Distribution companies

What is distribution? The process of making a film available for viewing by an audience.

This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketing strategy for the film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing, and who may set the release date and other matters. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through a movie theater or television, or personal home viewing. For commercial projects, film distribution is usually accompanied by film promotion.

Examples of UK distribution companies include:

20th Century Fox Film Co. Ltd., Lions Gate UK, Momentum Pictures, Paramount Pictures UK, Summit Entertainment UK, Sony Pictures Releasing, Universal Pictures UK, The Walt Disney Company Ltd.

Which companies would be interested in my film? Global distribution – New line cinema may be interested in out film as it is popular for distributing

thriller films such as The Butterfly Effect and Se7en. Although our film is not high budget the genre of our film is similar to those that have been released by them before. This means they would know the most effective strategies in releasing and marketing our film.

Independent distribution – Kaleidoscope and Warp films may be interested in out film. Kaleidoscope specializes in distributing films of the thriller genre and works to notice unknown writers and producers that major companies would ignore. This would be good for our film as it is low budget with unknown writers and producers; it is also part of the thriller genre. Warp films is a small British targeted institution which doesn't distribute high budget films. They have also released thriller films before such as: Dead Mans Shoes, Kill List and Hush. This would also be a good distribution company for our film as they have released films of the same genre and our film is low budget.

UK only or wider appeal? Our film would contain only British actors due to its small budget; this could

influence the appeal of the film to a purely UK based audience. However the thriller genre is universal as themes considered in thriller films such as deception, murder and suspense can be relatable to a global audience. The genre of the film outweighs the fact that the location and nationality of the actors/ film is British meaning our film could be successful globally and gives the film a wider appeal.

Marketing, release and exhibition strategies A successful strategy in marketing our film would be to utilize social media as this an increasingly

popular platform. We could use Youtube to present and advertise our film through a trailer and teaser trailer. This could also be played as and advert before the main video of a popular channel which would help to increase the potential audience. Additionally a Twitter, Instagram and Facebook page could be made to help advertise the film and keep people interested by giving regular updates of the production process.

Additionally more traditional methods would be to have TV trailers, shown between TV programs of the thriller genre. We could also have a campaign that is placed on billboards and the sides of bus'. This would mean the public are reminded of the film in multiple places, which could peak their interest and increase sales.

Despite the fact our film is a low budget, independent film, which would suggest an online release, instead of cinema release, the thriller genre is universal which means our film could be popular enough to have the standard film release. This involves a cinema release which is followed by a home release.

Self distribution Self distribution allows for full control and rights of our film. This also means

that any money we make on sales does not get split with a third party as we don’t need to give a cut to a film distributor.

However this is very time consuming and may limit our sales. This is because distributors already have established relationships with buyers. Additionally it is difficult legally, as it is easy to sign away rights that could prevent the film from being shown in multiple places.

Due to this it may be unsuitable to self distribute our film as it may not get the recognition it would through a professional distributor.