The Texas Round-Up

An offer for your film arrives as a PDF. Five of its terms decide whether the film earns you anything and when it comes back to you.

There are two kinds of DCP. One is the standard, one is the leftover. And the long name on the folder is a label any projectionist can read. Here's both.

Twelve festival deadlines still open in November, with the fee beside each, plus Houston's five-year film plan, the Texas residency test and the Alamodome day on Selena.

A DCP is a few huge files and a few tiny ones. The tiny ones are how a cinema server knows the huge ones are right. Here's what each file does.

DCP-o-matic is free, runs on any computer, and builds DCPs that play in real cinemas. Here's the whole process, from new project to a verified package on a drive.

Most DCP problems are master problems. Frame rate, aspect ratio, color range and audio layout, and what to hand over so the DCP comes out right the first time.

A feature DCP runs from free to roughly $700 before the drive, depending on who builds it and how fast. Here are the published rates, the math, and the costs that don't show up on the rate card.

Some festivals require a DCP, some won't play one, and the Academy won't accept anything else. Here's how to know which situation you're in before you spend money.

A DCP is the file package every commercial movie theater plays. Here's what it is, why theaters use it, and when your first film needs one.