The rise of data specialists and algorithms in Hollywood and their growing influence on creative decisions
Today, in Hollywood, thousands of data specialists work for streaming platforms, playing a role not only in distribution and marketing but also in content and production decisions. In the book Data-Driven Hollywood, Violaine Roussel examines the emergence of this new professional category at the heart of Hollywood's dream factory. Roussel shows how the rise of data specialists and algorithms has transformed organizations and restructured power relationships within them.
Based on extensive interviews and on-site observations, she describes how the technical 'data work' carried out by professionals on streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ has a significant impact on creative decisions. Rather than fetishizing data and algorithmic models, Roussel explores the practices of professionals who shape, handle, and empower them.
She examines the relationships of these workers with traditional producers, describing battles over legitimacy and the eventual stabilization of new professional arrangements. Roussel's account of how data specialists use algorithmic models to revolutionize the industry's approach to content, artists, and the market— the first in-depth sociological study of the rise of this new profession—reveals the new forms of power and knowledge that are unfolding in modern Hollywood.
