- The document discusses options for distributing an independent film produced outside of major studios - It considers targeting independent distributors like StudioCanal UK that have experience with low-budget, niche films from new directors - Self-distribution is discussed but deemed riskier due to lack of experience, resources, and connections that distributors provide - The author proposes marketing the film differently in the UK/Ireland versus the US, playing up its depiction of unfamiliar British youth culture to American audiences

1. Evaluation Task 3
What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and
why?

2. What is distribution
Film distribution is the process of getting your media product into the public
domain so that it can be consumed by the largest possible audience. For
example: Film distribution is where groups of people advertise and market a film
to the best target audience, decide on its release date and chose on what
platforms it will be released on (DVD, Blu Ray, TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc.)
This is most usually the job of professional distributors with a wide range of
experience in the field, eg
This process is crucial as it can be the make or break of a film as it has been
seen numerous times that bad films do well in sales because of good marketing.

3. Distribution Companies: Major
There are two types of distribution companies. The first is Major Distributors.
These are the companies that are more recognisable to the general public due to the large amount of reputation and companies
under their wing, with some companies having multiple other distribution companies working under them.
Major distributors, unlike independents, are given a steady supply of films produced by in house studios. For example, a major
distributor such as The Walt Disney Company has Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Pixar and many more studio production companies
working under their banner, providing them with their own films to release.
The following are a few examples of major film distributors:
Warner Bros.
Disney
Universal
Paramount

4. Distribution Companies: Independent
The second type of distribution company is an Independent Distributor.
These companies, while still recognisable to the public, are far smaller and not as instantly recognisable as the hollywood “big six”
due to the lack of any film studios working under them and smaller budgets.
While major distributors have production companies working for them, therefore having a steady flow of films for them to market
and release, independents do not. This means that independent distributors must find existing films or artists looking to make a
film, and purchase the rights for themselves. These independents will often look for marketable films at places such as film
festivals and then speak with the creators about making a deal and distributing the film for them. For example: A distributor such as
Icon Productions would have to go find a film, worthy of publishing at events and festivals and then distribute that, rather than being
given the film by companies that already work for them.
A few examples of Independent distributors are:
Icon Productions
Entertainment One UK

5. What Company Would Suit Our Film Most
A few things must be considered before deciding on a good distribution company.
First, the fact that our movie was produced outside of any of any major distribution company means that we will have to find and
independent distributor for our film. This obviously rules out companies such as Disney, 20th century fox etc.
The production level of our film must also be considered. This is because some production companies are highly unlikely to produce
a film that does not look like a blockbuster as audiences might think the film looks cheap or rushed and may ruin the company's
reputation. This means that we would like to look for a distribution company that has previously been seen to produce the work of
lesser known directors with lower budgets, maybe even student films.
Also, the genre of the movie must be taken into consideration as distributor typically have a certain few genres that they tend to
produce. For example; Icon Productions tend to distribute epics and dramas while Pathe Distribution tend to focus on real life and
historical documentary style films.
All these facts considered I feel that the best distribution company for our film would be StudioCanal UK. This is because although
they publish a wide variety of movie genres, they have distributed films such as “Submarine” before which was a fairly low budget
film, that was not made by a big name director and was about a young British kid in school as well. While this film was infact a
coming of age comedy, I still believe that this distribution company would be right for our film. To add to this, they are also based in
england and are more likely to understand the characters and audience that would like to see our film.

6. Possibility Of Self Distribution
There is however, an alternates to finding a distributor for our film...and that is to distribute it ourselves.
Its really as simple as it sounds. Self distributing is where the producer/creator of a product distributes it by themselves without the help from a
larger distributor. This would mean the producer would have to get their product on shelves/in theaters/on websites by themselves, advertise by
themselves and pay for all of it by themselves.
Some producers chose to do this for a variety of reasons. Here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
The producer does not have to share the royalties of the film with a distributor.
You have the final say on how your film is marketed.
You have the final say on where your film is distributed.
You retain the rights to your film
Cons:
You don't have the skills (Unless you've trained as one) or the manpower and resources that distribution companies have.
You won't have the connections or reputation as a distributor will have, making it harder to interact with suppliers.
High chance of being ripped off or dragged into something dodgey due to lack of knowledge of the supplying/distributing world.
Takes up a lot of time and can be very exhausting for a small amount of people.
After weighing up these pros and cons however, I believe that it would be far wiser to find a distribution company. Although this would result in
having a smaller royalty percentage and losing the rights to the film, I believe that it would be more likely to bring in more sales due to experience,
connections and manpower and resources that major distributors have available.

7. Market Strategy
I believe (controversially) that we should in fact market our film in not only the UK and Ireland, but also in the U.S. This is because I
believe that we could market our film differently in the Uk and Ireland than in the United States. In the former our film will be a teen
drama familiar to UK and Irish audiences however in the United States it can be marketed as a look into teenage life in a different,
less familiar culture. This way I believe that it could sell in the states based off this fact alone as our film is a more real, less
comedic insight into British youth culture than anything many Americans have seen before.
As for how our product should be advertised, I believe that we should utilize the following advertising techniques:
Radio interviews and sections. This is fairly low cost and can be free if your requested. Would be especially effective in the States
as the main characters of the film could push the different culture angle of advertisement.
TV interviews. For the same reason as the previous one but TV allows the target audience to be familiarised with the
character/actor.
Posters and billboards, placed around in train, underground/subway stations, bus stops etc. These are key areas for travel and
therefore will get a lot of attention from people.
Sneak previews on Radio and TV (possibly after similar genre movies in the cinema.) Generates hype well and doesn't require
extra production, unlike trailers. Could possibly be aired after Radio/TV interviews.
I would limit our campaign to these options. Our film isn't one to really one to have trailers as it isn't a high budget blockbuster or an
action movie worthy of a trailer. Furthermore, as none of our actors are really famous we couldn't throw a big promotional event and
utilize the actors popularity. Also being that this is our first film our budget would be small, making it an impossibility to set up a
competition people would really care about.