iScreeningRoom

Frequently asked questions

For Filmmakers

Won’t not seeing the film in a theater negatively impact the results?

iScreeningRoom's movie testing employs an interest-based recruitment process where the solicited audience is made up of people who have self-identified as being interested in your film’s genre(s) (e.g. drama, action, etc.) or like-films (comps) regardless of their gender, age, or ethnicity.

iScreeningRoom solicits its national pool of potential audience members, who match your film's profile, by presenting them the film’s title, synopsis, genre, MPAA rating, and key art (if available). These potential audience members, from all over the United States, then have the option to “Watch Now” and take a survey, or to optionally fill out a “Not interested” form and provide a reason for their not wanting to watch the film.

The weakness with In-theater testing, is two fold...

The poisoned well.
1. Typically, an in-theater test audience is recruited using some form of incentivisation (e.g. “Come to the test screening and get $10!”). This leads to an audience of people who, while definitely interested in receiving $10, might not be so interested in watching your film. This same audience member may even end up coloring their survey responses in an attempt to secure an invite to the next $10 screening.
2. Often, an in-theater testing company will interfere with the organic nature of a recruitment by pre-determining who gets to watch a movie based on age and gender (e.g. 25% men < 25, 25% men 25+, 25% women < 25, 25% women 25+). This “balance” leads only to a unreliable tallies that include the opinion of people who would never see your film under normal conditions.
“It played well here!” Most in-theater tests are executed in a single theater, in a single location providing no insight into how the film will perform nationwide.

iScreeningRoom’s superior interest-based recruitment and testing methodology results in painting a picture reflective of how the film will actually perform in the real world while also identifying with great clarity a film’s target audience.

In the end, iScreeningRoom test results can then be fed into CinemaCloudWorks to build a theatrical release plan that maximizes box office potential by identifying those theaters most likely to experience success.

What security features does iScreeningRoom employ to protect my film?

All movie test screenings are private, invitation-only, events polling iScreeningRoom's proprietary database of vetted movie lovers.
All audiences members must validate their identity via 2 factor authentication (email and phone) each time they log in. This validated information is then burned into the film as a personalized watermark.
All audience members must agree to an "I will not talk about the film online..." NDA.
Audience members may log in to watch a particular screening a maximum of 3 times before their access is revoked requiring an explicit "ask" for continued access.
iScreeningRoom employs a watermark tampering monitor to disable an audience member's access should any attempts be made to circumvent the Filimark™ dynamic watermark while watching.
iScreeningRoom has partnered with the piracy monitoring company MUSO to police the web for any nefarious activity and take whatever action is necessary to protect the asset (additional fees may apply).

How quickly can I get a project set up on iScreeningRoom?

Assuming all required assets have been delivered to spec, a movie test screening will typically be setup within 1-2 business days (e.g. with assets delivered by EOD Thursday, a test will start on the Tuesday of the following week). Tests are normally conducted over a 3 day period (Tuesday - Thursday) with final reports typically being delivered 2-3 business days after the test ends.

To provide a window into the test process, a real-time live "Top Line" scorecard is also provided while the test is running to keep you abreast as to how many people have taken the survey, what the current "Top Line" score is per demo quadrant (m < 25, m 25+, f < 25, f 25+), as well as a couple of other critical data points.

What questions can I ask audience members?

Almost whatever you want. Along with a set of about 40-50 industry standard questions, post-screening surveys can be customized to meet your specifications. iScreeningRoom can also provide a pre-screening survey to engage with audience members prior to watching the film to measure response to your marketing materials (e.g. posters, messaging, title, etc.).

What information will I get after using iScreeningRoom?

Answers to critical questions like:

What scenes are working and what scenes are not working?
Specifically, at what point(s) in the film did the audience sentiment sway?
How likely is word-of-mouth marketing for the film?
Who is my target audience (e.g. age, gender, etc.)?
What comparable films have succeeded theatrically within the past 5 years?
In what theaters did comparable films best perform?
What is my potential gross box office?
And much more. View example test screening report screenshots.

How do I get started?

Fill out the "Build Your Own Test" form now.

For Audience Members

How do I sign up to watch free films before they’re released in theaters?

First, you need to live in the USA and have a valid email address and a working cellular telephone number that can receive a text message. All participants must also accept iScreeningRoom’s terms of Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement, and are required to fill out the post-screening survey after watching each film.

NOTE: iScreeningRoom keeps track of participant’s progress when watching a film. Anyone attempting to pirate, duplicate, or otherwise circumvent any of iScreeningRoom’s anti-piracy systems will be immediately banned.

Click here to sign up as an iScreeningRoom audience member now.

Are the films, television shows, etc., available through iScreeningRoom really free?

Absolutely. Filmmakers are hungry for audience feedback and need to hear your opinion before releasing their works to the masses.

What devices does iScreeningRoom support?

Depending on the film being screened, iScreeningRoom can support all modern devices including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Can I stream to my television?

Yes! If you have an Apple TV, Chromecast, or Roku, you can stream iScreeningRoom broadcasts right from your device to your living room.

I signed up for iScreeningRoom - when do I get to start watching films?

Screenings typically have a limited viewing window of a couple of days. As filmmakers are given an opportunity to target specific regions and demographic, you will be invited whenever you fall into a filmmaker’s target audience.

NOTE: Please make sure to add iScreeningRoom.com to your safe senders list in your email program to prevent invitations from ending up in your spam folder.

Why do you need my phone number?

Film distributors want to know their films are safe with us and with you. To oblige, whenever you watch a film on iScreeningRoom.com, we watermark the film with your cellular phone number and email address.

Because email alone is simply too easy for the bad guys to spoof, cell phone numbers are used to provide a much greater level of identification and subsequent protection against piracy.

This type of watermarking provides you with a way of saying to the distributor, "You can trust me." while providing the distributor a means of tracking down the bad guys in case any unauthorized copy of the film makes its way into the mainstream.

Rest assured we will never send you unsolicited text messages nor will we ever sell your information to any 3rd party.

Unfortunately, if you do not currently have a cell phone, you will be unable to participate in the screening. We will however be making other means of validation available soon, so please stay tuned.

How long do iScreeningRoom surveys take to complete?

Surveys typically take between 5-10 minutes to complete.

What do you do with the information I provide?

All of the information you provide is shared only with the filmmakers we work with. You will have the option to share (or not) your personally identifiable information with those filmmakers. Your information will not be sold to 3rd party advertisers.

NOTE: In some instances, a filmmaker may want to reach out to you with specific follow-up questions via email. If you would like to be included in these follow-up focus groups, you will need to check the "Include me in focus groups" check box.

What happens if I don’t fill out a survey?

Your opinion is very important and your seat in the iScreeningRoom is valuable. Unfortunately, if you watch a film and fail to fill out a survey, you will no longer be invited to future screenings.