Big risks in small markets: Use of risk reduction strategies by Norwegian film distributors

The film industry is fundamentally a risky business, and there is a significant body of research on how film and other cultural industries respond to risk and their strategies for risk reduction. This research, however, is based on large markets; many of the strategies described are correlated with market and company size. This article uses qualitative and quantitative methods to examine how film distributors in a small market, Norway, deal with risk and risk reduction strategies. It finds that while most common strategies are present, key strategies such as relying on hits to cover losses have limited application and for some distributors even the use of windowing strategies is limited. The only risk reduction strategy that is widely used is formatting in the form of releasing films based on known content or fitting within a clear niche or genre profile. As research also shows that Norwegian film distributors are increasingly relying on Norwegian films compared with foreign titles, this could contribute to making distributors less financially stable or more risk-averse.