After the media product has been created the director and writer have the key job of getting a distributor to market and sell the media product to the various stages of the release cycle depending on the type of contract that the two companies have agreed upon. This part of the process is of paramount importance as otherwise the previous work in the creation of the media process in economically worthless.
Big industrial cinema companies like 20th Century Fox, as they are a conglomerate, have the advantage of being able to produce, market and distribute and do all the stages of the film under the same roof, vertically integrating these procedures creates a better efficiency. Nevertheless, our film would be more likely to be distributed by an independent film company because of the micro budget of our film. This would try and appeal to a niche market and select age group because of the limited funding that an independent distribution company would be able to offer. It would be very conservative in the marketing it would be able to offer and the cinema screening would try and maximise each opportunity. Wide release would not be an option as not enough people would be attracted when juxtaposed against big Tentpole films.
Nevertheless, in this new era of technological advancement and the influence of web 2.0 even the smallest of independent films can be taken by massive distribution companies and distributed nationwide to make huge financial success. A famous example is that of the 9/11 documentary Loose Change (05, Avery). This Internet sensation reached over 125 million views and went on to become the first Internet Blockbuster. Being such a major international disaster it was clear that such a film would have attracted a lot of controversy and intrigue.
This film appeared in many popular outlets such as the History and Discovery Channels as well as, media outlets such as Fox News, CNN and the BBC.
However, other films have exploited the advent of web 2.0 and social networking sites that over 2/3 of the world use on a daily basis. A key example in our genre is Paranormal Activity (07,Peli) that worked on a micro budget of £15,000. It then managed to get a distribution deal with Paramount pictures that enabled it to be first shown on a limited release and then on a nationwide release a month later in 2009. It was also the first film that with the help of major distribution company released its campaign virally. This synergistic activity on the Internet site eventful.com made the target audience in control of where the film was going to be shown. This clever use of the Internet and synergy was key in creating a buzz around the movie and is now seen as an elementary way of marketing and distributing a media product. This film, based on the return for investment, was the most profitable film of all time landing a huge profit of $193,345,800.
After the media product has been created the director and writer have the key job of getting a distributor to market and sell the media product to the various stages of the release cycle depending on the type of contract that the two companies have agreed upon. This part of the process is of paramount importance as otherwise the previous work in the creation of the media process in economically worthless. 
Nevertheless, in this new era of technological advancement and the influence of web 2.0 even the smallest of independent films can be taken by massive distribution companies and distributed nationwide to make huge financial success. A famous example is that of the 9/11 documentary Loose Change (05, Avery). This Internet sensation reached over 125 million views and went on to become the first Internet Blockbuster. Being such a major international disaster it was clear that such a film would have attracted a lot of controversy and intrigue. 
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