This document is a letter from Leah Robinson to Stacey Snider, CEO of 20th Century Fox, pitching their psychological thriller film "Carmen" to the studio for distribution. The letter explains that 20th Century Fox would be an ideal partner because it is a major global studio with a proven track record of successfully distributing films in the thriller genre that achieve significant box office returns. Examples given include Gone Girl and films from the Star Wars and Avatar franchises. The letter also notes that 20th Century Fox's Fox Searchlight subsidiary specializes in independent films, demonstrating the studio's commitment to that market. Overall, the letter argues that 20th Century Fox's expertise and resources in distribution would help the independent "C

1. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
Leah Robinson | Media Studies | AS Coursework
20/04/17
Stacey Snider
Chief Executive
20th Century Fox
DearStaceySnider:
Our film is called ‘Carmen’ and is a film within the PsychologicalThrillergenre that I think would be
an asset to yourcompany. I chose your company to distribute my film because forone, it is a global
institution and is part of the ‘Big 6’ whichincludes the biggest conglomerates in the global film
industry therefore weknow already that the company is extremely successful. Due to its knowledge
and ability to successfully distribute a film it oftencreates films that create a significant gross and
income. For example, with the 2014 film Gone Girl, 20th Century Fox distributed it widely due to
them having the income and ability to distribute it so widely which helped increase the gross of the
film as internationally the film made $200 million whichwas most of its $368 million total gross. So,
for an independent production like ours would be, wewould be heavily dependent on the
distribution company helping create a successful and popular film. Not only is 20th Century Fox
effectivein distributing films like our own film fromthe thriller genre but it’s also distributed some
of the biggest films there’s ever been, for example Avatar, Star Wars and Ice Age.
We also know that they know how to distribute films that are like ours in terms of narrative and
genre, they are responsible for distributing the film Gone Girl in 2014. The film had its world
premiere on opening night of the 52nd New YorkFilm Festival on September 26, 2014, before a
nationwide theatrical release on October3. It was received wellcritically and was a commercial
success, grossing $369 million, making it the highest-grossing film by director David Fincher.
Rosamund Pike's performance was particularly praised, and she received nominations for an
Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award forBest
Actress. Further nominations included a Golden Globe Award for Best Director forFincher and
Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award and Critics' Choice Award nominations fornovel writer Flynn's
adapted screenplay, receiving the award for the latter and overall received a gross of $369 million
at the box officefromonly a $61 million budget. Therefore,showing how popular a film like ours
will be due to this institution distributing it.
20th Century Fox even has a subsidiary purely for independent films called Fox Searchlight whichis
significant and makes us wantto use this institution because it shows that distributing independent
films is so important that they have their owndepartment whose job it is to distribute these British
independent films, like ours wouldbe. It is also responsible for some of the biggest independent

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films of the century whichfilms such as Brooklynwhich grossed $62.1 million, The Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel 2 which grossed $86 million and most recently Jackiewhich grossed $24.8 million
whichare all extremely successful grosses for independent films whichcould be down to the
significant distribution by Fox Searchlights in whichthey released the films to festivals like the
Sundance Film Festival and Toronto film festivalwhich gained the films massive amounts of success
and was an effectiveway in distributing the films.
Due to our film targeting quite a young audience we would also use various technologies and cross-
media convergence in order to market and distribute our film. We woulduse social media such as
Twitter and Snapchat in order to create hype upon release. We wouldalso use the popular sites of
YouTubeto release trailers, of which wewould release three overthe period running up to the
release of the film; twotrailers released to YouTubethat were relatively short withteaser clips
being released at the same time then finally one longer theatrical trailer that would be played
alongside other films that target our target audience. This would be effectivein marketing our film
because it directly reaches the 15-30 age bracket as they use the social media most often and are
also our actual target audience. It would also help us create a significant gross at the box officefor
the film as that age bracket is also known as the Hollywood demographic as they make up a third of
all cinema admissions each year therefore are the best audience to target in order to gross a
significant amount. We would also have to release lots of trailers and teaser clips as because our
film doesn’t belong to a franchise it needs hype to be created for it as there is not already existing
fans so using these clips and trailers helps create a fan base and enough hype forthe release of the
film.
Following its release to the cinema, which wouldbe around Christmas as that is a prime time to
distribute a filmas it is the period that most people visit the cinema, the film would be released in
DVD and Blu-Ray because that targets the slightly older section of our target audience as they are
used to using this hardware and appreciate the experience of it. Plus, we willrelease it to ITunes to
download and willfeature the film on Netflix so it can be streamed, this targets the youngest
members of our audience as this is the typical formatin whichthey watchfilms therefore willbe
essential in maintaining the films popularity.
Thankyoufor reading and I hope you take our film into consideration as I feel that we would both
benefit massively from this integration.
Sincerely,
Leah Robinson