Media Studies - Hollywood VS British Film Industry

1. HOLLYWOOD VS BRITISH
FILM INDUSTRY

2. HOLLYWOOD
MONEY:
The obvious and main belief/idea is that Hollywood makes a profit on the films they create.
To create new films, they use leftover money they made from one film to do this. Hollywood
is one of the largest film industries – indicating its wealth. With their extreme wealth, they
can afford the best equipment for their films. For just one blockbuster film in Hollywood, the
average budget is £110 million.

3. HOLLYWOOD
GENRE/THEMES:
To ensure their films go global, Hollywood sticks to certain themes that consist of; lots of
action, lack of dialogue, CGI and Universal themes that can potentially relate to everyone.
This way people can not only relate to the story and understand it clearly, they can also
relate to the characters (which is what intrigues and draws in the audience).

4. HOLLYWOOD
PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION:
Hollywood films are produced/distributed by the “Big 6”. The “Big 6” includes companies
such as; ‘Warner Bros’, ‘Disney’, ‘Universal’, ‘20th Century Fox’, ‘Columbia’ and
‘Paramount’. These companies produce/distribute between 10-20 films a year each. They
will advertise their release dates early on and try to release it all at the same time in each
country. They will also have big premieres which reaches out to the fans (as they get to
see their favourite celebrities) - this brings in a lot of money. Each company part of the
“Big 6” keep 100& of profits.

5. HOLLYWOOD
SYNERGY:
Usually big companies within the “Big 6” create posters, toys, clothing etc. to promote their
new upcoming film. This means that people buy their products which again, create more
money and adds to their increasing wealth.

6. BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY
MONEY:
British film industries money used to come from funds given by the National Lottery. Now it
has 3 funds that consist of: New Cinema Fund, Development Fund, and Production Fund.
These 3 funds give money to approximately 25 films a year within the UK. They have a
budget of about £6.2 million.

7. BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY
GENRE/THEMES:
The UK’s film industry try to base their films of what the British people can relate to most
(globalisation). Films created in the UK are usually based o class and other issues within
their society. However, they made such broad films it is difficult to t them into one genre.

8. BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY
PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION:
In the British film industry, films are not studio controlled. Usually there are several
companies of similar production working together to co-produce films as well as working
with British Broadcasters such as the BBC (Horizontal Integration). The BBC Films
company co-produces around 8 films a year, however, profits are spread out across the
companies and organisations that worked on the film. Their films are usually “more
challenging” so they have a age range of 15-18. These films are never aimed for
mainstream audiences so usually have small screen releases but will have a wider
audience when it is out on DVD. They don’t spend a lot on marketing because that results
in less profit for them.

9. WHAT CHALLENGES DO THEY FACE?
HOLLYWOOD:
Hollywood faces problems with illegal piracy of their films due to their films high popularity.
They do use strategies such as; implanting tracking devices into physical copies of the film,
and making people sign a legal document saying they will not copy that particular film.
BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY:
Due to their films being aimed at a more niche market/audience, they don’t have the issue
of piracy. However, the do struggle with getting enough money to continue making films. To
try and prevent this, they show films on TV channels such as BBC which gives the
production team money based on views.