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Author Topic: Anybody else getting screwed on Slumdog? Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 04-04-2009 07:49 PM                     So, is there an issue if the local newspaper includes a screening at a school in their movie listing, not paid advertising?  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-05-2009 09:55 AM                        I'll guess that's a gray area and depends on how it is done and if anyone complains. If the paper, for instance, prints all the school activities and the lunch menu, it's probably not a problem. I remember the Washington Post used to run listings of all the movies that were playing at the local colleges (they may still, I don't live there anymore) and I don't recall anyone getting in trouble.  |  IP: Logged Chris Iacofano Film Handler Posts: 15 From: Athens, OH, USA Registered: Jan 2009 posted 04-05-2009 08:54 PM                        John, Interesting to hear about the wording in the Swank agreement - imagine it's there to protect theatrical venues from possible unfair competition by universities/nonprofits/etc. I never ran into problems with that because all of my Swank bookings were for small campus screenings. However, in the 4 years of doing film festival bookings (non-theatrical, generally arthouse distributors with a few majors) we were sent promotional materials for our advertisements from many of the distributors, printed thousands of programs, and advertised all over the place. At least one of the movies we showed each year ended up playing at one of the local theaters after the festival. Perhaps the studios view festival screenings differently from strictly non-theatrical screenings. I was a little unclear before, but the studios do consider the purpose of the theater in making the distinction between theatrical and non-theatrical. If it is a classroom space that happens to host screenings, then it must be considered non-theatrical. My theater is a somewhat unique example in that it has been university owned for the last decade but prior to last year was rented to a private, for-profit company. When the university assumed operations of the building the studios were quite specific that the building can't be used as a classroom. We had to file our business hours with each studio, and we were expected to have as many screenings as time allowed during the day - no cancellations allowed to schedule a lecture, for instance. We are allowed, however, to only book 2 out of the 3 screens theatrically any given week, leaving one open for local screenings, classic films, etc. We just need to make sure that we have a week of programming prepared so that the screen doesn't sit dark most of the week. Any university events are treated as a theater rental (so essentially the university rents it's theater from itself.) The university is right there on all of the MLAs that we have filed, however, and every studio (except again Sony) was fine with that. I'm still unclear as to what conditions qualified us for theatrical booking (perhaps it was the theater's history of theatrical booking under private management, not using the building as a classroom space, alignment of the planets, etc.) but in any event I'm pretty careful to play by their rules.  |  IP: Logged

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