The Great American Lie: The full-length feature runs 90 minutes. Age-appropriate film clips with the educational curriculum range from five to fifteen minutes.
The Great American Lie contains some language and violent imagery. Common Sense Media recommends the film for ages 11 and older.
Yes, absolutely! A license is required to screen our films in any setting outside of your home. We offer a variety of licensing options for schools, community organizations, government agencies, corporations, and more!
We offer virtual screenings on our secure Eventive platform. We can set these up as on demand film viewing windows where attendees can watch on their own time over the course of a week. We also offer real-time, live, co-viewing broadcasts where all attendees watch together at the same time. We can add a hosted, panel discussion to the virtual screening event that attendees can watch live or recorded during the event window.
Schools and educational organizations can license our films for ongoing classroom and/or workshop use. Our film licenses include our proprietary curriculum which include lesson plans, activities, resources, and clips from the film to be used alongside the lessons.
First, you’ll need to purchase a license to use the film. To host a screening in any location outside of a private home, you’ll need a license. Your purchase supports The Representation Project’s mission to end limiting stereotypes. License fees vary by type of organization, use, and group size. As the organizing host, you choose the date, time, venue, planning team, and other details, and we provide you with the film, screening guide, and marketing materials. We have found that individuals and groups partnering together host successful events by distributing the costs and leveraging their larger reach. The more partners, the better for attracting a big crowd! For more information and to get started, please visit our host a screening page. The first step we typically recommend is researching venues and identifying partners.
Almost anywhere! Here are a few suggestions to start:
• A local movie theatre
• A college or high school auditorium
• A public library
• A community center
• A place of worship
• Your own backyard!
You’ll get a copy of the film (DVD for Whole School License; temporary link for community and corporate screenings), a community screening guide, promotional materials, and guidance as needed. The materials we send vary by type of screening and your geographical location, whether you’re located in the US or international, so please visit our host a screening page and select your type of organization to learn more.
It is common practice for films to charge a license fee for the public performance rights, whether they’re Hollywood movies or documentary films. As much as we would like to spread the messages of our films for free, documentaries are costly to produce and distribute.
As a nonprofit organization, license fees help sustain our ongoing work to inspire individuals and communities to challenge and overcome limiting stereotypes so that everyone, regardless of gender, race, class, age, sexual orientation, or circumstance, can fulfill their human potential. Learn more about what we’re doing to create lasting cultural change!
Yes! Any screening outside of a private home requires a license.
Public performance rights are the legal rights held by distributors or producers of media content. Distributors or rights-holders can grant public performance rights to individuals and organizations for their limited use.
Copyrighted movies (like our films) streamed on digital platforms such as Netflix or borrowed from other sources such as public libraries, colleges, personal collections, etc. cannot be used legally for showings in schools, theaters, or in any other public site without a proper license.
The concept of “public performance” is central to copyright and is the main issue of protection for these intellectual properties. Most of the people working in movie productions depend upon royalties as a major portion of their income. Public Performance Rights are not broadcast rights. These rights are intended for use when the projector and audience are in the same room.
Yes, if you are an educational institution with a secure, password protected media server, you may purchase the Digital Streaming License (DSL) for our films to host for online viewing by authorized users of your institution only (not publicly available, not downloadable).
Any license with a DVD or a DSL is perpetual for the life of the media (if you lose the DVD, we can sell you a replacement after confirming your original license). Community screening licenses are one-time use. And our Annual Streaming Subscriptions renew annually.
Unless you are a school or camp, our licenses are per-event. Under a single-use license, you may host one or two screenings at a single location on the same day (i.e. a matinee and an evening screening). Beyond that, we offer discounted license fees for multiple screenings hosted by the same organization.
Our license prices vary, depending on the type of organization and size of the event. For pricing information please visit our host a screening page to learn more about the license that is best for your group.
While we aren’t able to waive our license fees, we find that individuals and groups who partner together are able to raise funds more easily while screening the film to as broad an audience as possible. Many groups use the film as a fundraising vehicle, which is a huge win for their organization!
Here are a few ideas to cover your budget and maybe even have extra money to go towards your organization, local school, or nonprofit!
• Partner with multiple organizations in your community to co-host the event. The more, the better! You’ll draw in a larger audience to your event, as well as split the cost.
• Charge admission or ask for donations to help recoup the costs. We’ve had nonprofits make over $10,000 at screenings, so consider using your screening as a fundraiser.
• Find a local company that supports your mission to help underwrite the costs of the event in exchange for some promotion.
• Get a local restaurant to donate food, drinks, or snacks and recognize them in return to your guests.
• Advertise your event as dinner and a movie, a cocktail and appetizer reception, or featuring a popcorn stand!
• Partner with a local K-12 school or college – they can order an educational license for unlimited screenings at their campus. They even get to keep the DVD and a curriculum for their school library!
Yes! Go for it!
Yes, please do! We love to support organizations that do great work.
We recommend thinking about your goal for the event. Is it to recoup costs, bring attention to the issues in the film, raise money, or drive awareness for a local organization? Answering these questions can help you determine the price of admission.
A good place to start is setting your price similar to those of local movie theaters. Of course, you can also have a suggested donation amount to accommodate various budgets. With Eventbrite, you can even have your prices on a sliding scale, with the opportunity to give more as a donation.
We suggest charging about $2 more at the door than for tickets bought in advance. You’ll encourage more people to RSVP, get a better idea of attendance, and be able to better evaluate your promotions strategy. If you find a local company to sponsor donations of food, drinks, or popcorn, feel free to charge the audience for those treats as well.
Fine by us!
Yes! We will provide you with a discussion guide to help you plan and execute a conversation after the film. We also provide marketing materials such as electronic copies of the film logo/poster, and a press release template.
We typically provide a streaming link to screen the film for school, community and corporate screenings. We also offer backup media options (DVD) for additional cost and higher-quality formats including Blu-Ray and DCP (rental only), depending on availability and your screening venue capabilities. We do request an additional media rental fee for Blu-Rays and DCPs.
Schools and universities may also wish to use our curricula, included with school licenses, which include shorter, age-appropriate film clips ranging from five to fifteen minutes. These clips correspond with each curriculum’s lesson plans and are intended for classrooms and workshops.
If you are a nonprofit organization, government agency, or a mental health clinician that provides small-group workshops/classroom-style educational programming and wish to use the film and curriculum with ongoing rights, then you are eligible to purchase the workshop edition of the educational package. This does not include public performance rights and is intended for classroom/workshop use only. To learn more about our options for nonprofits, please visit our nonprofit and community organization screenings page.
Please contact the Distribution Team about reviewing the film before your event at . We can provide you with a watermarked screener for evaluation.
Because our school licenses are site-specific (i.e. tied to one school’s location), you will need to purchase an additional license for any screening at an off-campus location. To request an off-campus screening license, please email our Distribution Team.
You will be emailed a receipt along with an order confirmation after you place your order.
Do you need to pay with a purchase order, be invoiced, and send a check? If so, you can choose Purchase Order as a payment option during your online checkout.
Online! Download our W-9 form here.
Yes, you can review our educational licenses here. These licenses are only valid when accompanied by an invoice or order confirmation indicating the purchase of a paid license. Please refer to the license that applies to your order. If you have any questions regarding the terms, please contact our Distribution Team.
For any materials not delivered digitally with your order, our Distribution Team will email and/or ship (DVDs) within two business days. Expedited shipping options are available at checkout.
The curriculum and screening licenses are either available to download in your purchase confirmation email or they will be emailed as digital files.
The Great American Lie Educational DVD is a one-disc set that includes:
• The feature film (87 minutes)
The curriculum for Miss Representation includes grade-level appropriate video clips for K- University alongside lesson plans, activities, and resources. Please view an overview of the curriculum here.
Our Educational DVDs are formatted to be ALL-REGION. They should be able to play on DVD players around the world.
We recommend that you take the following steps before contacting our team:
• Confirm that the DVD player model you are using has no compatibility issues that could be responsible for the problems you are experiencing.
• If you are playing the DVD on a computer, try using a different software program.
• Try wiping the surface of the disc with a clean, soft cloth or rag to remove minor dirt from the disc surface and correct the problem.
• Gently wipe the surface with a soft cloth dipped in rubbing alcohol or water to remove debris or fingerprints. Let the DVD dry before retrying it.
If you still experience poor playback, let us know what type of playback error you are seeing and where on the disc it occurred (let us know the time code from your DVD player display) and contact our Distribution Team.
Please notify us of the circumstances. In the case of defective media, The Representation Project will almost always replace the item free of charge.