For minor matters, such as purchase of booth supplies and hardware,
I could usually get the help of the company technician to support
my claims with a manager either pinching pennies or doubtful of the
importance of my requests through lack of technical knowledge.
Either the manager or the projectionist could bring a complaint to the union business manager, if they could not see eye to eye. This was seldom necessary. For large issues, these were negociated between the union and management when the contract was to come up for renewal. Each member would vote to approve or reject the proffered contract, and when ratified, was issued a printed copy in booklet form.

Ordinarily the management did not hire the projectionists, since they
took their positions by seniority claim at open meetings. However,
managers could make a request fot a particular projectionist in the case of several "request" houses, usually the larger Times Square
houses or the Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy. Or, the union would supply half the projection team, and the management would, by
request from the union pool, choose the other half.

Of course, with corporate takeovers of the swelling movie chains by
corporations without prior exhibition experience, there was a concerted effort to destroy unionism and depress wages, sometimes to the point of disallowing the very title "projectionist." but unions still operate in cities in the US and Canada.
I have worked in theatres where managers had worked for decades in
the same theatre or for the same employers, and in others where managers came and went after only a few months. More than once I
reported to work to find the manager gone, and corporate reps and detectives examining the safe and the books. At least one manager
disappeared owing money to everyone from the doorman to the shoe store across the street.

Although the projection staff had a good deal of separation from management (I submitted the time sheets for payroll for the booth,
and worked out vacations with my co-workers) the manager set the show schedule. In my last position, I determined the trailers to be run.
Once I worked with a manager who moonlighted as a DJ, who was a real
audio enthusiast and took pride in getting our theatre the finest sound system in the area. Other managers had no interest in the booth at all. I could sense the pressure they were under from their
corporate hierarchies, and the impossible loads of inventory paperwork, hiring, training, supervising, etc. for long hours and meager pay. I learned the disrespect they received from their superiors, and the fear then felt when the corporate inspection team
appeared. I was thankful to be spared all that, in my ivory tower
of the projection booth.

But the ivory tower came to an end when, to renew a contract with a large chain, the union leaders recommended, and the membership approved, eliminating 15 positions (including mine) and permitting
management to allow unlicensed, non-union "assistant managers" to
run the machines. My single screen flagship theatre was soon converted to a row of clothing stores, and my former landmark theatre
became a drugstore and office supply store, keeping only the front landmarked facade. And the chain converted its art-deco movie palace
from a single, to a quartet, to a multiplex. As for me, I retired.
"Sic transit gloria mundi!"

By the way, I didn't notice that this thread had been continued here in FHF under this thread because I expected it to be done in ground level, so I looked there before starting a thread there (which is now gone). I saw the topic here, "who sets the tone at your theatre" and figured since it was in FHF, it was about setting up sound systems, and didn't read it. Sorry about that.

About the Lilo and Stitch review thing --
I was just adding a positive statement about that manager to my post because I feel I should compliment someone whenever I can. If I'd know it was going to cause such a fuss, I wouldn't have. I looked back at the statement I made and the way I worded it showed that I put some humor into it. (should be cloned???) Lighten up, folks!

I know that it takes staff working together as a team to have consistently good booth operations and customer service. The manager can't do it by himself. However, I've been closely watching all the theatres in my area since 1997 and I pick up on many little details from all of my experiences, not only from movie presentation quality, but from other things, like cleanliness of the facility, friendliness and behavior of the staff, and many other little things.

I'm not going to say everything I said in my original post on the thread in ground level (where this probably should be), because when I wrote it, I was not aware of the development of this thread.

I'll say that based on the data I've collected, my observations, and the simple fact that presentation quality at Regal River Oaks 8 in Decatur, AL has remained consistently excellent through changes in both booth staff and floor staff over the years, that the manager is responsible for the quality of presentation at that theatre. He's been in the business for many years and is a very experienced booth operator and manager. He used to train people for booth, and I'm sure he trains every new booth person he gets very well. He puts more effort into quality checking and control than other managers, and it shows. If I owned a theatre, he'd be the manager I'd want to run it.

If the manager I spoke of, Ralph Freehauf, left Regal River Oaks Cinemas 8, I feel certain that the presentation quality would drop off a point or two on my rating scale within a year. Currently, the presentation quality at River Oaks is measurably better than at any other theatre in my area. I see cleaner, more dust free, more scratch free prints time and time again, perfectly focused, in frame, with plenty of brightness, along with excellent, problem-free sound, time and time again. This theatre is my "reference" by which I tend to compare others.

I have plenty of data to support my claims: (being a mathematical person, I feel this is important):

Regal River Oaks Cinema 8 description file and presentation quality reviews

Compare this theatre with other theatres I rate (follow links near the top to the other theatres' descriptions and showing lists and see how much more problematic any of the other theatre are).

Again, I never thought the simple act of paying a compliment to someone I felt deserved it would cause such a fuss. I don't dish out compliments like that unless I feel they're appropriate.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

I agree that a manager's place is on the floor, supervising and assisting customers. Having said that, it is important that a theatre manager understand what constitutes a "good" film presentation and support his booth staff by ensuring that requests for parts and service calls are handled promptly. If there are problems in the booth, then it is the manager's responsibility to either fire the employee or complain to the union (where appropriate). When the booth staff is performing well, it is the manager's responsibility to provide rewards, either financial or otherwise (maybe purchase some piece of equipment that would make the projectionists' lives easier). I don't personally like the idea of the manager-operated booth, but there is something to be said for managers who have some understanding of what type of work goes on in the booth and what types of problems might occur.

In most cases, the manager is the one who sets the minimum standards for employee performance. I'm sure that someone like Brad would put on a great show even in a poorly-managed theatre, but that's an exceptional case. If the manager doesn't care about quality and doesn't respond to requests for equipment or parts, then he will usually get what he deserves. Although I don't have the equipment inventory that Brad does, I have often loaned mundane stuff (e.g. house reels, sync blocks, splicers, etc.) to theatres to ensure a top-notch presentation, but I feel much better about doing this when I know that the manager will appreciate it.

But seriously, folks. Who among us has never worked for a bad manager? And who among us wants to blame a bad manager for any bad work we might have done? Not me. I think the concept of "work ethic" is pretty basic around these forums, isn't it? After all, none of us is becoming a millionaire in the movie exhibition business, are we?

I think, in a sense, we owe Evans an apology for blowing his statement out of proportion. He didn't mean to insult anyone and I don't believe he did. He didn't want to cause this kind of contention and it's unfair to say that he was the cause anyway.

What is the point of this thread? The whole "who sets the tone" was actually a poor choice for a subject title, as it was not actually the topic being discussed when this was moved into this forum and has steered it into a direction off of the real topic. If I had a way to change the subject title, I would change it to "who deserves the credit for a good presentation?"

If I was on the floor and a customer came up to me and said "excellent popcorn!" I certainly would not take the credit. That credit would not by default go to the manager either. That credit would go to the person actually popping the popcorn and whoever taught them how to do it so well. (Which of course may have been the manager, maybe it was just another concessionist.) I can't believe the amount of people who can't understand the difference here.

Remember, most projectionists work for peanuts. The only "payment" they get other than a piss poor wage is their pride and compliments for a job well done. That being made clear, it is quite insulting to the projectionists for a manager to receive full credit for a stellar presentation if the manager is not an active projectionist.

That being said I would like to make a couple of comments regarding Darren's post from the first page of this thread. I have only known Darren for a year or so. This guy is always busting his hump to put on the best show possible and constantly spending his own money to better booths he works in! I filled in at his UA theater for 2 shifts the first week he was there because they did not have enough staff to run the booth shifts and I would like to share a story.

Opening weekend of Harry Potter. #16 auditorium. Last show of the day. I am shutting down the east booth (there were 2 in this complex). There are 2 movies running in this booth, one still running in the other booth. I power down #13 and am walking toward #16 to check on things. As I get about 30 feet away I hear a noise and see film hanging over the edge. Running as fast as I can (up a short stairway) I miss saving the print by about 2 seconds from dumping. (Stupid "auto-timing" cards coupled with an RPM rate well over 40 was the cause of the dump. Darren had to retime them all and never had another dump the entire time he was there.) I immediately stop the projector, turn on the booth light (where I see a large crowd looking back at the booth...not happy) and repair the damage. I have it going again in a couple of minutes. After a couple of minutes when I feel comfortable enough to leave it, I go to the manager's office and explain that Harry Potter dumped. The managers don't give a flip! "Did you get it running again?" "Yes, but it was down for a few minutes and I wanted you to know so you would be prepared to take care of the customers." "Nah, we'll see if anyone complains." (Completely careless about the entire situation.) I later found out they did not even bother to have a staff member downstairs when the movie let out. They got the customer's money. Screw 'em, right? The show had a legitimate presentation problem all day long with the digital cutting in and out on a couple of the reels in that auditorium...and now the movie actually stopped in a climactic scene...and the managers did not care! That's one hell of a "tone" these guys set.

Darren took that theater's presentation, which was EASILY one of the worst in town, straight to perfection, despite the "we don't give a crap" attitudes from the managers. I can vouch that on the first weekend of his working there, every single print in the building that was ran before he got there was scratched...most of them being horribly scratched. (Remember, this was his first week on the job.) I screened one of his other prints of Harry Potter there on it's last week, some 3-4 months after it's release and it was absolutely perfect from the first frame to the last. The same can also be said for the print of "Lord of the Rings" I also screened on it's last week at his theater, again some 3-4 months down the road. Darren is definitely in the top 10 list of the best projectionists I have ever met/worked with of all time. Really good operators are hard to find these days. It amazes me how some management can just run them off.

Now I could go either way on the management is responsible for presentation argument on the grounds that it should be taken on a case-by-case basis. Personal pride in my work is very important to me, however there's an invisible bubble between myself and projectionists I don't already know that makes me question their motives constantly. It's very easy for a somebody who starts as floor-staff to want to be promoted and in most Corporate environments, this usually means a management position. Management positions (In this town, anyway) include booth shifts. So if somebody is in it for the extra payday, they'll more-than-likely do whatever it takes to make the money and that's all. Somebody raised with a respect for the business, on the other hand, might have a different outlook.

On the whole, I'd say there's no such thing as a forumula governing behavioral patterns in the booth or on the management side, but I know that I'm just starting work in a corportate environment and my GM takes the booth and the presentation VERY seriously, and continues to pursuade me that Regal, and the good folks that sign my checks, are starting to take us booth monkeys much more seriously than they have in the past.

In other words, the rumor making the rounds is that now that Chapter 11 is over, presentation is starting to make a comeback. But, like I said, if a GM doesn't give a S*** and he's training booth personnel to be lazy, nothing can stop it asside from personal pride.

We're all right and we're all wrong.

------------------
So if old projectionists don't die, what happens when new projectionists get old?

Edited to contain my potty-mouth.

quote:

---

Had Evans said "congratulations goes to the manager and his booth staff", then I would have read that and found it to be a fair statement and wouldn't have even said anything.

---

OK. I'll go back and edit the post that caused all this. The staff of the theatre do deserve congratulations as well. I say that often in comment cards that I fill out and I feel that I more than give credit to everyone at the theatre in my lengthy list of complimentary comments that are on the description file for that theatre (link in a previous post of mine on this thread).

However, at this particular theatre, I feel that the manager is the one responsible for keeping and training the right kind of staff members that do a great job and work as a team.

I set the tone in my theatre!!!!.......

<Both "Bass" and "Treble">

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"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"

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just my .02

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--Sean McKinnon
Manager
Loews Cineplex Entertainment
Liberty Tree Mall 20
Danvers, Mass
<A HREF="http://www.enjoytheshow.com" TARGET=_blank>www.enjoytheshow.com</A>

Steve must have mistyped "Tribble":
http://www.skotophile.com/StarTrek/Tribbles.html

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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