A recent fundraiser at a Bay Area elementary school played “The Lion King” and now, Disney wants $250 for showing their movie.
Last week, Emerson school in Berkeley received a letter from Swank, a third-party company used by Disney and other studios to enforce licensing laws. No one knows how they found out about the fundraiser, but the email said the school owes Disney $250, a good chunk of the $819 the fundraiser brought.
“We just had no idea that showing a movie to kids at a pizza evening was something that you couldn’t do,” said David Rose, Parent-Teacher Association president.
On their website, Swank Motion Pictures Inc says, “If these men and women do not receive this hard-earned revenue through sources like licensing fees, they may no longer invest their time, research and development costs to create new movies.”
Berkeley city councilwoman Lori Droste has two children at Emerson elementary and said she likes a good fight, especially one that highlights a much larger issue.
“Why do parents have to struggle to pay teachers?” she said. “Why do schools have to struggle throughout California to serve disadvantage students?”
Rose said that as soon as people found out what happened, the PTA was flooded with phone calls of people making contributions to make up for the $250.
