Role of Distribution

Movies are capable of enriching pretty well every aspect of our lives. They retain an extra ordinary power to amaze us. They influence the games we enjoy, the music we play, and they inspire the fashions and advertising images that spring up all around us. Films can have an impact, social and commercial. Films only come to life when they invade the consciousness of the citizens, consumers, for who they target.

Distribution identifies and delivers the largest possible audience for every film. This is no small task, especially when there are so many other entertainment options available both inside and outside the home. There is an addition to the 500 or more titles released in the UK cinemas every year. Research shows that most cinemagoers know in advance which film they want to see, and its principally due to competing distributors’ efforts to promote interest in the titles they are handling.  

Tailor-made, audience focused distribution is, and will remain, vital to the prospects of individual films and to the industry as a whole, whatever the medium or format in question. Every element of the communications and entertainment industry has been and is undergoing rapid change. The advent of digital in the cinema sector has not merely resulted in a change of format with d-cinema succeeding the long-standing 35mm presentation, but it has had a transformative impact. Digital has remodelled the ways in which films are released, promoted and consumed and it is reshaping the kind of entertainment centre that a modern cinema can be.

A few fundamentals remain rock-solid. Sharing great stories has always been part of human nature and filmed stories look, sound and feel their very best in the cinema. During the continual changes and challenges of recent years, UK cinema has been remarkably resilient.

Distributors connect films with audiences

“As a filmmaker, I know only too well that films do not exist for their own sake… they only exist when they are experiences by an audience”. Sir Alan Parker CBE

More than a century after film was invented the cinema has accumulated a phenomenal heritage. The world around a wonderful spectrum of stories is created thought the camera. The digital age had brought more choice than ever. And with so much information available, you may have read or heard a great deal about actors and filmmakers. Right at the heart of the film industry is a dynamic sector working to deliver the largest possible audience to every new release.

Distribution is the highly competitive business of launching and sustaining films in the market place. Films don’t become talking points or find their place in the world by accident. The distributor’s challenge is to bring each one to market by:

>identifying its audience

>considering why they’d go and see it

>estimating the revenue potential across all the formats of its release

>developing plans and partnerships to build awareness of and interest in the film

>aiming to convert as much interest as possible into cinema visits

>persuading exhibitors (cinema operators) to play the film