2. WHAT DOES A PRODUCTION COMPANY DO?
The production company takes direct responsibility for the film. It is the
one which receives the praise or critism for the final production. It is
said to ‘shepherd’ the production from beginning to end.
It can organise the cast, budget, fundraising, director and scheduling.
Which ‘Lost City’ will be taking care of for our film ‘Fixation.’
Examples are:
Production companies can either be independent or owned by a major
media conglomerate such as Viacom.
3. OUR OWN PRODUCTION COMPANY
We have chosen to create our own production company; ‘Lost City’
which we decided would be owned by our distributor, ‘Paramount
Pictures’, to make it seem like an independent film, even though it is
owned by a major media company. This would generally attract a niche
audience who would be more interested in seeing character
development and quality of the narrative in a film, rather than expensive
special effects and celebrities. Paramount owns other production
companies such as ‘Bad Robot’ who has produced films and tv shows
such as ‘Lost’ and ‘Star Trek.’
Lost is a thriller for a
wide audience and
have attracted a lot
of fame. We hope to
achieve this too.
4. WHAT THE DISTRIBUTOR DOES
After the film is made the distribution company
determines how many copies of the film to
make.
The distribution company shows the movie
(screening) to prospective buyers
representing the theaters.
The buyers negotiate with the distribution
company on which movies they wish to
lease and the terms of the lease agreement.
The prints are sent to the theaters a few days
before the opening day.
The theater shows the movie for a specified
number of weeks (engagement).
This may be slightly different for independent
films and additional steps may be
necessary.
Source : http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-
distribution.htm
5. DISTRIBUTOR
Our distributor is Paramount Pictures.
Distributors are responsible for releasing the film to view in cinemas
and home viewings i.e. dvd, blu ray etc. We have chosen Paramount
Pictures to distribute our film because it is considered one of the top
grossing movie studios and the oldest film studio in America. It has a
reputation for producing good films for all audiences and if it
distributes our film, it will get a lot of recognition. It is based in America
which will attract a big audience and can also reach to an English
audience as recent successful films such as ‘Paranormal Activity’ has
been released in America and also been a hit in the UK. Having the
backing of a famous distributor such as Paramount can almost
guarantee a return on the investment in the film. As ‘Lost City’ and
Paramount are linked it means the companies do not need to share the
costs of the profit but it does mean if the movie does not do so well,
there is no other company to share the costs.
6. ADDITION TO THEATRES
As Paramount will own the rights to our film ‘Fixation’ it can release the
film to movie theatres but it will also gain ancillary rights meaning it can
distribute the film on DVD, network tv and cable. And also make film
merchandise such as action toys, posters, CDs and video games.
However, with our audience we do not feel like such merchandise will
be appropriate but it has worked for other children’s films such as
‘Shrek.’
Games DVD Toys CD