When most filmmakers think about screener analytics, they focus on the obvious question: "Did they watch it all the way through?" While completion rates certainly matter, this binary approach to measuring engagement misses the nuanced story that viewing data actually tells about your project's commercial potential. After analyzing thousands of screener viewing sessions and their outcomes, patterns emerge that reveal what industry professionals are really thinking—often before they know it themselves. The most successful filmmakers aren't just tracking whether someone finished their screener; they're reading between the lines of viewing behavior to predict and influence deal outcomes.
Dragons are great when you want to fight a myth
Let's address the elephant in the room: completion rates can be misleading. A producer who watches your entire 90-minute feature might seem more engaged than one who stops at minute 60. But what if that first producer was multitasking through most of it, while the second stopped because they'd already seen enough to know they wanted to move forward? Industry professionals are busy, experienced viewers. They often make decisions faster than we expect—and their viewing patterns reflect this reality in ways that raw completion percentages never capture.
Rather than just measuring how long someone watched, track how they watched. The most predictive metric isn't duration—it's viewing intensity. This combines several factors:
What success looks like: A 45-minute viewing session of a 90-minute film with 8-12 strategic pauses and 2-3 targeted replays often predicts better outcomes than a straight 90-minute view with no interaction.
Most industry professionals know within the first 5-10 minutes whether a project interests them. But they continue watching for different reasons, and these reasons predict different outcomes:
Identifying the pattern: Confirmation viewers often pause in the middle third to make calls or send messages. Due diligence viewers maintain steady, uninterrupted playback. Evaluation viewers show erratic behavior—stops, starts, and jumps.