Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Question regarding exhibition during private rental

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Posted by Dan Chilton (Member # 2288) on 06-20-2006, 02:39 PM:

We have a space rental coming up in early July for a "political rally" of sorts. It's an invite-only event, and they want to screen THE WAR ROOM (doc from 93 about the Clinton campaign). They're not charging for tickets, only asking for donations for a set of candidates. Will they need to get distribution rights, or are private showings okay in this circumstance?

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 06-20-2006, 02:46 PM:

Public showing, they need to secure permission. Charging admission as nothing to do with copyright, it's where and who that counts.

Posted by Dan Chilton (Member # 2288) on 06-20-2006, 03:59 PM:

What makes it a public showing, Mitchell? I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just curious to know where the line is drawn. I figured if it was invite-only, and inclusive of only a set group of people, then it would be private... like a private golf course. Does the fact that it's being shown in a public venue have bearing?

Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 06-20-2006, 06:27 PM:

I think it would be a private showing and they are paying for the use of the theater not the film, so it would be like inviting your friends over to watch a movie and charging them $2.00 to help pay for the pizza.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 06-21-2006, 02:41 PM:

We do these events occasionally, distributors consider it a public showing, cover your ass and get the license. It should be a flat rate and pretty cheap.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 06-22-2006, 09:25 AM:

What Bill said.

A theatre is always considered a public venue, regardless of whether it is rental or the event attendence is restricted.

I know for a fact that the MPAA has gone after Senior Assisted Living facilites for running home DVD's for residents in common rooms, and the MPAA has won. The ruling was that common areas were considered public, even though attendence was restricted to paid residents. If a resident had run the dvd in their room, that would have been ok.

While you will probably have no problems running unlicensed, I don't think it is worth the risk. The film distributors may cut you off if you get caught

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 06-22-2006, 10:35 AM:

Since it's invite-only, I'd count it in the same boat as a film club rental. Someone has to come up with the rental fee & shipping.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 07-08-2006, 04:12 PM:

Just to clarify, the myth that many many people believe is that if you are a non-profit and you don't charge an admission, somehow you are not violating the copyright. Not true, ever. The copyright owner unequivically retains the right to define the licensing conditions. Nowhere on any DVD will you see a line that says it is for exhibition to any group other than your immediate family, except if you don't charge admission.

It's like if someone steals a car and invites all his friends to ride around town in it. He can't claim that he didn't violate the owner's rights just because he didn't charge anyone for the ride. The car, like the movie, is property and they get to say how it's used. Someone buys a DVD, they don't own the movie to do what they want with it. They own the physical disk and they have paid for a license that only givens them permission to run the movie under specific conditions; showing it in a theatre to a group of however many, large or small audience isn't one of them.

Even inviting a bunch of friends over to watch a DVD in your home theatre is probably, stricktly speaking, a violation of what the MPAA & studios consider what the license "for HOME use" means. But of course there is no way for them to police this, but no doubt they would if they could figure out how.

Rule-of-thumb when it comes to copyright law -- it's all written to protect the studios, not the public. So anything thing that you think might possibly, technically be a violation....it is; anything you think might be Public Domain....it isn't. [Mad]

Posted by Pete Lawrence (Member # 130) on 07-11-2006, 10:13 AM:

What your doing would be considered a non-theatrical performance. A one time showing to a small group. Not charging admission is irrelevant to the copyright issues. Non-theatrical licensing is usually handled by companies like Swank and Criterion. Fees run between $100 and $300 typically. I've booked from both of them for a number of years.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-11-2006, 07:22 PM:

The best way out of this is to insist on THEM getting the liscense to show it and the print or video. Give THEM the phone number of who to contact and so on if they don't already know. Let THEM bring the print/video and a copy of the agreement for your files so you don't get caught with your pants down after the fact. If they ask YOU to do it then charge extra for your time and trouble over and above the rental fee.

Mark