our principal gets newly released movies to show for our demerit free activities. i don't think we pay a large fee for these but i will check it out and get back with the info. i think the deal is you can't charge for the movie but you can sell popcorn etc. ...seems to me i've seen a discussion string on this before as well.
Our Media Specialist (librarian) said that Disney is very picky over this. Teachers are not supposed to show these movies with out a special permission or their could be a very steep. It's worth checking into.
Your principal is correct. The only time that a movie distributed by the Motion Picture Acedemy can be shown "publicly" is in a classroom setting for educational purposes. A motion picture site license ensures copyright compliance for showing of copyrighted movies produced by movie studios and used by schools for non-educational activities.
The fee depends on the enrollment at our school. We have 575 and our license was $350 for the year through
Movie Licesensing USA
. If you are looking for a "one time showing" license, try
SWANK
, they charge different fees for different movies (depending on popularity) ranging from $45 to $250. (Swank is the parent company of Movie Licensing)
It is very simple to get the license, you can do so over the phone.
I was told by the pricipal that we can't just rent a movie and show it. Its illegal. We are only going to charge a fee to watch the kids for a few hours. Not charging to watch a movie thats just for entertainment. Does anyone know?? :confused: