Distribution - Homework

Distribution - Notes

Website link is as follow: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/distribution/distribution1.html

1. What is distribution? 

• Distribution is releasing and sustaining films in the market place.
• Distribution is the third part of the film supply chain. (Referred to as 'The invisible art.')
• This process is only known within the industry.
• Distribution is the most important part of film industry.
• In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a global product in local markets.

2. Licensing:

• Licensing is the process by which a distributor acquires the legal right to exploit a film.
• In distribution, licensing can take a place on two levels.
• Major US studios generally have their own distribution offices in all the major territories.
• Independent produces have to sell their films to different distributors in each territory.
• International distribution ensures that films make their way to 90+ market territories.
• Instead of Independent production companies doing the work themselves, they choose to hire a specialist sales agent. (Specialist sales agent's function is to understand the value of the film in all the different markets.)
• 'Local' distribution, involves the distributor acquiring the license to release and exploit the film in a particular country. 
• The local distributor will usually pay the producer a minimum guarantee for the licence.
• A distributor will usually be offered theatrical rights, for showing the films in; Cinemas, video rights, video and DVD exploitation and TV rights (Only if the distributor is able to sell the film to a broadcaster.)
• The licence will stipulate that the distributor will also pay royalties to the producer, taken from the profits that the film generates. 
• Once the license has been agreed, it is then the distributor's job to launch the film.

3.  Marketing:

• Marketing film releases revolves around two key questions: 'When? and How?'
• Schedule for forthcoming releases is coordinated and published by the Film Distributors Association.
• Consideration for scheduling a release is the seasonality of the film. (Greatest potential to reach audiences is during the academic year.) 
• The distributor will try to position the film distinctively and avoid a release date occupied by other films with similar traits.
• After the release date is set, the distributor works towards the theatrical release. (Investing in the materials and the marketing campaign to support is.)
• A distributor will assess this schedule to identify a friday release date where there only a few films scheduled for release.
• Theatrical distribution costs are met by the local distributors, are often referred to as 'P&A' or Prints and Advertising. 
• P&A represent the bulk of the distributor's investment, after paying the initial fee for rights. (This can range from less than £1,000 to over £1 million for the release of a film in the UK.)

4.  Marketing. - Prints and Advertising:

• The quantity and production of release prints and trailers:
 Specialised films will often be released with fewer than 10 prints into key independent cinemas. (These prints are 'toured' over a 6-month period to all parts of the UK.) On the other hand, commercial mainstream films will often open on over 200 prints, simultaneously screening in all of the UK.
• Press materials, clips reels, images, press previews, screener tapes: For most of the releases, favorable press response is a key factor in developing the profile and desirability of a film. Distributors consider both the quality and breadth of coverage. (This is often inscribed into the nature and scale of a press campaign.) 
• The design and printing of posters and other promotional artwork:
 The cinema poster is still the cornerstone of theatrical release campaigns. The poster design is highly effective in 'packaging' the key attributes of a film for potential audiences. Considerations are also made to consider using other poster campaigns, ranging from Underground advertising to billboards.
• Advertising campaign - locations, ad size and frequency: 
To raise awareness of a release, a press editorial coverage is used in advertising in magazines and local newspapers. For mainstream films, scale and high visibility is the key. The cost of print advertising in the UK is high, and is seen as making distribution in the UK a riskier business than in most other countries. In order to extend the reach of advertising distributors are looking increasingly to 'viral marketing' - different forms of electronic word-of-mouth via the internet, email and mobile phones. 
• Press campaign / contracting a PR agency:
 Many independent distributors do not have press departments, this then leads them into hiring a press agency to run a pre-release campaign. 
• Arranging visit by talent from the film: 
The use of talent - usually the director and/or lead actors is used in the editorial coverage to support a release. The volume of coverage can far outweigh the cost of talent visits. 
• Other preview screenings: 
A distributor will consider the use of advance public screenings to create word-of-mouth and advance 'buzz' around a film.

5. The Logistics of Distribution:

• It is the responsibility of the distributor to arrange the transportation of the film to the cinema. 
• Logistics represents the phase of distribution at its most basic. - Supplying but also circulating copies of films to theatres, of tapes and DVDs to shops and video rental stores. 
• For UK theatrical exhibition, the distributor typically handles 35mm film prints. These prints can cost around £1,000 or twice if subtitled. 
• In the UK, prints are all broken down for ease of handling into smaller reels. Each of these last around 18-20 minutes when ran through a projector. 
• Prints are hired by the exhibitor for the duration of their play-dates, and therefore each print is made for repeat use. 
• Any single print needs to be moved many times. This movement involves from the main print warehouse, onto a delivery van, to the cinema, onto an assembly bench, through the projector and then back through the process onto the next cinema. 
• 35mm theatrical prints can invariably suffer damage as they pass through different projectors, and by the hands of various projectionists. For this reason, each theatrical print has a finite lifespan. From this following point, the many used release prints will be destroyed, leaving only a small number to be used for second-run and theatrical bookings. This only happens through the remainder of the film's licensed period. 

6.  Case study. - Bullet Boy:

• Bullet Boy was a low budget, independent feature created by the first-time director Saul Dibb. 
• This film describes with the particular insight, the effects of Ricky's life on his mother and especially his younger brother.
• By this film, following the festival screenings at the end of 2004, the film quickly gathered a reputation as the first film to tackle the difficult subject of gangs and gun crime. 
• By the time the film was released, it had already accumulated both word of mouth and press coverage in the newspapers. 
• The release of Bullet Boy was handled by Verve Pictures. 
• Bullet Boy is a specialised film, its naturalistic representation of characters, time and place, and the use of authentic locations and language have drawn in comparisons. 
• In order to broaden the theatrical release of the film, Verve applied successfully for funds from the UK Film Council's P and A Fund.
• When the film was released on the 8th April 2005, the opening of 75 prints went UK wide, in the combination of independent cinemas and concentrated in Greater London and major urban centres.
• The chosen poster design aimed to convey the look, subject and tone of the subject of the film. Including this they also decided to foreground the major presence of Walters. 
• The AD campaign also aimed for diverse audiences who were interested in film and music but also urban black and white. 
• The campaign included the advertising in all of the national daily newspapers, plus two tabloids, an Underground campaign and extensive use of radio stations with a concentration on R 'n' B and Garage, the music forms with which Walters is associated. 
• Near the end of it's first six months of being a theatrical release, the film already had grossed an impressive £450,000 at the UK box office. 
• Most of the money engrossed in the first six moths was achieved in selected urban multiplexes rather than specialised cinemas. 

7. Digital Distribution:

• Turning to the end of 2005, the UK distribution and exhibition sectors were starting to move towards digital distribution and exhibition.
• In distribution terms, the advantages of digital technology is are shown to be clearer and perhaps longer term, as it is seen to offer a more cost effective and logistics-light alternative.
• Using digital technology for distribution, will eventually become cheaper and much less stressful to send films as computer files to cinemas across the UK. 
• From the force of this change, coupled with the new capacity of technology to replicate 35mm imaging, has led the UK Film Council to establish a digital distribution and exhibition programme for the theatrical sector at the end of 2005. 
• The comparatively low cost of film copies, and additional logistical effectiveness of digital distribution provide the distributor with greater flexibility.