A film producer is someone whose job or task is to plan the film, assemble the necessary actors and actresses, and make sure the project stays within budget throughout production and post-production. A good producer not only makes good films, but also makes money for investors.

The most active in the market are the so-called majors, that is, the big Hollywood studios – Sony Pictures, Disney, Universal, Warner Brothers and others. They have a long-established scheme of film production and delivery of the product to the end consumer, their branches are in every major civilized country, including ours. For example, 20th Century Fox Russia, the Walt Disney Company CIS or Universal Pictures Russia. In addition to their films, the overseas majors work with independent productions, whose distribution rights they acquire.

In some cases, major studios prefer to work with agent partners in our distribution. For example, Warner Brothers has been working with our film giant Karo for a long time, and Paramount Pictures has chosen Central Partnership as its film distribution partner.

The independent film distribution system is smaller, but, from my point of view, that’s where the most interesting things happen. First the producer (or production company) finds and develops the project. Then he decides on a budget, finds private investors or so-called soft money – from foundations and the state. Across the ocean, the producer invests his own money rarely – only due to some extraordinary circumstances. For example, the famous producer Saul Zaentz near the end of filming “The English Patient” (for which he then won many Oscars), withdrew funding. In order to finish and mount the picture, he mortgaged his entire estate, including his own house.

The release of the film

When a big studio puts a film into production, it already knows the date of its premiere (a year and a half later), even though not a single meter of film has been shot and not a single gigabyte of digital image is available. An advertising campaign, on which enormous sums of money are being spent, begins to run. Representatives in each country where the film will be shown are also preparing for its release.

The entire year of 2015 is already scheduled by date, and the studios are fighting with each other to split the time: on the same date should not converge films of a similar type – for example, two comedies aimed at the same audience.

At each film festival, studios show teasers, cuts, trailers, and excerpts from the films. All the theaters that will be rolling these films are loaded for the year ahead. They know very well that they make their main money on big spectacle films, so they prioritize the majors.

It is much more difficult for independent companies. There are several key film markets – the European market (EFM) during the Berlin Film Festival, Le Marché du Film during Cannes and the American Film Market, which takes place in Los Angeles in November. There, independent studios or sales-houses sell their finished and unproduced films. The scripts of the films in production are sent out to potential buyers all over the world. In fact, the distributor buys the names: the author of the book to be adapted, the time-honored director, the recognizable actors, and so on. The rights to distribute the picture most often go to the one who offered the most money.

How the film business works

Independent distributors who buy a film release the tape in theaters in their territory – on their own (if they have their own theater division) or with the help of a major company or major. In the latter case, the company that takes on the film distribution obligations retains 10-17% of the box office receipts.

Since the representative offices of the majors have enormous power and capacity, any independent distributor who makes a distribution deal with them has a serious chance to make money on the picture. They will promote the picture as powerfully as possible. The advertising campaign could cost several million dollars.

If the studio-major releases the film, it has approved the visual range of advertising: teaser-poster, poster, character posters, change them in their own way is prohibited. In the case of independent films, the distributor often has the right to decide how to present the purchased picture to the audience.