From www.thespoon.com/drivein/s...r-own.html

Start Your Own Guerilla Drive-In

Guerilla Drive-Ins are springing up everywhere from LA to NY, in big cities and little towns. People are rejecting the idea of the $10 movie (twenty with popcorn and a soda) and embracing the idea of the do-it-yourself movie free to the community.

To say that Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In operates on a shoestring budget is an understatement. It really doesn't take much to make it happen. The most expensive piece of equipment we own, the LCD video projector, was until recently borrowed from a compatriot.
Location

Here's what you need: A big blank wall that is dark at night. A smooth white wall is best, of course, but any light wall will do, even a lightly textured brick or concrete wall.

You will be amazed at how few dark places exist anymore. I guess the feeling is that bad things happen in the dark, and that if you light every nook and cranny of our urban landscape, homelessness, crime, drugs, and unauthorized sex will disappear. However, it is still possible to find the odd corner of creation that is not lit with a billion watt floodlamp. And if it is near a smooth light surface, you have a location for guerilla drive-in.

Lights can be covered with cardboard boxes, but people are naturally sensitive about this. Don't break anything or start a fire or your GDI location is doomed.

Check areas that are full of warehourses, under bridges, under freeways, parks, parking lots, ruins, and, if you are willing to hang a big screen, the woods. Here are other places to look: high schools, junior high schools, elementary schools, backs of suburban shopping malls, backs or sides of grocery stores, concrete retaining walls, and warehouses.

Keep in mind that unless you are using batteries, you will need power from somewhere.
The Authorities
While you are showing your movie, the police will undoubtably be curious about what you are doing, but will only hastle you if they get a complaint. The exception is if you are violating local ordinances. If in your town, like ours, all public space is closed after dark, the police will kick your out of the parks, schools, and other public spaces. They may also claim you are violating noise ordinances.

But in general, the fact is you aren't doing anything wrong, so you have nothing to worry about. Think about it this way, do you want to live in a world where we can't show free movies? Well then, the only way to make sure we can, is to do it.

Schedule

The Guerilla Drive-In collective is a loosely-knit groups of folks who love movies, are involved in radical change, and are interested in reclaiming public and unused spaces. We maintain a master list of films that we've all contributed our favorite subversive movies to. We are constantly adding to and subtracting films from the master list.

The first year we did Guerilla Drive-In, we met the week before and chose a film from the master list to show at guerilla drive-in. This worked well enough, but was a little hectic and didn't give our audience a chance to plan the movies they wanted to see.

The second year we opted to plan out our entire summer schedule. We used some kind of quasi-bastard blend of democratic and consensus-based decision process to chose films. For each film that we nominated, one person served as an advocate of that film and volunteered to host later in the summer.
Publicity

Publicizing an upcoming movie is an important step when we produce a guerilla drive-in event. Along with posting to several noteable sites -- indymedia, squidlist, craigslist, etc -- we create handbills and flyers. We post flyers all over town, at cafes, laundromats, the university, bus stops, restaurants, whole food stores, and other community boards. Most importantly, since the word about Guerilla Drive-In spreads through word-of-mouth, we give handbills to everyone we meet. See our examples of past handbills we've created.

Shorts and an Intermission

We always start off Guerilla Drive-In with shorts and previews followed by a ten minute intermission. The shorts are often activist short movies, of funny or weird stuff found on the net or submitted to us. (Feel free to talk to us about submitting your short film for consideration.) Previews for upcoming guerilla drive-in films are usually pulled off the internet or ripped from DVD.

The intermission gives people a chance to mingle, get to know each other, and see old friends. To us, the most important aspect of the drive-in experience is coming together, sitting outside under the stars, and meeting old and new friends.
Donations

At the intermission and before the main feature, we ask for donations to support the project. This pays for flyers and handbills, as well as helps us pay off the remainder of what we owe on the projector.

If you dig the idea, and want to support Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In, feel free to talk to us about donating money, equipment, or energy to the project.
Equipment

Nearly all of our equipment was donated by the good members of our guerilla drive-in community. Here's a list of the equipment you need to do your own guerilla drive-in:

* Video: LCD video projector
* Sound: audio amplifier & speakers, or alternately, low-power radio transmitter
* Player: DVD player or VCR
* Power: several hundred feet of extension cords, or alternately, deep cycle marine batteries and an inverter

Video

Low-power, high-luminosity LCD video projectors are dropping in cost. Good projectors can be found new for a thousand dollars. Used, you can get even better prices, though you have to take into account the life of the bulb and the not inconsiderable expense of replacement.
Sound

All of our sound equipment is second-hand donated equipment. We are not blasting out the neighborhood, so our sound requirements are modest. We have all of our audio and player equipment mounted in a "rack" (actually a milk crate!), so we never have to be fiddling with wires.

We blow out speakers on a regular basis, so we have a constant stream of donated and scrounged speakers on-hand.

Alternately, if you are doing an actual drive-in theater where people will have cars and the benefits of their car radios, you can assemble or buy a low-power radio transmitter to broadcast sound.
Power

We have several hundred feet of power cord that we plug into whatever power we can find nearby. Thanks goes to the organizations who have unknowingly donated power to Guerilla Drive-In. Occasionly, we'll get power from generous neighbors who support the project.

Alternately, we've also relied on two deep-cycle marine batteries and a 400W inverter to provide power. This will get us through pre-show music, shorts, intermission, and an entire movie (as long as we don't try to run the intermission and post-show floodlight off of the batteries).
Your Turn

It doesn't take much to create a guerilla drive-in wherever you live. Some gumption, some resourcefulness, and a desire to see people enjoying life together unregulated by commerce. If you need help, advice, or want to tell us about your experiences, please drop us a line.