Take One Action!

Anyone who shares our aims: to empower people, mitigate global/social inequality and promote environmental sustainability… and our enthusiasm for eye-opening films – in sympathy with our values. All you need is a space, a committed and enthusiastic team and a passion for world-changing cinema!

Yes! We want to enable groups across Scotland to have access to great films that spark debate, fuel enquiry and empower communities to take action on a wide range of issues. If you already run an existing film club we would love to invite you to organise a Take One Action season, or include a regular (e.g. monthly) TOA film screening within your programme.

Unfortunately, we are not able to subsidise individual screenings as one-off events. If you are looking to organise a screening as part of a larger, separate event and you would like to partner with us on a screening, contact us at info@takeoneaction.org.uk, providing full details of your organisation, aims, the nature and context of the event.

You can screen films anywhere you like (a school, a town hall, a church), as long as the premises are – or can be– suitable to welcome your audience, and the venue is ‘non-theatrical’ (i.e. not a commercial cinema or theatre). You can read more about licensing for non-theatrical screenings here.

You will need access to a projector, a screen (a large white sheet or a white wall will do, too), suitable speakers and a DVD player/laptop. We are not able to provide screening equipment.

Organising a Local season of Take One Action films will take some time and we strongly recommend that you put together a group of enthusiastic, committed people to support you in making it happen. We also recommend you set aside a minimum of five 2-hour meetings for planning your events to ensure you:

• identify your audience
• secure your venue and equipment
• link with other community groups for maximum impact
• reach a consensus on programming
• identify diverse opportunities for audiences to make a difference
• create your marketing materials (Take One Action will make templates available to you) and promote your events
• review your successes and learning afterwards.

You’ll also need to factor in the time spent setting up for and at the screenings themselves – creating a positive, welcoming and empowering experience for your audience. There’s a lot to be done, but it’s hugely rewarding!

We trust you to run your events with due care to your audiences; to keep true to the values you’ve chosen to share by setting up a Take One Action Local; to be truthful in your interactions with us and your audiences and to respect our terms and conditions. You are also responsible for marketing your events and providing feedback– please read over our Communication Guide for more details on this.

Our initial support will focus on getting you started as a TOA Local (event logistics; empowering audiences; online and marketing tools). Your TOA Local will have its own supported presence on our website, enabling your audiences to view trailers; book tickets; participate online and make connections to relevant local and national opportunities – which you can also contribute to.

We will also provide programmer training, film discussion guides and links into opportunities and expert voices that can help audiences go further in response to a film, here in Scotland.

The season should be completed within 18 months but the pace is entirely up to you and what would work best in your community – it could be a weekly, monthly, or even a mini festival over a weekend. We are happy to support you in finding the best shape for your events.

We have received interest from a variety of organisations and community groups, with diverse access to funds and have worked out a pricing structure that takes this into account. The fees set out below are heavily subsidised: they do not cover Take One Action’s costs but help us make this new venture possible and pay filmmakers so that they can keep making inspiring films.

*If you’re not sure which tier best applies to your circumstances, contact us (info@takeoneaction.org.uk)

What’s included

This one-off cost includes up to 6 film licenses,** initial training, film and action resources, bespoke online event and ticketing tools and the opportunity for a key organiser to attend a day of screenings and events at one of TOA’s annual Fests

Are there any additional costs?

The one-way, signed-for delivery postage when returning your films.

You may – at your discretion – incur costs relating to venue hire or speakers’ travel, for example.

**Additional screening licenses can be obtained – pricing on request

It’s up to you. The licensing terms for the films in the Locals catalogue allow for an admission fee to be charged: it’s up to your group to decide whether you want your events to be free or not. If you would like to charge a fee we can process this through the TOA website online booking platform. In order to help the development of TOA Locals we ask that 25% of any ticket sales be donated back to Take One Action. These returns will help towards covering running costs, acquiring new film titles and diversifying the opportunities we can offer for all Local groups.

As Take One Action are a non-profit organisation any profit generated (once you’ve covered your costs – including fees and returns to TOA, venue etc.) will need to be re-distributed to a non-profit organisation of your choice. We ask that you notify your audiences – and Take One Action – of how any income generated will be used in advance.

Fundraising can be tricky but the team at TOA can help direct you to sources of funding to which you can apply to cover the costs of setting up a Local. Please note that Take One Action abides by an ethical funding policy, which avoids sponsorship from political parties, as well as from organisations pursuing persistent corporate strategies that undermine human rights or environmental sustainability – and we ask Locals to do likewise. (So… in the unlikely event that you were planning to get an arms manufacturer or a commodity trader to be your main sponsor, you’ll need to look for funds elsewhere.)

Once you have read through these FAQs and our terms and conditions, gather your collaborators and register for your Take One Action local by filling our this form. A member of the team will be in touch shortly to complete the process and take payment. You are then ready to start building your programme, so browse the Locals catalogue on our website and select the titles you want to screen. We will then work with you to confirm your programme and help you with event planning. TOA will send you the films at least 72 hours before your screening and you must return these within 72 hours after the event. Please see our Communication Guidelines for details on how to market and promote your event.

No: any public screening – whether to a group of friends, to members of a film club, for charitable purposes or just for a party – in the UK needs to be licensed. Booking your screenings through Take One Action Locals will ensure that you are not infringing copyright legislation or falling foul of any licensing laws – and that your ethics extend to supporting the filmmakers whose work we all value.

We are working to expand the range of films that will be available to Take One Action Locals to provide great choice in terms of style, issues covered and geographical spread. If there is a particular title you’d like to recommend please email locals@takeoneaction.org.uk, specifying

• the film’s full English title (and original title, ideally)
• director,
• year of production
• a very short synopsis
• why you think this film would appeal to Take One Action Locals

Yes, we have a range of tools and resources which we send out to all Locals groups as standard.

Film discussion guides where available can be found on specific film details pages, accessed via the online Locals catalogue.

Yes! Since the COVID-19 crisis started affecting in-person gatherings at the start of 2020, we have been forced to re-think the delivery of all of our activities and embrace the shift to online events. As a result, we are happy to have made a selection of the titles in the Locals catalogue available for online screenings. For a full list of these, and to explore the possibility of holding online screenings, please contact  daisy@takeoneaction.org.uk.