Distribution and Exhibition

of Documentary

Unit-5
 Distributors
● Agents: Represent works for a fee to distributors or to broadcast/cable/satellite outlets.
● Broadcasters/Cable-Satellite Programming Distributors: These entities buy and produce
documentaries for transmission over the air (broadcasters such as ABC, NBC, PBS, etc.), via cable
(cable programming companies such as A&E, HBO), satellite distributors (such as Canal+, DirectTV).
They sometimes also distribute to the home video (and educational) markets.
● Broadcast/Cable-Satellite Distributors: These distributors sell television/cable/ satellite rights to
broadcast, cable and satellite outlets. Many theatrical, home video and educational distributors also do
this. Rights are broken up in the following manner: “Worldwide,” “English Language,” “US and Canada
Only,” etc. These distributors sell to the broadcast, cable and satellite programming distributors at
trade shows such as NAB, MIPCOM, MIPDOC, Cannes, etc.
● Educational Distributors: Also know as non-theatrical distributors. They manufacture copies of works
on video, DVD and film and sell to educational institutions such as churches, schools, businesses, etc.
They sell works with a “Public Performance” license. They may promote to these markets using
catalogues, websites, etc. Some educational distributors have thousands of titles, and others handle
just a few. Many specialize in specific market areas such as College and Library or LGBT, or specialize
by subject areas such as Environmental, etc.
● Home Video Distributors: These distributors manufacture copies of works and sell them directly to
consumers or to consumers via retailers and cataloguers. They also sell to wholesalers who work with
stores.
 Distributors
● Independent Theatrical Distributors: These are specialized divisions of large companies
and smaller companies that release independent films to theaters and usually home
video.
● Producers Representatives: (also known as “Reps”) see “Agents”
● Studios: Multi-national entertainment conglomerates such as Warner Bros., Disney,
Paramount, MGM/UA, Universal and Twentieth Century-Fox. They generally can handle
distribution on a global basis for all rights.
● Syndicators: Distributors that make rights available to broadcast/cable/satellite outlets
● Theatrical Distributors: Make works available in film and video formats to theaters,
which are open to the public, advertise and charge admission.
● Documentary Educational Resources: Documentary Educational Resources distributes,
produces, and supports ethnographic and documentary media that fosters cross-cultural
understanding and empathy, and prioritizes underrepresented voices
 Have you made a documentary?

You’ve made a film, a short or low budget feature, so now what? How to get all of that hard work
and money where it should belong - in front of an audience?
● At script stage filmmakers should have already asked themselves: who is the audience and
how best to reach them? Now it’s important to ask again, and to be objective:
1. What type of film is this and what have I achieved in making it? (The realisation of personal
dream? A calling card to the industry? A work of genuine public interest?).
2. Who is this film’s audience? (If the honest answer is friends and immediate family only, go no
further). What are the unique selling points of the film to that audience?
3. Would I pay to see this film? (How do you feel if you see a short unexpectedly in front of a
feature in a festival or at the cinema: irritated or delighted?).
● If your main aim has been to gain experience, then you’ve already achieved your goal and
perhaps the film warrants no further expenditure. However if this is an accomplished work in
which audiences will want to invest their time and money, then planning for its distribution
and exhibition is the next step.
 How to Approach the industry?

Filmmakers raising production finance may have to be bloody-minded, but this quality doesn’t translate well to distribution and
exhibition. A different approach is needed, as this side of the industry works hardest for co-operative producers respectful of other
executives’ expertise. Inform yourself about the past and present activities of the company you’re approaching. Be sure that your
work is appropriate to their agenda.

• Make sure that you have the materials and necessary clearances to service the requirements of the company you’re dealing with.

• Follow guidelines for submitting work. The usual requirements are a VHS copy of your film (check sound and image quality before
sending) with an entry form or single page of information and a short cover letter.

• Don’t send extra materials (stills, scripts, etc.) until requested.

• Don’t contact the company to confirm receipt of materials. If you’re worried about this, either use recorded delivery postage or
enclose a stamped addressed postcard for notification. Some companies will return unsolicited tapes, but to ensure this enclose a
stamped addressed envelope.

• Expect delays in the assessment of your film.

• Don’t try to pressurise a company into taking your film by fabricating a bidding war.

• If rejected you can ask for some feedback and further guidance, but do not call when you’re angry, and do not send a peevish
letter of complaint to the head of the company contesting the decision. Even if your film isn’t right for a certain context it may well
find success elsewhere. But listen to what people are saying - you will not get constructive advice from an executive who senses
 How to get that edge over other filmmakers?
1. Get online - from production information, to sales, distribution and exhibition,
marketing and publicity, the Internet is an invaluable resource for filmmakers.

2. Have at least one very strong production still. This will be used endlessly.

3. Have all clearances (especially music clearances) in place before approaching buyers. 4.
Make sure you allow enough time to get the film print right before your first exhibition
opportunity. See as many films as you can, both contemporary and from the history of
world cinema. Check out shorts on the Internet.

5. Information is power! Find out all you can about the industry by reading the weekly
trade press (Screen International, Variety, etc.).

6. Working at any level in the industry will gain you valuable experience. Unpaid/ expenses
only work experience placements are a way in.
 What does the production require? Materials required
The documentary filmmaker should have budgeted for and created the following materials during production; these are essential
elements for the marketing of the film and standard technical delivery requirements. Do not be tempted to cut these from your
production budget.

Stills & Transparencies

A set of good quality black & white production stills and colour transparencies, both portrait and landscape formats, including
images of the stars in action and any scenes of major importance. A photograph of the director will be needed for festival
catalogues and press interviews. The cost of duplicating and sending stills to the press has been cut by the availability of online
stills distribution services (images can be downloaded). Striking images will be used repeatedly in festival catalogues, marketing
and publicity materials, media reviews and articles.

Press Kit

All films should have at least an information sheet featuring a synopsis (short summary of the film in no more than one or two lines
naming the star/s, if relevant) and production details (director, country of origin, year of production, running time, print format,
contact details). This forms part of a press kit, which may include a long form synopsis, more information about the production, a
complete list of cast and crew, key biographies, sample interviews. This information is compiled by the production press officer,
and thereafter adapted by the sales agent and distributor according to their specific requirements. Some larger feature productions
budget for an EPK (electronic press kit) for use by television media. Usually produced on DigiBeta, this consists of filmed
interviews with the key cast and crew (a ‘featurette’) b-roll (on set footage of the crew filming the actors) and 35mm clips from the
finished film.
 What does the production require? Materials required
Website

Both shorts and features are increasingly using websites both during production and for pre-release promotion.
The site can include all the elements of a press kit, plus stills, film clips and behind the scenes footage. The
interactive element of the Internet can be used to gather feedback about the project and information about the
potential audience for the marketing campaign. Production websites are sometimes created by the companies
which make EPKs.

Music Cue Sheet A list of all music used in the film, with information about composers and rights holders. This
will be requested if you make a sale to television.

Shooting script and dialogues If the film is going to be translated into other languages (for festivals or overseas
sales), subtitled for deaf people, or audio described for visually impaired people, it will be necessary to work
from an accurate record of the scenes and dialogue as they actually happen in the finished film.

Trailers It is worth having cut a short cinema-style trailer, although sales agents or distributors in different
territories may later decide to adapt this for their specific requirements.
 Who does what and when?
The classic route of a film to its audience is as follows. The producer secures the services of a sales agent who represents
the film at major festivals and markets to different international distributors and television companies. Having shown at
festivals, the film is distributed to cinemas, then non-theatrical exhibitors. Video rental and sell-through follow, preceding
screenings on pay and free television and availability via the Internet. A series of windows, holdbacks or embargoes is
generally respected to allow a film to follow this route, which maximises its chance of commercial return on the
investment in theatrical releasing.

Depending on the release strategy, the usual time scale for feature release is as follows:

• International festival/market première (e.g. Cannes): within 6 months of completion

• National festival platform (e.g. London/Edinburgh): within 6 months of completion

• National theatric release: 6-12 months after completion

• Non-theatric and video rental: 6 months after theatric release

• Sell-through video and pay television: 1 year after theatric release

• Free television: 2 years after theatric release

If a producer can’t get a sales agent, s/he can personally represent the film to theatric distributors and television
companies. If a theatric distributor won’t take the film, you can approach festival and cinema
 Nanook Sponsorship
Flaherty had been unsuccessful in convincing New York distributors to show what some called a “movie without a
story, without stars” (Ellis and McLane 13). However, Pathe Exchange, another French firm, agreed to distribute
Nanook once finished. It was the audience and critical success Flaherty found with Nanook that prompted Jesse L.
Lasky of Famous-Players Lasky (later Paramount) to take a chance on the non-fiction form. He agreed to distribute
Flaherty’s next film, Moana: A Story of the South Seas (1926).

For Moana the company provided Eastman Kodak’s new panchromatic film, which was more sensitive to all colors of
the spectrum than the standard orthochromatic film. In addition he was allowed to use long telephotos lenses of up
to six inches focal length as opposed to the Hollywood standard two inches.

This non-conformity to standard practices created several advantages. For instance, his subjects could be
photographed from long distances, capturing them “as they were.” Subjects became less self-conscious without the
intrusion of a nearby camera. Flaherty commented on the artistic nature of these techniques saying, “The figures
had a roundness, a stereoscopic quality that gave to the picture a startling reality and beauty” (Ellis and McLane 22).
 Nanook: Distribution and Exhibition
Once Flaherty’s Nanook proved to be a hit with audiences and critics, major Hollywood studios took documentaries
more seriously. Exploration documentaries were hit and miss with audiences such as Flaherty’s Moana, which failed
at the box office while the migration documentaries Grass (1925) and Chang (1927), all distributed by Paramount,
were successful. T

he March of Time series, though criticized by some as controversial and liberal, was distributed internationally. It was
seen in the United States “by over twenty million people a month in 9,000 theatres” at the height of its popularity in
the late 1930’s and World War II (Ellis and McLane 78). This was major distribution that neither Flaherty nor previous
documentary filmmakers had experienced. Such unprecedented distribution and the curiosity of bipartisan movie
audiences kept theatres full. The “films of merit” by Lorentz did not enjoy such luck with the bipartisan audiences.

Even though The River and The Plow that Broke the Plains have significant importance in the establishment of the
United States Film Service in 1938, the films were poorly distributed. By as early as 1939 President Roosevelt lost his
enthusiasm for the film medium as a government tool.
 Television as Exhibition
● In 1946, following the wartime freeze on television technology, documentaries were first in line to find a new
home in television’s lineup. Television networks, mainly CBS and NBC and eventually ABC, were also
interested in programming to fill their schedules and draw audiences to please their corporate sponsors.
● In production modes, the need for shorter narratives to fit specific airtimes also altered the documentary form.
By 1952, NBC and ABC had documentary units to produce in-house programming. Newer production
equipment could also be purchased or rented at lower costs than before.
● NBC responded with Project XX that resembled Why We Fight with its use of existing footage, still visuals and
recreation of history. In 1953, the government became a sponsor for noncommercial documentary production.
● National Education Television (NET) established in 1953 produced documentary series, imported programs
from Great Britain and bought independent productions. Budgets were smaller at NET, which is now known as
PBS, but production quality standards were adequate enough to allow noncommercial programming to stand
along commercial programming in the 1950’s saturation of television documentaries.
● The new electronic means of distribution and exhibition utilizing cable and over-the-air network television,
while adapting older, standardized production techniques, leads into the digital era where distribution and
exhibition saturation over mediums such as the Internet and DVDs take precedent over production values.
 Video
● The first “porta-pak” utilized in 1968 for commercial broadcast was used to capture a presidential campaign. This half-inch open reel
also became available to consumers the same year. In 1973 a time-based corrector made the half-inch tapes standard for broadcast.
Throughout the next two decades, technology refinements continued as companies such as Sony, Ikegami, JVC and Philips raced for
innovative supremacy.
● For documentarists, networks and consumers this meant lower costs than film, shorter processing times and more exhibition
possibilities. “By the end of the twentieth century video had almost completely replaced film for most type of documentary filmmaking”.
● The lower costs also meant more footage could be captured. It was now possible to capture thousands of hours of “previously
unavailable” moments of current events to the “boring sort” of “naval-gazing” of some personal documentaries. Directors were free to
let cameras run as long as they wanted. This increase in footage did not impress the film advocates and they were not won over by the
lower costs and mobility of the new medium.
● Changes were also felt in distribution and exhibition due to video. Sale and rentals of 16 mm film for non-theatrical purposes (e.g.
schools, libraries, film clubs, etc.) throughout the 1970s and 1980s generated enough money to support a group of distribution
companies. The distributors then returned the money to fund production for documentary filmmakers. The low cost of video rentals
shattered the profit margins of this practice. Video documentaries were easier and cheaper to make and stood a better chance being
seen on television than in theatres.
● Satellite stations like CNN and TBS expanded their programming in the 1980’s with video documentaries concerning news and
exploration such as the Jaques Cousteau undersea series begun by David Wolper. Cable stations like A&E, The History Channel and
The Learning Channel followed this trend. Non-commercial stations like PBS also found economic relief with video documentaries
produced in-house and from purchasing. For documentarians, distributors, and broadcasters, better technology meant more choices.
For audiences, this meant more cultural experiences from documentaries produced by minorities or political ideas from historical films.
Whichever way it is argued, video did not improve aesthetic quality but did increase saturation through television.
 Digital and Documentary: Production
● Digital provides the opportunity for documentaries to take on any or several of the modes defined by
Hill and Gibson. For example, there is the expository and observational nature of the “slideshow
approach” with key-framed stills, narration and talking heads that is a constant staple of historical
television documentary.
● Many network and cable documentaries have adapted the High Definition format for improved
quality and a multi-platform conversion mode. With digital, the film can be made quickly and
efficiently.
● Due to digital production and conversion, documentaries have saturated the web. Websites like
quicksilverscreen.com offer full length downloads of documentaries for one-time viewing. PBS offers
its Frontline series in an online format. Documentaries reserved for online use, which resemble the
slideshow narratives with strict use of stills, exist on places like digitaldocumentary.org. Stock footage
and currents events can be found on efootage.com and broadcast news sites. Features and raw
footage can be accessed at dvids.net, which is provided by the military.
● Documentaries of social merit, or propaganda, can be found at whyweprotes.net and are also
distributed on the ubiquitous youtube.com. Online viewing can generate interactivity through
message boards and feedback from other filmmakers or audience members.
 Concluding

● Documentary filmmaking has enjoyed the benefits of production modes from both Hollywood and experimental
cinema. It has operated like an open system, meaning it continually interacts with its environment.
● The progress of new film and video production technologies has changed forms and modes in documentaries but
not destroyed them. The technology has also made documentary production easier to learn and conversion of
formats has allowed for different types of exhibition.
● However, it is still more important to find compelling subjects, create a well-structured script and make the right
choices in editing.
● Digital technology makes distribution and exhibition easier for network and independent documentaries with quick
transporting, archiving and delivery of the programs to the home.
● It is now possible for anyone to create a documentary that falls into one of the four documentary categories and
mass disseminate it. However, this does not mean those sitting in front of the computer or television is as obliged to
watch a film as the person in the theatre.
● The impact of digital technology has affected the production, distribution and exhibition for documentaries and has
increased the amount of choices with which a filmmaker is faced. By looking at the history of documentaries, it is
easy to see that adoption of technologies has never been difficult for the filmmakers. What remains challenging is
telling a good story, locating funds and getting audiences to pay attention.