The Business of Film with Mark Kermode – a great new Radio 4 series

The Business of Film is a great new Radio 4 series broadcast recently where film critic Mark Kermode talks about the economic realities behind the film industry, with many of those on the inside of the business, which gives a fantastic insight to it all.

The series is in three parts. In the first part of the series, Development Hell, Mark finds out about the journey from script to screen – a path littered with obstacles. Part 2, Getting to the Screen, is all about… yes, as the title suggests. Close to 700 movies opened in the UK last year, but while you can make a film, what is the likely size of that audience?

Part 3 is The Business of Showing, and while the route from script to finance to screen can be a long one – but then it all comes down to one nervous opening weekend…

We learn how Tom Cruise helped kickstart Guy Ritchie‘s career when he was invited to a screening of Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. Meanwhile, Steven Follows talks about how more films are aimed at women these days, whereas in the ’90s it was more for men, “although Con Air has a love story, of sorts.. it has a teddy bear”.

And as the third part confirms, did you realise that the promotion of a film can cost an additional half of the amount that it cost to make the film itself? And that it must take 2-2.5 times to make a profit??

There’s also discussion about how how a film like Transformers: Age of Extinction is immune to criticism, e.g. Mark Kermode said so himself, as it was his worst film of 2014, yet it took the most money out of all of them that year, partly because China is now the second largest cinema market in the world. Also, movies are coming to DVD much more quickly, annoying the cinemas, and then they’re heading over to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime much more quickly, too. Simultaneous distribution is also something to watch out for, rather like Ben Wheatley’s A Field In England, released on Blu-ray, DVD, cinema and even Film 4 on the same day!

The Business of Film with Mark Kermode is worth 90 minutes of any film fan’s time, and is on the Iplayer now. And while you’d expect a TV show to stay on there for about a month, this radio series states it will be “Available for over a year”, but do still listen ASAP at the links below!

Part 1: Development Hell

Part 2: Getting To The Screen

Part 3: The Business of Showing

Mark Kermode’s Film Review is on BBC News every Friday at 5.45pm and 9.45pm, with several repeats throughout the weekend and online, and you can also hear more from his reviews on Simon Mayo’s show on Radio 5 Live on a Friday afternoon, although I subscribe to his Youtube channel, and my weekly look at the new cinema releases can be found here.