Distribution, sales & platforms · Specialist
Distributor
ELI5
A company acquiring particular rights and releasing or licensing the work within an agreed scope.
Used in conversation
“We should involve the distributor before we lock the plan.”
Definition
A company acquiring specified rights and releasing or licensing the work within an agreed scope.
Here “Distributor” means: A company acquiring specified rights and releasing or licensing the work within an agreed scope.
Pitch context
You may encounter “Distributor” in rights, contracts, finance, distribution & labour conversations or materials.
Why it matters: Explains who controls, pays for, approves, exploits or bears risk around a project.
Connected terms
- Sales agentA sales agent licenses rights to distributors or buyers; a distributor exploits the work in a market or channel.
Sources & evidence · 8
Supporting source families. This entry is an editorial synthesis rather than a quotation from one canonical glossary.
- World Intellectual Property Organization — Rights Clearance: A Guide for Independent FilmmakersSupporting source family · primary · checked 2026-08-14
- World Intellectual Property Organization — Rights, Camera, Action! IP Rights and the Film-Making ProcessSupporting source family · primary · checked 2026-08-14
- Writers Guild of America West — No Writing Left BehindSupporting source family · primary · checked 2026-08-14
- Writers Guild of America West — Fight Back Against Free WorkSupporting source family · primary · checked 2026-08-14
- Producers Guild of America — Producing Credits for Episodic Television (Scripted)Supporting source family · institutional · checked 2026-08-14
- Producers Guild of America — Producing Credits for Non-Fiction TelevisionSupporting source family · institutional · checked 2026-08-14
- Format Recognition and Protection Association — FRAPA Format ResourcesSupporting source family · institutional · checked 2026-08-14
- U.S. Copyright Office — Copyright BasicsSupporting source family · primary · checked 2026-08-14