Question 3
By Callum McDonnell

What is distribution?
Distribution is how the film companies and the people who
create the films release them into the public in such a way that it
attracts many people. Distribution is not usually carried out by
the filmmakers themselves but is handed onto the distribution
companies who sort out how it is distributed and where it is
distributed.

Give examples of distribution companies
(major and independent)
There are two main types of distribution companies which are Independent
and major. The difference between the two is that the major companies tend
to have more money to spend and they typically distribute films to a mass
audience. Whereas independent companies tend to have less money to
spend and typically distribute films to s more niche audience and a smaller
audience. Some examples of some major companies might include Warner
Brothers; 20th century fox; paramount pictures; universal pictures and Walt
Disney studios. Some examples of independent films studios might be
Lionsgate films and also BBC films.

Think about the sort of film you have produced. Compare this to the type of
films the distribution companies have released before – are any of them
likely to be interested in your film? Explain why.
A film quite similar to ours might be "the girl on the train", this is because it is
a similar genre, psychological thriller, and the storyline is quite similar and
revolves around a stalker. This film is distributed by a independent film studio
being DreamWorks. This means that we should similarly go with a
independent film distributor for our film as I believe that this would benefit
our film and allow it to fit into its category better. As DreamWorks recently
released this film I believe that they would be interested in our film. This is
because it appeals to a mass audience and would be successful in movies as it
would be very popular.

Is your film going to appeal to UK audiences only? Or does it
have a wider appeal? Why? Why not?
Our film I believe is going to be popular world wide and not just
in the UK. This is because the storyline is easy to understand and
can easily be translated into other languages for the world to
watch and enjoy, not just the UK. It would have a much wider
audience and be watched by people all over the world as the
storyline can be understood by all and would have a similar
effect on every type of person after they watched it.

Possible marketing strategies, release strategies and
exhibition options
A possible marketing strategy that we could use as a filming company could be that we
could start off by releasing the trailer and from this we would start to advertise and
spread the word of the film and share the trailer around. One method we could also
use to attract the slightly younger audience would be to use social media to release
the trailer and offer deals and promotions through this so that they would want to go
and watch the film even more. After all the advertising a possible marketing strategy
that we could use which I though might be effective might be to release the film
slightly early to a few famous people and celebrities and use them to promote the film
even more as people aspire to be like them, which would make them want to go
watch the film even more.

Consider self-distribution as well
• Self Distribution is when filmmakers decide not to use a distributer
and try and distribute the film themselves. This occasionally works
but sometimes the film companies lack the knowledge and power
that the distributors have. We could consider self distributing as this
would allow us to save more money and also allow us to gain
knowledge of this subject. On the other hand though the
distributors are more likely to be more skilled at doing this and are
more likely to distribute the film better. This might mean that the
film would gain more popularity if it was shared by a distributer as
the public know and trust a brand such as Warner Brothers, so they
might want to watch the film more because of the strong brand
reputation and are less likely to watch a film from someone they
have never heard of.