1. The Situation in Contemporary Hollywood
DISTRIBUTION
The Situation in Contemporary Hollywood

2. Distribution
This involves acquiring a film and trying to make it reach the widest possible audience by selling it to the exhibitors (people who will show the film in cinemas).
In order to break even at the box office, a film must make 2 ½ times its initial development and production costs.
The distributor aims to make % of the film’s profits.

3. Now Majors still dominate.
A major financier/ distributor stands in the way of the producer and the exhibitor.
“ If, but only if, a distributor…decides that the picture merits release and the expenditures necessary to get it off the ground, the distributor will enter into a distribution agreement with the producer to govern their relationship.”
(Ex Chairman of Cineplex Odeon, An Introduction to Film Studies, Jill Nelmes)

4. Distribution
A distributor can acquire the distribution rights to a film in three ways:
By investing in it;
By buying the rights after it has been made (in particular, independent films with smaller budgets may need to attract a distributor post-production);
By being on board all along as a division of a bigger company responsible for both production and distribution (such as a major Hollywood studio which might be part of a multinational company).

5. Distribution
Target audience must be determined before anything else. The most frequent cinema-going age is
A good distribution campaign will not be limited to just a niche audience.
Companies have to decide if the film will be on ‘saturation release’ ( prints distributed in mainstream cinemas) or ‘art-house release’ (around 20 prints distributed to art cinemas). Each print will cost approx. £1000.

6. Major Distributors in USA/UK
Films in UK 2003
Gross box office UK (£m)
Buena Vista 46
218.2
UIP 31
187
Entertainment 18
121.1
Warner Bros. 20
86.3
Columbia Tristar 36
80.1
20thC Fox 29
73.3
Pathe 24
16.5
Momentum 23
11.1

7. Marketing
Things to consider when marketing your product especially when you have $50- $100 million to spend:
Does it have a brand identity?- is there a simple image or icon from which the audience will immediately be able to recognise the film? Example- The Mummy had the golden M, Lord of the Rings has Sauron’s eye. This can be the USP for the film.
Poster- first glimpse raises awareness.

8. Poster Analysis
What generic elements can you identify on each of the posters? Include comments on props, actors, settings, iconography and use of colour.
How are star or ‘star’ directors being used on the posters? What other films do you associate these individuals with and why might this be important within the marketing campaigns for the films?
What do you consider to be the USP of each of the posters?
Who do you consider the target audience to be for each of the films? What information is contained on the poster that helps you decide who is the target consumer?
What institutional information is included on the posters? What companies are involved in production? Is there any information on exhibition outlet? How do these elements affect the potential consumer of the film?

9. Marketing
How will you advertise the film? Will you do interviews on a range of television/radio programmes?
Promotions- is there any way you could reach audiences through book signings, meetings with stars etc.
Publicity- it is impossible to buy a slot on News at Ten but invite Liz Hurley or Posh Spice to the Premiere and their scanty dresses might make the headlines.

10. Marketing
Press Junket- invite the Press to a day interviewing the cast and crew. Each interviewer should be given about 20 mins each maximum in order to get the most publicity in the shortest amount of time. (See Notting Hill for an example of this.)
For the press junket of Pearl Harbour 200 journalists were wined and dined aboard an aircraft carrier and sung to by Celine Dion. It cost $5 million and yet the film still bombed.
Electronic Press Kit- send information, exclusive interviews, clips and trailers to influential presenters such as Jonathon Ross, Cat Deeley and Barry Norman. They may use them on their shows.

11. Marketing
Merchandise- This is a huge money-spinner and sometimes makes more than the film itself. For example, Spy Kids was a film targeted at children but was not the remaking of a familiar product (Spiderman, X-Men) and the director (Robert Rodriguez) was afraid it would not make money. 2 years before the film was released he made a trailer which was shown for free in McDonald’s. The film went on to make $144 million.
ACTIVITY- try to list as many merchandise products as possible.
Track awareness- one way of checking if your marketing campaign is successful or not is to interview a focus group over a period of time. Question them about your film and if at the end of the period they have no desire to see it, the campaign is not working.
Teaser campaign- audiences may look forward to your film if you start campaigning early.

12. Marketing
Word of Mouth- this has proven to be the third most powerful marketing tool. Give test screenings; if the audience likes the film, they will tell others too.
Tickets are given randomly for a test screening and the audience will not know what film they will be seeing. They will be asked if they understood the film, if they liked the star and if they would recommend the film to a friend.
Talker Screening- host a screening for those people who work with others daily eg. Hairdressers, dept. store assistants, taxi drivers. They will recommend your film to others.
Festivals- Studios are suspicious of screening high budget films at festivals as it is usually low budget independents that are shown here. If it pays off your film can achieve international attention and media coverage. Cannes and Sundance (Utah) are probably the most famous.

13. Marketing
Opening Weekend- your film will make the most money on this weekend if the timing is right (up to 70% of it final profits). Choose the right window and check for competitors to ensure that you capture most of the market. It takes approx. 7 days for bad word of mouth to spread, criticisms to appear and for the film to plummet. By then it might already be too late. This happens to many blockbuster films. Other films called ‘sleepers’ make little at first and word of mouth increases audience figures.

14. Windows
Distribution and theatrical windows determine film profit. For example, East is East was in competition with the following films in 1999.
Blair Witch Project 29 October
Sixth Sense November
Fight Club November
ED TV November
Fanny & Elvis 19 November
The World is not Enough 25 November

15. Windows 6 months theatrical release. Downloads?
DVD/ video. This is usually indefinite but the average time is 3 months after release.
Pay per view (Sky Box Office, Front Row) for 2-3 weeks.
Cable movie channels for one year.
Network TV.