Funding
In order to make Chicken, director Joe Stephenson raised £110,000. Key points:

Raised entirely through investment by individuals (e.g. rich friends/contacts)

No funding body (e.g. BFI Film Fund) was willing to fund Chicken

Raises questions about whether film industry is accessible to lower-income filmmakers

Production
Key points for making Chicken:

Adapted from a play by Freddie Machin that originally ran at Southwark Playhouse.

Filmed in 19 days, almost all external locations so victim to rain, issues with lighting etc.

Film produced and distributed by a new company set up by director Stephenson: B Good Picture Company.

Distribution

Chicken’s distribution has been very difficult:

No distribution deal secured in 2014

Two-year festival circuit won awards and generated interest and critical acclaim for film. ( That has received generally good reviews from a number of critics.)

Premiered 27 June 2015 Edinburgh International film festival

UK cinema release followed in May 2016. Selected for film subscription service MUBI and acquired by Film4 for TV premiere in April 2017.

UK DVD release distributed by Network Releasing. Digital distribution in USA/Canada – January 2018.

Promotion

Alongside film festivals, new technology was vital to promoting Chicken to a wider audience: 

Some traditional marketing: trailer, film poster with review quotes etc.

Social media very important to market film – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

Film available on-demand now; Stephenson hoping for deal with Netflix or Amazon Prime to bring in revenue and find wider audience.