Homework Distribution

What is distribution?

• Distribution is the third part of the film supply chain and is often known as 'the invisible art', a process mainly known only to those within the industry and barely written about. 
• Distribution is the most important part of the film industry. Its where completed films are brought to life and connected with an audience.
• Distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place.
• "In the practice of Hollywood and other forms of industrial cinema, the phases of production, distribution and exhibition operate most effectively when 'vertically integrated', where the three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company. "

Licensing

• "Licensing is the process by which a distributor acquires the legal right to exploit a film."
• "International distribution ensures that films find their way to the 90+ market 'territories' around the world."
• "Then there is 'local' distribution, which involves the distributor acquiring the licence to release and exploit the film in a particular country. The distributor will usually pay the producer a minimum guarantee for the licence."
• "In addition to paying a fee to secure the film, the licence will stipulate that the distributor will also pay royalties to the producer, taken from the profits that the film generates."

Marketing

• "The marketing of a film release revolves around Two key questions: 'When?' and 'How?'"
• The distributor will try and position a film to avoid a release date is occupied by other films with similar genres and storyline. 
• "The costs of theatrical distribution, met by local distributors, are often referred to as 'P&A', or Prints and Advertising."
• "P&A also represent the bulk of the distributor's investment, after paying the initial fee for rights, and can range from less than £1,000 to over £1 million for the release of a film in the UK."

Prints and Advertising

The key elements of Prints and Advertising (P&A) that a distributor must consider at this stage are:

• The quantity and production of release prints and trailers
• Press materials, clips reels, images, press previews, screener tapes
• The design and printing of posters and other promotional artwork
• Advertising campaign - locations, ad size and frequency
• Press campaign / contracting a PR agency
• Arranging visit by talent from the film

The Logistics of Distribution

• "The distributor will enter into an agreement with the cinema to screen the film on certain 'play-dates'. It is the responsibility of the distributor to arrange the transportation of the film to the cinema, as part of its wider coordination of print use across the UK."
• "Logistics represents the phase of distribution at its most basic - supplying and circulating copies of the film to theatres, of tapes and DVDs to shops and video rental stores, and managing the effectiveness of the supply."

Case Study: Bullet Boy

• "Bullet Boy is a low budget, independent feature helmed by first-time feature director Saul Dibb. The film 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 got a reputation as the first film to look at the difficult subject of contemporary gang and gun crime in Britain's inner cities. 
• "The film was released on 8th April 2005, opening on 75 prints UK wide, in a combination of established independent cinemas and multiplexes concentrated in greater London and other major urban centres."
• "The poster design aims to convey the look, subject and tone of the film, supported by key press quotes, while also foregrounding the major presence of Walters."

Digital Distribution

• "Digital technology is seen to offer a more cost effective and logistics-light alternative to the tried and trusted, but unwieldy model of 35mm print distribution described above. It will, eventually, be cheaper and much less stressful to send films as computer files to cinemas across the UK, than to transport 20-25kg tins of film in the back of a van."
• "All this suggests that in the future, more titles, both mainstream and specialised, will receive wide theatrical openings, and that this broadening of access at the point of release will dramatically reduce the overall theatrical period from 3-6 months to perhaps 1-3 months."
• "The shortened first-run period will in turn bring forward the distributor's release of the DVD."
• "The adoption of digital technologies offers greater opportunities for distributors to create joined-up campaigns for theatrical and DVD releases, in which, increasingly, the theatrical opening is used as a way of providing a loss-leading marketing platform for the highly lucrative DVD leg."