Marketing Distribution The Complete Guide to Film Digital

The Movie Trailer © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing Strategies ü The trailer is often the first chance to promote. ü Starts up to a year before the release ü Distributors run trailers that are meticulously edited and audience-tested. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Trailer ü The idea is to give moviegoers a taste ü Upcoming releases

Trailer Structure & Form ü True to the movie ambience, dialogue, humour, effects ü It will give progressive perspectives ü And focus (early source of word of mouth) ü It should not reveal everything of the movie (keep a few surprises for the longer version) ü Explain the title when needed © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Trailering strategy, some ideas… ü Organise deals to get more : contests are one of many idea to draw people’s attention ü Play the music video on screen ü Play in the lobby video monitors ü Tie in with programming ü Attach to another movie © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Movie Poster © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Movie Poster This is how many will identify your film Should be teasing Select the media that allows the most impact Show the audience that the poster is alive Think about timing summer, revealing. . . Remember that the film is an element that the audience must appropriate and buy ü Poster in theatres may be different ü ü ü © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Poster ü Information retention, keep it simple! ü Use pictures or illustrations ü Elements from the film are not always available, and should remain mysterious ü A job for professionals hire someone with talent. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing in the Theatre ü Standees ü Posters starting as early as you may - different sizes ü Leaflets, magazine special, postcards, stickers, tattoos etc. ü Volume 3 D material ü Movie theatre magazines üPro. boxoffice. com üEmpireonline. com üCinema-scope. com © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Radio ü A special tone that sells “MOVIE” ü Bring: the cast, the story, the angles, the experience the viewer will live ü Use crowd reactions or quotes ü The only medium where you can play with the movie © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Tie-Ins with the music ü If appropriate, a powerful way to hit the target

Other Tie Ins ü Books and novelizations ü Video Games ü Toys a strong

Be Creative üThe possibilities are endless üSo what’s the point? üGoes back to positioning üPosition your movie in the market in a way they can see what you are doing, which will drive them to theatres. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Movie Web Site ü Typical sites : ü multiple versions of the trailer ü behind-the-scenes interviews and minidocumentaries ü read plot synopses ü download cell-phone ringtones ü desktop wallpaper ü play games ü chat in forums ü pre-order tickets © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Press Coverage ü Movies do a press junket. ü At a press junket, journalists, entertainment reporters and movie critics ü flown out to a special location for a day or weekend of interviews with the stars and creators of the film. ü The actors, directors and screenwriters sit in separate rooms and the reporters are brought in one by one to ask questions. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Publicity Blitz ü Weeks before the movie opens ü bombard public with so many images and promos that it becomes a "can't miss" event. ü Marketers put out ads: ü buses ü Billboards ü teaser trailers on TV ü full-page ads in major newspapers and magazines ü stars do talk shows. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Internet Publicity ü Promoters place, interactive ads on sites trafficked by target audience. ü Release übehind-the-scenes clips üBloopers üviral videos on You. Tube. ü Some release clips and let fans create trailers. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Product Tie-ins ü Use highly visible product tie-ins and partnerships. ü "How the Grinch Stole Christmas, " - Grinch appeared on Oreos, Fruit Loops and Sprite. ü For marketing children's movies, the Holy Grail is Mc. Donald's Happy Meals. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The 3 Rules of Marketing ü It’s about getting an audience to buy your

Positioning ü The positioning is written by the movie itself…. ü Desirable positioning builds on the values you identify as the movie’s strongest selling points ü Something unique to your movie ü Something that qualifies it into a genre © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Positioning ü 10 movies open the same day: why should they come and see

How to Target, Think About… üMales, females or… both üHow old are they üWhat do they like üRead üBuy üPlay with üListen to üWhere do they go for fun? üWhat movies will they like, did they like? üWhich other actors, directors do they like? © 2017 Taylor & Francis

How to Target ü The right distributor (how many films a year …) ü The right date (competition, genre, holidays) ü The right exhibitor circuit (specialised, enough capacity…) ü The right media to hit the target ü The right commercial associates © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Picking a Date ü A good date - when you are ready: üAnd not before!! ü A large chunk of a small market or a smaller market share of a big market ? üWhich is appropriate? ü Summer attendance, always good. ü Christmas Day, Memorial Day weekend, other popular opening dates. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Testing ü Tests to help make the right decisions about: üpotential üstrategy ütools : posters, trailers, title ü Companies with expertise in market research üBrainjuicer üVision Critical TNS Global Itracks. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Trade Marketing ü Advertise the date and campaign in trades üVariety, Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment

Trade Marketing ü Involve the circuits and the exhibitors in the marketing ü Organise

The Film Marketing Plan © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing TV and radio ü Distributors spend $4 billion/yr on ads. ü Up to ½ on broadcast and cable - the main vehicles for advertising. ü TV - effective because it can deliver a vast audience quickly. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing Extended placement ü Television talk shows (Oprah, etc. ) ü Entertainment news programs

Marketing Plan Virtual relationship hyperlink marketing ü Search engine offers articles presenting news related items, which are actually back-end loaded with a links page containing multiple "mental references" to film characters, storylines or products. ü Example: Bond, Transformers, etc. . . , are connected to scientific invention news stories about advanced weaponry or robotics discoveries, which quickly leads the reader to pages loaded with the latest 007 or Megatron movie clip or art director's fantastical ideas and designs, thus hooking readers with a "bait and switch" story. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing Plan Online digital film screeners ü Send individual copies of film or promo to the press, sales agents, distributors etc. ü You can see reports of who viewed your film and track their viewing of the film. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing Plan Viral marketing ü Free distribution of trailers on movieoriented websites ü Sometimes, the efforts go further - The Muppets placed several original shorts on You. Tube over a number of years while the film was in production. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing Plan Print ü Paid advertisement in newspapers, magazines, and inserts in books. ü

Marketing Plan Promotional tours and interviews – The Junket ü Film actors, directors, and producers appear for television, cable, radio, print and online media interviews. ü Can take place on set. ü The purpose is to encourage journalists to publish stories about their "exclusive interviews”, creating "marketing buzz”. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing Plan Audience Research ü Conducted by distributors in connection with domestic theatrical releases.

Marketing Plan ü Positioning studies versus other films that will premiere at the same time. ü Test screenings of finished or nearly finished films; this is the most well known. ü Testing of audience response to advertising materials. ü Tracking surveys of audience awareness of a film starting six weeks before premiere. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

ü Exit surveys questioning film goers about their demographic makeup and effectiveness of marketing. ü Title testing in an early stage. ü Concept testing that would occur in development phase of a film before it is produced. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Marketing Plan ü Audience research comes into account as producers create materials. ü These materials change and evolve as a direct consequence of audience research up until the film opens in theaters. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Marketing Plan What you might need. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Elements can include… ü Executive Summary ü The Trailer ü The Film Poster ü

Executive Summary ü Write this after you put all the other elements together - meant to be a summary of what the plan entails. ü Only one paragraph long, again, summing up the rest of the marketing plan. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Trailer ü A paragraph describing how the trailer would look. üWhat aspect of the film would the trailer focus on? üWill it say that your film is a comedy? Drama? üWhat characters, themes might be featured? © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Poster ü Mock poster, using images from the internet. ü Look at poster from films similar to yours ü Use any software you are comfortable with. ü Does not need to be a polished poster, just give an idea of how the poster could look. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Standee/3 D Display ü What kind of standee or 3 D display would be appropriate? ü Imagine it standing in the local theater. ü What would it be? ü Write paragraph describing either or both. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

TV and Radio ü One paragraph what TV and radio appearances would be appropriate.

Internet & Viral Marketing ü How the movie’s website would look. üWhat would it feature? üWhat would you do thematically to make the website interesting and keep people coming back? ü Any viral marketing that might be appropriate for the film. üWhere would you go to get the word out? © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Merchandising ü Write one paragraph on any merchandising that might be appropriate for the

Let’s look at this in order. Here's the path a film usually takes to

The Distribution Path ü Licensing agreement with a distribution company. ü The distribution company shows the film to prospective buyers representing üTheaters üPay TV/Free TV üBroadcast üInternet. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Path, continued… ü The buyers negotiate with distribution company on which movies they want and kind of deal. ü Prints are sent to theaters. ü Theater shows movie for a specified number of weeks (engagement). ü You buy a ticket and watch the movie. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The path continued üTheater sends print back to the distribution co. and makes payment

Distribution Structure NEGATIVE PICK-UP DEAL üproducer and distributor do an acquisition agreement üDistributor pays for distribution, release prints, marketing üThey both share profits © 2017 Taylor & Francis

ü PROFIT PARTICIPATION, the Distributor gives producer an advance share of the profits, which pays back the investors OR ü Could be outright sale üone payment üno advance ü depends on faith in the picture üdist. co. has more control © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Distribution Chart/Flow Producer Receives an ADVANCE from Distributor to distribute. Distributor Theater Pays ADVANCE to PROD for right to dist. and share of profits Bids for right to show film in their theater Waits Sends bid to theater Waits THE FILM RUNS FOR # WEEKS Waits to hear if they got the deal Negotiates w/chosen theater for rental Waits Pays DISTRIBUTION ADVANCE Uses DISTRIBUTION ADVANCE to pay for marketing, promotional, prints Waits THE FILM RUNS FOR # WEEKS Gets whatever is left over Waits THE FILM RUNS FOR # WEEKS Gets GROSS BOX OFFICE RECEIPTS Deducts Fees (Distribution & Marketing) Deducts HOUSE NUT Pays PRODUCER whatever's left over © 2017 Taylor & Francis Pays Distributor 90% of receipts

The Theater ü Theater agrees to pay for minimum weeks and makes advance guaranteed payment ü As weeks go on it goes on a sliding scale ü 1 st week - 90/10 ü then, 70/30 ü then 60/40 ü then 50/50 ü Out of that 50/50 the DIST 50 gets divided up 50/50 between producer and studio. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Film Revenue Stream üTotal revenues are split almost equally between the Domestic (North American)

Total Revenues Ancillary 7% TV 28% Theatrical Revenues 25% DVD, VOD 40% © 2017

More on Revenue Streams üAverage cost for marketing - $50 m 80 m. üThe main revenue streams for films are: üTheatrical exhibition üVideo/DVD rental üVideo/DVD retail (or sell-through) üPay per View Television üSubscription or Pay Television üFree Television © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Theatrical Distribution ü The share of Box Office paid to distributors varies. ü Typical exhibitor's share - is 45 to 55% ü Rest of the World 55 to 65%. Sales Rest 55% ü The balance remitted to the distributor is termed the "Net Theatrical Rentals". © 2017 Taylor & Francis US Exhibitor s 45%

Three types of Distribution Deals Costs off the Top Deal ü The distributor recoups their prints and advertising (P & A). ü From the balance, the distributor retains a distribution fee of up to 50% ü Recoups any advance plus interest before paying the final balance into the pot. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Three types of Distribution Deals Gross Deal ü The producer / financier / agent receives an agreed percentage from B. O. before any P & A spending or advances have been recouped by the distributor. ü Distributor retains their distribution fee and recoups P & A spend, advances and interest. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Three types of Distribution Deals Net Deal ü The distributor retains a distribution fee of up to 50%. ü Distributor recoups P & A and any advances plus interest. ü The net receipts after these have been recouped are put into the pot. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Hard Truth ü Because of distributor fees and other costs, it is unusual for independent producers to receive any back-end profits ü The other parties further up the chain get their money first. ü Profits for Independent producers come from the other revenue streams. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

VOD/DVD Distribution Deals Film distributors take ü 75% of revenue from retail VOD ü

Royalty & Off the Top Royalty Deal: ü Distributor pays royalty to producer / financier / agent of 35 - 45%. Off the Top Deal: ü Distributor takes fee of 25 - 35%, deducts their costs (typically up to 25%) and remits balance to the producer/financier/agent. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Television Deals Pay per View ü 1 st, pays advance to distributor. ü Keeps 40 - 50% of viewer's fee ü Pays distributor's advance back. ü The distributor keeps 25 to 35% ü Pays balance to the producer / financier / agent. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Television Deals Subscription TV ü Pays fee to the distributor - depends on the film's performance. ü Fee may increase in line with number of subscribers. ü Distributor takes 25 -35% commission. ü Pays balance to the producer. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Television Deals Free TV ü Pays license fee to distributor. ü Fee amount depends on film's performance. ü Distributor takes percentage fees of 25 -50% in the US ü 20 - 40% in the Rest of the World ü Pays balance to the producer / financier / agent. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Example U. S. Box Office 205 m International Box Office 166 m Total 371

571 m Example Production Cost P&A Distribution Fee Total 150 m 105 m 52

Internet Distribution © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Distribution & the Internet üBy 2001 all major film companies had partnered with IMDb

IMDB üIMDb strong sense of community ü 9 million registered users, who post to

Distribution & the Internet ü The Internet is a good distribution method for independent films and documentaries. ü Also significant medium for multimedia art, Flash movies, film parodies, home movies or videos, and political cartoons. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Indie Shorts ü The independent "short" has become one of the most common categories of film distributed online. ü Early distributor Atom. Films, - short films specifically for Internet broadband distribution, now CC Studios. ü IFILM. com , expanded its distribution methods to deliver video-on-demand (VOD) to smart-phones, now Screen Junkies. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Copyright Issues ü Hollywood studios and entertainment conglomerates tried to prevent Netflix from shifting distribution and rental to ondemand streaming and downloading. ü The online DVD-by-mail rental service was still one of the more profitable Web ventures, ending 2005 with about 4. 2 million subscribers and sales approaching $1 billion. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Feature Films ü Only 15 percent of worldwide revenues come from box-office profit ü 2/3 income for 6 major studios comes from home theater divisions ü Majors began to pursue their own online distribution by offering feature-length films legal downloading. ü In December 2005, Apple Computer also began to distribute short films from Pixar, Disney-ABC TV programs, and music videos through i. Tunes. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

More Releases Online ü Summer of 2005, industry analysts were announcing the "death of the movie theater”. ü Steven Soderbergh - agreement with 2929 Entertainment, HDNet Films, and Landmark Theatres to do 6 films to be released simultaneously to theaters, DVD home video, and on HDNet high-definition cable and satellite channels. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

ü January 2006, "stacked release" of Bubble , 2929 Entertainment agreed to share 1 %of the HVDVD profits with theater owners who exhibited the film. ü July 2005 Click. Star offered legal downloading of original films before released on DVD and while they are still in first-run theaters. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

i. Tunes ü i. Tunes works with aggregators to get content. ü Submit your film to an aggregator who then submits to i. Tunes for approval. ü Examples are Indieflix, Distribber and New Video Group (Cinedigm). ü AND, Apple has to approve your film. Process could take about 2 weeks. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

i. Tunes ü i. Tunes does a 70%/ 30% split with the content creator. ü The aggregator may take a portion depending on their business model or they may just charge a flat fee. ü Policies are updated fairly regularly. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

The Producer’s Cut ü i. Tunes sells a films for $9. 99. ü $7 of that goes to the filmmaker. ü With the new aggregator model, the filmmaker will generally see 100% of that $7. With the old aggregator model, the filmmaker would probably see around $3. 50 of the $7. ü Hulu streams films for free but 50% of the advertising revenue goes to the filmmaker. ü Amazon VOD pays the filmmaker 50% of what they collect. ü Netflix purchases a license for your film for 1 or 2 years and they can play your film as many times as they like during that period of time. Licensing fees vary. © 2017 Taylor & Francis

Conclusion Marketing and distribution are important parts of the process that need to start early on in a production. You need to use the services of a unit publicist and get good stills for marketing. You need to set out a marketing strategy and determine what might go into your marketing plan. Distribution comes in many forms and it’s up to you to determine who is the best distributor for your project. © 2017 Taylor & Francis