We Need to Talk About Indie Theatre Rental Fees
Because I’m not paying for your sell out
Over the past month, I have contacted 189 independent theatres across the United States and Canada.
About 70 have responded.
A majority of those responses sounded something like:
“We’d be happy to rent our theatre! Our rates for a weekday are ________”
At this point, I usually open my calculator app, divide the rental fee by the number of seats in the venue, and sure enough, the result is almost always the theatre’s standard ticket price.
Which means, I (a DIY NonDē filmmaker) is being asked to pay for a hypothetical sellout just for the privilege to screen my movie.
I am not a corporate rental. I’m not private rental. This pricing is absolute insanity.
Recently, one art house theatre (who shall not be named but whose mission statement claims to support emerging and innovative artists) offered me a “discounted” rate of $500 for their 60-seat screening room.
When I explained that our tour does not do four-wall rentals and instead offered a ticket split with a minimum guarantee to ensure it was worth the theatre’s time, the response was essentially:
“We just can’t do that. Funding has gotten tight.”
I may be a filmmaker but I can do basic math.
At $10 a ticket, I would need to sell 50 seats just to break even. If I somehow managed to completely sell out your venue (60 tickets) on a random weekday night, I’d walk away with a whopping $100. While the theatre got $500 PLUS all concessions sales (which is where most cinemas make their money anyway).
There is no way that it’s costing the theatre $500 in overhead to operate for a 2-3 hour screening window.
You know how I know that?
BECAUSE THERE AINT NO WAY IN HELL THAT THEATRE IS SELLING 50 TICKETS ON A RANDOM WEEKDAY NIGHT.
Most theatres of that size are probably averaging about 20 tickets for a weekday screening. TOPS.
Which means the theatre is not protecting itself from financial risk. It is attempting to offload all of that risk onto a filmmaker, and THEN capitalize a tidy profit.
Pardon my language but fuck your mission statement. You are what you do, not what you say.
Four-Walling and the Illusion of Opportunity
In theatrical exhibition, renting a venue outright is commonly called “four-walling.”
The argument in favor of four-walling is straightforward: pay an upfront fee and the filmmaker/distributor keeps 100% of the ticket revenue.
On paper, that sounds fair.
But in practice, it’s not.
Theatres have gotten greedy and see a filmmakers desperation as a way to stem the bleeding of their broader business failures.
When four-walling, theatres often refuse to host ticket sales on their website, forcing aritsts to use sites like “Eventive” this making the purchasing process not only clunkier but feel less legitimate.
The Bigger Pattern
This problem does not exist in isolation. It reflects a broader pattern throughout independent film culture.
Film festivals turn creators into customers, selling the dream of exposure, discovery and distribution for a nominal submission fee. It is borderline criminal that ‘Film Festival Submissions” is a four figure budget item in most Seed&spark campaigns.
Forty-eight-hour film competitions charge artists to participate, then charge those artists and their friends to watch their work.
Entire cottage industries have emerged around selling workshops, seminars, and “career advice” to aspiring filmmakers desperate for access.
The pattern is always the same:
Artists absorb the financial risk.
Institutions monetize the aspiration.
And because filmmakers are so desperate for legitimacy, many accept these terms without questioning them.
credit to Stephen Follows
Adding Insult to Injury.
Many NonDē filmmakers don’t realize what these cinemas are willing to give to studios in order to play their films:
Theatres pay licensing fees.
Theatres split tickets with distributors.
Theatres dedicate prime-time slots to movies that regularly underperform.
The old logic was that this investment was worth it because studios spend heavily on marketing, and stars - but in 2026, it’s not so simple.
Big stars regularly underperform at the box office.
Attempts at viral marketing regularly fail.
And don’t let the numbers fool you.
2026 has so far been the best year at the US Domestic Box Office since COVID but fewer tickets are being sold now than they were 15-20 years ago. The grosses are only higher due to inflating ticket prices and premium format screens (IMAX).
This business is in structural decline.
So if theatres are willing to take that gamble on studio films with falling attendance numbers, why are NonDē filmmakers expected to pay the equivalent of a full house up front?
The Real Value NonDē Film Brings
The real value of NonDē film is not just the movie itself, it’s the community that forms around it.
People who care want to be with other people care. They want to meet friends, talk after the screening, participate in Q&As, feel like they are part of something.
NonDē filmmakers understand this. We spend years building relationships, collaborating with local artists, organizing grassroots promotion, and convincing people to leave their homes for an in-person experience.
Smart theatres realize that NonDē filmmakers are valuable because we will hustle like hell in a human-to-human way that the studios simply can’t.
A successful screening event is an intricate network of interpersonal relationships, friend groups, favors, aspirations, wants, and needs that create a collective sense of belonging.
Theatres need to wake up to the fact that they are a part of this network not just the landlord charging rent.
The crowd at the Babylon Kino in Columbia, SC before a recent screening of Withdrawal.
The Theatres Getting It Right
There are many theatres that have realized the value in self-distributing filmmakers and community event organizers.
They offer reasonable ticket splits to filmmakers, incentivizing their marketing efforts, and distributing risk so that all parties are incentivized to make a great event.
If they ask for minimum guarantees - it actually reflects realistic attendance or the minimum overhead required to pay staff and turn on the projector/HVAC.
They understand that filmmakers will hustle like hell to fill seats.
More importantly, they understand that independent screenings create a different kind of energy than passive studio programming. A packed screening with a filmmaker present can turn a theatre into a living community space instead of a room where people silently consume content and leave.
An active community creates loyalty.
And theatres that embrace it are far more likely to survive the future than those trying to squeeze every possible dollar out of artists to put a bandaid over their razor-thin margins.
Crowd at a Local Short Film showcase I hosted at Cine in Athens, GA. Featuring a clip from ‘Two Envelopes’ by Martin Scholl
Dear Indie Cinemas,
We are not interruptions to your business model.
We are a huge part of your future.
As the traditional distribution/marketing economy continues to collapse - you need more community-based partners to turn your theatre into the “third space” hangout it needs to be in order to survive.
We are here to help you create that culture and community that you can then market yourself by.
We’re not asking for charity. This is a business.
And if you just don’t want to screen our film for whatever reason. Maybe you’re overburdened or overwhelmed OR you don’t think this particular film would work with your audience, JUST BE HONEST. It’s as simple as saying, “I don’t think that’s a good fit for us right now,”
(Only one theatre I communicated with had the decency of sending this response and I have tremendous respect for them. Thank you, The Grand Cinema in Tacoma, WA)
And your communication style matters because filmmakers talk.
The networks are actively growing. The Lists of “good” and “bad” theatres are being circulated.
We tell each other about the deals that are offered, the ticket splits negotiated, the predatory rental fees demanded, and the institutions that talk a big game about “supporting artists” only to turn around and demand another pay out.
We know who you are.
Dear Filmmakers,
Stop participating in the cycle.
Stop treating these institutions like untouchable gatekeepers.
Don’t let their greed increase your desperation.
Find another option in the area: a micro-cinema, community film club, bar with a screen in the back. They deserve your business more than a theatre still acting like it’s 2004.
Stop the cycle of desperate exploitation.
Because the truth is: we have leverage.
They need us more than they would like to admit.
xx
Aaron