RESEARCH : The Role Of The Distributor

I used the FDA site 'the film space' to research the role of the distributor. Mark Batey explains that it's the distributor's role to consider how they will distribute the film.

The Distributor analyses what the film is about and who the target audience would be, then adjust the marketing and distribution to suite the target audience. For example a film marketed towards teenagers would most likely be distributed online, however a film marketed towards toddlers or smaller children would be distributed on TV channels that target children, like CBBC. It is the role of the distributor to identify every possible audience and find a way to market the film towards that audience to best maximise revenue and profit from that film.

When they distribute the film it must be considered if it is seasonal and would be more successful if released at a certain time, e.g. horror films will be more successful if released near Halloween. Therefore they will consider the time that a film would be released to best maximise revenue and sales.

They may need to distribute their film on streaming services if the film is marketed towards teenagers or young adults, or they may give it a theatrical run if they deem it profitable to do so. This is because most young adults and teenagers use streaming services more frequently than other forms of media. This would be one of the most important parts of distribution as they would need to make sure that there is an established audience and that the audience chosen is marketed towards them as best as possible.

Distributors may market their film through advertisement through usage of posters (both cast posters and solo posters), trailers, events, premiers. Because the UK market is very crowded, it means that it can be difficult to market their film and get it in the public eye, which is why many distributors will try to promote their film by employing big name stars like Robert Downey Jr for Avengers or John Krasinski for A Quiet Place. Promotion is crucial within a crowded market.

What?

A film distributor would need to look at the film and decide what aspects of the film place it apart from the rest. The hooks of a film are what is generally used to grab potential audiences attention. It is common for a distributor to try to capitalise on big name stars that worked on the film or they will talk about previous films that stars have worked on; this gets potential audiences attention.

Who?
A distributor must consider who they would be marketing their film towards as to best maximise profits, this is crucial to the success of a film as if the distributor markets their film  towards the wrong group of people that will show no interest in the film then the film will be unsuccessful. They also need to consider how marketable the film is, and how playable the film is.

Marketability - be able to convince a stranger to watch a film after hearing about it or seeing snippets of the film.

Playablitity - how well the target audience will respond to the film once they start their viewing.

How?

There are two primary types of costs : above the line and below the line. Above the line costs are the necessary costs to create an online presence for the film, primarily through posters, social media, trailers, etc. Below the line costs is more engaged in that the actors will do interviews, there will be a premiere, etc. It is common for these events to be opened to the press and to the audience to attend and interact with the actors, directors and all the other people that are involved with the film.

The amount spent on promotion is usually calculated by how much they assume they will earn throughout the film's run and then they will calculate how much they have to spend based on how much profit they predict to earn. They are able to do this as the distributors will look within the same genre's at similar film's earnings and see how profitable they were. Then they will calculate how well they think the film will do and use that value to calculate how much they have to spend on promotion. The campaign works because the distributor will identify the target market and find a way to advertise and promote their film to best appeal to the audience they are trying to target.

When?
A distributor must consider when the best time to release a film would be, they would have to consider seasonality, for example horror films would be more successful if released in the Halloween period, however a romantic comedy would be more successful if released around valentines day, etc.

For non seasonal films (such as the marvel films, or the star wars films) they may have to consider other things than seasonality, for example they may consider other films similar to their films, or maybe they may consider what the trends are, these would all affect the overall success of a film and would mean that they could earn more or less profits depending on when they choose to distribute their film and allow for screenings.