About Present Tense
Present Tense: Films & Discussion is a community based, tax exempt (501c3) organization devoted to creating dialogue and community between diverse people about social issues affecting all of us. We show films that are artistic and/or informative, relevant to contemporary events and issues, to stimulate discussion. Occasionally, we present a community forum, rather than a film, as a vehicle for discussion.
Our goals are for people to have the opportunity to listen to others, and to be heard, while becoming more involved in action projects, if they choose. The range of community projects and activities are often presented during the discussions, by participants. We are creating the opportunity for people to become connected, informed and involved.
A film series like Present Tense can be created anywhere, and we are eager to help in any way we can. Please don't hesitate to get in touch through email or phone.
Make a Present Tense Series in your home town!
One of our intentions is to help people start a similar film series in their community, so we are here to share what we have learned. The first step might be to collect a few interested individuals, or an organization, to work with you on developing this project. It can be done by one person, but it could be kind of lonesome, and several heads are definitely better than one when it comes to deciding on which films to show and what your political goals are.
You'll want to scope out where you could show the films and, ideally, you'll have several options, depending on the film you're showing. For instance, we have shown most of our films at a community theatre which seats about 175 people. More recently, we worked out a relationship with a huge (seats 1000) former movie theater near campus. When we're showing films we want a lot of students to watch, or films which will draw larger crowds, we use the larger theater ( which has a marquee, and draws a lot of street traffic). Once, we showed a film at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. Community Centers or churches might be free.
Since we're small and not funded (although we are a 501c3 tax-exempt organization) we have had to be financially self-sustaining. We have succeeded at this, but have needed an occasional fund-raising dinner or other event to pay back my credit card for expenses. The expenses are licensing fees, rent, paying the tech, and making copies of fliers and posters. It has helped very much to pay the theater 25% of what we take in at the door in donations, rather than a flat rent. It has also helped very much to have people who have to do community service hours assigned to us: at times we have had an army of people distributing fliers and posters and helping us with fund-raising events. Needless to say, we are all volunteering our time and effort.
A major area I had to learn about is licensing films. Renting, buying or borrowing a DVD or VHS (or occasionally, a 16mm or 35mm film) is the simple part. Each film is distributed by a non-theatrical agent, meaning they are distributing to colleges and smaller groups, rather than to commercial movie theaters who would be contracting for more showings. The fees range from free (very rarely) to $250, but mostly the fee is $100-$200. It is illegal to show a film to an audience larger than about 30, without paying the licensing fee. The main non-theatrical distributors are: Kino (800-562-333) and Swank (800-876-5577). They have web sites and catalogs listing the films they distribute. Swank charges more than Kino, but they each have certain films they can license, and there isn't much room for haggling. They have usually been able to tell me who distributes a particular film I'm interested in showing, if they don't themselves. Since we have shown largely foreign and obscure films, I've had to hunt around for independent web sites. A wonderful resource is the Film Forum web site. Also, non-theatrical licensing, which is less expensive, also has some limitations: you are not allowed to advertise in any way that would compete with commercial showings, even if it is not being shown in your town. Their contracts will tell you what the rules are.
As for the technical aspect of the production, you can rent all the equipment you'll need from your local audio video rental and staging dealer. You can find these businesses in the phone book under Audio-Visual. They can inform you of all the gear you will need for your production as well charge you a fee per hour to run your show. Make sure you let them know all your plans: motivational speakers will be there, a movie will be shown, its a big or small venue etc. If you need a Tech to run this equipment (it can be cheaper), I recommend a qualified freelance AV technician, a lead projectionist, or a student from a college or film school. Let them know what your plans are for the production and they will tell you if they can do the job. The Tech may have a small staff which should be included in the fee. Make sure they know how to run all the equipment before hand and that it is not their first production job. You do not want to be stuck with someone who is not familiar with stage production half hour before a show starts. Give yourself plenty of time to set-up and take down the show, before you make any prior engagements. Always have a parking space close to venue available for the tech and crew. They should be in charge of picking up and returning all rental equipment in the same condition it was rented.
An essential part of what we're doing is bringing diverse people together for dialogue and community. Learning how to facilitate the discussions and develop a format so that people actually get to converse and get to know what each other is thinking and doing politically is a work in progress. Recently, several facilitators with a lot of experience in bringing people together who are on different sides of an issue, have offered to get involved and help us improve the quality of our discussions. As we learn more about how to do this, we'll add it to the web site.