Langues appliquées - Anglais : Economie, gestion, droit, AES - 4e - 140

manaGement

Instructions For Study
1. Turn to the definitions following the text Movie Marketing. They refer to the specialist
terms printed in bold type in the list of Useful words and concepts. Study them closely
and pinpoint them in the text.
2. Use an English language dictionary to check the meanings (in context) of the other words
in the list.
3. Do the exercises to improve your language skills.

Movie Marketing
Since the mid-1970s, the movie industry has been in a transition phase characterized by diminished
control of distribution and product pricing through traditional organizational arrangements. The changes
extend from the making of 3D films to the proliferation of digital platforms and the globalization of social
media networks. Although this transition has already provided consumers with an increasingly varied
selection of easily accessed, low-cost entertainment, it has not been beneficial to all industry segments.
Technological development has, however, made it possible for more content to be created by more
people and to be distributed more widely and at a lower cost (e.g., via the Internet), than ever before.
Sequential distribution patterns
After the principal production phase has been completed, thousands of details still remain to
be monitored and administered. Scoring, editing, mixing sound and color, making prints at the film
laboratory and conversion to digital formats are but a few of the essential steps. Once the film is in
the postproduction stages, however, perhaps the most critical preparations are those for distribution
and marketing.
Films are normally first distributed to the market that generates the highest marginal revenue
over the least amount of time. They then "cascade" in order of marginal revenue contribution down to
markets that return the lowest revenues per unit time. This has historically meant theatrical release,
followed by licensing to pay cable program distributors, home video, television networks, and finally
local television syndicators. Distribution is thus all about maximizing discrete periods of exclusivity.
Sequencing is always a marketing decision that attempts to maximize income, and it is generally
sensible for profit-maximizing distributors to price-discriminate in different markets or "windows" by
selling the same product at different prices to different buyers. Control of windows creates scarcity,
which is crafted through the use of contractually specified terms and times of exploitation exclusivity
that are achieved through the use of what are known as "holdbacks".
It should not be surprising, however, to find that, as new distribution technologies emerge and older
ones fade in relative importance, shifts in sequencing strategies occur. For example, the Internet's
ability to make films instantly available anywhere now requires simultaneous worldwide day-and-date
theatrical or DVD release for major projects. Such "windowing" is also a way in which the public good
characteristics of movies used as television programs can be fully exploited.
Distributor-exhibitor contracts
Distributors normally design their marketing campaigns with certain target audiences in mind, and
marketing considerations are prominent in a studio's decision to make (i.e., "green-light") or otherwise
acquire a film for distribution. Indeed, in the earliest stages, marketing people will attempt to forecast
the prospects for a film in terms of its potential appeal to different audience demographic segments, with
male/female, young (under 25 /old), and sometimes also ethnic/cultural being the main categorizations.

Table des matières de la publication Langues appliquées - Anglais : Economie, gestion, droit, AES - 4e