The role of the distributor

A distributors role, although it may sound simple, is in fact quite an important part to play in whether a film succeeds or fails. With many other entertainment options available to us now and with UK cinemas releasing 500+ titles every year, it is important that the distributor knows a lot about the film itself to be able to market, promote and attract the correct audience.

The first thing the distributor must understand before they can do anything with the product they have been given to advertise is the audience. Audience is a crucial thing because, like with anything, without an audience nothing would sell. But how are the audience targeted? With so many different aspects about a person contributing to them such as age, gender, personality, lifestyle, etc, how can something be aimed at a wide range of people but at the same time, at one person individually. The average age of people going to the cinema has been established as 15-25, this being due to the high amount of media related products that are available to us now that allow us to be advertised at, or even the fact that the cinema is now a bigger, better experience that it ever was - with options such as 3D movies or IMAX.
So once an audience has been established there are many other things the distributor has to establish such as:
- A marketing plan (How will the film be advertised before its release?)
- A release strategy (Where will it be released too, what date, etc)
- Arranging what cinemas will display the movie (Large chains such as 'ODEON', or smaller, individually ran cinemas such as 'Cinema City - Norwich') http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Cinema_City/

The distributors will look for any chance for a strong advertisement campaign. Strong campaigns can have all sorts of things involved in them, that may be to do solely with the film, but some may be to do with collaborations (for example - Disney and McDonalds often work together to promote new films through the use of McDonalds happy meal - appeals straight to Disney's target audience - Children).

Distributors will also look for things in the film that its audience will find appealing. It'll look for a certain thing in the film that they can play on throughout the advertisement, maybe a particular quote or punchline. They can use this quote throughout their film posters and make a point of using it in the trailer. Making sure the film is promoted in the way it needs to be promoted for its clients - to ensure their target audience is properly introduced to the film.

As well as all of this, Distributors need to take into consideration all the different things that go into a movie and that they should be promoted properly - for example, if a famous actress or actor is in the film then they need to ensure their audience is aware of this, because that person may have a string of people waiting to want to watch their films! The distributor needs to know the film inside out as well, knowing everything about the plot so that the distributor is aware about the different things that could come from the film, such as sequels, 3D/IMAX opportunities, the age rating for the film and why it is this or even nominations for awards.

Competition should also be one of the main things on the distributors mind. They need to make sure that their film looks and sounds better than any of the others on the market, especially ones of the same genre that could possibly jeopardise the success their film could have.

And one of the main things that the distributor has to control is of course, the distribution of the film and its advertisement. They need to be up to date with all the latest ways they can get their film on the market. From iPods to iPads and through social networking sites from twitter and facebook - advertisements are everywhere nower days, and they need to be aware of it and cover every different medium they can. But they need to also remember the classic ways of promotion - from posters, to magazines and from bus shelters to the classic word of mouth. They need to make sure that they cover as much as possible to ensure that there is no way their target audience could miss their film.