| Print and Advertising Commitments |
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| Tamara Shannon | |
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A print and advertising commitment (P&A commitment) is a major
deal point of acquisitions and pre-buys – and quite often more
important than the minimum guarantee. Why? Because it is an assurance
to the producer that the distributor will give the picture a meaningful
theatrical release. The P&A commitment stipulates the amount that the distributor agrees to spend to market that release. In fact, that’s often a minimum, not the real amount: in most cases, distributors spend more than their commitment. Who, what and whenThe producer negotiates and contracts the P&A commitment before the film is produced. Since the final product often falls short of the producer’s expectations, despite everyone’s best efforts, distributors always include caveat language in the P&A commitment. This wording exempts them from having to fulfill their commitment should the film not be delivered in a timely manner, not meet industry technical standards, or (most common) not achieve a satisfactory score from a third-party test marketing screening.The biggest item in the marketing budget is prints and advertising – but the P&A budget also includes any cost involved in releasing the film theatrically. The budget will include:
The marketing budgetMarketing budgets vary greatly – from upwards of $30 million for studio releases, to $1-3 million for independent films, to a great deal less than that. The average cost for an independent Canadian-content film is about $100,000.Distributors carefully determine their P&A commitment via pro-formas that evaluate different revenue scenarios across all media. The commitment is usually set at the time of acquisition, but distributors also take advanced screenings and reviews into account. If the film has great buzz, the distributor might adopt a more aggressive release strategy; if it has no buzz, he or she will likely spend less to minimize his or her losses. Hard costs and variables There are a lot of hard costs in a marketing budget – things that can’t be changed, regardless of the film’s release pattern. The list includes publicist's fees, campaign creation, and the printing of trailers and posters (among other things). But the budget involves variables as well. The key ones are the number of prints and the amount of advertising. An advertising budget will contain pre-opening (two-three weeks of advance buys), opening, and post-opening (two weeks of holdover advertising). Expectations, reality – and possibilities Producers – understandably – want the maximum amount of media exposure, with generous sized ads and a broadcast buy. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible. Even if a distributor decides to support your release with a meaningful broadcast and print buy, the amount will always pale in comparison to the money spent on a studio film. Even so, quite a number of films work, despite small release budgets. Yours could be one of them. What you have to do is create a targetted grassroots campaign and get as much editorial coverage as possible. |
