|
|
This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
|
|
Author
|
Topic: digital conversion gone bad
|
|
|
|
|
Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
|
posted 08-31-2014 09:14 PM
Streator is a town of over 13,000 people. I don't really understand why the theater is doing this poorly:
quote: Kyle Mitchell
Knowing the expenses of the place, I was confident that Katie who owns a realty office in Ottawa(20min away) was using home sales commissions to support the business for years.
I would see that she would drive over here in bad weather and just end up with two cars there or the marquee shut of by 7:30 with her heading home.
We only have one screen here in this town of 1,700, and just under 9,000 in our huge county, and this theater has paid its own bills and supported major upgrades (including digital) for over 80 years. We virtually NEVER have "nobody show up" on a given night, even though we get some pretty horrific weather. Sometimes we only have two or four or ten, but we always have people.
Makes you wonder if the place was really a dump inside, or being run poorly or had major presentation problems that made people give up on it.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God
Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004
|
posted 09-01-2014 12:02 AM
quote: Kyle Mitchell
Yes Tony, I remember that road trip. You made a few trips there over the years didn't you? Did he pay you for your work? I made almost yearly trips there for about ten years to work on his building for a week at a time. I never got paid for any of that work. I looked at it like I was being loyal to a friend and helping him be successful. I know different now.
Yeah I was called to go out there a few times but my schedule back then was busy and it never happened. From what you said I am glad it didn't as I couldn't afford to work gratis...but you are right, Tim always promised but rarely if ever delivered.
And if I recall he also never made good on the medical bills from the November mishap on the roof. (The one and only trip I did agree to make after the famous road trip, our 2k+ miles, a blown tire and a little off-road excursion 3-day marathon of fun and farts, lol.) Just got the barely anything settlement from his insurance company.
He was a friend when he needed you for something, but the reverse was often that when I needed something, there was no favor returned.
quote: Kyle Mitchell
"Uncharacteristic", seriously Tony? You didn't ever witness any of the Tim Burke freak out sessions? Weren't you at the Majestic when he yelled and screamed degrading things at his father with a group of people in the lobby, before locking the old man in the basement?
Candidly, until you brought it up, I had forgotten (or maybe the better term would be repressed) the incident with his father. It was a very ugly scene for sure. I had seen flashes of Tim's temper before but that was the worst I had personally been witness to. When I was saying uncharacteristic I was mainly referring to how he would (generally, in my experience anyways) be obsessive about projection and how the equipment was set up...though he also could do some real doosies when it came to spitballing things together. I do remember how pissed he would get when I jokingly called the theatre the "magpie"....yet he had some choice names for the place himself.
quote: Kyle Mitchell
I bet there are others on here who could tell of some about his freak outs, but here is a good one: It was 1984 we were installing 70mm at the LaReina in Sherman Oaks for Mann, needed a Dolby card, there was one not being used at the Fox Hollywood. He went to pick it up and started freaking out yelling at his union brother. The manager came into the booth to see what the commotion was just as Tim started throwing things and got hit in the head with a shelf. I believe the manager was carted away in an ambulance and assault charges were filed. He was banned from all Mann Theatres and lost his coveted gig at the Bruin in Westwood.
I do remember that incident as well.
This whole thing literally makes me sick..like you (but to a much lesser degree) I put in a good amount of effort to try and help the Majestic succeed, also in the belief that I was helping out a friend in a great endeavor.
Sadly, the community and all who worked so hard on the Majestic are the real losers in this, and all because of one out of control owner..who I once thought was a friend.
On a lighter note, since this thread desperately needs some humor.... do you remember on that first trip, when Tim was trying to get the marquee chaser going, he dropped it into the metal can shoring it out in a fantastic display of fireworks and tripped breakers? And refused to shut it down to fix?
This whole thing is just the beginning of what promises to be a long and ugly battle. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
| IP: Logged
|
|
Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 09-01-2014 02:35 AM
quote: Travis Cape
I also doubt that anyone runs a theater for that long and only gets paid $300.
If you read the different articles, posts in this discussion, you'll see that this was only a part time job for them. They probably have an income that fills their daily needs due to other activities.
It probably went along the lines of: Them trying to make the theater business work, investing some of their own money and a whole bunch of their time in the hopes of later acquiring the business entirely. If there was anything on paper, it probably was vague to begin with.
The relationship with the owner went sour, maybe even before the digital install was completed and something that came along recently was probably what triggered the last straw breaking. If we are to believe the things we've read here, the owner is not the easiest guy to work with. Whenever such a complex, not clear cut relationship goes south, there's often nothing to be done.
Even if you put everything down on paper, if it goes wrong this way, it's of no use. Lawyers can drag this kind of conflicts out in court for years, but the underlying business won't survive it anyway.
The best solution would obviously be a reconciliation or at least a coming to terms without lawyers. It's probably best to part ways in the end. At least I wouldn't dare to try to setup a new business relationship this way.
So the best solution would probably for the owner to sell the building to the former operators at a reasonable price or let them take over his mortgage and pay him a bonus. That way the public that funded the digital transition would also be getting their cinema back.
quote:
Streator is a town of over 13,000 people. I don't really understand why the theater is doing this poorly:
I also don't get it. They don't have any local competition. With the digital transition already being paid for, a mortgage that seems all but unworkable, this place should just work?
Unless this place really is a dump, or people in Streator collectively hate going to the movies while still ponying up $100K+ to save it...
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
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.
|
Home
Printer-friendly view of this topic