How do you take a film festival programme on tour?

Your festival has finished, people loved the films, and a cinema in another city wants to show the programme. Then a second venue asks. It sounds like the difficult work is already done. You've selected the films, written the descriptions and found an audience. Surely you can take the same evening somewhere else?

You can, if the permissions, presentation and money work at each stop. Take a film festival programme on tour by agreeing which films may travel, choosing local partners who can present them properly, and costing the complete circuit before announcing it. Confirm every venue's actual screening copy, access provision and settlement responsibilities. A successful first festival gives you useful evidence, but it doesn't confirm rights or demand in another city.

The interesting part is how much you can reuse without giving every venue an identical event. Your films and central materials can stay consistent while local hosts make the discussion and promotion relevant to their audience. That balance makes a tour worth doing. It also needs decisions that a single festival weekend may never have required.

This guide follows a paid, in-person touring programme. We'll use a fictional six-stop example to work through the costs and handoffs, alongside practical records you can adapt. If you're still building the original festival, start with our guide to organising a ticketed film festival, then use this one when the programme is ready to travel.

Choose what people are actually buying on the tour

Start by defining the touring offer. Are you taking the whole festival, a selected shorts programme, an award-winners package or one feature with a discussion? Each creates a different booking, delivery and rights requirement. A smaller selection is often the better first tour because you can explain its appeal and check every part of its delivery.

The Independent Cinema Office's guide to film tours describes tours built around a film or curatorial idea, across cinemas and other venues. It also recommends testing an event before attempting a larger run. For a festival operator, that means deciding which part of the original experience another audience will pay to see, rather than exporting the full schedule automatically.

Suppose our fictional festival selects four documentaries with runtimes of 18, 22, 24 and 26 minutes, including their credits. Together they make a 90-minute film programme. Add a five-minute introduction, a ten-minute interval after the second film and a twenty-minute discussion. The advertised session lasts 125 minutes. A 7pm start therefore finishes at 9.05pm, before audience exit and pack-down.

That is the offer you ask venues to evaluate. Give them the film list, running order, total duration and discussion format. Explain whether a filmmaker travels, a local moderator leads, or the programme runs without guests. If the guest is central to the appeal, budget and confirm that commitment before describing it as part of every stop.

Decide what a venue can change. It might choose a local speaker, an earlier start or a different approved introduction. Removing a film, adding sponsor footage or cutting the discussion could change the experience substantially. Name who must approve those changes and whether they require revised rights, timings or publicity.

Write a short touring description that survives those local differences. It should tell a potential buyer why these films belong together and what happens during the visit. Avoid promising the atmosphere, attendance or guest appearances from your original festival. The touring audience is buying a new event with its own confirmed programme.

Confirm permission for every film at every stop

A festival selection isn't a touring licence. Start with the agreements you actually hold and ask the authorised rights representative whether the proposed run is covered. Check each film separately, even when the same filmmaker submitted several titles. Different territories or uses may be controlled by different representatives.

The Slovenian Film Centre's screening-rights guidance explicitly distinguishes a previous festival screening from permission for a new one. Its booking process asks for the event, place, date, audience and admission arrangements. That is a useful basis for a tour request, with the full list of proposed stops attached. Confirm the applicable permission with the representative responsible for your territory.

Keep a rights record showing each title at each stop. For each film, record the approved venue and country, date, number of performances, version, language and presentation format. Include the payment method, publicity permissions and any restrictions. Link the actual written confirmation so nobody has to interpret a green cell without knowing what was agreed.

Separate a possible booking from an authorised one. A representative saying that a tour sounds interesting is different from agreeing to six performances on stated terms. If dates are provisional, describe them that way and ask what information is needed for final confirmation. Don't announce a film while the permission necessary for that announcement remains unresolved.

Here's a request you can adapt: "We propose taking the attached four-film programme to the listed venues, with one paid public screening at each location. Please confirm whether you control the relevant rights, which stops you can authorise, the approved versions and materials, and your fee and reporting terms. We also need to agree publicity use, testing access, changes of date and any additional performance."

Then deal with exceptions openly. Perhaps one film is cleared for five stops but unavailable in the sixth territory. You could choose another approved film for that venue, change the circuit or decline the stop. What you can't do is let one venue's permission stand in for another's. A different selection also needs its own accurate running order and booking description.

For UK screenings, GOV.UK's public-film guidance separates copyright permission from possible local licensing requirements and warns that a personal streaming account may not permit public exhibition. Check the local requirements for each destination. Your rights agreement, venue permissions and admission conditions all need to support the proposed screening.

Ask specifically about extra shows. A sold-out evening may make an afternoon repeat attractive, but that is another performance, with more staff time and potentially another payment. Agree it before adding inventory. Include rescheduling, copy retention and deletion or return duties in the same conversation so the programme doesn't quietly become an open-ended booking.

Agree who is running each local event

Before discussing a percentage, establish what the venue is buying. It might hire your programme for a fixed payment and sell tickets itself. You might hire the room and carry the ticket risk. Or you might jointly present the event under a defined sharing arrangement. Choose a clear structure for each stop and make the responsibilities match it.

A cinema offering its usual auditorium, projectionist and ticket desk can remove a lot of delivery work. A community partner offering a mailing list and an empty hall provides something different. Neither arrangement is automatically better. Compare what still needs paying for and doing, including the tasks your central team will absorb.

Use a short responsibility record during the booking conversation. Name the organisation and person responsible for each job:

• Contracting with the rights holder and supplying the authorised film materials.

• Confirming the room, screening conditions, staffing and technical checks.

• Publishing the local event, selling tickets and answering buyer questions.

• Providing the moderator, guests and agreed access services.

• Approving publicity and arranging the promised local promotion.

• Managing changes, refunds, reports and the final payments.

One person can own several jobs, but ownership should be explicit. If the venue collects ticket income while you owe film fees, you need the sales evidence and payment dates that let you meet your obligation. If you sell the tickets, the venue needs a usable admissions process and the information required to help arrivals.

Ask what the quote includes. A room payment might cover projection and front of house but exclude rehearsals, overtime or equipment for a discussion. Get the whole session cost, including access for setup and the period after the public finish. Your touring host shouldn't discover a new hourly charge while removing equipment.

Put local approval authority in writing too. Who can agree an additional guest allocation? Who can authorise a delay? Who decides whether a technical problem means the event cannot proceed? The local venue retains its own safety responsibilities, and the tour needs an available person who can make programme and customer decisions within their authority.

Give the venue something useful in return. Send a concise booking pack with the offer, confirmed assets, technical contact and reporting requirements. Ask it to identify anything it cannot deliver before the agreement becomes final. A complicated tour becomes much easier when partners can see precisely what they are accepting.

Cost the complete circuit before adding dates

A tour can produce more ticket income while leaving you with less money. Travel, coordination and small local charges accumulate across dates. Build the budget in two parts: costs shared across the circuit and costs caused by each stop or paid admission. Include the time you spend organising the tour, even if no external supplier invoices for it. Our event budget guide covers the wider cost structure.

The following figures are invented USD assumptions, not market rates, recommended fees or sales forecasts. Our six-stop tour has $4,200 in fixed costs: $1,800 for paid central work, $1,200 for travel and accommodation across the circuit, $600 for preparing the agreed master copies and captions, $300 for central promotion and $300 contingency. Assume these cover the tour's allocated overhead and all fixed delivery costs.

Each venue has 160 usable audience places under its assessed layout. Ten are held for agreed non-paying admissions, leaving 150 paid places per stop and 900 across the circuit. Those are assumptions about this example's venues, not a capacity recommendation. All required companion and guest places must fit within the relevant approved layout and allocation.

Each paid, non-refunded ticket produces $18 after admission taxes and selling charges. From that retained amount, the tour pays $4 in combined film royalties, $4 for the venue and $2 in local attendance-related costs. This fictional agreement has no rights minimum, fixed venue payment or additional per-ticket cost. The fixed budget includes the costs of the non-paying places. It leaves $8 per paid ticket towards the $4,200 fixed cost.

The combined royalty assumes all four rights agreements support a defined allocation of that $4. It isn't permission to choose your own split later. If one representative requires a guarantee, a different receipts calculation or a payment for complimentary admissions, replace the assumption and recalculate the tour. Keep the individual film liabilities visible even when your budget displays a combined total.

At those terms, you need 525 paid admissions to break even, because $4,200 divided by $8 is 525. Across 900 saleable places, that's about 58.3% occupancy. With 480 sales, the result is a $360 loss. With 640, it is a $920 surplus after the stated costs, before income tax. None of those attendance levels is guaranteed by the programme's earlier success.

Forecast the stops individually. Suppose the six forecasts are 110, 100, 120, 90, 80 and 140 paid admissions. They total 640, but the quietest date matters when you discuss its particular costs and local promotion. Don't distribute the expected audience equally just because each venue has the same number of seats.

Now consider a seventh stop outside the route. Suppose it adds $450 of travel and $250 of fixed local delivery costs. The original six-stop budget stays unchanged, and the additional date retains the same $8 contribution per ticket. It needs 88 extra paid admissions to cover its $700 additional cost, producing just $4 above that cost. At 70 sales, adding it makes the tour $140 worse off.

That's a reason to negotiate or decline, even if the venue is enthusiastic. You might secure a host payment, reduce the additional journey or choose a later circuit. Count only genuine additional income. If the date persuades people to switch from another stop, its sales aren't all new to the tour.

Use our guide to audience overlap on event tours when nearby stops may compete for the same buyers. Keep a payment calendar as well as a profit forecast. List when deposits, preparation costs and travel must be paid, then compare those dates with money actually available. Ticket revenue held by a local host can't fund today's bill until the agreed transfer arrives.

Build a route your people and materials can deliver

Choose the sequence around the resources that genuinely travel. If each cinema receives authorised digital materials separately and uses a local moderator, the screenings may run independently. If one filmmaker, projection kit or physical print must reach every stop, the route has a shared dependency. Map that before accepting dates.

Travel time includes leaving the venue. Your host may finish the discussion at 9.05pm, then help close the event, deal with an incident and pack equipment. The onward journey starts after those jobs. Work with staff and suppliers on realistic shifts, rest and travel arrangements, using the rules that apply to their work. Don't build a circuit around a best-case map estimate.

Leave time to resolve the first stop's problems before the next one needs the same resource. A damaged cable, missing subtitle version or exhausted moderator can affect more than one evening. Decide which replacements can be supplied locally and who can approve their cost. Confirm that the local manager can admit a replacement supplier during the hours you might need one.

Where a physical copy travels, agree custody, permitted destinations, shipping, insurance and return instructions with its supplier. Where digital copies are delivered locally, confirm that onward copying is permitted before anyone forwards files. Put the approved delivery route in the local instructions so the next venue knows who will supply its copy.

Separate the public circuit from your internal preparation dates. A screening may be on Saturday, but the venue may need delivery earlier and a test when its projectionist is available. Each stop needs its own deadline, responsible contact and evidence of completion. A tour-wide "files sent" date doesn't tell you which room is ready.

If you cross a border, check the additional work before fixing the route. Screening rights, classification, tax, equipment movement and permission for paid work can differ. Ask the relevant authorities or qualified advisers about your actual arrangement. A domestic pilot can be the more workable first step when your team hasn't priced or organised those obligations.

Make date changes through one tour coordinator. That person checks the effect on film permission, room availability, travelling people, materials, ticket buyers and payment terms. A venue moving its booking by a day can affect the rest of the circuit even if its own room remains free. Get the revised commitments confirmed before changing the public itinerary.

Test the actual film version in each venue

Consistency means presenting the intended work properly in every room. It doesn't necessarily mean sending every partner the same file. Ask each projection team what its equipment can accept, then agree compatible exhibition materials with the rights provider. The copy used to select a film may not be suitable for a public screening.

The Independent Cinema Office's technical guide explains that digital cinemas commonly receive a Digital Cinema Package, or DCP, and load it onto a cinema server. Encrypted films need a separate Key Delivery Message, or KDM, to unlock playback. Let the projection team and supplier confirm the exact package and key requirements rather than making those decisions from the filename.

Film Festival Cologne's 2026 DCP delivery guidelines require keys that cover testing as well as festival screenings. That is a useful example of why the test belongs in the delivery agreement. Your tour's playback and testing arrangements must be confirmed for its own equipment, dates and authorised materials.

For each stop, keep the film title and version alongside the delivery contact, accepted format, picture and sound details, subtitle or caption version, test appointment and result. For encrypted material, have the projectionist coordinate the relevant equipment details and playback window with the key supplier. A successful test at the first cinema doesn't establish readiness at the next one.

Track progress in separate stages: requested, received, loaded, tested and accepted for the show. Received means the material arrived. Tested means the intended equipment presented it and someone checked the result. If the test finds a problem, record it as unresolved with an owner and another test time. Don't let a completed download mark the entire job finished.

Agree how much the test must cover with the projection team, allowing enough time to check all films, transitions and access features properly. Check readable subtitles, correct framing, dialogue and any format changes between shorts. If a film changes after testing, identify the replacement version and arrange the necessary recheck. Keep the earlier copy from being selected accidentally.

Confirm a fallback only when it is both authorised and usable. That might be a separately supplied format or replacement package that the venue has tested. A spare laptop doesn't help if the supplier hasn't permitted that copy or the subtitles aren't present. If no approved option can deliver the advertised programme, escalate the event decision instead of improvising a different public screening.

Confirm access and admission conditions locally

Touring the same films doesn't guarantee the same access experience. One venue may have a step-free auditorium and working audio-description equipment; another may need a different arrangement. Confirm what people can actually book and use at each stop, then publish those details with that event. A general tour statement can't explain an entrance or service that changes by venue.

The Independent Cinema Office's subtitling and audio-description guidance distinguishes translation subtitles from subtitles describing dialogue and relevant sounds for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences. It also advises specifying access versions when booking because a particular DCP or key may be needed. Ask for the exact materials and have the venue test the provision it will advertise.

For a shorts programme, check every title. Three captioned films don't make a four-film block fully captioned. If materials are missing, ask the authorised supplier about producing or obtaining them, with permission, time and cost agreed. Explain any confirmed limitations accurately while working with disabled audience members and access providers on suitable arrangements.

Include the discussion in that planning. A film may have the requested access files while the following conversation needs separate interpretation, captioning or another service. Ask potential attendees what they need, confirm what you can provide and identify the person who will answer specific questions. Our audio-description planning guide develops the live-event side of that preparation.

Check age restrictions for each jurisdiction and screening. The BBFC's cinema-rating guidance says theatrical films, shorts and trailers require submission unless the local authority has granted permission. For a UK circuit using local-authority permissions, check the position with each relevant authority rather than assuming one stop's decision covers the tour. Elsewhere, confirm the local process before selling unrestricted admission.

Record how those conditions affect the public offer and door briefing. A local team needs the approved admission rule, the version being shown and a named contact for uncertain cases. If a substitute film changes the classification or access provision, review the whole booking promise before accepting the substitution. Replacing a title can solve a delivery problem while creating a different problem for people who already paid.

Make each city's ticket offer easy to understand

Give every stop a clearly identified booking destination. Show the city, exact venue, local date, doors time, screening start and what the ticket includes. A tour-wide page can help people find their date, but the purchase itself should leave no doubt about which performance they are buying. Check the confirmation and ticket as carefully as the event description.

In our example, a ticket buys one 125-minute session in one city. It doesn't admit the buyer to all six stops. If you later introduce a multi-stop pass, work out reservations, income allocation and local acceptance before selling it. A ticket type named "tour pass" doesn't establish how a venue reserves a place or gets paid.

Keep one available-place count for each performance across all sales channels. If the venue sells through its own box office and you sell separately, agree allocations or another verified method that prevents the combined sales exceeding availability. Include complimentary admissions and access arrangements. Update released holds through the agreed owner so two teams cannot both sell the same remaining places.

For events you sell directly, Loopyah's ticket selling tools let you define ticket types and releases with their own prices and quantities. Set them to match the local offer you've agreed. Where a venue operates a separate box office, confirm how that arrangement will work before adding another sales channel.

Make local differences visible before payment. One stop may include a filmmaker discussion while another has a host-led conversation. A venue might offer reserved seating, another general admission. Describe the confirmed arrangement for each one. Reusing a strong central description saves time, but it still needs a local check.

Run a test purchase or preview through the supported process before launch. Ask someone outside the production team to explain which date they selected, when to arrive and what happens if they need assistance. If they choose the right city but receive another venue's arrival information, fix the underlying setup and check the complete purchase again before sending the announcement.

Give local partners a promotion plan they can use

Your festival audience gives you a starting point, particularly where previous buyers live near the route. The local host may understand a different audience. Ask what kinds of screenings its customers already attend, which communities connect to the films, and how the proposed night fits its calendar. Treat that knowledge as evidence to examine rather than assuming your festival following will travel.

Send approved artwork, short and longer descriptions, film credits, the correct local booking link and a clear announcement date. Separate essential facts from text a partner can adapt. If a sponsor must appear, confirm the permitted placement and credit. Don't let a well-meaning local redesign imply that a filmmaker or film endorses a sponsor without the necessary agreement.

Make promotional commitments specific. A partner agreeing to "support the tour" could mean almost anything. Ask which newsletter, listing or community contact it will use, who prepares the material and when it will appear. You don't need to control every sentence, but you do need to know whether the work behind your attendance forecast has an owner.

Where the film subject suggests a relevant local group, explain why the screening would interest its members. Offer the confirmed information and an appropriate way to share it. Avoid promising that a partner can distribute film clips, organise another screening or use your buyer list unless those uses are properly authorised.

Review sales by stop while you still have useful choices. Compare actual bookings with the local forecast and agreed promotion. If one venue is behind, inspect its booking page, timing, completed outreach and audience fit before discounting. A lower ticket price doesn't solve a broken link or tell people that a screening exists.

For an additional paid promotion, calculate what it must return. In the fictional tour, $160 of extra spending needs 20 additional paid admissions at $8 contribution just to cover that spending. The original $300 central promotion allowance is already included in fixed costs; this $160 would be additional. Count incremental purchases, not every sale recorded while the campaign runs, and check whether enough places remain to make the spend worthwhile.

If you've sold the local event in Loopyah, attendee email tools can send event updates to its ticket holders. Use that for confirmed arrival information or a change affecting their booking. Keep a promotional invitation to another city distinct from a service message about the ticket they already bought, and use the appropriate permitted audience.

Prepare one usable handoff for each venue

Keep a central programme record, then prepare a local event sheet from it. The central record holds approved film versions and shared materials. The local sheet adds that stop's room, dates, contacts and confirmed arrangements. This lets you correct one shared fact without pretending every venue has identical staffing or equipment.

A practical local sheet should identify:

• The event and booking reference, current revision and person approving it.

• The film order, approved versions, total timing and moderator's instructions.

• Delivery and test completion, outstanding faults and authorised fallback.

• Setup access, public times, finish requirements and relevant local contacts.

• Confirmed audience access provision, admission rules and ticket allocations.

• The people authorised to decide on changes, communicate with buyers and settle income.

Attach or link the materials each person needs. The projectionist needs the film and playback information. Front of house needs arrivals, admissions and escalation instructions. The finance contact needs the payment agreement and reporting fields. Give each team access to its actual responsibilities without sending confidential rights contracts and private contacts to everyone.

Set confirmation dates around the venue's process. Work backwards from the screening to leave time for missing permissions, replacement materials, technical testing, publicity corrections and staff briefing. Ask partners which appointments require advance booking. A deadline on your spreadsheet means little if the projectionist is already working another event when the replacement arrives.

Use the final conversation to check unresolved items. "Everything ready?" encourages a reassuring answer. Ask which copy was tested, who is on duty, whether the published access information matches the room, and where the customer contact is displayed. Record unresolved work with the person doing it and the time they will confirm the result.

For a filled example, the third stop's record might read: "Four-film programme, revision 3. Local manager has confirmed the room and 150 paid places. All four supplied versions loaded; film three awaits a corrected testing key. Projectionist will retest at the agreed appointment. Local host will approve the final event sheet only after that result is recorded. Public session remains 7pm to 9.05pm. Tour coordinator owns any programme-change decision."

That record tells the next shift what is known without describing the venue as ready too soon. When the retest passes, add the result, time and approving person; retain the earlier issue in the history. Send the confirmed sheet to the people whose work depends on it and ask them to acknowledge receipt. If a change affects only a technical contact, say that. If it changes public information, identify who must update each listing.

Walk through the running order with the moderator and local manager. In our example, the interval follows the second film, after 40 minutes of films. It starts at 7.45pm and ends at 7.55pm. Agree the signal to restart, the discussion's finish and the audience's exit before another booking. Keep staff and building time after 9.05pm in the plan even though the advertised session has ended.

Decide what happens when a stop cannot run as sold

Prepare for the faults that would change the audience's experience. A missing guest, failed playback, unavailable access service or closed venue needs a specific response. Identify who decides, who contacts the relevant rights representative and who tells buyers. Agree a communication process that still works if the travelling coordinator is in transit.

Suppose the third venue's key doesn't unlock the supplied film during its test. The projectionist contacts the supplier using the confirmed equipment and version details. The tour coordinator checks the deadline for obtaining a corrected key and retesting. The public programme stays unchanged only if the team can deliver it. Don't announce that the problem is fixed because someone has requested a replacement.

If a supplier proposes another copy, verify the version, access materials, authority to screen and venue compatibility. If the only workable option removes a film, assess that as a programme change. The same applies when the promised discussion cannot happen. The substitute may be reasonable, but the buyer's options still need checking under the actual terms and applicable law.

For Australia, the ACCC's guidance on event changes and consumer rights explains that organiser-chosen cancellations or major changes can entitle buyers to refunds. It gives moving a show to another city as an example of a major change. Use the law relevant to your event and qualified advice where needed; moving a booking to another tour stop isn't automatically an acceptable replacement.

Stop the wrong information spreading. Update the affected booking page and local listings, notify the relevant ticket holders, brief the venue and keep a record of the confirmed decision. State what changed, what remains available and how people obtain the applicable remedy. Give the next update time if the team is still investigating, without promising a restart it cannot confirm.

Check the effect on later stops separately. A local equipment failure may leave the rest of the circuit intact. A withdrawn film or unavailable travelling guest may affect every venue. Recheck those commitments and tell the right partners promptly. The tour sheet should show which events remain deliverable and which still require a decision.

Settle each stop before treating tour revenue as yours

Design the report before launch so local sellers know what evidence to retain. Record sales by ticket price and category, refunds, complimentary admissions and actual attendance. Those figures describe different things. A paid no-show can still generate income owed under the contract, while a guest may attend without producing a paid sale.

Return to the fictional tour and its first stop's 110 paid, non-refunded admissions. Assume all 110 attend and the ten agreed non-paying places are also used, producing 120 admissions within the venue's stated layout. After selling charges and admission taxes, the tickets produce $1,980. The agreed film payment is $440, the venue payment $440 and local attendance-related costs $220. That leaves $880 towards central fixed costs.

Suppose the local host collects the ticket money and is responsible for the venue payment and local attendance costs. It retains $660 for those two amounts and transfers $1,320 to the tour. The tour then pays the $440 film royalty, leaving the same $880 contribution. These are successive movements of the same money. The $1,320 transfer isn't additional income to add to the $1,980.

Use that example to check your actual agreement, which may calculate payments very differently. Record advances already paid, permitted deductions, minimum guarantees and any agreed pooling across dates. Confirm who reports and pays each rights holder. Don't offset a quiet venue's debt against another partner's money without an agreement allowing it.

Reconcile the sales statement with the money received and explain timing differences. Set deadlines for the report, invoice, transfer and any later adjustments. Agree how refunds or disputed payments arising after the first statement will be handled. Keep a complete evidence trail while sharing only the buyer information genuinely needed for the agreed reporting.

Finally, compare the whole circuit with the forecast. Did the six stops produce the expected 640 paid admissions and $920 surplus, or did extra work and costs change that result? Ask which local partners delivered the agreed promotion, which materials needed replacement and whether the travelling team had enough time. Keep the answers against the relevant stop.

Before offering the next run, revise the dates, costs and commitments using what actually happened. Confirm the rights again for that proposed run, with any new versions or venues identified. Then offer partners a programme you know how to deliver, at terms that pay for the work the tour requires.