Single Title Screening Licence (STSL)™
The Single Title Screening Licence is a public film screening licence that allows you to screen a film to an audience at a single event.
With an STSL, you can also legally advertise your screening event and sell tickets.
Perfect for community cinemas, film clubs & societies, outdoor screenings, or team events, the STSL is a simple way to ensure your film screening is legally compliant with copyright law.
The STSL starts from £89 excl. VAT.
What is the Single Title Screening Licence?
A Single Title Screening Licence (STSL) is a copyright licence that allows an organisation, business, or community group to legally screen one of the films from our studio partners to a public audience at a single event.
It grants public performance rights for that one film and screening date, ensuring compliance with UK copyright law.
An STSL is required when showing a film outside of a private home, including community cinemas, outdoor events, schools, film clubs, and ticketed events.
Copyright law protects films as intellectual property. When a film is produced, the creators, studios, and distributors control how and where it can be shown. To screen a film in a non-theatrical public setting - outside of the home or traditional cinemas - a valid screening licence is legally required, even if the screening event is free.
Your licence fee helps pay the filmmakers and creators, so that they can continue making the films you love.
The Single Title Screening License (STSL) is a single licence that gives you official permission from the rights holders we represent to show a film publicly. It also allows you to advertise and charge admission.
The Single Title Screening Licence is perfect for community cinemas, outdoor screenings, film clubs, film societies, or event screenings.
One film, one screening event
Advertise your screening
You can charge an admission fee
Screen using legal DVD, Blu-ray or a Filmbankmedia-provided download
We have enjoyed a long-standing partnership with Cinema for All and are a proud sponsor of their annual Community Cinema Conference and Film Society of the Year Awards.
We previously funded the Innovation Awards, helping film societies grow audiences and expand their film repertoire. More recently, we supported the Cinema for All Spotlight programme run with BFI Hubs, providing training and idea-sharing to community cinemas to help them run their events.
This year, we are delighted to sponsor the Programming Award and join the judging panel.
If your community cinema, film club, or film society is a Cinema for All member, you will not be required to pay a £150 security deposit when opening a Single Title Screening Licence account with Filmbankmedia. To open your STSL account and benefit from the Cinema for All offer, get in touch.
We have been working closely with our friends at the Independent Cinema Office for decades, and we are proud to be the ICO's long-term partner for Screening Days. Held twice a year, the Screening Days give film societies and community cinemas the chance to see new films to help them plan their organisation’s programming. They are always exciting events that present invaluable opportunities to meet and engage with our film societies and community cinema clients across the UK.
In the UK, films are protected under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA)
Showing a film outside of a private domestic setting, including at community events, schools, workplaces, or ticketed screenings, is considered a public performance under copyright law.
To legally screen a film to a public audience, you must obtain the appropriate public performance licence from the rights holder or their authorised licensing agent.
Your screening licence cost depends on your venue capacity and whether you’re charging people (a “ticketed” film event) or not (a “non-ticketed” film event).
View our full pricing information.
Different ways to screen are available. You can source your own physical copy (DVD/Blu-ray) from your preferred retailer or rent a copy from us. If you prefer a digital copy, you can get a Download from us and use the Download Manager to playback from your laptop.
If you wish to organise a virtual screening event, you can do so by using our Virtual Screening Room (VSR).
VSR also allows you to set up a hybrid event which combines an in-person with a virtual screening.
Finally, if you have a Disney+ subscription, you can use it to screen a film you have licensed with us. For full details, view our Ways to Play your Film.
