Every scored fact carries a public source. Distribution on Pylon is displayed as metadata and is never scored. No pay-to-rank. No submission fees. Corrections ↗
What gets scored
Competitive results (30%). Wins and placements at AI film festivals and competitions, weighted by venue scale (submission volume, prize pool) and jury caliber. Cross-festival repeat placement counts extra: consistency across independent juries is the strongest single signal in the field.
Institutional selection (20%). Named selection by the field's institutions: tool-partner artist programs, commissioned showcases, funded studio formation, residencies. These are binary, dated, press-released events.
Body of work (20%). Editorial assessment of sustained output, coherence of voice and craft across a filmography: criteria written down, applied by humans, argued about openly.
Audience (15%). Verifiable reach of the work itself across platforms, normalized so a viral outlier doesn't outrank a sustained audience.
Press & peers (15%). Coverage weighted by outlet tier, plus peer signals such as festival jury service and inclusion on published lists.
The rules
1 · Every scored fact carries a public source. 2 · Distribution on PYLON, our publisher, is displayed as metadata and is never scored. 3 · No pay-to-rank, no submission fees, no sponsored placements. 4 · The Index is reranked quarterly with a public changelog. 5 · Corrections are open to everyone, including the directors ranked.
DISPUTE A FACT OR REQUEST A CORRECTION → VIA PYLON SUPPORT ↗
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PYLON distributes the best AI cinema and pays creators from real revenue. The Index watches every submission cycle.