2. Introduction
Film distribution is the process by which a film is made available to
view for an audience. It is a key factor in how successful a film is, not
only in the box office, but in DVD sales as well. Industry standard is
for a film to be released first in the cinema and then, after a while,
on DVD, however this rule does have exceptions. No matter how
good a film is, if it doesn’t get a good distribution deal it will not be
successful.
3. Step 1
Once production of a film has finished, the studio must then
negotiate deals with distribution agencies in the countries it wants to
market the film in. This involves finding a distributor that thinks the
film will earn more money than what it will cost them to pay for
cinema and DVD releases.
4. Step 2
If a deal has been established, it is then the task of the newly
enlisted distribution agency to establish what cinemas a film will be
released in, when, and how long for. The more cinemas a film is
shown in and the longer it is shown for, the more it will cost the
distribution agency, but it will also have much more potential to
make a profit. As well as this, the agency must also market the film
effectively with the use of trailers, posters, merchandise etc. to draw
in an audience to watch the film when it releases.
5. Step 3
After a film has completed its scheduled run in the cinemas, it is
eventually released on Blu-Ray and DVD for consumers who missed
the opportunity to see it earlier or just want to see it again. This is an
opportunity for the film to generate more revenue in addition to
what it earned in the box office.
6. Distribution Success Story
Lionsgate Films is a Canadian distribution company established in
1997. By 2014 it had distributed 261 films, of which only 10 had
achieved blockbuster status. While it was a successful company, it
wasn’t earning nearly enough to compete with larger names such as
Paramount and Universal. However in 2009 they paid author
Suzanne Collins $200,000 for the rights to her book series - “The
Hunger Games”. After scraping together an $80,000,000 budget,
Lionsgate produced and distributed “The Hunger Games”, which
went on to earn over 8.5 times that in the box office, and catapult
Lionsgate from being a Canadian independent distribution company
to the owner of Hollywood’s next big franchise.
7. Distribution Failure Story
Blind Spot Pictures are a Finnish independent film production
company, who in 2012 produced their biggest film at the time - “Iron
Sky”, a Sci-Fi Comedy. After completing production, Blind Spot
sought distribution deals in many different countries. In the UK the
rights were given to a company called Revolver entertainment, who
promised a proper cinema release of at least a week. However at the
last minute, Revolver decided to go back on the deal, instead
preparing to give the film a one-day release on a Wednesday. This
was a disaster for Blind Spot, as it meant that it would be much less
likely that people would be able to see “Iron Sky” during its cinema
run, therefore meaning it would also make much less money.
8. Missing Link Productions
One of the tasks we have been given for our AS Media project is to
create our own production company whose logo would feature in
our opening sequence. We came up with the name of “Missing Link
Productions” for this. As it is an independent UK company, our film
would only be screened in select UK cinemas if we were to have it
distributed.
Here is our initial logo:
