Reaching and Audience

Ted Sheehy

If the development and production process is where producers and filmmakers prove their mettle over the course of several years’ hard graft, then distribution is where the reckoning is made. It is the unforgiving and hard-nosed end of show business. And similar to the writer sending a manuscript out to publishers – rejection is more likely than a deal, unless it has been signed in advance.

Despite what some filmmakers may think, distributors are under no moral or financial obligation to take on films. Decisions to acquire and release films are based on each film’s likely commercial potential, and on the availability of additional rights which allow the distributor to offset high-cost theatrical risk with subsequent revenues from other formats such as a DVD release and television sales.

Some of these rights may have already been sold as a means of partially financing the film. And, if the film is a theatrical success, rights sold early in the process may have been sold below their value. Equally, if television and DVD rights have been sold to finance the film, it may prove more difficult for the producer to negotiate a theatrical release because the distributor will be unable to offset their risk with subsequent earnings.

The Irish exhibition and distribution trade earned €145,536,799 in 2007 from films released on the island as a whole. Earnings in 2006 were €135,352,887, so the market grew by 7.5%, year on year. However, some of this growth can be accounted for by increased admission charges and the provision of extra screen capacity.

Between them the top ten titles took almost €47.5m of the Irish box office gross in 2007. That’s nearly 30% of the entire box office for the year. The accumulation of revenue by a reducing number of titles at the top end of the chart has been a notable feature of the Irish box office in recent years.

In 2007, thirty-nine titles earned over €1m each, between them amassing €97.3m or 60% of the entire box office gross for the year. That leaves 40% of the box office take to 267 other titles. On average, six new titles are released each week in Ireland. Generally they are released on the same dates as in the UK and by the same companies, or by Irish companies acting on their behalf.

Historically, the Irish and UK markets have been considered one territory, and films bought by UK-based distributors generally have Irish rights tacked on. Sometimes, when the rights are split between UK and Irish companies, a film will be released at different times in the Republic and Northern Ireland.

The strength of cinema-going in Ireland is such that the Irish market outperforms the UK on a box office per capita basis. This is true of most US releases, and the exceptions tend to be films with a particularly British sensibility (St. Trinian’s, Calendar Girls etc.). Disney’s recent release Gone Baby Gone, set in an Irish area of Boston, earned over 35% of its UK-Ireland revenue in Ireland, where less than 10% of that market’s population lives.

As might be expected, Irish films, and films with Irish storylines (Intermission, The Wind That Shakes the Barley), do overwhelmingly better in Ireland than in the UK. This creates further challenges for the producers of Irish films. Many UK-based distributors will not acquire UK rights to an Irish film unless they also get Irish rights. Then, if the film fails at the UK box office, the cost of the UK release is offset against the film’s earnings in Ireland. In this way the Irish producer loses out on possible revenues from the Irish box office.

2007 was not a vintage year for Irish titles at the box office, and provides evidence of a continuing fall-off in earnings for locally-produced films. Collectively, these films earned €1,967,506. This is below 1.5% of the Irish box office in 2007.

The distributors based in Ireland are all now led by a new generation of Irish women and men, and they do have an appetite for Irish titles. Asked what encourages her to take on new Irish films, Trish Long of Disney replies, ‘My absolute belief in our proven gift and ability to tell great stories. For me – the core is good storytelling; without that there is nothing.’

Long explains her decision to commit to distribute Stephen Burke’s Happy Ever Afters, which is now in post-production: ‘Great script; read it on a flight to New York and when I landed, immediately made an offer. We are very excited about the project and are already involved creatively. Another fantastic script/project we are involved in is It Takes Three to Tango.’

She goes on to make a salient point that seems lost on many filmmakers, in Ireland and elsewhere: ‘I find it ironic, in an era when some fantastic work is being done on TV; that there is still an absolute obsession with theatrical release. I’m not just referring to Irish film here, but film generally. I understand completely a filmmaker’s desire to experience their work on the big screen and in the presence of an audience but I don’t think all films are necessarily theatrical releases.

‘Furthermore, I think filmmakers need to be clear as early as possible in the process, as to why a particular piece or work does or doesn’t make sense to attempt to release theatrically given the barriers for audiences – cost of cinema tickets, babysitters, parking; competition from other films; competition from other forms of entertainment, and just life. The important thing should be to get the widest possible audience to engage with and experience the film.’

In Bruges, a film that was popularly viewed as an Irish film (but wasn’t), is cited by Dave Burke of Universal, who distributed it in Ireland. ‘When we released In Bruges earlier this year, it was perceived by both the media and audiences as an “Irish film”. It’s my experience that Irish audiences embrace well-made and accessible films no matter what nationality. However, it helped that In Bruges had attracted international attention before we opened here.

‘Sometimes Irish cinema audiences need to see Irish films get international attention and acclaim before they want to see it. In Bruges opened the Sundance Film Festival. By the time we opened the film here, it was perceived as an Irish film that had succeeded internationally. There was a huge buzz attached to it and it was already deemed a hit!’

Implicitly pointing here to the benefit of free, positive publicity, Burke goes on to underline some of the risks a distributor faces taking on an Irish film. What are these risks?

‘The cost of a theatrical release is significant,’ he says. ‘The price of producing prints, trailers and other cinema marketing materials can be very high. The cost of advertising to support the release can also be substantial. Unfortunately, home entertainment and DVD sales in Ireland, while considerable, are not strong enough to offset theatrical costs if the film does not perform at the box office.’

The need for strong marketing was also emphasised by Long: ‘It’s vital that marketing is improved and support structures established to enable Irish films be fully communicated to their potential audience. Given the competition and the scale of resources for marketing campaigns for international and American independent films, not to mention blockbusters and tent poles, we need to properly recognise the importance of marketing and ensure structures which enable a more level playing field for Irish films.’

The material physical cost of distribution is going to change radically in the coming years. Ireland’s first fully digital cinema opened in Wexford just a couple of months ago. It is just a matter of time before digital distribution/exhibition is the standard. Burke again: ‘Digital distribution will have a positive cost impact on print and advertising budgets, though this will not be felt originally as distributors will be responsible for a VPF – a virtual print fee – payable to the digital hardware installers. Ultimately, digital distribution will afford greater freedom in programming for exhibitors and distributors alike. A higher frequency of shows can be accommodated. A more diverse range of film and content will be also available. Digital distribution will be the industry norm within 4–5 years.’

All-Ireland Top 30 Irish Films

Source: Film Distributors’ Association/Ted Sheehy

Note: Box office figures are based on earnings on original release and do not take account of inflation, increased ticket prices and the expanding number of screens in the Irish market in recent decades.

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