Jim, my cohort, started calling other schools. Apparently a company called Swank Motion Pictures offers a “pay per use” license. This is great! If we want to play a movie we can contact them with the details. We give them the name of the movie and the estimated attendance numbers. They will negotiate the rights and get us the media. Technically the DVDs from the movie store (and Walmart/ Best Buy) are for home use only (FBI warning). They will license us a copy that can be played in a public venue.

The prices are approximately $350 – $650 per title. This is very reasonable for a public showing of a video. They also have access to “pre-release” titles. This would include videos that are no longer in the theater but have not yet been released for home use. They also have access to HD DVDs and BlueRay discs.

We are also looking into Criterion Pictures. They too have a subscription service (like CVLI), but their producer list is much larger. They don’t carry ever video or even some of the biggest blockbusters, but they do carry many.

Any other brilliant ideas?