Production Company Research

Production Company Research

A production company works as a subsidiary part of an entertainment company and/or in partnership with a film studio. A production company oversees all aspects of creating a film - from casting, shooting and editing, to promoting and distributing. For my thriller opening, I have created a production company that will be responsible for all the tasks I am carrying out during the creation process. My production company will be partly an advertising tool, as a production company that becomes well known for a certain type of film or niche, or gains credibility and will therefore be trusted by the movie viewing public. I have opted to name my production company Evil Twin Productions, as I believe this name represents many things and subtly conveys them to my audience. The name Evil Twin, due to the the carefully considered lexis "Evil", it is made apparent that my production company will create films with perhaps darker content. "Twin" on the other hand, has illocutions that my production company has two sides, suggesting that is is more capable of creating films of a different style as well the same formats previously produced. Evil Twin Productions will have a niche audience of avid film fans, cinema goers who don't wish to simply passively observe a film, but instead want to engage with it, feeling emerged within the story in an attempt to solve its enigmas and be challenged by what they see. However, in order to distribute my film to my target audience, I would need the help of other film companies.

The Weinstein Company

The Weinstein Company was set up by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005, the same two brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. The company distributes through a number of different companies worldwide, in a manner similar to that of a contractor. The company has been part of a number of award winning films, including the 7 time Academy Award, 3 time Golden Globe winning film, The Artist. This company’s vast experience of the mainstream is what attracts me to it, as it has a far reach and credibility, allowing it to access a wide audience. However, my main interest in this company is their work with Quentin Tarantino. I have taken inspiration from Tarantino's post-modernist style, and as the Weinstein Company have worked on the majority of his movies, from Pulp Fiction to 2013 Oscar winner Django Unchained. Due to the companies work with Tarantino, I believe the Weinstein Company would be interested in my thriller, as the post-modernist elements give it the mainstream capabilities, whilst the thriller elements would make it a new venture for the Company.

Film4 Productions

Film4 Productions is a british company that has produced many renowned English films, such as Trainspotting and The Iron Lady. These films do entice me to work with Film4 productions, as they were not only critically and commercially successful, but are not massively mainstream pieces of cinema. Film4 concentrates on keeping British film alive, and interestingly throughout my research into the codes and conventions of the thriller genre, I found that most of the thrillers I had researched are not British. Similar to Trainspotting and This Is England (a further example of a British Film4 production), my thriller is set in England during the 80's. I believe that Film4 would be interested in my thriller, due to the fact it is English - thus appealing to their mandate for British films - and also the fact that it is a thriller which appears to be a more American-dominated genre, therefore providing a new venture for Film4. British film goers may find it a refreshing change from a thriller market saturated with non-British thrillers. Another bonus of using Film4 productions is access to the company’s television channels. Film4 productions open up a wide range of opportunities as many of their movies are aired on television multiple times a year, meaning that my thriller could reach a wider audience of over a million people.