Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: List some dumb things you've been told by managers

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Film Handlers' Forum » List some dumb things you've been told by managers (Page 2)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2

Author

Topic: List some dumb things you've been told by managers

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 04-16-2006 10:27 PM

quote: George Roher
At one theatre we were having to change Xenon lamps quite often, partially because the managers were cheap about buying lamps and some lamps had an insane number of hours on them. Also, management was abusing the equipment when they were in the booth so some lamps were failing early.

..sounds on what some companies still do, or used to do - let alone buy the cheapest "charlie built" bulbs.

Another one is where a cinema ROTATES a series of bulbs on the shelf -they have a good dozen bulbs for one house and rotate bulbs every other month - pull one out and put another in every other month..(can you see how the bulb report would look like with this sort of procedure?) ...manager (booth, or location) thinks this saves on bulb usage.. (????)...and all of these bulbs have high hours.

Funny and wonder on where some of these goofball procedures originate.

-Monte

| IP: Logged

Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 04-16-2006 11:27 PM

Stupid things I have seen managers do?

I have seen managers insist that screen brightness/ilumination is adjusted by cranking up the bulb amperage. They had no clue regarding adjusting the reflector mirror....and each projector/console was equipped with an OEM service manual....and these individuals were college students!

I have posted much about these managers in other threads...so I am not going to repeat myself again!

| IP: Logged

Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 04-17-2006 03:27 PM

Me, a customer complaining about a travel ghost.
Manager: "Its in the print."

| IP: Logged

Richard Hamilton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1341
From: Evansville, Indiana
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 04-17-2006 05:44 PM

quote: Monte L Fullmer
let alone buy the cheapest "charlie built" bulbs.

Whats that?

Rick

| IP: Logged

Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-17-2006 08:14 PM

quote: Richard Hamilton
Whats that?

Lamps made by your girlfriends relatives [Big Grin]

.

Mark

| IP: Logged

Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 04-17-2006 08:37 PM

quote: John T. Hendrickson, Jr
Many moons ago, when I worked in a union booth (a two man booth no less), the manager called up and asked to play music 15 minutes before the first show. The booth contract stipulated that projectionists' hours began when the show hit the screen, and the theater was entitled to one cut of preshow music.

I explained that to the manager, who replied "I don't give a damn- I want 15 minutes of music." His wish was my command, and two weeks later I turned in pay sheets with projectionist hours starting 15 minutes before the first show.

What does this mean? I don't understand what "one cut of preshow music" is. How does one cut of music compare to 15 minutes. Please explain.

| IP: Logged

Richard Hamilton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1341
From: Evansville, Indiana
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 04-18-2006 01:02 AM

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Lamps made by your girlfriends relatives .

Ahhh so, i get it!! [Wink]

Means I should get a discount!

| IP: Logged

Jason Winn
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 131
From: Mesquite, TX, USA
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 04-22-2006 01:46 PM

One time, I was closing in booth. The last movie that ended was The Aviator which ended at 1:45 AM. The last movie that ended before that was at 1:00 AM. So, I had 45 minutes where I just had to sit around and wait for that last movie to drop. Around 1:15, a manager calls me and wants me to check the theater showing Aviator and see if anyone's in there. They said that if nobody's in there, they wanted me to stop the projector, unthread the film, cut the film, take part of the print off the takeup platter, and splice it back onto the payout platter. They wanted me to do all that extra work just so they could go home early.

Luckily, there were a few people in the theatre, so I didn't have to do it. That's stupid, though. First of all, Aviator is a 9 reel print. It's too much of a risk. I could've easily damaged the film by doing that. But they don't care. As long as they get to go home early. Lazy-asses! It's not like they have to do anything. Just sit around for 30 minutes. Oh, talk about hard work!

Our managers were always like that, though. That's why I hated closing. A lot of times, they would call and ask if anyone was in the last theatre that was playing. Plus, if I ever needed their help with anything, I was screwed. If there wasn't an usher available to help me move prints, a manager would help me. They would always gripe and complain about how many prints we had to move. Hey, you make the schedule, not me! Idiots!

| IP: Logged

John T. Hendrickson, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 889
From: Freehold, NJ, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 04-22-2006 09:34 PM

Lyle Romer said:

"What does this mean? I don't understand what "one cut of preshow music" is. How does one cut of music compare to 15 minutes. Please explain."

One "cut" refers to one song on an old LP record. Yes, we had a turntable for non-sync intermission music. (told you that was many moons ago [Smile]

) This was in the days before tape and CD. A "cut" was generally about three minutes. Back then, an LP record was about 15 minutes or so in length.

| IP: Logged

Carl Martin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1424
From: Oakland, CA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 04-23-2006 03:22 AM

quote: Jason Winn
They said that if nobody's in there, they wanted me to stop the projector, unthread the film, cut the film, take part of the print off the takeup platter, and splice it back onto the payout platter.

at a certain point, you have to be able to say "you are my boss but that is a fucked up thing to do and i won't do it." they don't own the print; it's not theirs to treat so cavalierly. what if a print was going to move to another theater and you were asked to scratch it after the gate during the last showing, to sabotage the competition? that's extreme, but i could almost imagine someone concocting an idea like that.

in the quoted example, you could just tell them, "i won't do that, but i will shut off the lamp so we don't have to hang around after the show while it cools, and we'll save a little money." would they fire you or discipline you for that?

carl

| IP: Logged

Dominic Espinosa
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1172
From: California, U.S.A.
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 04-23-2006 05:20 AM

I was once told that a man with 12 years of experience to my measly 1 was obviously a better projectionist than I.

Two weeks later Finding Nemo was cancelled to a sold out auditorium since it brainwrapped after he screwed with the platter timing. "Just trying to get that speed up so it won't lag the projector".

| IP: Logged

Richard Hamilton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1341
From: Evansville, Indiana
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 04-23-2006 08:17 AM

quote: Will Kutler
I have seen managers insist that screen brightness/ilumination is adjusted by cranking up the bulb amperage. They had no clue regarding adjusting the reflector mirror....

About 5 years ago, I did a P.M. at a screening room. I asked their tech how(and to show me)they operated before I touched anything. Before they ran any film, they would take light readings and adjust the amperage to attain 16 fl. Problem was, they were cutting the amperage so much. They were getting about 300 hours out of 1600w bulbs.

In a different theater, I came in one morning and the painter that the theater had on contract was painting the screen in the big house. I proceeded to ask what he was doing, and he said that he was told to paint it because of stains. I tried to explain to him how bad painting a screen was, and mentioned the gain of the screen. The next morning I came in, and he was re-painting it with the kind of textured paint that was used on ceilings with the little sparkly things! Needless to say, the painter bought a screen that day!

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.