The Dome Marketplace: How Do I Know Which Planetarium Shows to License Next Year?
A guest post by Dan Tell, Owner and Principal of Tau Immersive and a member of the Dome Fest West board.
"How do I know which planetarium shows to license next year?"
I've been asked this question many times while sitting across a desk from a planetarium director. I also hear its parallel from producers and filmmakers, usually on the phone or over Zoom:
"How do I get people to license my show?"
Both of these have similar answers.
"You need to see the shows," I tell the planetarium director. To the producer I say, "people need to see your show!"
And when they both ask me how, I ask them, "have you heard of Dome Fest West?"
It's because of my enthusiasm for Dome Fest West's ability to meet the needs of the planetarium market that I joined the board. Having experienced both sides of this problem personally, I was eager to help the planetarium and dome community take advantage of this resource, and help the festival clearly center itself as the premier dome show marketing event in North America.
Film festivals are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a creative medium and provide a platform for original and independent filmmakers to showcase their art. But the reality is they're not just award shows: they're an important part of how films get marketed and sold. It's a key opportunity for studios, distributors, producers, and filmmakers to interact and see how audiences, peers, and critics respond to films, and decide what relationships they want to pursue for distribution and release of films. This is incredibly valuable for all parties: it's how people get to see films!
This is true for domes just as it is for traditional cinema, but with one important difference: every planetarium is an independent theater, with the power to shape the role immersive media plays in the community. Not to mention, licensing shows can be expensive! Being able to make an informed decision about what shows you bring to your audience is vital.
"It's not what you like, it's the consumer"
Those wise words were spoken by David Spade's titular character in 2001's Joe Dirt, and they're something I've always kept in mind in my years running planetariums and assembling shows. Often, we as subject matter experts have a totally different impression of a show than our audiences do. This is especially important for programming aimed at families and young children.
Maciej Ligowski of Creative Planet once told me about his family-oriented production The Stellars, "we always encourage people considering the show to watch it with children." The intended audience for the program responds totally differently than a room full of adult professionals evaluating the program, and I have heard similar stories from planetarians about other content that steps away from the traditional content and structures of planetarium shows.
One of the great advantages of festivals, like Dome Fest West, is the attendees aren't just professionals in the industry, the event is open to the general public, and especially for the family-oriented film block you get to watch all of those shows with a representative audience in the room, and hear what makes kids laugh, cheer at the dome, and also see what misses the mark.
With more domes seeing success from running non-traditional content, including new types of music and entertainment programs, festivals are also a great way to sample these shows for yourself, so that you can have an informed perspective on how you see these programs fitting into your own program lineup. It's also a great opportunity to talk with your peers and see who has been having success growing the "yes, and..." capabilities of their domes beyond astronomy and science content.
Planetarium show licensing from the producer's side
Having worked with a production studio in my years at Morrison Planetarium, presenting our shows at conferences and festivals, I've seen how this relationship benefits that side too. More than once after showcasing a production at a conference or festival, I've heard "I wasn't even thinking about licensing your show before. Now I want it." Seeing a show, especially in a crowded planetarium, gives a totally different impression than watching a trailer, reviewing a dome show on a flat monitor, or even watching a demo copy alone in a theater. This means as a producer or distributor, this is the best way to get your potential customers to see your show and have it deliver the intended impact. Every year we see how we empower these deals at Dome Fest West, and it's a privilege to help connect filmmakers with the domes that are excited to run films they didn't know about before they attended the festival.
The interaction between venue operators and filmmakers is also valuable to stimulate new ideas for programs. To some extent, film production in the dome world has very much been driven by the interests of the producer, and sometimes is a shot in the dark about what is actually of interest to domes. The ability to interactively, socially discuss what domes are looking for, especially against the backdrop of the latest productions, can help inspire producers with ideas directly from the planetariums themselves, and help identify untapped niches and demands in the market.
A marketplace for ideas, not just for shows
Beyond serving as the marketplace for licensing shows, it's also a marketplace for ideas. Some of the most creative concepts are realized as short films, experimenting with the full capabilities of our medium and challenging us to explore new potential for the dome experience. For both venue operators and producers I think it's important to see the work of the artists challenging what is possible, whether it's new modes of narrative and experience, or new methods and technologies for interaction to pull your audience into the experience. These experiments are helping to innovate on what the dome will become in the future, and even if a novel program isn't what you need today, the technology and techniques behind it may set new standards for what we achieve in the future.
Sometimes this even creates spin-off benefits that can inspire how a planetarium can engage with its community. I've been particularly intrigued by how recent programs that use 360 footage or 3D scans from protected environments or cultural heritage sites have potential to make the dome a vehicle to travel the globe. This last year at Dome Fest West I was particularly moved by immersive visits to the Minam River conservation area, Cornwall, but also up to orbit aboard the International Space Station. I have seen these programs impress educators, researchers, government agencies, and the general public. The transportative power of these experiences in the planetarium may inspire domes to build new bridges that can cement the reputation and value of their institution to their communities in new and deeper ways.
And perhaps the most fundamental challenge of the human experience is trying to share our unique, individual perspectives with each other. This, perhaps, is one of the most essential qualities art has always tried to express. While we have long focused on sharing our cosmic perspectives in the planetarium, current dome films are exploring the ability to immerse us in a variety of perspectives and stories, to give you the feeling of seeing reality through someone else's eyes, demonstrating a power to bring people everywhere closer together.
I think this can really be seen in the latest music entertainment programs, such as Resolution: a Cinephonic Rhapsody for the Soul or Kael Alden's Space and Time. These push far beyond abstract visuals set to music, fully materializing a visual complement to the music, taking us inside the artist's mind. In parallel, introspective scientific shows like Frontiers of Infinity ponder the science behind the individuality of our experience.
Even if these shows aren't a fit for every dome theater, the important part of a festival like Dome Fest West is connecting them with the right dome theaters to showcase these amazing visions. And they can still serve to inspire everyone for what is possible in the dome, informing how we can aspire to the best use of our theaters.
Whether it's the practical perspective of knowing what to license for your planetarium, getting your show in front of the people who will license it, or the broader perspective of trying to understand just how powerful this tool in our hands really is, dome film festivals like Dome Fest West are a serious marketplace for products and ideas to help every planetarium explore the best of what's available, and push us to explore what's possible.
About the author
Dan Tell is Owner and Principal of Tau Immersive and a member of the Dome Fest West board. He has spent 23 years working in planetarium technology and media production, serving as a leader for multiple industry organizations. He has worked with planetariums, immersive theaters, and museums around the world, empowering scientists to enhance their research and outreach with visual storytelling. Through his company, Tau Immersive, he crafts virtual shared experiences that deepen public appreciation and understanding for science, and build empathy for the world and its people.
Dome Fest West 2027 runs April 21 to 25, 2027 at Fiske Planetarium in Boulder, Colorado. Submissions are open now on FilmFreeway.
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