Initial empirical evidence for Agile Project Management in the Film Industry

Abstract

In the course of continuous volatility like production stops due to COVID-19 pandemic, video-on-demand player monopolize the film industry, while filmmakers are stuck in traditional, linear content development processes. The traditional film industry has to become more agile in order to react quickly and easily to unexpected changes and competitive pressure. Despite the benefits of agility demonstrated in software development and successfully integrated agility into project management, the adaptation in creative industries such as content development for film production have largely been neglected. To determine the potential value for agility in the film industry, we build on theory about agile project management and examine in an online survey with 184 German filmmakers (producers, authors, directors, actors, film financiers), if the Agile Manifesto values and principles from the Software Development can be adapted to the film industry. Based on our data, we validated the agile manifesto for the film industry with content development specific four values related to nine own principles. Our results show that it is crucial to digitalize traditional content development to agile content development end-to-end, with digital tools, lean processes, new collaboration structures and holacracy to prepare for any volatility. Our findings help to get a better understanding of the agile manifesto beyond the Software Development as a guideline for implementing agility in the Film Industry.