Distribution notes

1) What is distribution?

• The film industry is seen as a glamorous pursuit. 
•  Personal understanding and appreciation of film is shaped by cinema experience's.
• Going to the cinema is a common activity shared by cultures and seen in every city and town in Britain.
• Distribution is the third part of the film supply chain and is often referred to as 'the invisible art'
• the process is only recognised to those in the industry and is barely acknowledged.
• Arguably, distribution is the most important part of the film industry.
• It is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place.
• The production, distribution and exhibition are operated most effectively when 'vertically integrated',
• This is when the 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 making sector vertical integration doesn't often operate.
• Producers tend not to have long-term economic links with distributors, who also have no connections with exhibitors.
• This means that distribution is necessarily a 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.
• In this sector, distribution can be divided into three stages - licensing, marketing and logistics.

2) Licensing

• It is the process by which a distributor gets the legal right to exploit a film.
• In distribution, licensing itself can take place on two levels.
• International distribution makes sure that films find their way to the 90+ markets.
• Major US studios have their own distribution offices in the major territories.
• Independent producers have to sell their films to different distributors in each territory.
• They are usually small companies, sometimes set up for one film and often lacking necessary knowledge or contacts of each of the territories around the world.
•  They might choose to hire a specialist sales agent who understands the value of a film in many different markets.
• They then will set up a stall at the film markets that take place throughout the year.
• Local distribution involves the distributor getting the licence to release and exploit the film in a particular country.
• They will  pay the producer a minimum guarantee for the licence.
• The fee will vary depending on the status and perceived commercial potential of the film.
• A local distributor will share profits equally with the producer for the theatrical leg, pay back higher royalties for broadcast rights, and lower for videos and DVD's.
• It is the distributor's job to launch the film.
• In the UK, feature films are released firstly in the cinema which is seen as the most effective way to create interest in the film.
• After the film has been shown in the cinema it is sometimes released on DVD then on various forms of pay television then after two years free to air television.

3) Marketing

• Film release revolves around two key questions: When?  and How?
• The schedule for forthcoming releases is decided by the Film Distributors Association.
• A distributor will assess the schedule to find a Friday  where there are only a few films scheduled for release.
• If they find a week where this is the case there will be both screen space and adequate review column inches in the press allocated to any potential release.
• the season is also taken in to account when a film is being released.
• Recently in the UK, these two aspects of release planning have become increasingly difficult due to up to 10 new releases in a week.
• P&A are prints and advertising and are the nuts and bolts of marketing and distributing films into cinemas.
• They are the tools used by the distributor to create a public for its film.

4) Marketing: Prints and Advertising

• The quantity and production of release prints and trailers 
• press materials, clips reels, images, press reviews and screener tapes
• design and printing of posters and other promotional artwork
• advertising campaigns- location, ad size and frequency
• press campaign 
• arranging visits by talent from the film
• other preview screenings
• the logistics of distribution

5) Logistics

• Distributor will enter into an agreement with the cinema to screen the film on certain 'play-dates'.
• The distributor will arrange the transportation of the film to the cinema.
• Showing of films in cinemas is a time-pressured activity.
• The distributor handles 35mm film prints, which can cost around £1,000 - or twice that if subtitled so care is required from everyone involved in handling the print.
• Single prints needs to be moved many times 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 and onto the next cinema.
• 35mm theatrical prints invariably suffer cumulative damage as they pass through different projectors.

6) Case Study: Bullet Boy

• Bullet Boy is a low budget, independent feature helmed by first-time feature director Saul Dibb.
• It stars UK rapper Ashley Walters as Ricky, a young man newly released from prison, but unable to extricate himself from the cycle of gang violence that has become an everyday feature in some parts of inner-city London.
• The film describes, with particular insight, the effects of Ricky's life on his mother and, especially, his younger brother.
• The film quickly gathered a reputation as the first film to tackle the difficult subject of contemporary gang and gun crime in Britain’s inner cities.
• By the time the film was released, it had accumulated both word-of-mouth and press coverage in the news pages.
• The unique selling point for the film gave the distributor some confidence that the film would receive exceptional reviews.
• Verve Pictures saw the potential of the film in the wider market and successfully applied for funds from P&A.
• The film was released on 8th April 2005 in a combination of established independent cinemas and multiplexes concentrated in greater London and other major urban centres.

7) Digital Distribution

• End of 2005 the UK distribution and exhibition sectors were starting to move towards digital distribution and exhibition.
• Image quality of conventional 35mm cinema presentation.
• Digital sound systems have been used in cinemas for some time