film club licence(is it needed)

frag420

HI,

A friend of mine is looking into the idea of setting up a film club. She is currently looking at spaces and one she is interested in is in a function room above a bar. There is bar in the room too. Does she or the premises require license such as that from the IMRO to show a movie.

Eg; say she wanted to rent a DVD or use one of her own and put it on a projector in the function room and charge people a fiver or whatever to come along will she require a license. As i understand it DVDs are for home viewing only. Also these will be old movies like back to the future or superman(you get the idea). The kind of movies that some of us never got to see on a big(ish) screen and no recent/new releases will be shown so as to keep the local cinemaplex place happy!!

Cheers

frag420

anyone??

keefg

I'd say you definitely need some sort of licence or permit. You may even have to buy in the films at a certain price especially as you are looking at this as a commercial venture (no matter how small).

Contact your local cinema manager and have a chat with them. Tell them what you plan to do and ask for any advice on how to get set up.

Maybe they would be interested in working with you and let you rent out one of their smaller screens on their quiet days.

Lplated

If she is going to use a room in a bar, she might find that the publican has already paid a licence fee to IMRO and PPI which might cover the music angle.

If you do a search, you'll find a couple of threads in this forum about charges for both those bodies (imro for public performances and ppi for copyright in sound recordings).

That isn't her main problem (assuming that she's either covered by the publican or can negotiate a deal with those bodies) - either of those bodies only deal with music - there's an entirely different copyright vested in the movie itself (excluding the music), and you're in breach of that by showing it publicly and for gain (doesn't matter whether its profitable or not, she's charging for it). Where is her source for the 'old movies' - does that source extend a licence also?

Lplated

keefg wrote: »

Maybe they would be interested in working with you and let you rent out one of their smaller screens on their quiet days.

Excellent idea - you get to run your club using the cover of their operating license, and they get a few extra customers.

Will save you a lot of money in legal advice fees etc. etc.. that you'll otherwise need to expend just to ensure you're on the right side of the law.

gillo_100

I remember hearing that if it is a private club you don't need a licence as is is not a public showing. This was in relation to a college film society.

Now I'm by no means sure of this, it is just what I heard, so I'd advise looking into it further, but you could be lucky

frag420

cheers guys.

As it goes she wants to go with the bar idea as its her friends bar and with the way the pub trade is goin now it would be ideal for both parties as it would bring people into the premises. She has looked into the rental of space before in the local mutiplex and eve the small screens are quite expensive for her and we dont think there would be enough of a market to fill 100+ seats where bye in the function room she plans to have a sitting room vibe to it with armchairs, sofas(inflatable ones with covers on them) etc and throw out free bowls of popcorn etc.

As for where she would get the movies i would imagine they would be from her own personal collection or possibly from the local dvd rental shop hence the issue with public viewing and licences etc.

As far as i know the pub has a IMRO licence for DJs, bands and for playing music through laptop/ipod.

Also the room will be rent free as the bar owner sees it as a way of geting people into the bar and if they like it and have a good time they will come back other nights.

cheers guys for your input. its very much appreciated. if you have ay more ideas please keep them coming.

frag

frag420

just been on to a company in the uk called MPLCUK which deal in these type of licenses and i am awaiting a call back from them. After all this i better get free passes into the movies!!

IL let you guys know how i get on.

thanx again

fRag

keefg

frag420 wrote: »

As it goes she wants to go with the bar idea as its her friends bar and with the way the pub trade is goin now it would be ideal for both parties as it would bring people into the premises.
Also the room will be rent free as the bar owner sees it as a way of geting people into the bar and if they like it and have a good time they will come back other nights.

frag

Ahh...that makes sense now. It's more for the pubs benefit than an actual "film club". Good Idea.

You will also be covered under the pubs public liability insurance.

frag420 wrote: »

IL let you guys know how i get on.

Please do.

iMax

Hi,

I looked into this before. You don't need a licence (& can show uncertified movies) if it's a private film club (membership has to be paid). However, you cannot use your own collection or rented movies for showing.

You must rent movies from a company based in Robin Hood industrial estate (their name escapes me right now). These movies come on 16mm, VHS & DVD. However, there are very few recent releases & the older ones tend to be VHS based. Rental is approx €120 per title + VAT. Titles must be ordered in advance.

Just edited to say "Movies & Booze" - great idea !

iMax

Remembered the name of the rental company - http://www.gfd.ie/

suey71

You could get in touch with a film distributor like Warner or Disney/Buena Vista. They should tell you where you stand legally. You could also get in touch with the IFC Irish Film Council or Irish Film Board.

This is a great idea frag. I'd love to go to the pub and look at foreign films/martial arts films etc. that you'd never get a chance to see in the cinima.

iMax

All the film distributors are signed up to gfd, they'll all refer you to them.

frag420

suey71 wrote: »

You could get in touch with a film distributor like Warner or Disney/Buena Vista. They should tell you where you stand legally. You could also get in touch with the IFC Irish Film Council or Irish Film Board.

This is a great idea frag. I'd love to go to the pub and look at foreign films/martial arts films etc. that you'd never get a chance to see in the cinima.

Il keep ya a seat......what ya drinkin

UPDATE: have heard nothing from the crowd in the UK. Will call them again tomorow aswell as the GFD crowd.

Cheers guys

keefg

frag420 wrote: »

UPDATE: have heard nothing from the crowd in the UK. Will call them again tomorow aswell as the GFD crowd.

Cheers guys

The also have an Irish branch http://www.mplc.ie/contact.php

suey71

Hi frag.

Red wine when I'm looking at a good film at home with the wife and Guinness when I'm out with the lads.

They wont let me drink wine when we're out:D. They get embarrassed easily.

frag420

suey71 wrote: »

Hi frag.

Red wine when I'm looking at a good film at home with the wife and Guinness when I'm out with the lads.

They wont let me drink wine when we're out:D. They get embarrassed easily.

Damn i thought you were a chick!! ha ha

frag420

keefg wrote: »

The also have an Irish branch http://www.mplc.ie/contact.php

cheers

been up to my tits all day today so will buzz em tomorow.

thanx everyone