"Movies in the Park" and other public events

[Mike Blakesley]

With summer arriving we're starting to see various things like this happening around town. There is an Agate Festival coming at the end of this month at the fairgrounds and they are advertising a "movie night" as part of the festivities. A local high school group is planning on putting on a "drive in movie" at the fairgrounds and was asking about borrowing our FM radio transmitter. (I'm on the fair board so that's how I heard about it.) And the chamber of commerce is thinking about a "movie night" in one of the local parks.

I don't know if any of these are licensed or not -- probably not. And, I dont want to come off like a jerk for trying to get these things shut down. Do any of you have similar things popping up in your community and if so, what do you do about it if anything?

[Leo Enticknap]

If you're on the board, why not simply raise this at a board meeting? Don't pitch it as wanting to shut the thing down, just as ensuring that it's done right and avoiding potential liability. The cost of a license from Swank for a one-off screening of an older movie should not be an insurmountable problem in the context of the overall cost of an event like this, surely?

[Frank Cox]

There's a guy somewhere around here that rents bouncy castles and does this movie-in-the-park stuff as well. I've occasionally seen ads for his movies that are new-ish Disney releases so I'm pretty sure he has no official authorization.

If someone did put the clamp on him I won't cry about it but I'm not going out of my way to push for that either.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Mike, I used to provide projection and sound for an outdoor movie event for a well known club "of motion" if you get my drift. My contract for them clearly spelled out that they were 100% responsible and liable for obtaining the exhibition rights of EVERYTHING shown or played over the projection or sound. It is their responsibility, not you yours even if you were providing all of the projection and sound as well. Since they just want to borrow/rent your FM transmitter, I see no real liability on your part in any event.

I would however, make sure that:

1. They have a qualified person, not some random High school kid, set up and tune the transmitter and
2. They place a security deposit at least equal to the replacement cost of your transmitter, which of course would be returned if they bring it back intact (no missing cables, etc.) and operational.

With those points (plus what Leo said) covered you will be fine.

[Mike Blakesley]

If you're on the board, why not simply raise this at a board meeting?

It doesn't have anything to do with the fair board -- we just put on the fair. We have a manager who books the grounds for other uses during the year. But I'm going to ask her to ask these groups if their movies are licensed or not.

I'm more concerned in my role as the local film-rent-paying movie theater owner.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Many people don't even know that such events, even if they're freely accessible, do need authorization from the content owners and even if they do know, they don't know HOW to properly license it. That's also why quite often, those kind of events don't tend to happen... because once professional audio/visual firms get involved for stuff like the projection, those questions are often asked.

So, I would not only be the one who would be raining on their parade, but if I'd be you, I'd contact my booker and ask if he can be of service for such events and if not, if he doesn't know a party that does license such events properly. Because then you can not only warn the board for potential liability issues, but also present a possible solution, which, IMHO, is much stronger.

Also, if somebody is publicly showing movies in your neck of the woods, try to get involved and your name on the banner.

Just my 2cents... you do what you want obviously.

[Tj Hopland]

Like someone else was saying I would bring it up from the angle of just trying to make sure they don't get in trouble. Do some searching or tell them to, several stories come up about groups and schools getting caught and having to pay significant fines. The headline is organizers can face $150,000 in fines per movie. I just did a quick search on the topic and the AI gave me links to Swank and MPLC. And speaking of AI remind them that the studios all have AI bots now scanning the net so it could just take one fest goer takes a selfie and mentions watching Major Movie Title at the fest and they could be busted.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Check out the Cinema Borealis setup I was involved in many years ago. One 35mm print, "RAN", on Friday night, 70mm on Saturday "Days Of Heaven", And a 70mm "2001" on Sunday.
70 foot wide screen, multiple Intersonics subwoofers, 5 screen channels and full surrounds... A permit had to be pulled for the screen scaffolding and a scaffolding company hired to erect it...

[Marcel Birgelen]

Wow, an outdoor setup with 5 screen speakers!

The last time I did an outdoor cinema I insisted on surround speakers and eventually I got them... It made quite a difference and people really seemed to both notice and like it.