HowToBookFilms
From The Star And Shadow Cinema Wiki
How to book a film
1. Find distributor of film.
CHECK FilmDistributors FOR A FULL LIST OF DISTRIBUTORS.
Call BFI on (020) 7255 1444 and ask for 'information line', or Filmbank on (020) 7957 8938 8925/8935/4755, say you are calling from the Star and Shadow cinema in Newcastle, and ask who commercially distributes this film.
There is also info on http://www.bfi.org.uk/nftva/access/bookings/
You can also go to the BBFC website: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ where you can search on a film and see who has distributed it in the UK when and on what format.
We can hire films and DVDs NON THEATRICALLY too (push the membership factor). E.g a 35mm print is not available, only DVD on a non theatrical basis, go for that. We have accounts with BFI, Filmbank and we can get films from New Realm too.
Mat says: "It's tough to find rights and prints for films that aren't either 'classics' or hollywood. You will often be in the situation of rights from one place print from another and the increased cost that involves. Coming soon at the S&S in this category are: The Man Who Laughs (rights: Universal print: Bologna Film Archive) Assault on Precinct 13 (print: BFI rights: random american corporation) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (print: Blue Dolohin Print: random american corporation) they are rarely easy. The hunt usually starts at the BFI information line and sometimes you get lucky and you are sent on a seemingly endless chain of phonecalls to people who pass you on to somewhere else if they reply at all. There are also useful contacts like our friend from Rotterdam who is a professional print finder for hire for festivals. There is also Simon Troy, film booking agent, who is sometimes useful."
2. Once found out distributor, call them and say I would like to do a
commercial screening of ... at star and shadow cinema, Newcastle ask for:
Availability
Format (in order of preferred format:
35mm - perfect, but we need lots of time to set up the film, we may not have a projector yet etc.
16mm - ideal.
DVD - good enough - GO FOR DVD IF NO 35MM OR 16MM IS AVAILABLE UNLESS A PRINT FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY IS VERY CHEAP
VHS tape - preferably not.
BetaSP or DigiBeta - better than DVD and VHS, we have a BetaSP player but NOT a Digi-Beta. We can borrow from Tyneside in an emergency.
Price for rental
Ideally we don't want to pay more than between £75-£100 as a minimum guarantee.
The 'terms' of most distributors, i.e how much they expect us to pay are a Minimum Guarantee of £80 - £100 or 30% of the box office. This is because if you are a cinema with 1000 seats selling tickets for £6 you could make £6000 while they only make £100, so they find out after your screening your 'Box Office Return', i.e how much you took on the box office. If 30% of your takings is less than the minimum guarantee they will charge you the minimum guarantee. if it is more they will charge you 30%. Make sense?
For non-theatrical they just send an invoice.
Courier details
We have a contract with NFT (National Film Transport).
Debbie says: "in all honesty the film carriage is a very mysterious art! It is sort of this thing that just magically happens (normally) with people carefully overseeing it. Therefore it is difficult to explain. If it's Universal / Warner Bros it will be automatically dispatched from the warehouse where most films live (Deluxe, Perrivale) and make its way to the cinema and we just have to be sure someone is in to sign for it (the courier has been known to phone first) and to check its there a few days before the screening, and then book its return with NFT (different to the bfi system) after the screening."
You also need to get:
Running time
Director
Date
Country of origin
3. Next Step once you have this info take it to a programme meeting and check that all is OK, esp cost! and if so, then book it. Also, need to tell tech team which format it is.
Ideally you would email someone in the programming group to tell them that you had an idea. You can just email info@starandshadow, but it is better to get involved in the programming group. Programming meetings are on the fourth Monday of the month. To subscribe to the programme email group, send a blank message to programme-subscribe@lists.starandshadow.org.uk
4. PUBLICITY really it is great if you help market your event - you can get posters (called 'quads') from Moving Print Distribution and National Film Services. Contacts on this page: Contacts, in the marketing section.
Posters are free and they just send them pretty much the next day.
And of course you can write it up beautifully on the main (public) star & shadow website. Instructions here: [[1]]
5. RETURNING FILMS You are also responsible for making sure the film gets sent back! easy to forget, but CRUCIAL for our relationships with distributors. If it is a film print, you just need to call the courrier firm that brought it and arrange collection.
