Release slates
Each distributor may release any number of films, in some cases perhaps 25 or more, each year. Typically, at least five or six new films open in cinemas every week.
UK distributors acquire their slates from various sources:

•A flow of new product from a parent studio
• A studio or production company with whom the distributor has negotiated an output deal
• A third-party sales agent, acting on behalf of a producer
• A single title acquired at any stage before, during or after a film is made
A Distributors’ opinion as to a film’s potential ‘playability’ may be sought before it is approved for production. In some cases, a distributor becomes a partner in a production, contributing upfront to its costs and later launching it in cinemas.
Distributors sign an agreement with the producer, sales agent or studio, specifying the rights they have in respect of each title (to release it in UK cinemas, to promote it in all media, whether any changes/local editing may be made for any reason, such as to secure a particular classification), the date when such rights expire and how the income from the film’s release will be accounted for.
To secure distribution rights for certain films, a distributor may need to pay to the producer or sales agent an advance/minimum guarantee against future earnings. The advance commitment is for the distribution license rights plus the costs of film prints and advertising (P&A). It is often useful, though not essential, for producers to have a distribution deal in place before shooting starts. Sometimes this can be viable on the basis of a ‘hot’ script and anticipated cast. In practice, producers may seek finance from several sources, including pre-sales to various territories, banks, private investors and public subsidies (which in the UK are mostly co-ordinated by the Film Council). There are no fixed formulae covering film financing or advances - each case is affected by variables such as the film property itself, the cast and market conditions.
Distributors prepare reports for the producers or rights owners, covering marketing campaign plans, expenditure evaluation, and forecast and actual revenue. These are submitted at least quarterly in the first year after theatrical launch and usually twice yearly after that.
When distribution companies acquire rights, these would normally include video/DVD as well as theatrical. The UK has a large, thriving home video market, worth some £1.6 billion a year across rental and sell-through. Normally, theatrical distributors do not physically handle distribution in other media - video/DVD; sales to broadcasters; tie-in merchandising - although many have sister companies or business partners which do so.
Film positioning
With all new film releases, the distributor must decide how and when to release it, in order to optimise its chances. With more than 300 product launches (new cinema releases) each year, the market place is crowded and competitive. In the USA, the average cost of producing a studio film today is $35 million, with a further $10-20 million regularly spent on prints and advertising (P&A) - so, with high stakes, the risks must be carefully assessed. Like any business, distributors aim to recoup their costs and turn a profit at the end of the year, although distribution is both risky and expensive, and most titles do not make money from their cinema releases alone. Overall profitability for distributors usually depends on the success of a relatively small number of films in their slates.

Distributors think long and hard about the most appropriate dates and rollout patterns for new film releases. Considerations when positioning a forthcoming film may include:

• What kind (genre) of film is this?
• What kinds of film releases have been successful at any given period in the past?
• Is this a film for a holiday period? If so, which?
• Is it a film hopefully to garner awards nominations? Usually Academy Award¨ or Orange British Academy (BAFTA) Award contenders are released in the UK between January - March, the ‘awards season’.
• The cast and any star power?
• What were the leading star’s last couple of films and how were they commercially and/or critically received?
• Availability of any cast members for (international) publicity?

• Which films do other distributors have set for release at the same time and during the following weeks? Are the most appropriate screens for this film actually available?
• Will this film lead the reviews of that week’s new cinema releases?
• Is it an ‘event’ film - a prospective blockbuster - for a mass audience or a niche film for more discrete sectors?
• If it is a sequel or a franchise entry, what elements are there to distinguish it or add value over and above its predecessor(s)?
• Is there already any ‘buzz’ about this film, due to its director or stars, any book it is based on, perhaps any controversial theme or scenes, or a successful release outside the UK
• Has the film already opened in the US or elsewhere? Substantial success in the US, reported via websites and other media, can contribute to positive word of mouth in the UK - although this can work both ways, as a disappointing performance at US cinemas may adversely affect the way a film is perceived here.
A further important consideration is the certificate awarded by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which may affect the potential audience. Distributors submit a print of each film to the BBFC for classification as soon as possible after delivery, paying a fee according to the film’s length.
Identifying target audience
Much information about new films can obviously be gleaned from reading the script or discussing it with the filmmakers, but every film is a one-off and release plans can only be confirmed when the finished product is available to view.
Through a combination of experience and judgement, distributors are adept at gauging the audience and creating bespoke campaigns to excite interest. Although some films successfully ‘break out’ and ‘cross over’ to reach a broader audience, it is important at the outset not to lose sight of the core target market. The UK audience is broadening as the general population ages, but the most frequent cinemagoers are still aged 15-24. Cinema is a shared experience, with an average of three people per party.
Audience tastes are notoriously unpredictable. Nobody can be certain what makes a hit film or where/when it might happen, as cinemagoers discover particular films they like (or dislike) when they open. Existing preferences may not count for much in practice - just because one romantic comedy, or star-led action adventure, has played successfully does not guarantee that the next similar release will do so - it depends on the individual film and prevailing market conditions.
Market research, in the form of test screenings prior to release, are sometimes conducted to examine audience reactions or to evaluate alternative marketing campaigns, if needed. Test screenings may help the distributor to be more confident of the core audience for a particular film, and what it might take at the box-office - fundamental considerations with every release. In the USA, such research screenings, after which the test audience completes questionnaires, are held for most films.
Selling to exhibitors
As with any retailers, exhibitors must be persuaded to ‘stock the product’. Distributors - key clients of exhibitors - screen their forthcoming releases for the exhibitors’ buyers or bookers, discuss release dates and campaign strategies, and make presentations to cinema managers.
For every film, the distributor’s sales department negotiates an individual, strictly confidential agreement with each exhibitor’s booking department. Under English law, the maximum booking period for a new release is two weeks, after which the distributor and exhibitor may decide that the film will continue to play if it is drawing a significant audience.
A wide release, ‘at cinemas everywhere’, may in practice open at 300 or more sites UK-wide, sometimes playing at two or more screens per cinema. This helps to accommodate mass audiences who, motivated by the distributor’s campaign, are eager to see a big new film as early as possible. Distributors pay the print duplication costs: one 35mm print of a two-hour film costs approximately £1,000, so the print cost alone of wide releases is substantial. In due course, digital projection may reduce the physical print cost; digital systems are presently on trial in a small number of UK cinemas.
Different films are naturally handled in different ways. An ‘art house’ release may consist of a dozen prints or fewer, booked initially into selected screens in London (which, with the largest population, accounts for about 26% of all annual UK cinema visits) and some university towns, before hopefully touring more widely over the weeks and months to follow.
Today, the UK has more than 3,000 cinema screens, the majority in multiplexes. A decade ago, in 1992, the total was 1,845 screens. Exhibitors’ massive investment in new sites and refurbished facilities has spurred the continuing rise in admissions, which have leapt by 50% since 1992, from 103.6 million then to 156 million in 2001. But even though some £727 million worth of cinema tickets was sold in 2001, the growth in admissions has not kept pace with the increase in screens. There remains scope for the market to develop
Film marketing
The creative process of planning and executing a film marketing campaign, designing the posters and placing the advertisements, can have a huge impact on how a film performs. The film marketing task is essentially to build visibility, awareness and interest in a new release, peaking at its opening weekend (Friday/Saturday/Sunday). After this, a combination of word-of-mouth and further promotion will sustain the film (‘give it legs’) during its theatrical run, which normally lasts up to four months, although usually most of its money is taken early in the run.
As soon as a finished print of a new release is received, distributors hold a private screening and consider how the film will be positioned and marketed. Once a film’s revenue potential and core audience are identified, the marketing team develops a campaign to reach that audience as directly and efficiently as possible, and convince it that this is a must see film (at the cinema). A total P&A budget is set, then individual cost elements are allocated a proportion. Advertising costs have risen dramatically in the UK in recent years (media inflation has far outpaced the retail price index), and the cost of TV advertising, which may run into many hundreds of thousands of pounds or more, is likely to be prohibitive for most films.
‘Marketability’ (ways to sell a film to audiences) and ‘playability’ (how a film performs in the market place) are not necessarily the same things. Does the film ‘work’? Does it grip the audience’s attention? Does it succeed in what it tries to deliver?
Blockbusters with top stars need heavy marketing spends to back up their wide releases. As advertising costs soar, and the market gets more crowded, marketing decisions become crucial. Whilst inspired marketing cannot save a film for which the public has no appetite, a fine film can be lost in the melee if it is not clearly, distinctly promoted.
The best form of publicity is word of mouth - a positive talking point among the core target audience which ideally expands, via personal recommendations, to other groups. Distributors hire external research companies to track levels of awareness week by week as a film’s release date approaches. With a month to go there may be very low awareness: each film is effectively a new product launch, often completed within just a few intense weeks. Distributors are competing for a significant share of voice not just against all other distributors but also against other leisure activities, trying to entice the same audience.
Around 90% of the UK population visits the cinema at least once a year, but the majority do not go very often. A particular challenge for the industry today is to encourage more frequent cinema going.
Usually on Tuesday mornings, distributors hold marketing team meetings, reflecting on each film they have in current release and developing forward plans for the next few titles. Some aspects of marketing (such as a major promotional partnership) may need a year’s preparation; others (such as running extra press advertising, perhaps capitalising on reviews, awards nominations or wins) can be turned around at very short notice. It is relentless yet rewarding work.
As with any product or service, a wide range of media and promotional techniques are available to the film distributor for consideration as appropriate:
Poster : The main image conveying the appeal of the film - its stars, theme/genre and often a tagline to what audiences’ appetites. Film posters may be created at the US studio and adapted for use around the world, or a poster can sometimes be devised locally from scratch, depending on what materials are available to the distributor and how the film is best presented to local audiences. A poster is produced for every release, whether in quad format (the traditional UK size of 30" x 40", landscape orientation) or one-sheet format (the US equivalent, with similar dimensions, portrait orientation). Elements of the cinema poster are usually reproduced on the film’s video/DVD cover in due course.
Media advertising : TV is the most effective visual means of reaching a mass audience - but it is very expensive. Depending on the film, distributors also often buy radio spots (especially, perhaps, during the summer months when TV viewing declines) and display advertisements, reproducing the film’s poster artwork, in national newspapers and film/lifestyle magazines, and on outdoor poster sites and bus panels. Less conventional media, such as beer mats or T-shirts for nightclub staff, are sometimes considered too. Between them, UK distributors spend many tens of millions of pounds a year on advertising films.
Trailers : Probably the most cost-effective marketing tool, playing to a captive audience of active cinema goers. Trailers, screened shortly before a film’s release, may be preceded by early teasers (around 90 seconds or less). Exhibitors take care to ensure that all trailers are appropriate to the feature film before which they are presented. Distributors fund the duplication (and sometimes the specialist production) of trailers; a wide release will often have more than 1,000 trailers circulated to cinemas. Sometimes trailers for new cinema releases are added to the front of suitably targeted videos.
Publicity : The public tends to accept news stories and features more readily than advertising, so the mention of a film in editorial pieces can be highly effective. A Distributors’ publicity team, often supported by specialist external agencies, devises editorial hooks for articles and competitions. They arrange interviews with any available members of the film’s cast and sometimes chaperone overseas artists when they are visiting the UK for junkets. Film publicists compile press kits for journalists, containing lists of cast and crew, biographies, notable facts about the production and a synopsis. Images from the film are made available for publicity purposes either as downloads from approved websites or in the form of stills or transparencies. Screenings for critics are normally held about a week before the film opens to the public. Three times a year, four-day events called ‘Cinema Days’ are organised for regional journalists, with preview screenings and press conferences with associated talent. Positive reviews are no guarantee of commercial success, but they can help distributors who extract critics’ praise for press advertisements and posters.
Promotions and merchandising : Depending on the film’s theme and target market, the distributor will endeavour to arrange third-party promotions. Such tie-ins generate displays for the film in high street stores or restaurants or on packs - places where conventional advertising cannot reach - and allow customers to interact with the film, perhaps by collecting premium items or entering a prize competition. Today, many films also have related licensing and merchandising programmes, co-ordinated by their studios in-house or an external agency. These programmes entitle product manufacturers to use approved images from the film, such as logo devices or character likenesses, normally in exchange for an advance and subsequent royalty payments. Licensed merchandise may include clothing, stationery, posters, greetings cards, toys and action figures. Also, films regularly have tie-in soundtracks and books, which can generate significant revenues for publishers in their own right.
Preview screenings : A useful marketing tool for building up pre-release word of mouth among audience sectors the distributor wants to persuade to see the film. As with any product sampling, distributors arrange previews carefully, perhaps offering tickets to readers of a particular magazine or newspaper, or listeners to a particular radio programme which matches the film’s core audience. Occasionally, a film is previewed to the public up to a week before its official release date: this is a way to satisfy demand to see a new film as early as possible and to bolster the opening weekend’s gross takings (always scrutinised closely), as the preview grosses are added to those of the official first Friday/Saturday/Sunday.
Premieres : Perceived as glamorous and exclusive - but painstaking and expensive to organise! Distributors stage premieres as a kind of official launch for a film, reflecting its stature and providing a platform for photo opportunities and interviews. Star-studded premieres are regularly covered by evening news or breakfast TV programmes, further building audience anticipation. A gala premiere in London’s West End in aid of a charity may raise a handsome six-figure sum via ticket and souvenir brochure sales.
Festivals : These annual events often have two functions: a film market, where distributors (seeking to acquire product to release) may meet with sellers (agents, producers, studios); and a competition, where new titles may be screened to juries of filmmakers and awarded prizes. Such accolades, flashed on a film’s poster, add stature, but can sometimes characterise a film as being ‘arty’. Distributors sometimes choose to launch films, mostly independently made works of a certain quality, at a suitable international festival. The eyes of the film industry and many parts of the media are focused on the leading festivals, which can serve as high-profile platforms for press junkets, interviews, early reviews and worldwide coverage. Trade papers publish special daily editions for industry members and journalists - sometimes several thousand professionals from around the world attend.
There are dozens of busy regional and local festivals all over the world, but the main events are:
l Sundance, Utah - January (a prime showcase for American independent films)
l American Film Market, Santa Monica, California - February
l Berlin - February
l Cannes - May
l Toronto - September
l Venice - September
l Mercato International Film e Documentario (MIFED), Milan - October (preceded by London Screenings of selected films)
The UK’s principal festivals - Edinburgh in August, London in November - are mainly aimed at public audiences. Well sponsored, they preview and premiere the best of new cinema from around the world, but do not have markets attached.
Internet : There are thousands of film sites, covering many aspects of film from a myriad of perspectives. Even before an anticipated film goes into production, it may be debated in chat rooms and so the drip...drip...drip of early ‘buzz’ and ‘hype’ begins. Most big films nowadays have one or more dedicated websites, possibly incorporating links to the sites of the appropriate distributor or studio. Reviews of films may be browsed worldwide on the Internet well before the film has opened locally. Internet usage continues to expand rapidly and the facility to book cinema tickets online is particularly useful to the industry.
Occasionally, a film becomes a ubiquitous event, saturating the media in editorial coverage as well as advertising, appearing in store windows and elsewhere. It can become an international news item, a popular culture phenomenon, in its own right. This happens most in the case of film franchises or series. In any event, distributors’ campaigns are generally highly effective: nearly all cinema goers know in advance which film they want to see, rather than arriving open-minded at the cinema and then making a choice.
Normally, film sets are strictly closed to the public. As with any product development, the film production process is conducted behind studio doors or on guarded locations. But distributors may have the opportunity to visit the set, especially with UK-based productions, along with exhibitors, journalists or promotional partners. While the actual cost to a producer of such visits may be low, they can be a stimulating marketing tool.
THE OPENING WEEKEND
A film can only be launched once - no second chances! - and its opening weekend in cinemas is vital to its further progress.
The Distributors’ marketing effort leads up to the opening weekend which normally draws the largest audience of any weekend during the entire cinema run. Unsurprisingly, at least 60% of all cinema visits are made over the three days Friday - Sunday. An impressive opening weekend gross, running into several millions of pounds, can become a news story in its own right, and distributors often flash ‘UK’s No. 1 hit’ on the film’s second week advertising.
Distributors and exhibitors analyse each weekend’s box-office data carefully, and every Monday morning use it as the basis of their joint negotiations to hold over current releases and book new openers.