Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Leasing Lg Format Prints

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Posted by Jan Hackett (Member # 1231) on 05-15-2002, 10:33 AM:

Ok... I am new to the Large format world having emerged from the world of 16mm and 35mm progection. To show a print at my museum we have to purchase the print (some 15,000) and then pay a minimum guarentee and a perhead fee. With 35mm it was a percentage share most going to distributer....Question is it possible to lease a lg format print even a used one that we would not have to purchase? It is a pain having to find a sponser for our showings and it limits us to fewer shows per year. I want more variety. How could I make this happen???

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Jan Hackett
Theater Operations Manager
Extreme Screen Dynatheater
NM Museum of Natural History Foundation

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 05-15-2002, 11:08 AM:

Disney large format still uses the conventional lease with Disney retaining ownership of the print. nWave may be doing the same, but I'm not sure. Most everyone else in LF will require you to purchase the print outright, but you might look around for someone who has played the film and is looking to sell their print used. The distributor should know who has a print available for sale.

However, used 8/70 prints may be hard to come by, as it is not yet as widely used as 15/70 (but it's growing).

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 05-15-2002, 04:04 PM:

Adam

To say that you purchase the print is a bit misleading. that original payment of up to $50k for a 3D 1570 print does not give you any kind of ownership , it really is just an initial lease fee. At the end of your license period you are supposed to return the print .

You are right nWave do have a more commercial attitude to leasing but I am not sure that any of their titles would fit Jan's theatre remit.

Mind you I suppose Elvira's performance in Encounters in The Third Dimension is a kind of natural history

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Dick Vaughan,
Cinema Operations Manager
National Museum Of Photography, Film & Television,
Pictureville
Bradford BD1 1NQ, England
http://www.nmpft.org.uk/

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 05-15-2002, 09:24 PM:

I suppose you're right, Dick. Poor word choice on my part. What I probably should have said is that if a theater is looking for a deal, there are used prints out there that carry a much lower initial lease expense than new prints. Quite often these prints are sitting in a theater somewhere waiting for a new home.

In reviewing a couple of contracts (which are not necessarily from any theater I am affiliated with):

Distributor A: "The print and all trailers are at all times the property of [distributor] ..."

Distributor B: "[Distributor] shall provide to the Exhibitor one quality assured 15/70 print, one soundtrack [...] and one 15/70 3D trailer and accompanying soundtrack of [film title] for a total cost of US $[xx,xxx] ..." Then on later pages: "[Distributor] shall arrange with Exhibitor immediately upon termination of the Agreement for the return of all Prints and Soundtracks ..."

Distributor C: This distributor required the theater to pay $x,xxx for a used, unassured print to be delivered at the theater's expense directly from another theater. The contract (Letter Agreement) the theater signed was 2 pages long and there were at least 14 pages (of Standard Terms and Conditions) the theater never received. I assume that print return information was on the pages the theater never saw.

My previous comments may be confusing because there are some theaters that purchase rights based on the fact that they want to library the film and have exhibition rights at their leisure. In other words, they will play the film for a normal engagement, after which the print will be played at the exhibitor's whim.

And yet other theaters invest in the production of certain films and gain additional special exhibition privileges.

Throw in equipment leases, ticket royalties, seat royalties, etc., and everyone is thoroughly confused.