Chapter 994： Distribution channel

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Since the establishment of Eleven Studio, Evan Bell and others have discussed the issue of distribution channels twice, both times because of the lack of staff and energy in the studio, and finally decided to give up. After David Greenblatt left Studio Eleven, this field was even more neglected and no one mentioned it again. .

In fact, in the past year, the problem of lack of distribution channels for Eleven Studios has gradually become prominent.

The first is the distribution of "Mysterious Skin". In the absence of a distribution company willing to take over, Evan Bell chose to go to the Venice Film Festival to participate in the exhibition. It is conceivable that if "Mysterious Skin" fails, then they need to be in the next. Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and other places continue to exhibit, always finding a company position willing to distribute this work.

The second is "Little Sunshine Beauty". No company is willing to produce this work, and the issue of distribution in the future cannot be ignored. In fact, including works such as "Crash" and "Deadly Identity", the works of Eleven Studio are always full of personality, not the works expected by the film company. Every release is a problem, and this problem will be discussed in the future. It goes on and on.

Evan Bell is aware of this, so starting from "Mysterious Skin", he consciously began to explore the distribution channels of the movie, seeking a way out for the future of "Little Sunshine" and other works. Including Teddy Bell, Eden Hudson and the Weinstein brothers entered the academy's public relations study this time, which is also an exploration of distribution channels. It can be said. Eleven Studios already knows the impact of the lack of distribution channels on the company.

In the past, Eleven Studio did not develop distribution channels. First, there was no manpower. The second is lack of financial resources, and the third is lack of energy. In addition, Eleven Studios was just starting, even if there was no distribution channel, the impact would not be too great. Now, with the development of Eleven Studios, the importance of distribution channels is becoming more and more important, and the influence on the studio will also become more and more important.

It's not just Pixar's problem, think "Mystery Skin" and "Little Sunshine." Such works are definitely not rare in Eleven Studios. So the influence of distribution channels will continue. Manpower, financial resources, and energy are no longer a problem for the current Eleven Studios. Perhaps, it is time to establish Eleven Studios' own distribution channels.

actually. The development of Eleven Studios is quite deformed. Generally speaking, whether it is a ** film company or a ** music company, they will establish their own distribution channels, such as the original free choice. David Greenblatt brought the best distribution channel to Eleven Studio. Although it is very narrow, there are still some, but Eleven Studio later has the distribution channel of Warner Records. With a bigger stage, free-choice distribution channels don't come into play. And Lionsgate, Miramax, Summit Entertainment, these famous national film companies. They all have their own dedicated distribution departments, which are responsible for distribution matters.

Eleven Studio was originally a simple studio established by Evan Bell for his musical dream. At the beginning, no one thought that it would eventually develop to the current scale. Therefore, in the absence of financial and human resources, it is normal to have no distribution channels. After that, there were not many works by Studio Eleven, and there were cooperative distribution companies such as Warner Records, Warner Bros., and 20th Century Fox, so the development of distribution channels was naturally ignored. If David Greenblatt hadn't left, he certainly wouldn't have forgotten, but now...

The so-called distribution department is a very special department. Distribution is the bridge between the production company and the theater. The main responsibilities of the distribution department are: copying, non-theater, legal affairs, finance, financial management and operations, systems and sales operations, projection business, etc. Generally speaking, it is responsible for dealing with theater lines, responsible for the projection business with non-cinema institutions such as flights, ships, military, schools, etc., and responsible for the sales and leasing business after the release of DVDs. In a word, the distribution department is responsible for promoting the works produced by the production company.

Among large film companies, when a film project is approved and production begins, the work of the distribution department begins, and the pre-marketing plan must be coordinated with the publicity department to start one after another. And when the copy of the work is ready, the preview work is divided into the distribution department. Generally speaking, there are two types of preview screenings, one is for internal personnel, including company managers, directors, etc. to participate;

There are generally three screening strategies, large-scale screening, mainly 700 to 4,000 screens; limited screening, mainly 50 to 700 screens; and exclusive screening. Develop a screening strategy, which is also the job of the distribution department. For example, for the screening strategy of "Mysterious Skin" this time, the Weinstein brothers chose to have limited screenings for the first three weeks, and gradually increased the number of screens until the fourth week, which was all matched with the public relations strategy.

Likewise, screening schedules are the job of the distribution department. David Greenblatt is currently in charge of this work at Universal Pictures. The struggle between "Enemies of the Machine" and "The Bourne 2" last summer was the product of the competition between the distribution departments. Generally speaking, it is better to avoid the schedule. The distribution departments must test each other and formulate strategies for each other. This is a job that requires a lot of experience and intelligence.

Of course, for the distribution department, a very important job is to deal with the cinema. The so-called theater chain is a system in which the same institution or organization has multiple supporters according to different rights and methods, and uniformly manages the sight lines of these theaters.

In fact, in the early days, the movie projection industry was a monopolistic industry, and established movie companies such as Warner Bros., MGM, Universal Pictures, and Paramount all had their own cinema chains. However, after the Paramount case was passed in 1948, in order to oppose the monopoly of the industry, it was impossible for American film companies to master all the links from content to projection at the same time. The theater chain was separated from the major film companies and became a separate industry. Therefore, now the major film companies only have distribution departments, but they do not have their own theater chains.

At present, the US projection industry is also controlled by several large cinema chains, including General Motors, United Arts, Carmichael, Marcus and so on. According to statistics from last year, there are about 40,000 screens in the United States, 45% of which are controlled by these theaters, and this has accumulated more than 80% of the box office revenue. Just take the world's second largest cinema chain group as an example, it has a total of 3,500 screens in the United States, covering major cities in the United States.

Of course, in addition to large commercial theater chains, there have always been some high-profile and art theater chains in the U.S. film industry, and these art theater chains have provided strong support for the establishment of film studies courses in American universities. Now the No. 1 art theater chain in the United States is a landmark (landma

k) Company.

Therefore, what the distribution department needs to do is to cooperate with the major theater chains in the United States and make an agreement on the box office dividends of the movie release. Generally speaking, there are two ways to cooperate. One is to negotiate a guaranteed reserve price. For example, this work will be screened on several screens for four weeks, and a payment of $100,000 is fixed. The production company earns more and loses less. ; However, in North America, the second method is used, divided into.

The division is actually very simple. The current practice between the distribution department and the theater chain is that in the first three weeks, the distribution department will take 90% of the box office, the theater chain will take 10%, and the bottom 70% will be guaranteed. To put it simply, for example, the box office of a movie is 10,000 US dollars, after deducting fixed expenses, it is 9,000 US dollars, then the figure obtained is 8,110 US dollars, which is the first option; and the guarantee of 70% is the second. One option is to multiply by seventy percent without deducting expenses, and the number will be seven thousand dollars. The distribution department will look at whichever of the two options is larger and choose the larger number as revenue.

From week four, the ratio is six to four, week six is ​​five to five, week seven is four to six, and week eight is three to seven. In other words, the longer the playback time, the higher the percentage of the cinema line's commission. This is also to encourage cinemas to show films longer. Of course, this number is just a convention, and there will be some changes depending on the work. For example, the duration of the big-budget movie nine to one dividend will be relatively long.

I mentioned a "fixed expense" before. This number is not fixed and will change according to the number of screens played in the theater and the size of the theater. This is also the reason why the first option and the second option are different from each other. .

In addition to negotiating with theaters, the distribution department also needs to hire an investigation company, perhaps openly or privately, to investigate the theaters, so as to avoid the situation of the theaters concealing the box office. Of course, this is very rare, almost impossible, and it's a matter of reputation.

All in all, the publishing department of UU Reading is not a simple job, and the work involved is very cumbersome. This is also the reason why Eleven Studios has not developed this aspect before, manpower, financial resources and energy are indeed not allowed.

In fact, Evan Bell never thought that Eleven Studio would need to develop distribution channels, even after talking with Steve Jobs in the nursing home last summer, Evan Bell never thought of it. It was not until after the Venice Film Festival, and then to Teddy Bell and Eden Hudson's busy school PR in the past two months, and now that Pixar's second cooperation negotiation has hit a wall, Evan Bell really realized it. By now, Eleven Studio is no longer the small studio that entertained itself. Of course, he didn't want to become a large-scale film company, he just wanted to make the works produced by the studio have a better outlet.

Unconsciously, Eleven Studio is indeed on the road to become the second DreamWorks, but it is not known whether it will be able to achieve DreamWorks achievements in the future. At least, the issue of distribution channels has not been resolved, and the future of Eleven Studios is countless uncertainties. Because, in the United States, film companies that do not control distribution channels have no way to take the initiative. You can see a thing or two from the fact that Pixar has placed so much emphasis on Disney's distribution channels.

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