This paper examines how movie producers recruit directors in the preproduction phase as mutual choices in a two-sided matching model. It conceptualizes that movie attributes and filmmaker characteristics determine the matching outcomes (“who directed which movie”) and in turn indirectly affect movie box office. We exploit a dataset of 4,807 feature films from 1990 to 2010 to examine empirically the complementarities between the movie/producer side and the director side in terms of movie budget, filmmaker track records and social relations. A series of simulations suggest that social relations facilitate positive assortative matching. Further simulation analyses are conducted to quantify the financial implications of movie–director mismatches, as well as the indirect effects of production budget and producer characteristics. The simulation results show that: a) the financial implications of having a mismatched director can be substantial; and b) the indirect effect of production budget and producer characteristics affect movie box office in an interactive manner. These findings can help filmmakers to better understand the financial impacts of movie–director choices and make more informed decisions at the early phase of preproduction.

本文研究了电影制片人如何在预制作阶段招募导演作为双边匹配模型中的相互选择。它概念化电影属性和电影制作人特征决定匹配结果（“谁导演了哪部电影”），进而间接影响电影票房。我们利用从 1990 年到 2010 年的 4,807 部故事片的数据集，从经验上检验电影/制片方和导演方在电影预算、电影制作人的往绩和社会关系方面的互补性。一系列模拟表明，社会关系促进了积极的分类匹配。进行了进一步的模拟分析，以量化电影导演不匹配的财务影响，以及制作预算和制片人特征的间接影响。模拟结果表明： a) 董事不匹配的财务影响可能很大；b) 制作预算和制片人特征的间接影响以交互方式影响电影票房。这些发现可以帮助电影制作人更好地了解电影导演选择的财务影响，并在前期制作阶段做出更明智的决定。