by Rita Baladad
Quick Summary
Ray Swank founded Swank Motion Pictures in 1937. Previously, Ray had been screening films on the sides of barns in the Midwest to entice people to visit their local farmer’s markets.
Ray Swank founded Swank Motion Pictures in 1937. Previously, Ray had been screening films on the sides of barns in the Midwest to entice people to visit their local farmer’s markets. Sensing an opportunity, Ray visited West Coast film studios (Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, Disney, etc ) to negotiate rights to show Hollywood films outside of theaters and shortly thereafter Swank Motion Pictures began in earnest. Swank Motion Pictures is headquartered in St Louis, MO and Tim Swank, Ray’s son, is now the chairman of the company.
Swank started providing streaming video via Swank Digital Campus about 8 years ago but also provides closed-channel viewing (for dorm rooms, cruise ships, trains) and public performance rights (movies shown outside of a theater: outdoor film festivals, libraries).
A few specs: MARC records available; self-serve statistics; films can be used in most LMS via embed code; streaming video uses Google widevine (browser plugin) so no software needs to be installed. (An administrator guide can be found here.)
Pricing is based on FTE tiers and films can be subscibed to via the following packages:
- Title-by-title
- Deposit account
- Pre-set packages
- Top-viewed 50/100/300 films
- Documentaries
- Literature
- Foreign Films
- Film Studies
- History
- Business
- Philosophy
- Health Science
- Custom Combinations
For more information, pricing, title lists, or a trial, email Swank rep John Hill.
