The document discusses film distribution and marketing. It explains that film distributors must identify a film's unique selling point to position it in the marketplace. They consider elements like stars, special effects, and the director to decide what to emphasize in the marketing campaign through posters, trailers, and other media. Marketing is crucial and can cost up to half the production budget. The goal is to generate buzz and excitement to maximize ticket sales in the crucial first weekend. Distributors must design tailored campaigns for each film based on research into the target audience.

1. PUBLICITY AND DISTRIBUTION
THE FILM INDUSTRY

2. THE FILM INDUSTRY
DISTRIBUTION
▸ When planning a marketing campaign, the film distributor
has to decide how it will present a film to a potential
audience.
▸ They look for a film’s ‘unique selling point’ (USP). What
makes it different from the rest?
▸ If, for example, the distributor is handling an adventure
film, they will need to look for aspects of the film which set
it aside from the other action adventure films.
DISTRIBUTION IS CONCERNED WITH
’GETTING THE FILM OUT THERE’.
PUBLICITY AND MARKETING ARE KEY
FEATURES OF THE DISTRIBUTION
PROCESS.

3. THE FILM INDUSTRY
▸ After this they will look at things such as : • who stars in the
film
▸ Are there new and spectacular special effects in the film •
who is the director?
▸ Taking these into consideration, the distributor will then
decide which elements to stress in the marketing
campaign (posters, trailers, etc.) i.e. how to position the
film in the market place.
DISTRIBUTION

4. THE FILM INDUSTRY
▸ Marketing is one of the most important aspects of a film’s distribution and
there are many different ways to market a film:
▸ Posters
▸ Trailers
▸ Online and mobile content
▸ Special Screenings/Premieres
▸ Interviews/ articles
▸ Merchandising
▸ Festivals/ Awards
DISTRIBUTION: MARKETING

5. THE FILM INDUSTRY
▸ Movie marketing is also known as movie advertising and movie
promotion
▸ Every major Hollywood studio and movie distribution company
has an internal department devoted to promotion.
▸ The promotions department is responsible for designing and
implementing an effective, cohesive advertising campaign
across several different media platforms.
▸ These include: theatrical movie trailers, newspapers, magazines,
television, radio, the Internet and billboards.
DISTRIBUTION

6. THE FILM INDUSTRY
▸ Movie marketing is also known as movie advertising and movie
promotion
▸ Every major Hollywood studio and movie distribution company
has an internal department devoted to promotion.
▸ The promotions department is responsible for designing and
implementing an effective, cohesive advertising campaign
across several different media platforms.
▸ These include: theatrical movie trailers, newspapers, magazines,
television, radio, the Internet and billboards.
DISTRIBUTION: MARKETING

7. THE FILM INDUSTRY
▸ The Film business is cyclical and seasonal by nature.
▸ Major studio releases are clustered during the summer, Christmas and long
holiday weekends like Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and Labour Day.
▸ Some important films are released in January to coincide with the Oscars.
▸ With so many high profile movies fighting for the same audience, movie marketers
need to figure out how to make their films stand out from the pack.
▸ In recent years, the general tactic for the major studios has been to "go big (no
surprises there, seems to be a theme with Hollywood’s big six!)
▸ For expensive, blockbuster movies, the marketing campaign alone can cost as
much as half of the total production budget. So if a film costs $80 million to make,
the distributor might spend $40 million on advertising and promotion.
TRICKS TO GET YOUR MOVIE SEEN!
THE ISSUES RAISED BY MEDIA OWNERSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIA PRACTICE;

8. THE FILM INDUSTRY
▸ The hope is that all the money spent on marketing will pay
off in ticket sales.
▸ The first weekend of a film's release is crucial and a direct
reflection of how much buzz and excitement has been
generated by the promotional campaign. (Can go the
other way though, remember Heaven's Gate)
TRICKS TO GET YOUR MOVIE SEEN!
THE ISSUES RAISED BY MEDIA OWNERSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIA PRACTICE;

9. THE FILM INDUSTRY
▸ Every Film is different.
The marketing department must figure out what type of
campaign will be the most effective at reaching the target
audience.
▸ This requires researching the tastes and media-consuming
trends of the target audience.
▸ Based on this research, the marketers decide how much of
their budget to spend on each different media outlet.
DIFFERENT STRATEGIES
ISSUES WHEN TARGETING NATIONAL AND GLOBAL AUDIENCES

10. WHAT IS THE PROMOTIONS DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR?
MAKE A LIST OF THE DIFFERENT TACTICS USED TO GET A FILM
NOTICED.
WHAT SORTS OF WAYS CAN YOU MARKET A FILM?
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
THE FILM INDUSTRY