This Friday and Saturday in Edinburgh, Jon Reiss will be talking about the role about the role of the 'producer of marketing and distribution', or PMD. This is a good opportunity to look at how this concept has evolved since Jon proposed it almost six years ago. At the time, he wrote:

"I would argue that from now on, every film needs one person devoted to the distribution and marketing of the film from inception, just as they have a line producer, assistant director, or editor."

The proposed list of the PMD's responsibilities is huge: audience engagement, distribution strategy, marketing budget, fundraising, publicity, social media, outreach through organisations, crowdsourcing, website and transmedia supervision, sponsorship... That's why Jon gave this position the title of 'producer', "because it is that important."