1. What Kind of Media Institution
Might Distribute Your Media
Product and Why?

2. The Distribution and Promotion of Independent
Films.
 Online promotion and distribution (social
networking, advertisements)
 YouTube
 Print promotion and distribution (magazine
advertisements, news articles)
 Independent film distributors
 Established film distributors
 Film festivals (Sundance, Cannes, BFI)
 Self distributing company

3. Online Promotion and Distribution
 Platforms such as social networking can be used to
promote and distribute movies. These can often work in
partnership with YouTube.
 The film can be promoted through advertisements on
websites such as Facebook which is used by over 250
people daily and could redirect people to the YouTube
link.
 YouTube often partners up with up-loaders who produce
original content and pays they per view on their content.
The average pay per view would be around £0.03
 The YouTube clip would also give the viewer the option
to ‘share’ the video to their social networking profiles
attracting more attention to the film.

4. Print Promotion and Distribution
 The film could be promoted through the means of print.
 The film could be distributed to different newspapers or
magazines and asked to review in articles. This would
cause readers to be intrigued and watch it themselves.
 Advertisements could also be printed in newspapers or
magazines to attract attention to the film.
 Copies of the film could be given out as a free giveaway
with copies of magazines or newspapers. This would
promote the film and increase its publicity. The copies
can also have a charge on them which would increase the
cost of the newspaper or magazine slightly, and of which
the profits would go to the producer.

5. Independent Film Distributors
 Many independent film distributors can work with
directors to distribute their films, examples include
Maxim Media International and Brain Damage Films
which are both specifically horror film distributors.
 The film can be submitted for review and later
distributed (if the film is bought) to platforms such as
Netflix, Amazon and less commonly even DVD or Blu-
Ray format.
 Independent film distributors are more likely to accept
independent films than more established film
distributors but would have a significantly less chance to
be distributed to cinemas and even then the exhibition
would be very limited.
 Independent film distributors often take on niche films.

6. …
 The recent rise and success of independent films through
the film festival circuit and at the box office as well as
established actors, such as Bruce Willis and John
Travolta being both in independent films and Hollywood
studio films has caused established film distributors to
have their own smaller independent film distribution
studios.
 These include Sony Pictures Classics (1992), Paramount
Vantage (1998) and Warner Independent Pictures
(2003).
 All of these studios are devoted to the promotion and
distribution of independent films while still working in
partnership to the more established film studios.

7. Established Film Distributers
 Established film distributors such as Sony, Paramount or
Warner Brothers are a lot less likely to distribute
independent movies.
 However, if the film was produced for a more
mainstream audience the film could be bought by an
independent film studio such as Warner Independent
Pictures and later distributed with the help of a more
established studio such as Warner Brothers Studios.
 These films would be more likely to be distributed to
places such as cinemas and DVD/Blu-Ray.
 Award winners from exhibitions such as the Sundance
Film Festival are more likely to get picked up for
distribution by major film studios.

8. Film Festivals and Self Distribution Companies
 Film festivals give independent films the opportunity to
be screened and professionally judged as well as viewed
by average cinematography fans giving the film publicity
even if it is not later bought by any distribution company.
 Representatives of major as well as small distribution
companies have the opportunity to view independent
films and buy them to later promote and distribute.
 Some independent film producers choose to start their
own distribution company. This would require a lot of
money input which many independent filmmakers don’t
have.
 It would also be hard to get publicity to the film without
an established distributor involved and advertisements
online and in print would cost a lot of money.

9. Overall
 We have decided that the best and most effective way to
distribute our film would be to upload the film to
YouTube and partner up with them to produce revenue
for every view on out film.
 We would also use online (social networking and relevant
websites) and magazine (magazines of which the target
audience is the same as our target market) advertising
for our movie which would draw viewers to our film.
 We would also provide the magazine with copies of the
film to give with copies of the magazine but would still
take a small charge which would help cover the price of
the disks and give a small revenue.