The Role of the Distributor, Distribution plan and Marketing plan

The role of the distributor is very important and vital if the film is going to succeed. The distributer decides when and how the film is going to be released, this is done so its chances are optimised.The vast and ever expanding audience type makes it a difficult job for the distributor amongst other aspects, he/she cannot treat every films distribution the same. It would simply not work out. Every distribution plan is tailor made and personalised for the maximum success of the film, the distribution plan has to almost be perfectly organised and laid out so that the release of the film is suited to the audience. It has to consider mainly the demographics point of view with aspects such as age,gender,income... but also lifestyles,social networks,media consumption patterns etc as well.

The Marketing plan is very complex, and there is a lot to be considered. The aim of a marketing plan is to create visibility, raise awareness and engage interest. This can be done in a range of different and effective methods, this includes things such as; posters, adverts on television and the internet, free gifts, magazine and newspaper articles, interviews with the directors and cast, trailers etc... The marketing of the film has to be completed well to compete not only with other marketing plans but also other leisure activities. The aim is at the entire public audience and with there being more choices than ever before it is getting increasingly more difficult to attract even a small section. It is hard to communicate and target every audience because everyone is different and might not react to the same type of advertising. Older audiences may have seen a film advertised on the television or in a newspaper and react to it differently to a younger person seeing it on the internet, radio or on some form of advertising panel. There is one way of marketing a film that almost applies to everyone, this is word of mouth. Word of mouth seems to suit every audience in the way that the reputation of the film is spread from one person to another in a matter of minutes. This is also a very strong method of marketing and enables the person who has seen the film to give his/her opinion about weather it is worth seeing to multiple people in different audience type categories, if this person thinks of the film as good or even excellent this will have a positive effect of the amount of tickets sold.