Terry Stevens Head of Home Entertainment, Dogwoof

13th October, 2012

  UK based distributor with a specialist focus on documentary since 2007.

  Titles include The Age of Stupid, Burma VJ, Bobby Fischer Against The World, The Interrupters, Bombay Beach, Marina Abramovic The Artist Is Present

  Specialise in developing/ building partnerships with third parties like Christian Aid, The Co-operative, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Nike etc…

  We cover all windows from theatrical, through to home entertainment and TV and ancillary sales

  First company to launch film on DSN (King’s Game) in 2004

  Continue to experiment with new technology to find audiences

  Took on rights for UK in early 2010 at Cannes after earlier screening in UK

  Quality film with large audience potential across demographics

  Potential to gain a dedicated, ‘cult’ following   Strong potential in “event cinema” and also in

Home Entertainment owing to particular nature/ genre of the film

  Would have a very long tail given contemporary subject matter

Winner of the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, and heralded as possibly the best war film ever made, Restrepo focuses on the deployment of a US platoon in Afghanistan’s hostile Korengal Valley . Over the course of 15 months, the two filmmakers Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger (author of The Perfect Storm) lived with the unit shadowing their every move, resulting in extraordinary footage. From spectacular combat and ambush scenes to difficult discussions with local village elders, civilian and military deaths, never before has such access been granted. Restrepo is as close as it gets to seeing what life as a soldier is really like.

  WHAT IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE? We identified 2 main target audiences:

  PRIMARY: The ‘Guardian’ readers:   ANGLE: Journalism at its best – transparency, no agenda.   Focus on press around the filmmakers, their experience of

shooting the “raw experience of war”, and their success in reporting conflict in an utterly transparent way.

  SECONDARY: Mainstream - predominantly male audience 18-35:

  ANGLE: The real deal, and the real heroes. The soldiers’ voice, the experience through their eyes.

  The mates, the missions, the good times, the bad times. This is the real deal, the most dangerous valley in Afghanistan. Forget what you’ve seen before, the war films, the news reports; this is it.

  OTHER: Women   ANGLE: The complexity of war pared down to the

simplicity of emotions.   The guys, their vulnerability, what they feel, who

they miss, and how they cope.   From several previews screenings, women’s

response to RESTREPO was overwhelming. We were approached by many women wanting to show the film or take part in the campaign. They described the film as “finally, an uncomplicated, apolitical, humane piece of film making about the soldiers as human beings, rather than machines serving for someone else’s purpose.”

  WHAT IS THE TOPLINE RELEASE STRATEGY? How do you ‘find’ your audience?

  Concentrating windows, mix of London and key cities opening cinemas, alternative venues, focusing on social media and online marketing to build and spread word of mouth, generate debate and grow online community interactivity online.

  Concentrating windows: Given the TV broadcast date and in order to achieve the widest reach and highest possible revenues, the strategy was to concentrate the release as much as possible by bringing release windows closer.

  The release strategy revolved around the notion that RESTREPO is a film that would generate significant word-of-mouth, so closer release windows will maximize impact and make the film available to everyone while there is buzz.

  CAMPAIGN ELEMENTS   The campaign focused on:   Enabling people to get actively involved in the film

campaign long before the release.   Capitalising on word-of-mouth, growing it to

maximise exposure for other windows.   Enabling anyone in any UK area to see this film

while the buzz is happening.   To integrate physical community screenings with

the online space, rather than treating them as different areas. We want to create a synergy between physical and online exchanges.

  Excellent reviews   £60K+ made in cinemas   15K+ DVDs sold to date and continued strong

sales   No. 1 documentary title on iTunes   Oscar nominated   Recognised as one of our most successful

campaigns to date

Thank you