From Idea To Finished Product- Film Pitches

To produce a film and to actually advertise it is a very long process which requires hard work from all the team involved; from the producer, director, distributor to even the crew, all members involved in the making and advertising of a film must be diligent as the process is long.

First of all, for a producer to even start thinking of the making of the film in terms of cast, crew etc, they must know how the film will be financed. if the producer for any reason can't finance the film themselves, there are many funding opportunities that can finance their film. Funding opportunities generally come from organisations such as regional screen agencies or national film organisations, but can also come from private individuals or commercial companies. One of the most common funding organisations in Britain is the UK Film Council.

The UK Film Council is a development fund dedicated to British film making but doesn't exist anymore. They used to support filmmakers in the UK who were emerging or world-class and are capable of creating distinctive and entertaining films. They used to invest 15 million a year across the development, production and completion of feature films which included companies from commercial mainstream to experimental, from genre movies to personal stories, from documentaries to animation to live-action fiction.

Another funding organisation is Screen Yorkshire. Screen Yorkshire is the regional screen agency  for Yorkshire and Humberside, which receives money from the UK Film council to provide funding for films being made in the region. They support all types of production from low budget digital short films to huge feature films shooting on Location in the Yorkshire area.

How would you go about finding a distributor for your film?

It is said that Filmmakers who explore every option and produce good selling tools stand better chances of getting movie distribution deals. Short films always make good sales tools for pitching full-length films. They show what you can do and provide a teaser of what a longer version could be like. A small collection of high-quality short films ( mostly those screened at film festivals ) make memorable calling cards while trying to find investors and distributors. Attending screenings and addressing the audience whenever possible is a key way to finding a distributor as it shows seriousness and a dilligent work ethic which can be appealing to a distributor. Being accepted into a film festival (even the smaller ones) is an honor worth doing and mentioning  in press materials.Winning awards at festivals gives people even more media coverage and clout with distributors.
Also, hiring name actors for your film- marguees is also a good strategy in finging distributors because using star power in the newspaper print ads and on the DVD box translates directly into sales dollars. The best way of course to attract name actors is through a fantastic script.

In an Ideal World, who would you want to distribute your film?
You should distribute your film to a distributor who has connections. The distributor has the exposure of your films in thier hands so ofor your film to get to various cinemas, the distributor must have connections in the buisness. Also, they must have good communication skills, must be very reliable, and must be able to advertise your film well so that the cinemas will be willing to showcase your film. Distributuors such as film 4 and dog woof are popular uk distrubutors and broadcasters that enable films to reach out to a wider range of cinemas.

The link below is a link to a video that shows you how to sell your film to a distributor:
http://www.ehow.com/video_2384832_sell-film-distributors.html