Definition of Distribution
- A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company is usually different from the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film. (Wiki)
- In terms of shorts, a distributor is an individual or organisation who will represent your film at festivals and markets around the world and who will attempt to sell it to television (including terrestrial, cable and satellite), airlines and other companies that show short films. The major short film distributors in the UK are (in alphabetical order): Dazzle, Futureshorts, Network Ireland TV and Shorts International.In terms of features, a distributor is generally an organisation who handles the theatrical release of a film in a particular country as well as the marketing and circulation of films for home viewing (DVD, Video-On-Demand, Download, Television etc). Often feature films have different distributors representing them in different territories and different distributors handling the home-viewing circulation. (BBC)
Top 10 Distributors of 2016
The big six distributors are: Warner Bros. Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Univeral Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Walk Disney Studios. The other ones are: Miramax, Dreamworks SGK, Lionsgate and Newline. The majority if the big 6 also own their own subsidiaries that concentrate on art house pictures which are typically smaller independently produced films. Miramax is an Indie, formerly owned by Disney, Dreamworks is an Indie but have a distribution deal with Disney and New Line is a Warner subsidiary.
Our Budget
To give an estimation of what I think out budget would be, I would probably say around £600,000. This is because we would need to think about props, costume, casting, locations etc which would increase spending if we produced a full film. The reason I chose this budget is because it would fall in to the 'low budget indie' category. Dead Mans Shoes with a budget of £695,393, Tyrannosaur with a budget of £750,000. Both these films fit roughly into the same margin and are both distributed by Studio Canal.
Which distributor we would use and why...
Distribution companies such as Warner Bros. Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Univeral Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Walk Disney Studios (the big six) would not be ideal to distribute our film. This is because these companies distribute major hollywood films with well known stars which makes it easier to market the films as they can market the actors to the audience. Also Hollywood films have extremely high budgets and make a a lot more money from box office. For example Avatar had a budget of $237,000,000 and had a box office of $749,766,139. Whereas our film budget is only around 600,000 so a company from the big six would be unrealistic for us.
After researching into different distribution companies I came to a conclusion that Studio Canal would be most suited to distribute our film. This is because they are a large independent distributor for 'micro budget indies' like our own. An example of social realism film distributed by studio canal is This is England which made a box office of £5,000,000. Even if Studio Canal don't get our film shown in cinemas they will still use Optimum Home Entertainment for DVD and Blue Ray releases, closely followed by Optimum Classic Service for re releases of back catalogue films.
Self Distribution
Digitisation is a main reason why self distribution is becoming easier for film producers. This way its allows film film companies to film quicker and cheaper due to the advance in technology. If we were unable to find a micro budget distributor we would have to use our own distribution strategies. We would market our film through social media, creating posters and even teaser trailers. Social media would be an effective way due to the majority of our primary audience and even secondary audience that network on these sites - this is where we could share things like a teaser trailer. Posters could be put up around the local area making making people more aware of the narrative and name of "Abridged.
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