On Valentine’s Day we welcomed members to Directors ♥ Cinemas — a special opportunity to hear from film exhibitors about how they pick their films, and the state of cinema today.
We heard from Phil Clapp (CEO, UK Cinema Association), Clare Binns (Joint Managing Director, Picturehouse Entertainment) and Olly Meek (Executive Director, Rio, Dalston) — and the event was moderated by our Film Chair Susanna White. If you weren’t able to make it, you can catch up with all our tweets from the event below.
Valentine's Day: who needs it? If you're interested in the film industry you'll want to follow our Directors Love Cinemas: Meet The UK Film Exhibitors event. We'll be live-tweeting it from around 6.45pm, with the hashtag #DUKexhibitors. Join us!
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Welcome to Directors Love Cinemas: Meet The UK Film Exhibitors! Our experts today are @ClappPhil, @ClareLBinns and @OllyMeek - hosted by Directors UK Film Chair @_susannawhite. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Phil, as Chief Exec of the UK Cinema Association, starts by providing an overview of the situation in the cinema industry today. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Phil tells us that the social, economic and cultural influences of cinema are all very much interlinked. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
There were 811 cinemas in the UK st the end of 2018 - with 10 new ones opening up. This amounts to 4,399 cinema screens, 90 new in the last year. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
There were 177 million cinema admissions in the UK last year - the highest figure since 1970. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
However in 1946, the number of admissions was 1.63 *billion* - this fell to just 54 million by 1984. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Although they have their detractors, the thing that saved cinema was the multiplex - they brought with them a flexibility and variety in terms of the films they could put on. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
#DUKexhibitors pic.twitter.com/cwF2ATiP2P
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Digital has provided much greater flexibility on the number of films you can show in the cinema, because changing films on a screen is more practical - it’s a drag and drop on a laptop. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
The average UK film ticket price is £7.22 - no really! #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
We need to work harder to keep the audience while also broadening our offer to older age brackets - and that means diversifying film content. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Over 900 films are released each year - and sadly many of those will not find cinema release. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Of that 900, the top 100 take 94% of the box office. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Phil opens the event up for a discussion. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Susanna asks Phil about the situation in France, where film viewing is much higher per capita. He says that traditionally French cinema has had a much closer relationship to the government, with protections that are pretty much unique. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
However, Phil adds that the industry stagnated when austerity hit. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Clare says that a lot of UK cinemas are not playing a very diverse selection of films, often this is influenced by things like marketing budgets. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Olly says that at cinemas like the Rio things tend to be very seasonal. It’s tricky during awards season, when many great films come out at once - you wish they were more spread out. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Clare agrees - the problem we all have is getting quality films spread out throughout the year. We’re going to try and solve this by buying more films and spreading them out. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
But there’s an awful lot of risk involved in taking a film and putting it in a time period that’s normally pretty empty - you might not get the best returns. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Phil says that within the UK Cinema Association membership there only two members who are both distributors and exhibitors, Picturehouse and Curzon - this gives them an ability to influence the market. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Clare: different cinema goers have different habits - when you put on a film you’re taking that into account and trying to maximise on your concessions. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Olly says that food and drink are extremely important parts of the business model, as it’s an element you can control. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Susanna moves the conversation on to Netflix and Amazon - are they an issue? #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Clare: I believe it is an issue. Of course I want people to be able to watch films at home, but not at the expense of being able to watch them theatrically. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Olly says that for Rio as an independent cinema they normally have three bigger films in a year, and those are generally award season films. It’s an issue when those are taken out of the equation. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Phil says that the route to changing Netflix’s mind around theatrical releases isn’t Netflix - it’s the creators that work with them. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
A member asks what the route is to approaching cinemas. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Clare: We mainly buy films from sales agents, but there are many ways - including distributors of different sizes. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Olly says that Rio sometimes buy films without distribution if there’s a particular local interest, or a sense of word-of-mouth. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Clare says that a film generally has to gain a bit of momentum in other cinemas before it goes into multiplexes. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
A member asks how exhibitors actually pick their films, what’s the basic process. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Olly: We have relationships with all the major distributors, and will be invited to watch their films. A discussion will then follow on percentages, prices. Then you move into the question of scheduling - we try not to book too early. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Clare says that one of the reasons you get films from a sales agent is that it’s just easier - and like anything else, there are good sales agents and there are bad sales agents. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Olly says to look at the films sales agents are working on to see if they would work for you. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
Olly mourns the loss of the film programme on the BBC, after a member points out that a missing link for cinemas is general publicity for films that are our at the moment (beyond the blockbusters). #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
And that’s a wrap! Thank you so much to Phil, Clare and Olly for some great insight - and thank you to Susanna for moderating! Thanks too to all you romantics who made it down, and followed our tweets. #DUKexhibitors
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) February 14, 2019
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