, the Science - Technology - Future magazine examines technology's use in the creative arena. The article's TALENTSPOTTER.EXE lists Epagogix as one of the top five "automated talent spotters" and briefly indicates how Epagogix also identifies "Turkeys". The column also takes a quick view of Cantor Fitzgerald's new Hollywood Stock Exchange.
Read the full article (English)
See the original article (English)
04 Jan 08: The Appliance of Science - a UK-centric look at Epagogix
Screen International's Rachel Nouchi looks at Epagogix from a sceptical British production perspective - while noting that the bulk of this UK company's business and reputation is focused on North America.
Read the full article (English)
Nov 07: The Mathematics of Hollywood
Thomas Bunnell, editor of luxury lifestyle magazine, Boom, takes an initially sceptical look at Epagogix's approach to helping Hollywood identify the scripts where it should spend its valuable capital and talent, and comes away willing to be convinced.
Read the full article (p 47) (English)
31 Oct 07: Motley Fool applauds Super Crunching business approach
Jack Uldrich strongly recommends Ian Ayres' Super Crunchers in the much-cited Motley Fool investor-advisor website, stating that Epagogix and others are part of the "rapidly maturing field of data mining [that] is transforming the commercial marketplace." Uldrich opines that Epagogix's fact-driven findings approach has the potential to "revolutionize Hollywood".
Full review now offline
28 Aug 07: Risky Business Part II - this time it's critical financial risk
Sorry - nothing to do with Tom Cruise's famous debut - BBC Radio 5 Live's Phil Williams talks to Epagogix's Nick Meaney and to Variety executive editor Steven Gaydos, who believes that the "single biggest fear in Hollywood is risk", with huge amounts of money being 'bet' on individual projects -- which goes some way to explaining the industry's openness towards Epagogix's abilities.
Listen to the broadcast (English - MP3 sound file 8.29 MB)
27 Aug 07: Who you gonna call?...Flopbusters!
In The Sun newspaper, Virginia Wheeler succinctly states Epagogix's value to investors and studios who want to avoid the expensive mistakes of developing films that cost more to make than they earn.
Read the full article (English)
25 Aug 07: La science du "blockbuster". Transposing risk principles to cinema
Marc Allard, of Montreal's Le Soleil talks to Nick Meaney and examines the risk environment in Hollywood, and how Epagogix applies the intense objectivity of its process and neural network to address and lessen those risks.
Full article now offline
24 Aug 07: One of the more unusual and innovative ways computer number-crunching has been put to use comes out of Hollywood
...says CEO Read reviewer Jack Covert in his review of Professor Ayres' Super Crunchers (see below). Covert highlights the opportunities noted by a hedge fund manager that "Hollywood is a ten-lane paved highway of opportunity" for those able to deploy enhanced decision-making over a "committment to do things the wrong way."
Full article now offline
14 Aug 07: Freakonomics - Attack of the Super Crunchers
The New York Times' Melissa Lafsky reviews Professor Ian Ayres' acclaimed new book Super Crunchers, in which Epagogix is heavily featured as one of those companies that is ahead of the curve in using data to enhance or displace intuition..
Full article now offline
13 Jul 07: How to make a Blockbuster...Nobody knows everything - the computers are there for what the people don't know
Epagogix's complex computer programmes are fed by expert industry data, and enhanced by objective outsider analysis of 'insider' Hollywood knowledge. Phil Hoad, The Guardian's film expert explains the challenges Hollywood faces in creating summer blockbusters, and how Epagogix helps to pick and finesse winning scripts.
Read the full article (English)
24 May 07: Data and technology driving new approaches to the film and music industries
Peter Day, the BBC's respected business innovation broadcaster interviews Epagogix's Nick Meaney for BBC Radio 4's In Business programme. Day examines how technology can and is influencing the key decisions that help to protect investments. He wonders what - if any - difference this makes to creative output.
BBC Radio 4 In Business homepage
Listen to the broadcast (English - MP3 sound file 11.4 MB)
20 Feb 07: Is there a formula to predict Oscar Winners?
Deutsche Welle Radio's Matthew Lawton asks Epagogix's Nick Meaney this timely question, and investigates other aspects of the 'artistic' versus the 'commercial' imperatives of film-making.
Listen to the interview (English - MP3 sound file 3.43 MB)
Deutsche Welle homepage: http://www.dw-world.de
09 Feb 07: Q&A with Nick Meaney, Epagogix’s CEO
Timed to coincide with the opening of the Berlin Film Festival, the German Financial Times speaks to Epagogix’s Nick Meaney about movies and methodologies, rather than the business angle you might expect.
Read the full article (German - Epagogix article on page 2)
28 Jan 07: Where commerce meets creativity
Peter Körte, the well-respected cultural editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeiting takes an in-depth look at Hollywood and interviews Nick Meaney and Sean Verity, members of Epagogix's team about the potential impact of their services,.
Read the full article (German)
24 Dec 06: Die 200-Millonen-Dollar-Formel
Malcolm Gladwell’s groundbreaking analysis of the impact and implications of Epagogix’s approach translated into the German language by Switzerland’s Neue Zurcher Zeitung, NZZ online.
Read the full article (German)
19 Nov 06: How Hollywood's power elite lost the plot
Mark Hooper, of The Independent believes that the business of movie-making is undergoing a major shift, and sees that Epagogix is ‘setting Hollywood a-buzz’.
Epagogix's origins lie in a conviction that more attention needs to be paid to the biggest risks a studio faces: namely that large amounts of shareholder capital are invested into films that fail to make a sufficient return. Epagogix forecasts the financial prospects of a film, and the studio then determines how that fits with the budget.
Epagogix also identifies and refines the creative improvements that can be made to a script and quantifies the positive Box Office impact that such changes will make. The Independent, a British national newspaper sets the context well...
Read the full article (English)
16 Nov 06: Per il botto al botteghino c'è un software malandrino
Marco de Martino provides a summary overview of Epagogix’s methodology for the news website Panorama.it. Please note that the article incorrectly identifies the origins of Epagogix’s services and wrongly attributes the initial development of Epagogix’s methodology to the USA, rather than the UK.
Read the full article (Italian)