He is of course wrong BUT it does bring up an issue not addressed before in the thread. Many companies do in fact sell a film exclusively to the Academic Market for a period of time when it is NOT available at retail prices. They USUALLY include the Public Performance Rights. Sayles case is an odd one but the film had an odd and limited release and though it is a fiction feature film it had a a lot of interest in the academic community so they clearly made a marketing & financial choice to put out a higher end and expensive copy as an academic exclusive and hold back the retail release. His wrong explanation of the law aside, this is entirely legit as opposed to making a film available simultaneously on Amazon etc and claiming schools must purchase it at a higher price. I have done more or less the same thing with THIS IS NOT A FILM which was not exactly planned but did take over a year to hit the home video market ( sometime in mid March after opening at end of Feb in 2012). Many companies like New Yorker, Zeitgeist, Kino routinely make their films available either before or the same day as the theatrical release to the academic market at the institutional price and include PPR and sometimes limited streaming rights. Since many of these films are theatrical features there is value in the PPR rights ( about half my institutional sales on This Is Not A Film where for schools were a professor wanted to do an open showing). Schools have the option to buy the film including the PPR or wait usually 6-12 months for the retail copy. I just don't want people to confuse this kind of "pre retail release sale with PPR" with the "you need special rights to use it in classroom" wording.
On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 10:43 AM, Chris Lewis <[email protected]> wrote: > Tangent alert: John Sayles also wrongly asserts that "screening a > regular consumer DVD in a classroom is a violation of copyright law, > as stated by the Warning Screen that appears before the movie. " > Quoted from his "response" at the bottom of his own blog post about > the release of his film "Amigo": > http://johnsaylesblog.com/amigo-dvd-release/ > > This despite the fact that none of his other films are available with > anything but home-use rights. > > On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 9:05 AM, Laura Jenemann <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear Anthony, > > > > Thank you very much for sharing your institution's policy. > > > > You mention that that "it is very much our firm policy that such films > > always be purchased at the full institutional price." > > > > May I ask why? Is it because of USC's "close proximity to the > > entertainment industry?" > > > > Thank you in advance for your response. I find this type of information > > sharing from other librarians to be useful in my own professional > > development, which is why I've responded "on list". Feel free to > > contact me off list if you prefer. > > > > Regards, > > > > Laura > > > > Laura Jenemann > > Film Studies/Media Services Librarian > > Johnson Center Library > > George Mason University > > 4400 University Drive MS 1A6 > > Fairfax VA, 22030 > > Phone: 703-993-7593 > > Email: [email protected] > > > -- Jessica Rosner Media Consultant 224-545-3897 (cell) 212-627-1785 (land line) [email protected]
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
