Film Distributor - Non-theatrical Distribution

Non-theatrical Distribution

This term, used mainly in the British film industry, describes the distribution of feature films for screening to a gathered audience, but not in theatres at which individual tickets are sold to members of the public. The defining distinctions between a theatrical and a non-theatrical screening are that the latter has to be to a closed audience in some way, e.g. pupils of a school, members of a social club or passengers on an airliner, and that there can be no individual admission charge. Most non-theatrical screening contracts also specify that the screening must not be advertised, except within the group that is eligible to attend (e.g. in a membership organisation's newsletter or an in-flight magazine).

The largest market for non-theatrical distribution is probably the airlines, followed by film societies. Non-theatrical distribution is generally handled by companies that specialise in this market, of which Filmbank is Britain's largest, representing the major Hollywood studios. Home video media is sold with a licence that permits viewing in the home only (hence the copyright notice that appears at the start of many VHS tapes and DVDs which states that the content must not be shown in oil rigs, prisons or schools). Until these technologies were widespread, most non-theatrical screenings were on 16mm film prints supplied by the distributor. Today, the most common business model is for a distributor to sell the exhibitor a licence that permits the legal projection of a copy of the film, which the exhibitor buys separately on a home video format. These licences can either be for individual, one-off screenings, or cover an unlimited number of screenings of titles represented by that distributor for a specified time period. The latter are often purchased by pubs and students' unions, to enable them to show occasional feature films on a TV in their bars.