Cinemaforyou… I’m sorry, but no. Blockbuster has videos you can rent for home viewing only. In fact, the MPAA (motion picture association of america) would love any home-theater owner to register and pay an additional fee to own equipment that can screen films larger than 72" and to more than you and your family. Ouch. So what that means is that if you are in my boat, and want to screen films in the community, you need a distributer, such as “Swank” or “Criterion USA”, and then you need financial backing. With our 25 seat theater, our distributers are asking $100 per film* to get the PPR (public performance rights).
*or if you sell tickets, %50 of the door for ticket sales over twice the rental cost. ie $200 in ticket sales = $100 rental fee… $250 in ticket sales = $125 rental fee
If you run the numbers, it becomes quite hard to cover your costs (let alone make a living at it.) I’m lucky that I’ve got minimal funding which covers the cost of film rentals, for now… and a day job. Don’t get me wrong, I’m working on a business plan for the Little Theater, but It’s proving very… very… difficult. I thought I’d find some helpful exhibitioners here that went through this process- But as of yet, I’ve only heard scoffs about how shameful it is to screen on video rather than film.
Consessions have helped in screenings, but only one in four of my audience decides to get a snack before the movie. Even if it were “free” to show a movie publicly without selling tickets- to raise 12million dollars for the Sedgwick’s rebuild- with the $25 worth of consessions each night, would take 1,315 years.
So I’m still at the drawing board… Now if every person in Mt. Airy (Population 37,412) gave me $320.75… I could come up with 12,000,000 dollars. Then again, if everyone reading this mailed me a dollar?
Here’s an article on the MPAA’s desired home theater fee: View link
If anyone has some business advice as to how they’ve made their Theater a successful business, please email me at
We are renting films legitimately on DVD from a distributor. I’m using Swank (www.swank.com). I refuse to show something without properly paying for the rights to do so. I would like to screen 16mm or 35mm, but what equipment that is available is digital. So “For Shame” isn’t very fair.
More details- The lobbies of the Sedgwick is currently the only functional space in the building. The outter lobby is in relatively good condition, and as I understand it, that is where consessions would have been located. The Inner lobby lead to the bathrooms, and the coat check. Now, the inner lobby is being used as the theater. This is problematic for many reasons, but it’s not accoustically appropriate for showing films.
How have we showed films there in the past? The equipment we use is a digital projector, along with a mac mini. The programs are edited to create a seamless experience. The whole program is then played straight from a harddrive. The sound system is a pa and speakers.
So when we talk about details about equipment, and the status of the theater now, I can say that what equipment there is is not appropriate- terrifically undersized for the venue, and the renovation costs to restore the Sedgwick completely have been estimated by at least two surveys at around 12 million.
The Little Theater, will be screening second-run films from DVD on a digital projector which is well suited to the size of the room, and the theater has an excellent surround sound system. It is a way to start showing films, and getting people used to having a theater experience in Mt. Airy. I am certain I can keep people coming to see the films we show, but I want to keep the future of the Sedgwick in sight and to tie the building’s return in with our small venue.
A good example of a Marquee would be the Bryn Mawr theater. Barush Signs of Orwigsburg PA made the marquee and it looks great! Google “Bryn Mawr” Marquee and you’ll probably come up with the article I found that at.
Cinemaforyou… I’m sorry, but no. Blockbuster has videos you can rent for home viewing only. In fact, the MPAA (motion picture association of america) would love any home-theater owner to register and pay an additional fee to own equipment that can screen films larger than 72" and to more than you and your family. Ouch. So what that means is that if you are in my boat, and want to screen films in the community, you need a distributer, such as “Swank” or “Criterion USA”, and then you need financial backing. With our 25 seat theater, our distributers are asking $100 per film* to get the PPR (public performance rights).
*or if you sell tickets, %50 of the door for ticket sales over twice the rental cost. ie $200 in ticket sales = $100 rental fee… $250 in ticket sales = $125 rental fee
If you run the numbers, it becomes quite hard to cover your costs (let alone make a living at it.) I’m lucky that I’ve got minimal funding which covers the cost of film rentals, for now… and a day job. Don’t get me wrong, I’m working on a business plan for the Little Theater, but It’s proving very… very… difficult. I thought I’d find some helpful exhibitioners here that went through this process- But as of yet, I’ve only heard scoffs about how shameful it is to screen on video rather than film.
Consessions have helped in screenings, but only one in four of my audience decides to get a snack before the movie. Even if it were “free” to show a movie publicly without selling tickets- to raise 12million dollars for the Sedgwick’s rebuild- with the $25 worth of consessions each night, would take 1,315 years.
So I’m still at the drawing board… Now if every person in Mt. Airy (Population 37,412) gave me $320.75… I could come up with 12,000,000 dollars. Then again, if everyone reading this mailed me a dollar?
Here’s an article on the MPAA’s desired home theater fee:
View link
If anyone has some business advice as to how they’ve made their Theater a successful business, please email me at
We are renting films legitimately on DVD from a distributor. I’m using Swank (www.swank.com). I refuse to show something without properly paying for the rights to do so. I would like to screen 16mm or 35mm, but what equipment that is available is digital. So “For Shame” isn’t very fair.
More details- The lobbies of the Sedgwick is currently the only functional space in the building. The outter lobby is in relatively good condition, and as I understand it, that is where consessions would have been located. The Inner lobby lead to the bathrooms, and the coat check. Now, the inner lobby is being used as the theater. This is problematic for many reasons, but it’s not accoustically appropriate for showing films.
How have we showed films there in the past? The equipment we use is a digital projector, along with a mac mini. The programs are edited to create a seamless experience. The whole program is then played straight from a harddrive. The sound system is a pa and speakers.
So when we talk about details about equipment, and the status of the theater now, I can say that what equipment there is is not appropriate- terrifically undersized for the venue, and the renovation costs to restore the Sedgwick completely have been estimated by at least two surveys at around 12 million.
The Little Theater, will be screening second-run films from DVD on a digital projector which is well suited to the size of the room, and the theater has an excellent surround sound system. It is a way to start showing films, and getting people used to having a theater experience in Mt. Airy. I am certain I can keep people coming to see the films we show, but I want to keep the future of the Sedgwick in sight and to tie the building’s return in with our small venue.
-David Titus
Director, Films at the Sedgwick
www.filmsatthesedgwick.com
A good example of a Marquee would be the Bryn Mawr theater. Barush Signs of Orwigsburg PA made the marquee and it looks great! Google “Bryn Mawr” Marquee and you’ll probably come up with the article I found that at.