Sams Lesson 11/3/14

Ownership -

Vertical Ownership - All stages of production are kept within the company (Big Companies)
Horizontal Ownership - Production is split between several companies (Small Companies)

The bigger companies can afford vertical ownership on their films because they can have the writers, producers, editors and professionals from all aspects involved with the making.

Smaller companies either cannot afford or do not have all professional people needed to make a film on their own. They might write it then a different company might edit and a different company may distribute.

Both forms of ownership have their benefits. For example, if you were involved in Horizontal ownership, you would have more views on whether or not the product is as effective as it could be. For example if the film goes through 3 companies, you will have 3 different points of view and errors could be picked up as well as improvements made along the line. This would not work as effectively for Vertical ownership, there would be the view of one company only and this could cause errors that are not picked up. A con of Horizontal ownership could be the communication between the companies. For Vertical ownership, there will be no communication problems for Vertical ownership because only one company is involved.

Funding -

Public and Private funding.
TV and Film have many revenue streams.
- License Fee
- Subscriptions
- Pay per view
- Sponsorship
- Advertising
- Product Placement
- Merchandising
- Private Capital

Key Considerations -

Consider the size of each company and how their content is distributed to the audience
Are they vertically or horizontally integrated?
What audience share do they have?
What is the average budget give to the productions?

Major American Film Companies

1. Warner Bros
2. Paramount Pictures
3. Walt Disney
4. Columbia Pictures
5. Universal Studios
6. 20th Century Fox

These 6 own and make about 90% of films made in America.

Warner Brothers is owned by Time Warner.

Paramount Pictures is owned by Viacom.

Walt Disney is owned by itself (Walt Disney Company).

Columbia pictures is owned by Sony corporation.

Universal Studios is owned by Comcast/GE.

20th Century Fox is owned by News Corporation.


Having 6 main companies producing 90% of films has a lot of positives and negatives. The positives include that we get the best films possible due to the tremendous budgets that these companies have. They can afford the best in the industry when it comes to animators, writers and also the equipment they use. A negative may be that smaller companies will get overshadowed by these companies and these companies could also affect a lot of people when it comes to their views. If they show their views in a certain way, hundreds of millions of people could see that information and this could sway what people think about certain things. There are many other political issues that may arise surrounding the views and the control that these companies/studios have over what many people see.