UNIT 1- MEDIA INSTITUTIONS-CELADORKashmire Hawker

OWNERSHIPCelador was born in 1983 as an independent production company. They we’re brought out by Complete Communications in 1999.

However, due to the company gaining millions of pounds & much popularity thanks to them producing the former ITV Game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Eventually in 2007, despite them very nearly being brought by Dutch firm 2WayTraffic, the board including the Owner Paul Smith CBE & co-founder Jasper Carrott brought themselves out & they once again became an Independent company; they have stayed so since.

The film company was established in 1991 & have made movies such as The Descent, The Descent 2 , Slumdog Millionaire & The Scouting Book For Boys. They are currently producing Selma, an America Drama film based on the events of the 1960’s which is due to be released in January 2015.

Also on there Board is Commercial Director Mark Johnson & Non-Executive Director Steven Dover.

OPERATING MODELAs Celador are a small company, they produce movies project-by-project with freelance staff being on contracts. A small business like Celador enables them to earn money thanks to the strategies they have which earns them good profits.

When a company is set up for a project such as a movie, a company of there size has it’s profits & a fund named ‘Initial Capitailsation’. If they U-turn & says NO, ‘Project Capitalisation’ is there for them to get the required for similar projects which are specific. Celador are co-funded by profit & manage to gain co-funding by selling the distribution rights.

Following this, the company will sign deals with smaller but similar businesses to gain a further co-investment & build new partnerships.

For even more money to come there way, the project maybe sold to a big distributor even before everything is finalised. The Descent’s rights we’re sold to giants Pathe.

Finally & most importantly: Licensing. This where the company will do a deal with a major player in the market to confirm things will go ahead.

PRODUCTSCelador are much more than just films as they have 3 other businesses.

They own 17 Radio Stations; 12 of them are the whole of The Breeze Network all across the UK as well as the 3 Jack FM stations in Southern England. They also run Fire Radio based in Bournemouth & Poole and finally Palm 105.5 in Torquay.

Along with Radio, they conduct Theatrical performances & own Lusam Music; an international publishing firm.

All 4 companies are run by the entertainment firm.

Slumdog Millionaire is on of the biggest success stories for Celador; the film made an awful lot of money & thanks to it’s success, a theatre production is due for London’s West End come the end of 2014. Also, it’s TV portfolio did produce good shows; those shows included All About Me & The National Lottery Winning Lines which averaged more than 5 Million viewers over the 6 series.

MARKET POSITION & COMPETITORSDespite being a small company, Celador’s big successes make them a major

market player. This comes to mind as they have only released 6 Films in 8 Years with the next not due until 2015.

The budget of The Descent was £3.5 Million & made £34.6 Million.

There main competitors are bigger companies with a comparison of a film they made all are: DNA Films- Another independent small company also based here in Britain:

28 Days Later had an £8 Million budget & made £57 Million worldwide. Film4 Productions- They share very strong links with Celador in the Film & TV

Industry; both we’re involved in Slumdog Millionaire; the Bollywood movie’s budget was £9.1 Million & made staggeringly, just short of £230 Million.

Sony Pictures Entertainment- A Hollywood based giant who’s track record is pretty impressive…

These figures shows that despite the market being crowded, Celador’s films are successful & will continue to be for the foreseeable future.