Film distribution in the UK

1. Film distribution in the UK By Nathan Smith

2. Introduction Film distribution in the UK is quite a difficult process because it is a distributors job to identify and deliver the largest possible audience for every film. They need to take into consideration what will appeal most towards their target audience and how to draw in as large a viewing number as possible for the feature screening. In order to produce a film the producer needs to get permission to film and produce the movie, after which they then show the final product to their investors and exhibitors who then begin advertisement and renting the product out to selected cinemas.

3. Acquiring the rights to film Producers or the company in charge of production require the rights to create and produce a film from a specific story or imagination. This is so that they either have the authorisation to produce the film from all social cultural and political parties or they don`t caught up in legal or political issues due to offence created from the audience because the film didn`t gain permission to produce certain opinions about certain factors like religion or political issues. Every film made required to gaining the rights to film from specific officials in order to be legally allowed to produce specific opinions about certain religions or beliefs. An example of a film which required the permission to mention specific religions or beliefs was the film National treasure 2: Book of secrets because it mentions certain aspects of both Pagan religion and the free Masons as well as creating conspiracy theories about the American presidency.

4. Developing Screenplay The first stage to creating a film is developing the screenplay of the film. The screenplay is developed by one or more of the writers and is the basic written layout of a film. The writers use the screenplay to set out the films storyline and characters and their lines before casting and writing the script. The screenplay is either written out as an entirely new story, adapted from a previous film (if the company is remaking an old film e.g. Total Recall)or a book (e.g. Harry potter or the Hunger games).

5. Confirmation of cast and crew and Principal photography After the development of the screenplay and the script the producers then set out to get the cast and crew to create their film. They first of all go out to collect all of the film crew such as camera men, sound recorders, editors and the director (the director is hired at the beginning to see the original concept and genre of the film before deciding on taking the job). After all or most of the crew have been hired and are on board the producers then decide who would be the right actors for certain roles (mainly the key roles in the performance) and for the less significant roles they hold auditions for the actors. Principal photography is takes place in studios and/or on agreed locations, followed by some months of post-production, editing and scoring. Principal photography is used to leak out small amounts of information to the public in order to build up the hype of the film to improve audience numbers.

6. Development of release strategy, date and Marketing campaign The distributors then start to develop the release strategy for the film: when to release it, what cinemas to release it to, how long to keep it out at the cinema and when to begin advertisement. The distributors then takes the finished draft of the film to the exhibitors who then start to discuss and negotiate agreements with cinemas so that they can get the films distributed and presented to the public. The distributors focus more on the cinemas which would draw in a wider audience so focusing more on choosing a single or at best two cinemas in a big city to draw in as many customers as possible. The distributors marketing campaign aims to create a want to see buzz among the target audience by realising principal photography, trailers and small amounts of information (if a sequel to a film or a film make of a book) to build up massive amounts of hype for the audience. An example for this is The Hobbit which wasn`t an expected film but the distributors research into the demand for the film and released a few small shots and photograph to build up massive amounts of hype for the film

7. Public release Before the film is released to the cinemas the producers and distributors have to print out specific credentials and certificates like the British Boards of Film Classification certificate. After the adverts have been released and the hype has been built about the film the developers and producers then release the film out into the cinemas and the films duration of release depends on the number of views and customers they receive. When the run time of the film has finished and ends its cinema trial the developers and producers then begin preparing the film to be realised on DVD and Video. The material release tends to come out 3-4 months after the end of the cinema trial in order to build up demand for the films DVD release and increase in sales. After the DVD`s are released about 2-3 months after wards the film is produced on the TV for public watch and home entertainment. The TV release almost always becomes a catalogue title and becomes the most watched part of the release because it’s a free and publicly available usage.