Gatekeepers and Gatekeeping Networks in the Film Distribution Business

Cultural flow, the access producers have to markets and the range of films available to audiences are heavily circumscribed by gatekeeping arrangements that have developed between sales agents and distributors in the film distribution business. This thesis examines how sales agents and distributors operate in that business: the sort of roles they have taken on over time, their ability to regulate the circulation of and access to films, the way they exercise power over distribution, and how they operate as part of gatekeeping networks.