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Getting started · Stage 1

Distribution Paperwork

The documents you need to know before your first day at a distributor

Licences, deliverables, classification and box office reports: what a distributor signs, receives and sends, with examples.

A distributor buys rights, takes delivery of a film and puts it in front of an audience, and every step of that is a document. This quick course covers the licence and what it grants, the deliverables list a film has to satisfy, classification and credits, and the reports that follow a release.

25 minutes · 3 modules · 9 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Be able to read a rights grant: territory, term, media and holdbacks.
  • Know what a deliverables schedule is and why a film is not finished until it is satisfied.
  • Know what chain of title and E and O insurance are for, from the buyer's side.
  • Know how a UK release is classified, credited and reported on.

Where this leads

By the end you will have written your own Stage 1 plan, checked yourself against MFJF's five Stage 1 statements, and know exactly what to do next: a mentor clinic, an Academy workshop, and Stage 2, the HotList.

Module 1

What a distributor takes on

8 min

A distribution deal is a set of rights for a set of time in a set of places. Read the grant and everything else follows.

  1. readThe licence: territory, term, media and holdbacks3 min
  2. readChain of title, E and O, and clearances, from the buyer's side3 min
  3. checkCheck: the deal and the clearances2 min
Module 2

What has to be delivered

8 min

The delivery schedule is the longest document in the deal, and nothing happens until it is satisfied.

  1. readThe deliverables schedule, item by item3 min
  2. readClassification, credits and compliance3 min
  3. checkCheck: delivery and compliance2 min
Module 3

The paperwork of a release, and after it

9 min

Once a film is out, the documents change from contracts to reports. These are the ones a distribution assistant handles weekly.

  1. readBookings, box office and the statements that follow3 min
  2. taskTask: take a real release apart3 min
  3. checkCheck: release and reporting3 min
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Sources and references

Where this course comes from. Open any of them yourself.

Check it yourself

This course is written from our own experience of the industry. These are the authorities that set the rules, so you can check anything here for yourself.

  • BBFC classification: what is submitted, and what comes back
  • Film Distributors' Association release paperwork and how a UK theatrical release works
  • PRS for Music music rights and the licences a release needs
  • PPL recorded music rights, the other half of a music licence
  • BFI distribution funding, audience data and industry statistics

Every link checked 19 September 2026.

You are not doing this alone

You have your own personal career mentor

That is us, the MFJF team. Book an MFJF Mentor Session with us every month: we guide you through this journey and answer all your questions, from which job is yours to your CV and your next application.

Book my MFJF Mentor Session

Where next

Your recommended next steps

Picked for Getting started. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to. See your whole MFJF journey, step by step →

  1. My MFJF JourneyOne page for everything MFJF has built, in the order you need it.
  2. My Reading ListThe books, blogs and bodies you have saved, in one place.
  3. Start the Stage 1 course: Getting startedTwo hours on what the job is, how people get in and what to do first.
  4. Get on the HotListPut yourself in front of productions looking for crew.
  5. Join MFJF DayPlayersDay work on productions for crew with the credits and the skills.
  6. Find your role in the career plannersEvery entry-level job by department, with a three-stage planner for each.
  7. Read the career guidesWhat each job is, the day, the way in and the pay: one guide for every role.
  8. See how it all fits on the career maps17 maps of how films get made: the people, the process and the departments.
  9. Who works whereEvery department on a shoot and every kind of film company: who is in each and what they do.
  10. Industry EssentialsThe books, industry bodies, websites and blogs worth knowing, department by department.
  11. Read the MFJF Survival GuidesStraight answers to what everyone starting out asks: how long it takes, what you get paid, and what to do every day.
  12. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  13. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.

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