Sundance 2019 Final SCOUT Results
Read the Forbes article about Legion M’s SCOUT program.
Legion M’s SCOUT program took a HUGE step forward at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. While we had experimented with SCOUT at film festivals before, this time we launched in a very big way with a brand new platform.
It worked. In the end, over 1,300 users from around the world cast over 40,000 votes. Forbes wrote an article about it. Most importantly, the data we gleaned proved EXTREMELY useful. Every partner we met with wanted to see it, and it helped us identify a film for which we’re currently negotiating a deal.
Once that deal closes and the project is announced we plan to release some of the data. In the meantime, we’d like to hand out a few awards and recognize those who participated in this grand experiment.
HOW SCOUT WORKS
If you aren’t already familiar with SCOUT, you should read this article before going any further. For Sundance, we uploaded information (cast, writer, director, synopsis and, when available, a trailer) for 119 different films. 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, and forced to
Choose which of the two movies they would see if they were both playing at the same time
PREDICT which of the two movies they thought OTHERS would rate higher
Many of these were very tough decisions — it didn’t matter if you loved or hated both movies you HAD to choose a winner.
For Sundance, we had over 40,000 votes cast which means that each movie was rated and evaluated against a random opponent an average of 672 times. These ratings and evaluations allow us to leverage the “wisdom of the crowd”, and provide invaluable data when making content decisions. And the prediction data allows us to evaluate each of our scouts to see who truly has their finger on the pulse.
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 were!
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 30 of the 59 matchups to qualify for the Elite Scout program, so we made 30 matchups the maximum for participation points. In other words, completing matchups 31-59 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 SCOUT is their ability to PREDICT what others will think. The accuracy portion of your score was calculated by taking the number of matchups in which you correctly predicted the results, and dividing it by the total number of matchups you completed. In other words, the accuracy score is the % of your predictions that were correct.
SCOUT allows Legion M to identify who truly has their finger on the pulse…
Your TOTAL score is the combination of your PARTICIPATION and ACCURACY scores. A perfect score is 1000 points. Our top scout got 930 points, which correlated to an accuracy of 88%. Since everyone who completed at least 30 matchups received the same number of participation points, the difference between landing at the top of the leaderboard vs. middle of the pack was your accuracy in predicting the correct results.
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 FILM SCOUT pin, and may be eligible for exclusive benefits, rewards, and special assignments in the future.
The field was grouped into the following levels:
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 1,300 scouts participated during Sundance. The top 74 have been invited to join the ELITE SCOUT program
AND THE WINNER IS…
As you’d expect, the competition at the top of the leaderboard was fierce. The difference between 1st and 74th (the last Elite Scout) was a mere handful of matchups. But the absolute best of the best at Sundance 2019 was Nick Monaco from Saugertie, NY with an accuracy rate of 88% and score of 930. Cher Olguin from Hayward, CA and Alyssa Garcia from Orlando, FL tied for second with a score of 900, and we had a three-way tie for fourth between Angela Coleman (Aurora, Colorado), Terri Rykard (Madison, FL), and Jessica Pitt (Council Bluffs, Iowa).
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF OUR WINNERS! The top 6 listed above will receive a special Legion M t-shirt (in addition to their ELITE SCOUT pin). Also, the Elite Scouts and anyone who completed all 59 matchups during Sundance (you know who you are) will receive a free SCOUT pin. We’ll be sending each of these winners an e-mail with details.
As for everyone else, please check out the leaderboard below to see how you stacked up. Don’t despair if you finished lower than you hoped—we believe scouting ability can be honed and improved over time, and 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.