Tag Archives: movie

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Booklist: Read the Book, See the Movie

Sticking to the scriptYou probably don’t need any more titles on your booklist, but we found some more great ones!  Arielle Calderon of Buzzfeed has put together a list of 21 Books To Read Before They Hit The Big Screen In 2015.  Each entry features a starred review of the book from Amazon users, as well as movie trailers (when available).  The list is in chronological order, so you can plan accordingly!

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/nptavrl, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Question from the Field: Public Performance Rights

FilmReels.popturfdotcomAn area media specialist/tech integrationist asked:  Our District Grad Party Committee wants to show a Shrek movie as part of the all night graduation party.  We know they likely have to pay licensing/royalties to do so. What I’m working to find out is why do we pay?  And how much is it?

Solutions to this question:

  1. It is wise to ask administration if they already have some sort of performance rights they’ve paid for OR whether they have a procedure in place for doing this. Knowing the internal procedure could help a great deal when working with the business office for payment too. Schools often have information about this because of performance rights that are needed for drama and music. IF there is nothing in place, move on to option 2!
  2. A search was done  using the terms “public performance rights” to produce a very helpful page on the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, one of the oldest public libraries in the nation.  You will want to bookmark this site, as it includes:
  • Frequently Asked Questions about Public Performance Rights,
  • Vendors that Sell Movies with Public Performance Rights,
  • How to Get Permission to Show Copyrighted Movies,
  • Vendors that Grant Public Performance Rights for Copyrighted Movies.

In reading the information, our media person then moved on to Criterion Pictures and got all of the information needed to legally show this movie.  According to her, “After talking via phone with someone there today–it will cost $75 for the group to show Shrek for the grad party.  The amount is based on the number of people, indoors at an school, not charging admission, not using it as a fundraiser.  (The cost could have ranged up to about $200). Criterion does movies from two of the big production companies.  Other companies do others.  They get movies to license when they come out on DVD.”

Wisdom from the Field? Do these two solutions match what you do in your setting? Do you have pearls of wisdom to add to this topic? Please share in the comments field what you know to enrich our toolkit around  public performance rights. Thanks!