What kind of media institution might

distribute your media product and why?

What do distributors do?

• These companies are responsible for releasing films to the public at cinemas and on DVD. These companies buy the rights to the film and therefore are responsible for distribution and for marketing. Distributors also set the release date of the film. An example of distributors at work are the premieres of films. This is a way of marketing the film/franchise to the public before release in cinemas.

Target audiences

• In the film industry, the two audience groups are tent-pole and niche/domestic audiences. Tent-pole audiences are ones that are global. The term tent-pole refers to reaching large amounts of people, which is mainly achieved by films funded by the ‘Big 6’. This means the film is adapted around the audience, whereas niche audiences are the opposite. The film for the niche audience is usually funded by independent companies and remain low budget. This means the film is limited and only attracts certain audiences.

Film 4

• Film 4 is a UK based company that is a subsidiary of ‘Channel 4’. This company usually funds small budget, domestic film projects. Examples of this company include The Inbetweeners franchise (most successful British comedies and British film box office record holder). However, this franchise was only successful within the UK, due to its popularity in the UK and lack of popularity in the US.

Lionsgate

• Formed in 1997, Lionsgate is a California based independent film producer and distributor. A major film produced by this company is Dirty Dancing. This film had a relatively low budget of $6m, whereas their box office to date is now $214m.

Co-production: Working Title

• Working Title are part of a co-production with Universal Studios and are a British film company. There production budgets are relatively small, however their marketing and distribution budgets are very big. This means their low budget films can be distributed globally and is not limited to a domestic audience.

How will we get funding?

• We feel that our film is one that targets a very niche audience, as motorsport films have a small target audience. Our film is also a drama which isn’t as popular as an action/adventure film. As the film is a drama, a low budget is sufficient to creating an ideal product, so we feel our film should be funded by the BFI/National Lottery, as independent, small budget films are what they support.