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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: How does licensing work for free film showings?
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 01-08-2017 11:14 AM
For paid-for movie theater screenings of repertory titles, the distributor sometimes gives you the option of a minimum guarantee plus box office percentage, or a flat fee.
There is a separate category of distribution - so-called "non-theatrical distribution" - for movies shown to a large assembled audience, but not in a movie theater, hence the copyright warnings that used to appear on British rental VHS tapes in the 1980s, that they must not be played "in oil rigs, prisons and schools" (presumably the biggest markets for NTD at the time). Swank in the USA and Filmbank in Britain are two major players in that market. They used to supply 16mm prints back in the day, many of which now circulate among collectors, but nowadays they typically sell you a license to screen a BD or DVD that you buy separately, from Amazon or wherever.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 01-08-2017 07:41 PM
quote: Martin McCaffery
When you pay for the exhibition rights to a movie from Swank or other non-theatrical distributor, they make a point of warning you that you do not have to right to show the DVD/BR "extras".
Supremely ironic, in the light of my last experience with a Swank BD.
It was something the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival brought in for a rental - they'd got it from Swank. This BD had no less than eleven minutes of snipes, copyright warnings, logos, ads and trailers before it would let you at the main menu to start the feature. The BD was also authored such that pressing the stop or menu button would start them over.
Of course, after the guy introducing the screening left the stage and it was time to start the movie, I accidentally hit eject instead of play, and the audience had to wait for 11 minutes.
They only brought the disc on the day of the show, or else I'd have ripped it and DCP-ized the feature, to prevent the risk of that happening.
What was even more bizarre was that the feature was basically a gay porno, but the trailers were mainly for G-rated, kid-friendly titles. At least it wasn't the other way round!
quote: Justin Hamaker
I don't know Disney's reasoning...
I don't either, but would guess that it's consistent with their "premium brand" marketing policy: they'd rather make their movies, even their rep titles, a bit difficult to see and therefore create a buzz on the rare occasions that they are shown, than have them play on cable TV, $4.99 DVDs and every Sunday afternoon for discount shows at arthouses and on campuses. They used to have a policy (don't know if this is still the case) of only doing theatrical re-releases of their iconic titles once every seven years for a few weeks. Their retail video releases also seem to be time-limited, in premium packaging and a lot more expensive than the norm.
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Jack Ondracek
Film God
Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 01-09-2017 12:05 PM
quote: Mike Hillyer
I meant that all they had for revenue was concessions, because they didn't have ticket sales. Concession sales were not required.
Yahh..... You're still getting into that gray area, where the studios will want to know how you make money. If you really don't charge admission, meaning anyone can just walk in the door and see the show without buying anything, then you might get the flat rate (as described earlier). If you even go so far as to sell concessions from the same register that you use to keep track of who comes in, the studios are likely to see that as admissions, and will want that documented.
Whether you mean to or not, this is just one idea among thousands that people have come up with to get studio content without really having to pay for it, which I find curious-to-offensive. The studios feel that if you use their content to attract customers, then part of what you make should go to them. Come to think of it, it's not all that different with the background music industry, which feels you're creating an atmosphere with their content that makes people comfortable in your business. Value = money, which they naturally want a piece of.
This is long-winded, but really... if you want to run a serious business, I think you ought to include the studios' content as a legitimate part of your expense model. If you have a concept that's marketable in your area, you should be able to charge enough for it to pay for the movie.
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