- Our main production company, BFE Productions is a large, British based company, famous for making high budget British films. However, they also help to finance independent production companies to appeal to a section of the audience market they may not have targeted with their high-budget films. They were also the main producers of the film. Reel is its parent company.
Impact Films is our second production company. They specialise in independent films and target more a niche market. The finance for 'Dark Summer' came mainly from BFE Productions, though Impact paid a small share of it.
Comparison with The Duchess (Dibb, 2008)
(The Duchess. Moodboard)
The Duchess was financed by BBC Films and Pathe, both British/ European based companies.
The film was produced mainly by Paramount Vantage, a speciality film division of Paramount Pictures. The films they are associated with have a more independent feel than the films usually produced by its parent company.
Qwerty Films, a British based production company also helped to produce the film.
Distribution rights to The Duchess were acquired by Paramount Vantage.
The theatrical trailer for The Duchess below shows that the film was financed by Pathe in the first show and all other production companies and distributors are mentioned in the credits in the last shot.
How is this similar to Dark Summer?
BFE Productions is a company which usually produces high budget films. However, it produced Dark Summer in association with Impact Films, and indenpendent production company to target a more niche market, like Paramount Vantage and BBC Films, Qwerty Films and Pathe.
Unlike The Duchess, Dark Summer does not have a distributor. What kind of distributor might aquire these rights to Dark Summer?
If Dark Summer were a real media product, to attempt to aquire a distributor we would have to release the film in British and European based film festivals.
We would have to go to British film festivals, such as the British Urban Film Festival, which screens indepedent films to target the British audience.
The Cannes Film Festival, in France is internationally renowned. If we were to screen Dark Summer in such a film festival, the film would hopefully get European and American recognition, as well as British recognition. By doing this we would be more likely to pick up a distributor.
Comparison with Paranormal Activity (Peli, 2007)
(A still from the Paranormal Activity trailer)
Paranormal Activity, an independent film directed by Oren Peli first premiered at Screamfest Film Festival in the US on Oct 14 2007.
It was then subsequently shown at other films festivals, such as Slamdance Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival in an attempt to pick up a distributor.
Paramount Pictures eventually aquired distribution rights.
If Dark Summer were a real media product, we would hopefully be able to aquire a distributor through gaining recognition through film festivals as Paranormal Activity did.
What examples of British distribution companies would be interested in distributing Dark Summer?
E1 Entertainment UK: Distributor of theatrical, home video and TV production companies. They operate across a number of genres. Recent releases include Away We Go and An Education.
Artifical Eye: Long established leading distributor of independent and foreign language films. Recent releases include Fish Tank and The White Ribbon.
What type of cinema would the distributor distribute Dark Summer?
- Our primary target audience are males and females of ages 15-28. This market usually watches films in big multiplex cinemas, such as Vue and Cineworld. Therefore, the film would be distributed to these cinemas.
- Our secondary target audience are adults of both sexes, aged 28-38. This more mature audience more often frequent independent cinemas. And as Dark Summer is an indie film, we would also screen it in selected independent cinemas, such as The Prince Charles Cinema, the Rio Cinema and the Phoenix.
(A shot from the Rio Cinema website)
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