Film Distribution

Bhrigupati Singh

Given the levels of risk and contingency film distribution is in many ways a far more complex process

to describe than exhibition. Also, since there

are close links between distribution and exhibition, particularly in terms of ownership, it is not always

possible to separate the imagination and

practices of the two, as wholly different from each other. Kirit Desai, for example, took over not only

Moti Cinema from Chotubhai Desai, but also the Billimoria Chotubhai distribution company and

distributed films as recent as Roja and Maachis. One way the history of distribution could be written is

to map it from a stage of concentration in the early days of cinema technology (in the hands of a few

people like Seth Jagat Narain and

Chotubhai Desai) to a subsequent dispersal. There are now more than a 100 distribution companies of

varied scale, located in Bhagiratha Palace and

the Moti Cinema compound area in Chandni Chowk. Let us look more closely at some aspects of the

distribution trade at present.

First the basics - distributors usually bid for the rights to a film for a particular territory. India is

divided into 10 distribution territories many of which are further divided into sub-territories. Delhi is

part of the Delhi-U.P. distribution territory. According to people in the distribution trade, at one time

Bombay, Delhi-U.P. and the Eastern Circuit (West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa) were the three major

circuits, the others being much smaller. In recent times, Bombay has become the only major circuit. It

will be important to track the processes by which this transformation occurred. As a result of this

change, a film's ratio is now measured as the price for which it is sold by the producers to a distributor

for the Bombay circuit. The prices of other circuits are calculated as a percentage of the Bombay

prices. Therefore, if Bombay is 100%, Delhi-U.P (considered the next in importance) is 80-85%.

Interestingly, for an action film, Delhi-U.P. is also 100% or, in other words, it is a major circuit for an

action film. This is clearly a case, where the imagination of a particular area and a kind of sociology of

its population quite directly inflects trade practice. As an alternative to the process of bidding for a

film, two arrangements are possible. At times a producer has a fixed arrangement with a distributor

for a particular territory and doesn't place the film up for bids. Another (much rarer) alternative is that

film producers have their own distribution companies. In the world of Bollywood films at present, three

producers have their own outlets in various territories: Rajshri Pictures (a company owned by the

Barjatya family which made Hum Aapke Hain Kaun), Mukta Shakti Combines (Subhash Ghai) and

Yashraj P.P. Associates (Yash Chopra).

distributor of a film is in charge of the

publicity for the territory, determining the manner in which the film will be positioned in that area. In

practice the producer-distributor-exhibitor

link often varies from film to film depending on a number of factors. Here again a typage of films

comes into play. Some distributors prefer

associating themselves with particular kinds of films. Uday Kaushish of Eurasia Visuals (Distributor

of Lagaan, Aks and Filhaal among recent films)

described his films as 'niche' products, stressing that a film like Filhaal was designed for upmarket,

'PVR type' audiences. Sanjay Mehta of Bobby Art International, on the other hand prefers distributing

'mass-based' films like Jodi No.1 and Joru ka Gulaam, both of which he handled for Delhi-U.P.

What are the other ways in which we can locate the distribution trade? We asked Sanjay Mehta of

Bobby Art International (one of the leading companies in the Delhi-U.P. Territory) if it was possible to

categorise the vast number of film distributors in Delhi. Here is the framework he suggested:
Distributors handling more than 6-8 films per year. Yashraj P.P. Associates, Bobby Arts International , Mukta Shakti
Delhi - UP Combines , Ginni Arts
Eurasia Visuals , Honey Enterprises, Jyoti Films, Competent Films,
Distributors handling 2-3 films per year. Delhi-UP
Magnum Films, Ekta Films
Pooja Enterprises (films by Vishnu Bhagnani), Eagle Films Pvt. Ltd.
Distributors handling films for particular producers (F.C. Mehra), Ajit Films (Gulshan Rai) Shivangi/ Sunny Film Network
(Deol Family) Rajshri Films (Barjatya Family)
Distributors handling mainly older repeat run films
Chand Pictures, Charu Films, VIP Film Distributors, Deepak Arts,
(rights for the film ususally bought from the above
Sultan Pictures
three categories of distributors)
Distributors handling mainly B Grade Foreign/Soft Pankaj Raj Movies, Saraswati Pictures, Devi Shakti Films, Raj Karan
Porn Films) Movies

It is important to stress the shifting nature of this framework. For example, Ginni Arts, presently in

Category 1 shot into the limelight with what a number of people in the film trade have described as

the unexpected and astounding success of the Sunny Deol starrer Gadar. Thus, the 'structure' of any

framework with which we can describe the film trade is always fragile and subject to change. Further,

while the various strands we have suggested in this document could work as a basis on which to make

some broad generalizations, we should not assume a transparent, one-to-one correspondence

between these categories and actually existing trade practices. A number of factors - personal

contacts and kinship networks, availability of prints, unavailability of a hall due to previous bookings,

the assumed 'success' rate of a hall, trends in the distribution trade, changes in technology, the

'threat' from cablewallahs, increasing rates of entertainment tax and various other factors invariably

intervene in the network of linkages between the distributors and exhibitors. A number of people in

the cinema trade describe their practice as a game of flash, where you play your hand 'blind'. Any
description of the processes at work will always be partial, given the high degree of contingency and

complexity that characterises the field. Over the period of the next few months, PPHP hopes to do

some justice to this complexity.

 Film Distribution - Overview Back

India boasts of about 13,000 theatres enjoying a weekly admission of about 100 million people or 5000+
million per year. Distributors are the last link in the movie chain which take films to the people.

Although distribution and exhibition are the end points in the value chain of the film business, they are of utmost importance

because "goofing" up at this stage means that the film , however well made, will be a flop at the "Box Office". With post

production accounting for 20% of the film budget and taking 20% of the total time, any savings in this would go directly to the

bottom line. Digitalization has the potential to bring in the desired savings and drive up profits substantially.

Typically a distributor buys rights for a 'territory' and recovers costs from the exhibition of the film. The distributor buys into the

risk with the producer.

Today, before a film is released, no distributor knows the fate of the movie. Copies are made based on a guesstimate and the

stakes are high. The copies are sent to various distributors in the country, who in turn rent them out to theatre owners.

If the estimate goes awry, all that the theatre owner, the distributor or the producer can do about it is 

grin and bear the costs.

The digital world, however, works differently. The problem of physically moving the reels from one place to another does not

exist. All it requires is a license to make another copy. And, making copies is as easy as clicking a button. The cost of distribution

is significantly lower. The theatre owner will no longer be forced to show a movie that is doing badly. He simply has to switch over

to the one that the audience wants to watch.

Further, with overseas becoming a major territory and considerable costs associated with the same any savings in the distribution

costs will be a great boon for film producers and distributors alike. Distribution of films around the world has become such a big
business that it fetches about as much business as Delhi-Uttar Pradesh, one of the six distribution territories within India.

With tickets in US being priced at $8 and those in UK being priced at 8 pounds the collection from the 10 million population from

overseas is same or more than the collection from the 150 million population in of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh .

Other disadvantages of physical distribution are because of the high costs of making excess prints and because of the physical

nature (rather than digital nature) of prints people in remote corners of the country deprived of seeing a hit film till the print is

available for them. Further, if a movie is a flop then because the film is not simultaneously released (because of the physical

nature of prints) all over the country at the same time bad publicity may spread and therefore no one may want to see the movie.

A primer on digital technology in film distribution

Digital cinema or eCinema or eMovies is the latest buzzword that has the potential to profoundly affect the distributors in the

industry.

Electronic cinema refers to film-less digital distribution and exhibition system of films using high quality digital projectors that are

brighter and have higher resolution versions of video projectors. With this, feature films can be projected in small to medium size

theatres with DVD playback equipment .

It is expected that by 2005, movies as bitable digital data files will increasingly replace physical prints as the preferred medium of

distribution.

Financial Benefits 

Electronic cinema like any disruptive technology has the potential of drawing the studios, production houses and exhibitors alike

and gaining considerable marketshare at the expense of traditional film distribution. The benefits to distributors will be in the form

of:

Print costs are currently about 15-25% of a film's production cost. A print costs around 80,000 rupees, a set of DVD-ROMS will

cost as low as 8000/- A whopping 90% saving. In USA, release prints cost $2,000 each. Further, shipping and insurance add

another $1,000 per print to the distribution costs. Thus an average big- budget release chalks up print and distribution costs in

excess of $15 million. Imagine the benefit if these costs were slashed by upto 90%.

Digital production will be completed in lesser time and thus speed up the entire process from finish to release as innumerable

disks can be made in a day.

The film could be released in more cinema halls simultaneously as the cost for the distributor is relatively high. Thus, no more

worries for theatre owners and exhibitors and distributors who have to physically carry the film reels from one theatre to another

and time shows accordingly, thus enabling faster recovery of investment. Further , by the time bad publicity of a flop movie

spreads it will have recovered a table profit.

Every print is a perfect copy. Thus gone will be the days where the print is really bad if we don't see a movie in the first month.

All the quality issues from the right hue to color drift to print degeneration by repeated theatrical telecasts will be a thing of the
past with the advent of digital technologies. Film Buffs do not mind paying a few rupees extra if they will receive "Picture Perfect"

Movies due to digital technology.

Exhibitor is at greater ease of operation- as all trailers, feature films and advertisements can be pre-programmed. There would be

no operator errors and no operator manipulations.

Boost box offices. As has been said by all the gurus in the Internet world, industries where the final product can be digitized will

be turned upside down. As the compression technologies develop and prints are digitized, the economies of scale that can be

achieved will be significant . Just imagine the day when a movie is digitized at a central location and then transmitted to various

theatres in the city at the same time thus avoiding the painful task of making countless prints and moving these prints from one

place to another . Anyone who has gone to a Hindi movie in the US would have observed how the print is brought to the theatre

just before the show and then taken to the next destination immediately after the show.

With files replacing prints, a single screen can show multiple films and if audiences on a given night do not want to see "The Chick

Flick – Charlies's Angels" the theatre owner may switch to "Kasoor". Thus, depending on audience taste, revenues can be kept

high .

"Cut and Paste" leading to considerable time and cost savings. Haven't we all seen so many similar scenes in Movies like a sunrise

in Mauritius or a view of the Savannahs . With the rise of digital technology, it will be possible to cut and paste any scene from a

movie into another file a la Powerpoint and thus avoid expensive shooting overheads and star tantrums. Why it will be accepted

Most of theatres in India have old projectors; hence they can straight away jump from old projectors to state-of-the-art digital

technology provided government provides tax benefits and these equipment get the status of infrastructure equipment .

It is not too big an increase in cost for new multiplexes.

DVD ROMS cannot be decoded outside a Digital Cinema playback unit, thus it provides a strong safeguard against piracy- the

biggest problem faced by the film industry today.

Every show can have watermarks indicating theatre, time and date. Thus, foolproof reporting of playback data also prevents

unauthorised shows. International experience

"Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace" is the first major studio film to be shown the E-Way. Sometime in the middle of

1999, a few theatres in New York began screenings of the "Phantom Menace" using digital technology. They used Texas

Instruments and CineComm digital projectors for the test screening. This experiment allowed lay audiences to see digital

projection systems running real movies, while movie industry experts could compare competing projection systems operating in

real theaters. Further proliferation of digital technology happened when Miramax exhibited "An Ideal Husband" in the USA .

Officials at 20th Century Fox Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc have digitally transmitted a Hollywood movie across the country over the

Internet and then digitally projected to a cinema audience, going from the studio in Hollywood to a theater in Atlanta without ever

touching the film. The idea was to demonstrate the potential of digital distribution, which many believe will one day supplant

traditional canisters of celluloid, and to allow Fox to have the world premiere of its new animated feature, "Titan A.E.," at
Atlanta's Supercomm trade show .

Using Cisco's latest technology, the movie was hurled from Qwest CyberCenter in Burbank to the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta,

where it was projected on a Barco/Texas Instruments DLP Cinema digital projector.

Obstacles that will have to be overcome to ready digital technology for the masses

Projector costs will have to drop quickly. While digital projector prototypes cost $250,000 today, mass production will reduce the

price to between $100,000 and $150,000 by 2001.

As of now capturing "Live Action" digitally is prohibitively expensive and while special effects are now created digitally, live action

is not. This will change as digital content dominates feature films. More films like "Raju Chacha" where digital technology is used

will be created as costs fall.

Dramatic reduction in distribution costs will cause industry wide encryption standards to become prevalent. CineComm

incorporates Qualcomm's patented compression algorithm and encryption scheme into its projection system to guard against

piracy. EMovies will be successful only if arguments over cost sharing between exhibitors and distributors are sorted out . Most

probably since crores of Rupees will be at stake these differences will be surely sorted out.

Another issue is that many in Hollywood think, that once their films are upon the Internet, they will be pirated like music has

been in recent months. As a result, Cisco 7140 Virtual Private Network, a method for isolating and protecting data traveling

across the internet, including fire walls, security routers and encryption devices is being developed. Conclusion

E-cinema envelops the entire process from filming to storage, transmission, distribution and projection of movies, all of which can

be done digitally.

The technology demonstrations have already started in India. The next year awaits the HDTV (high definition TV) telecine and

mastering facilities.

Shekhar Kapoor's digital studio and Sony Corporation's digital motion picture camera are just the beginning . When e-cinema

really takes off in the country, it will spark a revolution in the industry .

As for transmission, the film can travel instantaneously over computer networks in the "frictionless economy". Film distribution,

now a complex affair, will take place at the "click" of a mouse.

2006.... Multiple versions of a film exist with different scenes , extra songs , films being edited accurately after release- with

remote controls , multiple language sound tracks and even multiple language sub-titles exist at the same time.

It probably only a matter of time till technology drives the change in the film world, making the industry more corporatised, and,

therefore, suited to digital cinema.