MEDIA

1. Distribution
Holly Fairbairn

2. Step 1
Before distributing the production the company has
to establish the distribution budget so they know how
much to spend on promoting their production.
The budget is established by estimating the box
office gross which is based on the number of people
and how much they pay to see a particular film and
to do this they look at certain factors:
 Cast & Crew
 Timing of release
 Certification
 Audience Research
 Estimated rentals

3. 1. Cast & Crew
One of the biggest
attractions for audiences
is the presence of stars.
Sometimes, the presence
of a particular Director
and Producer can also
draw audiences in.
A popular actor that is
guaranteed to draw in a
certain box-office and is
therefore considered
bankable.
This could also be due to
Male/Female gaze.
2. Timing of Release
The content and genre of
the film effects its release
date as family films are
usually released during the
holidays and horror films
would usually be released
near Halloween. The film
would be released at the
time of the year that would
bring the most gross.
Another popular release
time is known as “award-
season” if the film is
nominated for the awards
at the time.

4. 3. Certification
The production company
would send in the print and
information about the film
along with their desired
rating to the BBFC who will
give the film it’s final
certificate.
The certificate can effect
box-office greatly because
if you have your production
rated 15 or 18 you cut off a
large proportion of
audience where family films
bring in the most gross.
4. Audience Research
The way they do this is
through test screenings
where they invite a wide
range of people and
then give them
questionnaires to find out
what segment of
audience would like the
film the most (target
audience) so they can
make the marketing
methods appeal to this
specification of
audience.

5. 5. Estimating Rentals
Cinemas will rent a print of a
film in order to show it. The
rental fee would be paid by
the cinema but it
depended on the price of
the tickets in each so the
amount changes
depending on the film and
the cinema where it is being
shown.
The money that the
distributor estimates they will
receive for rentals will help
determine the overall
distribution budget.

6. Step 2
Before finalising the distribution budget the
production company has to take into account
the amount of money needed to produce the
prints to be shown in cinemas. Due to the high
price of prints the company would need to think
carefully about the target audience and with
that the number of cinemas that the film will be
shown in. The film would need to make twice
and a half the amount it cost to make to make
a reasonable profit especially with the prints
costing £1000 each.

7. Step 3
Taking all of these factors into consideration
the production company can finally set a
distribution budget and with this they can
use the funds to promote their product to
their target audience through marketing.

8. Step 4
The aim of marketing is to both make the target
audience aware of the film but also to
convince them to go and watch the
production.
The film can be promoted in different ways both
generically but also differently depending on
the age of the audience
e.g. a website for teenagers
The production company decides the best way
of marketing through a marketing plan which
outlines the audience, the unique selling point
of the film as well as the strategies they plan to
use.

9. Opening Weekend!
The opening weekend is the time where the film
will bring in the most money due to increase in
trailers and other promotional techniques to
draw in more attention to the upcoming
production. This will usually include the premier
where the cast and crew make an
appearance to open up the rest of the
exhibitions of the film.
The opening weekend is when the most
cinemas will show the film, therefore bringing in
the most box-office.