Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York

Re: Selling movies

Unless you are relying on a distributor who has appropriate licenses (permitting distribution via web downloads), you will need to obtain a license from each holder of rights for each motion picture. If you plan to do this with major releases, you may be able to negotiate a master license with a few major studios, though it is doubtful that you can get a deal that does not compute royalties based on the specific film properties. With indies, you would have to go to each separate production company for a license.

I am not aware of a "blanket" license for films such as what you have with music performance rights granted by ASCAP or BMI, though you might want to contact Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. at www.swank.com to see if they can be of assistance (they deal with non-theatrical film distribution rights).

The above reply is in the nature of general information, is not legal advice and should not be relied on as such.