Commission Factfile

Who is the company? Film Four Productions

What kind of company is it - do they produce, distribute, exhibit films, or a combination of all three?

Film 4 is a production, exhibition and distribution company. Film 4  being a production company means that Film 4 takes part of being in the process of creating and generating the film and exhibiting it. In terms of distributions this means that Film 4 physically  makes copies for the film. Concluding that Film 4 is a combination of each kind of production. Film 4 is a film production company that has gone through an number of guises since its inception along with Channel 4 in 1982.

Who is their parent company and what else do they own?

Film 4's parent company is channel 4, and channel 4 acts as exhibitors and promoters. Also channel 4 owns other channels such as:

• E4: E4 is a British digital television channel, launched as a pay-TV companion to Channel 4 on 18 January 2001. The "E" stands for entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15–35 age group. Programming includes US imports such as The Cleveland Show, The O.C., Smallville, Veronica Mars, Everwood, What About Brian?, Desperate Housewives, How I Met Your Mother, 90210, One Tree Hill, Ugly Betty, Scrubs, Rules of Engagement, The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, Revenge, and formerly Friends. Other programming includes British shows such as Skins, My Mad Fat Diary, Misfits, The Inbetweeners, The Ricky Gervais Show, Shameless, Hollyoaks, and Made in Chelsea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E4_(TV_channel)

• More 4: More 4 is a digital television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005.^[1]The channel is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky and on UK cable networks Virgin Media and Smallworld Cable. In Switzerland the channel is available on UP Cablecom and in Ireland on UPC Ireland, Magnet Networks and Sky.             https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More4 

• 4seven: 4seven is a television channel in the United Kingdom which launched on 4 July 2012 at 7.00 pm. According to Channel 4, it was created in response to its viewers saying that with so much choice they sometimes missed the best programmes, despite some having PVRs and access to on demand services. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4seven 

• 4music: 4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland. The channel launched on 15 August 2008, replacing The Hits. It is the only Channel 4-branded channel within The Box Plus Network. It is available on Freeview, Virgin Media, Sky and Smallworld Cable. On 2 April 2013, all Box Television channels went free-to-air on satellite, apart from 4Music which went free-to-view. As a result, the channels were removed from the Sky EPG in Ireland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4Music

Is there any advantage for the success of their films by being owned by that parent company?

Yes there is an advantage for the success of Film 4's, films being owned by Channel 4, as, channel 4 have a well know reputation in the media industry and this allows Film 4 to gain publicity. Also this is an advantage as mainly the British audience watches Channel 4 therefore the audience will start to watch other small production companies.

What do the company produce?

Film 4 have constructed a reputation for producing and distributing social realism films, often regarded a kitchen sink dramas, which links back to the realism of British Social Realism films. Film 4 often use rough and ready style camera work and design using real life locations, known as set and filmed 'on location'. film four invest about 500,000 pounds for each film at a total of 20 films a year. Specialists in co production - traditionally contributing 15-25 % of an independent films budget. Film 4 cover many political issues through the films they produce, issues such as; race, sex, poverty and they do this in a very graphic gritty manner. Film 4 produced a very famous and renowned film, known as '12 years a slave'. This film won many awards such as ; BAFTA, Golden Globes for best picture and the Academy Award.