Movie Test Screenings, Audience Research & Film Success
Kevin recently joined the hosts of Tales from Hollywoodland for a conversation about How to Score in Hollywood. The show is a weekly podcast hosted by three Hollywood veterans — producer Julian Schlossberg, theater owner and film buyer Arthur Friedman, and film historian and author Steven Jay Rubin. Their firsthand experience running theaters and working with studios, and Kevin’s experience with audience research, result in a great insider conversation covering the state of theatrical moviegoing, why adult dramas struggle to find big-screen audiences, and how the confluence of cost, convenience, and choice has permanently changed how people watch films.
One highlight of the episode centers on the Fatal Attraction case study. The original ending tested poorly because it left audiences emotionally unsatisfied. Four separate test screenings produced the same focus group response in unison: the ending. The reshoot that followed — now one of the more famous in Hollywood history — moved a significant chunk of “very good” scores up to “excellent” and turned a good film into a phenomenon.
Kevin also touches on Get Out, which didn’t test spectacularly but succeeded in part because the advertising was tailored separately for Black and white audiences, each campaign hitting different cultural cues. It’s a good example of the broader argument running through the book: understanding your audience specifically, not just generally, is where the real work happens.
The full episode is available here, and How to Score in Hollywood is available wherever books are sold.
For more information about Kevin Goetz:
Want to go deeper on audience insight and why it matters in today’s movie business?
Explore Audience360—Kevin Goetz’s hub for books, conversations, and tools that show how audience research shapes what gets made, marketed, and remembered.
Books
- Audience•ology – A definitive, behind-the-scenes look at how studios test films, interpret audience feedback, and make high-stakes creative decisions before release.
- How to Score in Hollywood – A practical guide to building commercially successful movies, showing how audience insight drives development, marketing, and profitability from script to screen.
Podcast: Don’t Kill the Messenger
Candid conversations with filmmakers, executives, and creatives about storytelling, testing, and the realities of making movies in today’s marketplace.
Prepared educational materials—including case studies, frameworks, and real-world examples—designed for film students, educators, and emerging filmmakers to understand how audience insight fits into the moviemaking process.
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