In this work, viscoelastic, isothermal extrusion film casting simulations have been performed utilizing a 1D membrane model and the viscoelastic modified Leonov model as the constitutive equation in order to elucidate the role of planar to uniaxial extensional viscosity ratio, extensional strain hardening and Deborah number on the neck-in phenomenon. Based on the performed theoretical parametric study, it has been found that neck-in can be correlated to all the above mentioned variables via a simple dimensionless analytical equation. This correlation can provide detailed view into the complicated relationship between polymer melt rheology, die design, process conditions and undesirable neck-in phenomenon. Obtained results have been validated against literature experimental data for different polyethylene melts and processing conditions. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.