Distributing My Summer of Love
As soon as My Summer Of Love was completed, the search began for a UK distributor. The BBC, which had UK rights to the film, held a special screening and invited UK distributors to come along.
ContentFilm soon acquired the rights. "They wanted to release the film this year which was something we wanted to do to," says Seghatchian. "We didn't want it to wait on the shelf for a long time. We felt it was a summer film and that it would be good to release the film while summer was in still in people's memory."
"We knew we wanted the UK Premiere of the film to be at Edinburgh and the Edinburgh International Film Festival had invited My Summer Of Love to world premiere in its competition section." Edinburgh, says Seghatchian, "was hugely significant for the fate of the film". It won the festival's top prize and, more importantly, garnered a string of very good reviews. "The film came out at Edinburgh when there was a genuine sense that there was some good British films out there. It meant that there was a real goodwill feeling amongst the press who wanted to help to support films they liked."
Keen to build on the momentum of the Edinburgh screening, ContentFilm hired McDonald & Rutter to handle press and publicity for the UK release. The financiers, distributors and producers agreed to try and position the film to appeal to both the traditional art house market and more regular, mainstream moviegoers.
"Even though we weren't star-driven, we thought we might be able to sell the film on the two new discoveries, introducing home grown stars of the future. The press did pick up on that. And found the girls very easy to photograph and place." says Seghatchian.
After Edinburgh, the film's international sales agent The Works took the film to the Toronto International Film Festival, an annual autumn meeting point for buyers and sellers of films. "A lot of US buyers saw it and loved it and there was a bidding war for it," says Seghatchian. "And we managed to sell it to the company we wanted to sell it to for a good price, Focus Features."
US distributor Focus have worked on a string of high profile films - including Lost In Translation and The Motorcycle Diaries. Their acquisition of My Summer Of Love only served to boost the profile and the positive press surrounding the film post-Edinburgh.
Back in the UK, the release date was drawing near. Posters were designed and a poster and print campaign launched for the film. Eventually the film was launched on October 22 on 25 sites, taking a very impressive £80,000 in its first three days. It played particularly strongly in the art-house friendly West End of London where it grossed £56,408 from 15 locations.
ContentFilm soon acquired the rights. "They wanted to release the film this year which was something we wanted to do to," says Seghatchian. "We didn't want it to wait on the shelf for a long time. We felt it was a summer film and that it would be good to release the film while summer was in still in people's memory."
"We knew we wanted the UK Premiere of the film to be at Edinburgh and the Edinburgh International Film Festival had invited My Summer Of Love to world premiere in its competition section." Edinburgh, says Seghatchian, "was hugely significant for the fate of the film". It won the festival's top prize and, more importantly, garnered a string of very good reviews. "The film came out at Edinburgh when there was a genuine sense that there was some good British films out there. It meant that there was a real goodwill feeling amongst the press who wanted to help to support films they liked."
Keen to build on the momentum of the Edinburgh screening, ContentFilm hired McDonald & Rutter to handle press and publicity for the UK release. The financiers, distributors and producers agreed to try and position the film to appeal to both the traditional art house market and more regular, mainstream moviegoers.
"Even though we weren't star-driven, we thought we might be able to sell the film on the two new discoveries, introducing home grown stars of the future. The press did pick up on that. And found the girls very easy to photograph and place." says Seghatchian.
After Edinburgh, the film's international sales agent The Works took the film to the Toronto International Film Festival, an annual autumn meeting point for buyers and sellers of films. "A lot of US buyers saw it and loved it and there was a bidding war for it," says Seghatchian. "And we managed to sell it to the company we wanted to sell it to for a good price, Focus Features."
US distributor Focus have worked on a string of high profile films - including Lost In Translation and The Motorcycle Diaries. Their acquisition of My Summer Of Love only served to boost the profile and the positive press surrounding the film post-Edinburgh.
Back in the UK, the release date was drawing near. Posters were designed and a poster and print campaign launched for the film. Eventually the film was launched on October 22 on 25 sites, taking a very impressive £80,000 in its first three days. It played particularly strongly in the art-house friendly West End of London where it grossed £56,408 from 15 locations.
