The State We’re In

Production is the making of films, marketing is getting people to want to watch the film, distribution getting the film out there and exhibition is show you show the film. The Big Six are the six biggest and most powerful film companies. The make a portfolio of films, some big, some small and some tentpole releases. They are more or less always sure to make back the money they invest into a film. The only thing they really have to worry about is tentpole releases that are no where near as successful as they are supposed to be, if a tentpole release fails, it can destroy a company. The Big Six, like any other film company make their money back through cinema, VOD, retail, subscription and free to air TV. However the Big Six are so powerful that they are the companies that fill the cinemas and fill the popular shelves in places like HMV and have the most films on Netflix etc, so they are always more guaranteed to make their invested money back. They are good at protecting their investment. Piracy does however make an impact on the money they make, although it is a relatively small impact, it still makes an effect because people are stealing their intellectual property. The Big Six also sort of control when other companies will release their films because a company that releases a film at the same time as one of the Big Sixes tentpole release will not be successful.