The distribution of a micro-budget film:

Many movies made find it incredibly difficult to get any theatrical distribution, especially horror movies. Most films go straight to video and don't make it to cinema if they are able to get distribution at all. This is mostly because largely it is a low budget genre and therefore contains a lot less stars so finds it harder to get distributors to give them money. However there are many examples of lower end budget movies that were able to do well at the box office such as halloween or paranormal activity.

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Traditional Method for finding Distribution:

The best way film makers can get there films distributed by a noted distribution company is through film festivals, by getting noticed at a film festival and being successful at a festival will usually result in signing with a distributor, by signing with a distributor it may result in getting a screening of the film in a cinema, the reason this is still so vital is because it will result in a newspaper review, with a good review in a noted newspaper it is likely that more viewers are attracted too the screening leaving you with extra screening time.

A great example of this is Corrie (Coz) Greenop who took a huge financial risk too attend Cannes film festival, a hugely prestigious and recognised festival and also a select number of arranged London screenings, this gamble paid off and resulted in distribution deals for DVD releases, this has left Coz in talks with production companies about making movies with higher budgets.

These are the top 10 distributors from 2017:

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Self Distribution:

Self-distribution of a film can be quite difficult but means you can control where your movie goes (which audience its targeted at.) One method of doing this is through online streaming services such as Amazon prime, Netflix or Hulu, For example Amazon Prime offer 200K for the film maker and 30cents per hour streamed.

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Which distributor is right for your film?

Whilst there are many distributors all around the world not all are appropriate for your style of film, some only use large budget - all star casts, some cater towards certain genres and others distribute smaller budget films. So whilst the dream may be to be distributed by one of the big 6 it is more likely that for a small budget horror film it would be distributed by any of these:

• Breaking glass pictures
• Terror films
• Hammer film Productions
• Anthem Pictures
• Brain Damage Films