Usually, I spend the first show demonstrating the basics of threading projectors, including letting them try it themselves, and the second to c/o's and the practical matters of making the show work. It's always fun to ask them to do the c/o about a minute or so before it's time; in that way, they never have the time to think things through first.

And yes, I practise the same methods that Brad does when I teach a newbie how to run a booth. The important thing is that they learn why things happen the way they do.

After having taught them the basics, and knowing that they can manage a show on their own, more or less, I usually send my trainees to other cinemas for a few days, to see other booths and gain new perspectives. My theatre is a c/o house with no automation whatsoever so it's a good thing for a newbie to try a fully automated multiplex.

I'm careful about where to send them, of course, and which colleagues to ask. I don't want the wrong type of projectionist to ruin a still-impressionable newbie.

A friend of mine who often gets to show my trainees the ways of the world at the local multiplex is a technical wiz who knows all there is to know about picking apart projection equipment (yes, he knows how to put it all back together, too). He's also a nice guy and a good teacher. Gullible, too, since he still hasn't said no when I've asked him to have a look at yet another one of my trainees.

So anyway, before sending off the trainee, I always tell him (yup; I've never had a female trainee, unfortunately) to ask my friend how to properly align the mirror and bulb in the lamphouse of a Bauer U3. It's really very interesting and not that hard to do, I tell him, knowing fully well that he will get a complete 3-hour technical analysis of the U3. It works every time.

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