Start a Movie Club

The general principles are the same as for any sort of club:

	A place to meet - which at first can be someone's home but ideally is a room in a convenient location which you can rent for an evening every fortnight or so.
A few members - friends, anyone else you see in the locality with a camcorder in their hand, contacts reached via local photo dealers etc Try to get publicity in local paper/s ("Hollywood comes to Our Town? - Chris Smith is setting up a group for would-be movie makers. Whether your aim is to make better holiday movies or be the next Spielberg, Chris says that working together helps everyone. These days good movie making gear is reasonably priced and after shots of baby crawling round the floor have been taken what else do you do with the camcorder? Well you can ... The club will invite guest speakers, bring in programmes of award-winning amateur movies, have competitions and be good fun, Chris promises ... "

Try to make contact in schools and colleges (but make clear you don't have a bank of equipment people can borrow) - a single teacher on the membership list can pay real dividends. Advertise in all the usual local places ... libraries, parish notice-boards, shops - especially photo shops etc. Hook up with Home Movie Day Join AMPS !		Formally - you can be very relaxed, but experience suggests it is better to draft a simple constitution stating the club aims, the officers to be elected each year (Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer at least), maximum committee size (say 7), requirement for an AGM to report to members each year and for elections. Some simple arrangement for fees (membership $x - couples $y - under 21 $z) and provision for what happens to any money left over if the club folds (donate to xyz local charity). If you want to be a formal charity there are a few legal hoops to jump through. A starting point is this article in Wikipedia.
Remember: a movie club is not just for camera owners ... a good club needs writers, actors, electricians, sound recordists, painters, helpers, actors, typists, administrators, coffee-makers and a score of other skills. Try to attract as many different kinds as you can.		Collaborate: work with other groups in your community. Would the dance group like to create a movie showcasing their skills? Does the drama group need a project between theater productions? Does the Polish / Irish / Spanish community want a way to make their voice heard? For example check out this collaborative work between n-c film makers and a drama group: www.tsbtc.org