Hollywood v British Film
Hollywood and the British film industry have some similarities but are overall very different. Firstly the two industry are two of the biggest film industry's in the world however The British film industry is no where near big enough to be in direct competition with Hollywood and The American Film industry. Hollywood is completely dominant over every other country's film industry. This is for many reason, mainly because of how big the United States is and how much money it has. Compared to America the UK is tiny and has no where near enough funds to mount serious completion to Hollywood.
One of the reason that there is so much money in America to produce films is that 'the big 6' all own studios in Hollywood. The big 6 are the 6 biggest conglomerates in the world, who have an oligopoly over the media industry. The big 6 buy up and merge with lots of smaller companies making them subsidiary's and or divisions of their won main companies. Warner Bros, Columbia Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures to name a few are all huge production companies based in Hollywood, as well as this they are owned by Sony, Time Warner and Walt Disney who are all members of the big 6. This means that there is A LOT of money being pumped into these Hollywood Studios a lot more money than can be put into British films. The huge difference in money I the two industry has lead to a difference in the style of films that both industry's make. For example Hollywood pumps out tons of huge expensive blockbusters that are guarantee a massive audience, where as British films are more cultured and discuss different topics.
Funding in Hollywood
The main way that films are funded is via film production companies. You can go about getting funding from production companies in two different ways. Firstly you can take a script or idea to a single production company or studio. the company can then provide the entire funding for the film, as long as they are invested and believe in your idea. This is the easiest way of getting funding for your idea however to get the attention of the studio it would have to be a really good idea that would guarantee the studio some profit. A big production company, like Pinewood Studios, would take your script and help you produce the entire film their leaving you with your finished film. The film would need to do really well though, in order for yourself and the production company to make profit. The big production companies will take allot more of the films revenue than the smaller ones as they have better facilities and can guarantee quality
.
The second way to go about funding your film via production companies would be to take your script or idea to several smaller companies and split the funding for the film amongst them. This may be the better option for a smaller film as it wouldn't usually sell to the bigger production companies who can offer much more money. However these smaller companies may buy into the idea but as they have less money the funding needs to be split across multiple companies. These smaller production companies are then given less to produce meaning that they will have a lower cost and are more likely to take your film on. Sometimes the smaller production companies are more likely to take a risk on your film as the cost of production may not be that much.
Films can get more funding via product placement and synergy. Product placement is a method of advertising which is suppose to be subtle. The idea of product placement is that a company pays for a film to feature their product in the film. For example in the Skyfall one of the recent James Bond films, Sony the producers managed to work a lucrative product placement deal with Heineken. Heineken payed Sony to have Bond drink and advertise their beer in the film Skyfall, in many scenes of the movie a bottle of Heineken may be in the background of a shot subtlety placed. This offended some Bond fans as Bond is suppose to be classy and only drink Martinis, the fans accused Sony of selling out to Heineken but in fact the deal most definitely helped the Bond franchise as Heineken put a lot of money toward the film, money that if they didn't have the film may not have been as good as it was. Many films have done this in the past, Pepsi and Coke feature a lot as product placement in films. As well as this a film may ask a company if they can use their product in a film, smaller films may do this as they cannot create their own props. This means the company who's product is being placed is getting free advertising.
Vertical Integration
There are three main stages to a film's life. This is production, were the film is actually physically made, next is Distribution, which is about getting the film sold and distributed across the world, and the last stage is exhibition which is about where the film will be played. If a large conglomerate owns different companies that work on all 3 stages of the films life then this is known as Vertical Integration. This means a huge advantage for conglomerates as they have the luxury of being able to produce, distribute and exhibit the films themselves meaning that they can save time and money as they do not have to pay another company that they do not own to do it for them. Although buying a company that can work on each stage of a films life is expensive in the long term it will save the conglomerate lots of money as they do not have to pay out to anyone else and all the money they do spend will come back into the company. An example of a conglomerate that uses Vertical Integration is Disney whom are the largest conglomerate in the world, they can produce their own shows in their studios, distribute them through their own companies such as Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture (who are a division of Walt Disney Studios) and then exhibit them in their own theatres.
Horizontal Integration
This is when a conglomerate owns a number of companies from different sectors of the industry that can work together on the same project together. This means that everything can be done in house and no one else has to be brought in to help work on the project meaning that money will be saved.
for example Sony may be working on a film but they need music for it, luckily Sony being the huge conglomerate it is just so happens to own a music division called Sony Music Entertainment. This means that Sony Pictures can use music that is owned by Sony Music saving them time and money on licensing or creating new music. A real world example of Horizontal Integration can be seen in the film the Film Skyfall, which is a Sony Pictures film. Sony obviously needed a song for Skyfall so who better to get to do it than Adele, who is signed to the record label ‘Columbia’ who are owned by Sony Music Entertainment. This means Sony earn money from the song and the film.
Synergy
Synergy is similar to product placement and also links to horizontal integration. Synergy is when companies work together on multiple coordinated media marketing projects to a greater effect than if the money was spent on separate campaigns. This links back to Horizontal integration also Sony’s Film and Music divisions work closely together.
Synergy can seen in Skyfall and other bond films as Sony have cleverly used the film to promote its own products, meaning they don’t even have to pay for advertising campaign for them. For example in Skyfall Sony advertise their own products through a method of advertising called product placement. Product placement is when a product is placed within the frame in a film. The characters of the film may or may not interact with these products and they will almost always be shown in a positive light. Sony phones, Sony VAIO laptops and Sony cameras are all shown in the film. As well as this the James Bond theme was also available on guitar hero, which was released for Sony games consoles. Sony are basically everywhere.
Funding in Britain
British films are funded similarly to Hollywood films in some ways. For example things such as product placement and studio funding that I discussed above still apply to British films however funding can work a little differently over here too. As most of the big production companies are in Hollywood funding for films works differently in Britain. Instead of the money mainly coming from backers and investors in the form of the big 6 who own the production companies, it instead comes from government funding and the tax incentives that the government offer.
Tax Breaks
Over here the Government encourage the production of British film (and TV) by offering tax incentives to British Production Companies. The British film tax break scheme allows film production companies in the UK to claim 25% Tax relief on the cost of production. As long as a film can pass the cultural test it can be classed as British and therefore can claim 25% tax break. this is hugely benefiting the industry over here not only is it easier for British Film makers to make films as they can get funding from the government but Hollywood are starting to make their films over here in studios like Pinewood. As long as a Hollywood film can pass the cultural test, which involves having a partially British cast, crew and locations in the film then it is eligible for 25% tax break. This creates bigger opportunity's for our industry as Hollywood are starting to get British production studios to co produce their films so that they are eligible for the tax break. A side effect of this is that their are more jobs over here for Britain's who want to be in the film industry. Ex Machina is an example of a British co produced film, it is produced by film four but distributed by American studio Universal.
Funding Bodies
As well as Tax Breaks the British Film Industry gets its money from Funding Bodies, these are usually government organisations set up to help British film makers. Funding Bodies such as BFI film (British Film Institute) help film makers nationally. The BFI is part of the UK film council funded by the national lottery, the government have set this scheme up keep the British film industry alive. Without it the Industry wouldn't have enough money to keep producing films. The BFI helps film makers by offering them funding and the opportunity to co producer their film here in the UK. There are also a number of regional screens which support filming in local areas. Screen Yorkshire and Film London are examples of these.
Distribution
In the UK it is more difficult to get your film exhibited and distributed to a good audience. This is because most of the big company's that distribute films are based in Hollywood and are attached to Hollywood studios. British film makers may want to sell their ideas or scripts to an American studio as the studio may have a deal with a distributor who can guarantee that the film will be shown in their theatres, the job of the distributor is not only to get dvd releases out around the world but also to make sure that the film is shown in theatres. Lots of distribution company's own cinema chains meaning that they can guarantee that their product will be shown in the theatre. This also earns them more revenue as not only do they get money from the film but they also get it from their theatre. Another way of getting your movie seen if your a British film maker is by taking it to film festival. Film festivals are big events were smaller productions such as short films and indie films are displayed. Anyone can visit a film festival but the purpose of taking your film their is not only to get it recognition (through awards it may win) but also have it bought by a distributor or film agent whose sole job is to get your film seen by as many people and theatres as possible. Going to a film festival is a risk as you are in direct competition with other films who are also looking for representation in the form of a distributor or agent.
Hollywood and the British film industry have some similarities but are overall very different. Firstly the two industry are two of the biggest film industry's in the world however The British film industry is no where near big enough to be in direct competition with Hollywood and The American Film industry. Hollywood is completely dominant over every other country's film industry. This is for many reason, mainly because of how big the United States is and how much money it has. Compared to America the UK is tiny and has no where near enough funds to mount serious completion to Hollywood.
One of the reason that there is so much money in America to produce films is that 'the big 6' all own studios in Hollywood. The big 6 are the 6 biggest conglomerates in the world, who have an oligopoly over the media industry. The big 6 buy up and merge with lots of smaller companies making them subsidiary's and or divisions of their won main companies. Warner Bros, Columbia Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures to name a few are all huge production companies based in Hollywood, as well as this they are owned by Sony, Time Warner and Walt Disney who are all members of the big 6. This means that there is A LOT of money being pumped into these Hollywood Studios a lot more money than can be put into British films. The huge difference in money I the two industry has lead to a difference in the style of films that both industry's make. For example Hollywood pumps out tons of huge expensive blockbusters that are guarantee a massive audience, where as British films are more cultured and discuss different topics.
Funding in Hollywood
The main way that films are funded is via film production companies. You can go about getting funding from production companies in two different ways. Firstly you can take a script or idea to a single production company or studio. the company can then provide the entire funding for the film, as long as they are invested and believe in your idea. This is the easiest way of getting funding for your idea however to get the attention of the studio it would have to be a really good idea that would guarantee the studio some profit. A big production company, like Pinewood Studios, would take your script and help you produce the entire film their leaving you with your finished film. The film would need to do really well though, in order for yourself and the production company to make profit. The big production companies will take allot more of the films revenue than the smaller ones as they have better facilities and can guarantee quality
.
The second way to go about funding your film via production companies would be to take your script or idea to several smaller companies and split the funding for the film amongst them. This may be the better option for a smaller film as it wouldn't usually sell to the bigger production companies who can offer much more money. However these smaller companies may buy into the idea but as they have less money the funding needs to be split across multiple companies. These smaller production companies are then given less to produce meaning that they will have a lower cost and are more likely to take your film on. Sometimes the smaller production companies are more likely to take a risk on your film as the cost of production may not be that much.
Films can get more funding via product placement and synergy. Product placement is a method of advertising which is suppose to be subtle. The idea of product placement is that a company pays for a film to feature their product in the film. For example in the Skyfall one of the recent James Bond films, Sony the producers managed to work a lucrative product placement deal with Heineken. Heineken payed Sony to have Bond drink and advertise their beer in the film Skyfall, in many scenes of the movie a bottle of Heineken may be in the background of a shot subtlety placed. This offended some Bond fans as Bond is suppose to be classy and only drink Martinis, the fans accused Sony of selling out to Heineken but in fact the deal most definitely helped the Bond franchise as Heineken put a lot of money toward the film, money that if they didn't have the film may not have been as good as it was. Many films have done this in the past, Pepsi and Coke feature a lot as product placement in films. As well as this a film may ask a company if they can use their product in a film, smaller films may do this as they cannot create their own props. This means the company who's product is being placed is getting free advertising.
Vertical Integration
There are three main stages to a film's life. This is production, were the film is actually physically made, next is Distribution, which is about getting the film sold and distributed across the world, and the last stage is exhibition which is about where the film will be played. If a large conglomerate owns different companies that work on all 3 stages of the films life then this is known as Vertical Integration. This means a huge advantage for conglomerates as they have the luxury of being able to produce, distribute and exhibit the films themselves meaning that they can save time and money as they do not have to pay another company that they do not own to do it for them. Although buying a company that can work on each stage of a films life is expensive in the long term it will save the conglomerate lots of money as they do not have to pay out to anyone else and all the money they do spend will come back into the company. An example of a conglomerate that uses Vertical Integration is Disney whom are the largest conglomerate in the world, they can produce their own shows in their studios, distribute them through their own companies such as Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture (who are a division of Walt Disney Studios) and then exhibit them in their own theatres.
Horizontal Integration
This is when a conglomerate owns a number of companies from different sectors of the industry that can work together on the same project together. This means that everything can be done in house and no one else has to be brought in to help work on the project meaning that money will be saved.
for example Sony may be working on a film but they need music for it, luckily Sony being the huge conglomerate it is just so happens to own a music division called Sony Music Entertainment. This means that Sony Pictures can use music that is owned by Sony Music saving them time and money on licensing or creating new music. A real world example of Horizontal Integration can be seen in the film the Film Skyfall, which is a Sony Pictures film. Sony obviously needed a song for Skyfall so who better to get to do it than Adele, who is signed to the record label ‘Columbia’ who are owned by Sony Music Entertainment. This means Sony earn money from the song and the film.
Synergy
Synergy is similar to product placement and also links to horizontal integration. Synergy is when companies work together on multiple coordinated media marketing projects to a greater effect than if the money was spent on separate campaigns. This links back to Horizontal integration also Sony’s Film and Music divisions work closely together.
Synergy can seen in Skyfall and other bond films as Sony have cleverly used the film to promote its own products, meaning they don’t even have to pay for advertising campaign for them. For example in Skyfall Sony advertise their own products through a method of advertising called product placement. Product placement is when a product is placed within the frame in a film. The characters of the film may or may not interact with these products and they will almost always be shown in a positive light. Sony phones, Sony VAIO laptops and Sony cameras are all shown in the film. As well as this the James Bond theme was also available on guitar hero, which was released for Sony games consoles. Sony are basically everywhere.
Funding in Britain
British films are funded similarly to Hollywood films in some ways. For example things such as product placement and studio funding that I discussed above still apply to British films however funding can work a little differently over here too. As most of the big production companies are in Hollywood funding for films works differently in Britain. Instead of the money mainly coming from backers and investors in the form of the big 6 who own the production companies, it instead comes from government funding and the tax incentives that the government offer.
Tax Breaks
Over here the Government encourage the production of British film (and TV) by offering tax incentives to British Production Companies. The British film tax break scheme allows film production companies in the UK to claim 25% Tax relief on the cost of production. As long as a film can pass the cultural test it can be classed as British and therefore can claim 25% tax break. this is hugely benefiting the industry over here not only is it easier for British Film makers to make films as they can get funding from the government but Hollywood are starting to make their films over here in studios like Pinewood. As long as a Hollywood film can pass the cultural test, which involves having a partially British cast, crew and locations in the film then it is eligible for 25% tax break. This creates bigger opportunity's for our industry as Hollywood are starting to get British production studios to co produce their films so that they are eligible for the tax break. A side effect of this is that their are more jobs over here for Britain's who want to be in the film industry. Ex Machina is an example of a British co produced film, it is produced by film four but distributed by American studio Universal.
Funding Bodies
As well as Tax Breaks the British Film Industry gets its money from Funding Bodies, these are usually government organisations set up to help British film makers. Funding Bodies such as BFI film (British Film Institute) help film makers nationally. The BFI is part of the UK film council funded by the national lottery, the government have set this scheme up keep the British film industry alive. Without it the Industry wouldn't have enough money to keep producing films. The BFI helps film makers by offering them funding and the opportunity to co producer their film here in the UK. There are also a number of regional screens which support filming in local areas. Screen Yorkshire and Film London are examples of these.
Distribution
In the UK it is more difficult to get your film exhibited and distributed to a good audience. This is because most of the big company's that distribute films are based in Hollywood and are attached to Hollywood studios. British film makers may want to sell their ideas or scripts to an American studio as the studio may have a deal with a distributor who can guarantee that the film will be shown in their theatres, the job of the distributor is not only to get dvd releases out around the world but also to make sure that the film is shown in theatres. Lots of distribution company's own cinema chains meaning that they can guarantee that their product will be shown in the theatre. This also earns them more revenue as not only do they get money from the film but they also get it from their theatre. Another way of getting your movie seen if your a British film maker is by taking it to film festival. Film festivals are big events were smaller productions such as short films and indie films are displayed. Anyone can visit a film festival but the purpose of taking your film their is not only to get it recognition (through awards it may win) but also have it bought by a distributor or film agent whose sole job is to get your film seen by as many people and theatres as possible. Going to a film festival is a risk as you are in direct competition with other films who are also looking for representation in the form of a distributor or agent.
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