The Role of the Distribution Company

The role of the distribution company is to essentially market the film. They have to be able to set a budget and advertise the film effectively in order to attract an audience to the film. They are also the ones who decide when and how a film is released, for example because it is a horror film a distribution company may decide to release it around Halloween because that is the time of year when a wider audience will watch horror films. This became the traditional release date for all the films in the Saw franchise. However, they will be aware that this is a very competitive time of year for the horror film industry and so they will need to explore other options and decide which would be best for this particular film. Some distribution companies may also decide that order to appeal to their target demographic best, they should bypass opening the film at the cinema and just go straight to DVD.

As the film industry is very competitive, distributors need to consider what other films are due to be released at the same time. For example, it could potentially damage box office sales if a film with a similar plot was to be released at the same time because people wouldn’t want to watch both. This is shown with the release of Deep Impact and Armageddon in 1998. Distributors may also decide to market the film by using the star names in the film in order to appeal to their own fans. However they would need to consider whether this would actually benefit them or if it may damage the films credibility. If the film is a sequel or part of a franchise, distributors may also market the film using the success of the previous films in order to create a buzz about the new film. This was particularly important to the continued success of the Paranormal Activity films.

Although they ideally want to appeal to a wide audience, the distributor needs to know the demographic and psycho graphics of the target audience in order to be able to market towards them. For example, their age and their values. This can also determine how they advertise the film, for example they may decide that in order to advertise to their target audience they need to advertise on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Distributors will use many methods over a period of months in order to appeal to their target demographic. The most common methods include posters, teaser trailers, websites, social networking pages and closer to the films release, theatrical trailers. These may start up to a year before the films release in order to create a hype that will cause excitement ahead of the films release. This also gives them longer to advertise the film so that by the time the film is released, many people will have heard about it already. Trailers will be circulated on social networking sites, on YouTube and also in cinemas. The distribution company will duplicate the trailer so that when a film is on in the cinema that may have a similar target audience, they will see the trailer for the new film in order to maximise their own revenue at the box office.