A movie night is one of the highest-return fundraisers a school P&C or P&F committee can run. Low overhead, broad appeal across all year groups, and families actively enjoy coming. Most Perth schools raise $800 to $2,000 profit from a single evening. Here is the full playbook.
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The five-step planning checklist
Book 6 to 8 weeks out. Your school oval is ideal for the 5m screen. Check your Department of Education WA event requirements and reserve the equipment with Perth Pop-Up Movies as early as possible for peak dates.
A public performance licence is legally required for any school screening. Get one from Roadshow PPL or Amalgamated Movies. Licences typically cost $100 to $300 depending on the film. Check classification at Australian Classification. Perth school favourites: Moana, Encanto, The Lego Movie, Matilda, Ratatouille.
$10 to $15 per person is the Perth sweet spot. A premium bean bag zone at $5 to $8 extra adds revenue and makes for great photos. Use the school app, Facebook group and P&C newsletter. Set up online ticket sales with TryBooking to make collection easier on the night.
Popcorn, hot chocolate and soft drink bags are easy to manage. A sausage sizzle in the 45 minutes before the film is consistently the single best revenue earner. Prepacked lolly bags sold at the gate add $2 to $3 per head. See P&F WA for food safety requirements at school events.
Perth Pop-Up Movies handles full setup and management. Plan for 7:30pm doors for winter events, 8:00pm in summer. Have a wet weather plan ready (reschedule by 48 hours is the standard). Send a reminder to ticket holders 48 hours before with a dress warmly reminder. Rugs encouraged.
Planning timeline
Book cinema equipment and confirm oval availability with school admin.
Choose the film, apply for public performance licence, set up TryBooking.
Open ticket sales, promote via newsletter, Facebook and school app.
Confirm food rosters, order popcorn and drink supplies, assign volunteer roles.
Send ticket holder reminder, confirm weather forecast via BOM Perth.
Perth Pop-Up Movies arrives 90 minutes before screening for setup. You handle gates and food. We run the film.
Where we service for school events
Perth Pop-Up Movies runs school events across the full metro area. Recent school bookings have included events in Applecross, Cottesloe, Kwinana and across the southern and northern suburbs. See the Perth suburb guide for travel costs by area.
Book your school movie night.
Tell us your school name, expected attendance and preferred date. We will confirm availability and send a full quote.
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Planning a School or Community Screening in Perth
Most Perth schools run a movie night as an end-of-year event or a P&C fundraiser, and the format does both jobs at once. The 5m community screen suits most single-school crowds up to around 300, while the 8m covers whole-school events up to 1,200, both fully operated by our team. The one thing schools miss is the screening licence, which any public or ticketed event needs.
For the full method, from ticket pricing to the run sheet, see our school fundraiser guide and the schools and community page. Tell us your crowd and your oval on the contact page and we will match the screen and sort the licence.