Summary from reading "Hurray for Bollywood"

Hurray for Bollywood: How Indian Film Producers and Distributors Can Improve U.S. Returns analyzes the relationship between Bollywood producers and US distributers, generating that Bollywood producers did not get the fare share that they are supposed to achieve, due to the lack of transparacy of the profit earned by distributors, as well as the lack of insights over the distribution process. Apparently, to increase US returns, producers side and distributors side are the main channels to look into.

Where do Indian films produced?

Chennai, Calcutta and Mumbai

Where do US consumers access Bollywood films?

Theaters, DVD rentals, online streaming and cable.

Who are the primary US consumers of Bollywood?

NRIs(Non-resident Indian), second-generation Indians, and non-Indians. The NRIs who came to the States before 1990s prefer more traditional and romantic, aka more "cheesy" Bollywood films, while non-Indians are more well educated, tech savvy.

What kind of Bollywood films have been successful in the US?

Features: a superstar, a non-Indian setting or a storyline that includes culture clash, some pre-release promotion, a wide opening, and special home video options.

Recommendations:

Producers require better transparency-producers require clear and detailed metrics from distributors to ensure that they receive the returns to which they are entitled, as well as to ensure that distributors maximaze the potential of the films.

Distributors improve monetization by investing more on marketing to primary audiences and on other channels such as home video , and cable and satellite TV. This can be done by merchandising support for small retailers and attractive deals with national chain stores, and signing additional contract deals with cable and broadcast TV operators.

Revenue allocation is different between US and India. Box office returns in the US contribute only 25% of a film's total revenues, and less than 20% of the total profit, whereas it represent 85% of the total revenues in India. The most important revenue contributor is home video sales, which represent 50% of a film's total take. Syndication to broadcast and cable TV is another revenue driver. This require international distributor to maximize profit at every content type (theatrical, DVD, syndication).

Article source: international focus at kellog

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Departments/International/InternationalFocus/Article/Hurray_for_Bollywood.aspx