What’s more likely, mused your Penny Sleuth as he turned his purposeful tread in the direction of
… to drill a hole in the ground and strike oil? Or to back a film that turns out to be the next Full Monty?
I had spent the morning listening to an oil executive describe to me all the holes that his company would be drilling next year. And now I was off to that area of
The City, of course, thinks nothing of lobbing a few million of somebody else’s money in the direction of anyone with a multi-coloured geological map and an exploration permit.
But when it comes to backing films, No! This is ‘just too risky’.
What a shame. I should think that there are plenty of bold investors out there that would like to finance a film. Not perhaps for the likelihood of profit. But so that they could go to the cinema and say, in a voice just loud enough for everyone to hear: ‘This film would never have been made, if it hadn’t been for me, you know.’
From widgets to the Works
Twenty years ago Norman Humphrey, a qualified accountant, found himself counting widgets one wet Sunday afternoon at a valve manufacturer in
This, he realised with a heavy heart, was not Hollywood. It was not glamorous. It was not the stuff of which dreams are made. So he decided to do something about it…
He started to work in the music business, then set up his own consultancy business for the film industry.
In 2000 he joined what was then called WhiteCliff Film & TV, as finance director. Today the company is called The Works Media Group (WKS), and he is chief executive.
The Works does not make films. It used to, but such behaviour was considered quite inappropriate for a public company. So today it does the next best thing… It distributes them.
So, if he is not quite a latter day Cecil B DeMille, Humphrey does have the pleasant task of watching Kelly Brook romping through the waves in the film ‘Three’, or Leslie Phillips being Leslie Phillips in ‘Venus’, and then deciding whether to bid for the distribution rights
How to make money from film distribution
Having made it up to the fourth floor of Portland House in quite the smallest lift ever graced by my occupation, I found myself sitting in a modest room adorned by film posters. There Humphrey explained to me how the film distribution business works, and how The Works makes its money.
‘We don’t believe in spending too much money marketing the launch of a new film. Unlike Disney we do not spend £5m covering the side of
That is something a journalist understands. A ‘hook’ is what gets you reading an article, or what persuades you to visit the cinema or buy a DVD. In the case of a film called ‘Upside of Anger’ the hook is Kevin Costner. Now Dancing with Wolves was a decent film with great music by John Barrie. But that apart, Costner has not exactly wowed the critics. But still, presumably for the female sex, he is a hook and any film with Costner is a film that some must see.
But probably not in the cinema. If films depended upon cinema audiences, there would not be very many of them. Because by the time a film has completed its brief cinema release, it is well under water, financially speaking. It is only when it becomes available via all those other media channels that its costs are recouped in earnest and, all being well, a profit appears on the horizon.
Successively a film is made available for the various types of media.
After the cinema come the ‘non-theatrical’ showings, mainly on aeroplanes. Then the DVD is released. This is followed by Video on Demand, Pay Per View, Pay TV and finally free TV. Eventually a film is available anywhere and everywhere and its full financial value becomes apparent.
The Works has an international business, which has a catalogue of mainly British films that it sells into overseas markets.
But since the change of strategy that saw it withdraw from film production, it’s been building a roster of films for distribution in the
So far it has acquired the distribution rights for 23 films for the
So as these 23 films and those that will be added become available through the various media channels, revenues should rise and all being well the business will make a profit next year.
Just how big this profit turns out to be will, of course, depend partly upon whether Humphrey and his team have backed the right films. So if you find yourself watching ‘Killing of John Lennon’, ‘
’ or ‘2 Days in
You will be ringing a little cash register just north of
.
This article is taken from Tom Bulford’s free daily email ‘Penny Sleuth’.