The role of the distributor and the marketing plan

The role of the distributor is to decide when and how to release a film in order to optimise the films chances. The distributor is given a budget to market the film. This budget normally comes from the producer or the rights owner. A distributor may release any number of films sometimes just one to two or as many as 25-50 in a year.

When a distribution plan is set up the distributor will look at:
Who the film is for?
Who can be convinced to buy a cinema ticket to see it and why should they do so?
What sort of audiences have similar films attracted recently?
Through a combination of market knowledge, commercial experience, statistical research and professional judgement, distributors gauge the audience for each film. When the distributor has estimated how much the film will earn (with low/medium/high estimates) they can prepare a budget to release the film. You can not rely on conventional wisdom when planning a new release. To distribute a film successfully the distributor will need a detailed understanding of the target audiences i.e age group, gender, lifestyles, social networks, media consumption patterns and income. By looking at the audiences media consumption pattern will help the distributor know where to promote the film i.e newspaper.

The audience can vary considerably from film to film. The most frequent cinema goers tend to be teenagers, students and young adults. More than half of 15-24 olds in the UK visit the cinema at least once a month as it is a favourite out-of-home activity. But the audience is growing as adults aged 35 account for the growing proportion of tickets.

Competition is always a primary consideration for distributors. They will look at which films the other distributor will most likely release at the same time or during the following weeks. To beat the competition the distributor will look at it's film and see if it has any star power. If the film has big iconic stars it is most likely to gain a bigger audienece. Also they will look at whether if it is an event film or a mass market blockbuster film.

Every film released has a marketing plan the distributor will use various advertisment stratergies to capture the films audience.

Posters - A poster for the film may appear on billboards, prime space for advertising, banners, window clings and mini posters they also appear in cinema foyers as teaser posters. A poster produced for every release is in quad format (the traditional UK size of 30"x40", landscape orientation) or one sheet format.

Trailers - With trailers normally the distribution company releases a teaser for the movie to create hype and then nearer to the release of the film a theatrical trailer.

Online - Online promotion is now becoming the most effective way to promote films and other media products. With millions of people logging on to the internet there is plenty of people to grab. Normally a website is set up for the film and the URL is displayed in trailers and posters. All the trailers are normally diplayed on the website and once a film is days from release or released fans create fan websites for the film creating more advertisements.