Role of the Distributor

UK Distributors obtain the films they release by:

·         A third party sale, the middle man from producers to the retailers.

·         A continuous flow of new content from a parent studio

·         A studio with a distributor that negotiates an output on covering the slate of titles.

When making/planning and/or organising a new film the distributor will look for something new, something that captivates them and they need to find a suitable and individual idea or hook in this plan for them to use.

Usually, a good idea is to keep the films’ local, British films for a U.K audience and U.K tales and stories.  One other thing that distributors look for is deliverance. Would the characters’ link to the audience, would the story grip he audience in the intended manner?

If the distributor doesn’t feel the film is right, then there is a very strong chance that the film won’t go any further, not even into the photography stage, preferably before production. They are to sign a contract or a formal agreement specifying the rights that they hold to the respect of the title, the rights to release into British cinemas and to promote it in all media forms.

When planning to release a film to the general public, a detailed understanding of the target audience (age, group, gender, area that they live, social networks, lifestyles and media consumption in that area). Another factor to take into understanding is rating.

“All classification decisions are based on the BBFC’s published and regularly updated Guidelines. The Guidelines are the product of extensive public consultation, research and the accumulated experience of the BBFC over many years. They reflect current views on film, DVD and video game regulation”. This is a quote from the BBFC website explaining that a lot of work goes into classifying a media product. So, the pre-production team may not be able to target the audience that they wanted to sometimes if the content is too much or frequent language.

There is a huge risk with making a film to broadcast in cinemas around the U.K. They need to check out rival companies bringing out films around the same date, do the other films have production values. Are there well-known actors? Is it directed by a big name director? Is it a spin-off from a famous television programme of book? Is their target audience vaster? If the films are released at same time they have to keep their fingers crossed and take chances.

Distribution planà Who? What? Where? When? Howà Strategies to motivate audienceàCreative-Media-Publicity-Promotions-Online-Partnerships.

To get and record audience feedback, distributors usually hold test screenings around the U.K, where they bring members of the general public to sit and write down what they like and don’t like about the film. At the end of a film the audience fill out questionnaires. After all, the most important factor for a film not to flop is the audience. So knowing what the audience do and don’t want to see will always put them ahead of the game.


http://www.launchingfilms.tv/marketing.php?video=2&autostart=1  <-----Click link to go to www.launchingfilms.com and to watch a video on film marketing.

Film posters are a huge way to get the public’s appetite for films going. Posters will have to appeal to the mass public by something that has the biggest star value to the film. Something that will capture the audience. Posters and Television are 70% of the advertising that used to get a film going. To get itself out there. Of course, it won’t be the only film with a big production value. Even if they have a new breakthrough of actors they will have to check the competition because other films may have bigger stars. A bigger budget which goes towards CGI and a more professional looking poster. Around £170 million is put into television and poster advertising alone.

A great example of a working film poster with production value. We all know that this is Woody from the Toy Story films and the fact that he is leaning on the letter 3 means that there will be a 3RD film which will get the general public talking, since Toy Story 2 came out in 1999 and was a popular movie to gross in the box office.

A good way to get the film out there is to hold a film premiere and bring all the stars of the film to the cinema. They are categorized as glamorous, expensive to hold and exclusive. Distributors hold these to get the red carpet interviews for prime time TV and photos for all the celebrity gossip magazines. Distributors will often put the sales form tickets to charity, which from this makes the ticket sales go up because it is all going to a good cause which then makes the film stand out because of its work.

Appealing to a younger audience is important for distributors for films, because the main audience that enter cinemas are 13-25. So spin off merchandise is very important, and it can be ANYTHING. Obvious items include:

·         DVD/Bluray

·         CD Soundtrack

·         T-Shirts

·         Toys for children

·         Video Games (Usually lower age rated films)

Some distributors often make their merchandise very unique, so that they have a selling point that no other film has. For example. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The limited edition DVD case smelt like chocolate. Also, Star Trek released air horns that whenever you pressed them down they would play the original Star Trek theme. Weird, but unique.

McDonalds and The Disney Store are great examples of synergy. The Happy Meal is targeted at a younger audience and to attract them to buying the meal more they include toys that are to do with a new children’s film that is released in the cinema. So distributors will search as wide as they can to get their new film out there. From specially made websites to toys in kid’s meals.