Stuart Bovich | 2026 I.S. Symposium
狈补尘别:听Stuart Bovich
Title: Making A More Desirable Film: How Budget Allocation Affects Return on Investment?
Majors: Business Economics; Statistical and Data Sciences
Advisors: Drew Pasteur, Huiting Tian
The film industry operates under conditions of great uncertainty, which makes it very important for producers and production companies to understand which factors affect profitability. While previous research has explored the effect the total budget has on financial performance, very few have looked into the effect of the budget’s allocation. This study aims to explore how increased budget allocation towards below-the-line costs affects return on investment. This study employs OLS, Lasso Regression, and Random Forest modeling to explore the relationship between below-the-line costs measured (using award nominations as a proxy) and return on investment for the film. The findings suggest that indicators/signals of technical quality, typically associated with higher below-the-line spending, are associated with higher return on investment, whereas higher budgets are associated with lower ROI.
Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.
