Whether it is the director Marta Meszaros, or the artist Jackson Pollock, those in creative careers often experience a particular burst of success. Now researchers have used artificial intelligence to reveal such "hot streaks" are commonly preceded by an experimental phase followed by a focus on one particular approach once the winning period has begun. The director Peter Jackson's career is, perhaps, a prime example: his hugely successful Lord of the Rings trilogy came after an eclectic range of movies such as the sci-fi comedy horror Bad Taste, the puppet film Meet the Feebles and the drama Heavenly Creatures. The new work builds on a previous study by the researchers that suggested many creatives find themselves on a roll at some point in their career, although when exactly this happens appears to be random. "About 90% of people have at least one hot streak" said Prof Dashun Wang of Northwestern University, who led the latest study.