Distribution is the process of getting a completed film in front of an audience. It involves licensing, marketing, and logistics. In Hollywood, production, distribution, and exhibition are integrated under one company for maximum effectiveness. Independent films have a less integrated model where distributors act as middlemen between producers and exhibitors. Distribution deals can involve splitting rights between territories. Bigger deals with major studios mean less control for filmmakers. Capping expenses and retaining approval rights are important. It can take a long time for money to reach filmmakers through the distribution process. Distributors take cuts and there are no guarantees of commercial success. Networking and understanding a film's revenue potential are keys to success.

1. FILM DISTRIBUTION By Isaac Eze

2. WHAT IS FILM DISTRIBUTION?
Our appreciation of film is formed by our experiences at the cinema.
Distribution is the third part of the film supply chain, this process is only usually known to
those within the industry and is often completely imperceptible to everyone else.
However, ironically, distribution is the most important part of the film industry, where
completed films are brought to life and connected with an audience.
Distribution is process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. In the
practice of Hollywood and other forms of industrial cinema, the phases of production,
distribution and exhibition operate most effectively when they are all integrated, this is
when all three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one
company. In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a
global product in local markets.
In the independent film sector, this type of integration does not operate as much.
Producers tend not to have long-term economic links with distributors, who likewise have
no formal connections with exhibitors. Distribution often acts as the ‘middle man’ within
collaborative process, requiring the materials and rights of the producer and the
cooperation of the exhibitor to promote and show the film in the best way possible. In this
sector, distribution can be divided into three stages - licensing, marketing and logistics.

3. ESSENTIAL POINTS ABOUT THE
CONCEPT OF FILM DISTRIBUTION
Split deals
Cost of putting your film into the cinema
Service Deals
Bigger the deal, the less control you have
Capping expenses
Monetary transactions
The “Middle man”
No guarantees
R.O.I & Networking

4. SPLIT DEALS ARE BECOMING MORE
COMMON WITHIN THE FILM
INDUSTRY
Within modern day filmmaking, it has become extremely rare that
Multi-Millionaire industries such as: Warner Bros. or Universal will
offer you an all-media buy out.
There some exceptions such the Fox Searchlight’s acquiring Another
Earth at Sundance 2011, but it will foolish and hopeless to hope that a
global deal will come your way.
Distributors now often cherry pick territories and then decide which
national rights they want. For example, they are interested only in TV,
or DVD, leaving the other pieces of the distribution window to the
producer to try to max out money-wise. This is due to risk of money
loss through hefty investments, therefore they only invest in specific
aspects of the film.

5. COSTS OF PUTTING YOUR FILM INTO THE
CINEMA
Promotion your film can often become a lot more expensive than anticipated, this is
largely due to the excess demand limited promotional ‘slots’. For example, Booking
ad space in newspapers and magazines has become very costly. Add to that the
cost of social media assets (such as Twitter and Facebook) scause an significant
increase in pricing. Furthermore, the exhibitor (theatre owner) takes a fair whack,
and the distribution company will take a third off the top, and the amount left in the
pot from all those cinema admissions starts to shrivel. From the ‘profit’, the
distributor then deducts the costs associated with the release.
In order to maximise proft ( Or in somne cases prevent loss), distributors commonly
write an a cross-collateralization clause meaning they can balance theatrical losses
against profits. The process/concept of this clause is that it provides release
guarantees critical notices in all the main newspapers in the country it has been
released. This brings the film to the public’s attention, and creates an increased
perceived value for the film when it is available in other formats, such as DVD or
online streaming through a portal like Netflixs, Lovefilm, or Blinkbox.com, basically
helping to effectively promote the film.

6. SERVICE DEALS
Within service deals, filmmakers hire a ‘specialist’ who often has the
necessary Promotional, Marketing and Sales skills needed to take over the
distribution process for a specific fee. Preview screenings are set up for
cinema booking agents and then booked. Advertising and publicity
campaigns are designed and launched, and the money is returned to the
filmmaker less the money spent.
Service deals can offer a greater amount of flexibility and control to the
filmmaker. Essentially, the distributor is working for you. Generally, the
more engaged and involved the filmmaker is in the campaign, the greater
the rewards.

7. BIGGER THE DEAL, THE LESS
CONTROL YOU HAVE
If an global organization invests to your newly produced film, it is
common that you minimal control of what actions are taken on the
distribution of the film. If you have dispute with the ‘Big Boys’ then
you will often lose, as there main concern is how to best maximize the
return on their investment, and of course, the customers always right.
And if they don’t get it right by your books, and screw it all up, you
can pretty much kiss your movie goodbye. The gain pretty much all
control over the production and distribution of the film without
consulting you. Therefore it is essential that you ensure your contract
is very clear on what the approval process is for key marketing
decisions.

8. CAPPING EXPENSES
Any marketing campaign is expensive. If your deal calls for a split of
profits after expenses, make very sure you have capped the expenses,
or any profit will simply melt away.

9. MONETARY TRANSACTIONS
Money from your film can take an extremely long time to arrive don’t forget
that the distributor has to wait to get the money from the exhibitor (theatre
owner). From DVD sales the wait is even longer. Delays of upto15 months
are not uncommon. This is because retailers often place a holdback on cash
owing to account for unsold items.
For digital sales to sits such as Lovefilm and Netflix, reporting to filmmakers
is virtually non-existent. Once you have piqued their interest to the point
that they want you, it would be prudent to expect nothing more than the
initial license fee they offer you. and that often can be very small. London
filmmaker Chris Jones was offered $75.00 for each of his first 2 award
winning features.

10. THE “MIDDLEMAN”
Certain middlemen exist to represent slates of films by newcomers on the
premise that they have an excellent filtering process through which they
cherry pick the best of the new, raw, undiscovered talent to prospective
distributors.
This becomes much more formal in the digital world. These middlemen, or
aggregators, perform two functions: They prep your film for digital
distribution, encoding it into a wide variety of CODEC’s for everything from
Playstation to mobile phones to web viewing. Then they do the actual selling
to large platforms like iTunes and Netflix. They charge additional fees for
this, and the filmmaker can end up with a fraction of the total revenue once
the platform and the aggregator have taken their whack.
As the large platforms only deal with a small number of aggregators, you
are pretty much stuffed. Do watch out for this: Some aggregators and
platforms try to get exclusive contracts. Signing anything BUT a non-
exclusive contract would be, in my opinion, pretty dumb.

11. NO GUARANTEES
Nothing can be guaranteed, all relationships in life grow and develop.
An effective method of creating a commercially successful film, it is
vital the filmmaker will often sign a distribution deal in which the
filmmaker can leave the distributor if minimal revenue stream has not
been reached. It is also common to draft it into your distribution
agreement to avoid clause should your film not be released within a
certain time frame.

12. R.O.I’S & NETWORKING
All films have a revenue potential. The trick is to understand what the
revenue potential for your film is, and then make your film for less
than the amount you expect to earn, in order calculate pure profit. Get
good at this, and potential investors will start to trust your acumen
and start investing in your next project.
The more you network with fellow filmmakers, the more you will learn
about the positive and negatives the film industry.

13. WHO WOULD DISTRIBUTE OUR
FILM COMPANY?
The film company we have created is named ‘Fractured Films’, We wanted
our film ident to represent a horror genre through professional looking
ident whilst providing quite a raw and sinister feel through the chalky
sketches and dim lighting. Therefore I believe media instructions such as
Lionsgate and Paramount.