Film Scout Platform Leverages “Wisdom of the Crowd” to Help Make Acquisition Decisions for the Fan-Owned Entertainment Company and its Industry Partners 

Legion M is returning to Park City, Utah with its next generation “Legion M Film Scout” platform, giving fans around the world the opportunity to act as film scouts during this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Film Scout is an innovative audience insight gathering and analysis tool that gives its users an unprecedented opportunity to scout films through a fun, gamified new app for iOS and Android devices.

Harnessing the wisdom of the crowd, the fan-owned entertainment company’s debut of its enhanced Film Scout platform will leverage proprietary, data-driven consumer analysis captured from Legion M Film Scouts attending Sundance, as well as those assessing the films’ synopses and trailers from home. Film Scout will guide decision-making on Legion M’s next potential film acquisition, as well as for its industry partners.

“Not everyone can make it to Park City, but with Film Scout, now anyone in the world can be a part of what’s happening at Sundance,” said Jeff Annison, Legion M co-founder and president. “We’re giving fans a role in the process of finding and acquiring films at the festival because we know that harnessing the combined wisdom, experience, and passion of the community will allow us to make better decisions on behalf of our shareholders and industry partners. Film Scout brings real-life audience data to bear in a realm where decisions are typically made by gut-feel and intuition.”

The launch of the Legion M Film Scout mobile app comes one year after the company successfully debuted its Film Scout website at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Dozens of Film Scouts from Legion M’s community of members and investors attended screenings in Park City, and thousands more assessed the festival’s films remotely from around the world. Using Film Scout’s intuitive, gamified platform, participants shared their personal opinions about which films they preferred, and competed with other film scouts around the world to predict which films would resonate most with others. Scouts were scored on accuracy of their predictions, with the top few percent invited to join Legion M’s “Elite Scout” program where they have even more opportunities to scout films for the company. 

More than 40,000 votes from Film Scouts gave Legion M executives valuable audience insight and helped guide the company in acquiring its first film--and first by a fan-owned company at Sundance--the critically-acclaimed documentary Memory: The Origins of Alien by Alexandre O. Philippe (Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist). With its partner Screen Media Films, Legion M distributed the feature length documentary in select nationwide theaters and on VOD services in October 2019, and Memory: The Origins of Alien has gone on to become Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 82% critic score and 92% audience score.

“By procuring insights from fans attending festivals like Sundance, we’re listening directly to the same audience who will eventually purchase tickets to films we acquire, while providing an opportunity for our community to actively participate in our acquisition process in a fun, innovative way,” said Terri Lubaroff, Legion M COO and head of content. “We’re thrilled to be launching the next generation of Film Scout, further enhancing the platform’s data analysis and making it an even more coveted tool for our potential studio and distribution partners.”

Besides bringing its Film Scout program back this year, 2020 also marks the third consecutive year that Legion M will host its Sundance lounge at the Red Banjo Pizza Parlour, located near the iconic Egyptian Theatre on Park City’s Main Street. The Legion M Lounge has quickly become one of the hottest and most welcoming destinations during Sundance, and will host hundreds of Legion M members and shareholders, as well as industry executives and talent planning to attend the film festival. The Legion M Lounge will be open from 6:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. MST from Friday, January 24 to Sunday, January 26. For further details, keep your eyes on legionm.com.