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Author Topic: Two Towers and INTERMISSION! David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 12-09-2002 01:20 PM                        Right, I understand the argument for cramming in as many shows as they can. But if they are only running 3 shows a day, with no "late evening" show, they could easily stick in a 15 minute intermission and adjust the 3 start times accordingly, and still not disrupt their overall hours. Seems like a win-win. But what do I know.  |  IP: Logged Darren Briggs Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: York, UK Registered: Dec 2001 posted 12-09-2002 01:30 PM                        Just found out it was a mistake in the email and they had missed the words 'on towers' out! So it was supposed to say those runing the two towers on towers, must put an intermission between r4 and r5! So panic over no intermssion for platters! Darren  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-09-2002 02:42 PM                        No need for an intermission if you run The Two Towers using two towers! Sorry, couldn't resist that. I have once tried to do a changeover with the incoming machine being fed from a tower and it's not an experience I'd like to repeat. The film was Titanic with reels 1-4 on a 6,000 foot spool and the rest of it on the tower. The tower in question was an old and unloved Westrex tower with worn-out bearings which would start sluggishly and then suddenly pull like crazy. You had to act like a human shock absorber to stop it from breaking the film (acetate) or destroying the intermittent loop (poly), and this procedure combined with the usual changeover drill was not pleasant.  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 12-09-2002 02:52 PM                     Leo, I've only done changeovers with 2k or 6k spools, I've run towers, but never platters or endless loops. Towers can be tricky to start without snatching the film, and they do need care when starting. Some are much worse than others of the same make and model. I would not want to do a changeover onto a tower, in this situation, wouldn't it be better to run the first part on the tower, and then change over to the smaller spool?  |  IP: Logged Darren Briggs Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: York, UK Registered: Dec 2001 posted 12-09-2002 06:25 PM                        An inverter on the projector motor with a 10 second ramp to full speed is a great idea when using a tower, makes life easy and no need to take up all the loose film with your hand as the tower struggles to get up to speed without snatching the film. Darren  |  IP: Logged Andy Muirhead Master Film Handler Posts: 323 From: Galashiels, Scotland Registered: Dec 2000 posted 12-09-2002 07:26 PM                     I was joking with a guy at work today on this subject, and he suggested that maybe the 'two towers' and 'towers' were being mixed up, looks like he was right!  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-09-2002 08:51 PM                        Our schedule for the print is 1200-1230-330-415-700-800-1030-1130 The 1130pm is for the first two Fr/Sa nights. 1030 pm nightly. WHY?? Is selling 20 adult tickets ($150) really worth it after you take out your overhead? $35 comp for the late show $39 for the hourlies who have to stay the extra time. $50 for the cost of advertising it and actually putting it onscreen. $124 operating expenses (and I'm probably low on that figure) leaves a whopping $16. Oh wait, let's not forget the distributors 90%. Yeah, makes sense to me. NOT!  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-09-2002 11:26 PM                        Jason - Don't forget the concessions purchased by those 20 people. Assuming a $2.00 net per cap, there's $40.00! Subtract 15% for food cost and you have $34.00 more income. Actually, I would probably run a 10:30 show nightly. If you sat down and matrixed the cost of putting on every single show, you might find that you would drop a whole lot of matinee shows, yet you run those for the couple of people that show up at noon on a weekday. Why not run evening shows? I didn't get into this business cause I like going to bed early  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-10-2002 12:10 AM                        Mike, Trust me, I hadn't forgotten about the concession end of it, but it still looks to me like having such shows (whether day or night) with such minimal attendances is a waste. Actually, the later PM shows are the waste, IMO. The matinees (in my area) have varying crowds from day to day... the laters ones, however, do not. IT all gets back to the fact that local area management shoudl know their given populace and it's attendance routines FAR batter than someone sitting in a 5th floor office 700 miles away. I guess that's what I get for working for a chain...  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-10-2002 01:51 AM                        Jason, I do not if you work for Regal or not. But they do not have a fifth floor. They barely have two floors.Being a very tall person there are places in that corporate office where I almost hit my head on the door frames every morning (when I worked there). Truth is - the Regal Cinemas corporate office sits behind a Winn-Dixie in a town called Halls, Tennessee (outside of Knoxville). The place is extremely 'unhollywood' and very unglamorous. The first time I went there I thought for sure I had the wrong place. Now you can't miss it - they named the street "Mike Campbell Drive" so people don't get lost looking for the place................................  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-10-2002 01:58 AM                        Jason - I too, work for a chain (one of the top five). We have NEVER had mandatory showtimes. The closest that we came was with "Pearl Harbor." We had to submit our showtimes and house placements to our booker a couple of weeks in advance for approval through Buena Vista. My Region Leader decided that she would just do the schedules/placements for all of her managers, but that was a regional decision. Most managers in the company did all of their own. Now, we are expected to run occupancy reports on Friday night and "fix" our house placements based on those reports. A couple of times a year, we get an email on Monday asking for our occupancy reports for the weekend, and if something needed to be moved but wasn't ... the response is not very pleasant.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-10-2002 09:30 AM                        Dennis, NO, I work fo rthe other Mike. Patrick. Carmike. They do have 5 floors at the home office, but the showtime decisions are made on the forth floor. There is no questioning their judegment. They know best for the entire ocuntry when it comes to showtimes. It's kind of like the Sam's Club warehouses that can't control their own parking lot lights. They are controlled from a master location in Oklahoma or somewhere like that. Yeah, that to makes plenty of sense to me... Mike: That makes all the common sense in the world to me. The location manager should possess ability to "forecast" his/her upcoming shows and place them accordingly. IT's not a science and there are mistakes made, but it's ever so simple to pick a print up and move it from house to house, often between shows if needed, to capitize on the extra seating.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 12-10-2002 10:56 AM                        quote: It's kind of like the Sam's Club warehouses that can't control their own parking lot lights. They are controlled from a master location in Oklahoma or somewhere like that. Yeah, that to makes plenty of sense to me Cinemark controls the HVAC system here from their HQ in Texas. If an auditorium is too hot or too cold, the local mgr. has to contact the main office to get it changed. So I've been told anyway.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-10-2002 12:52 PM                     My high school in South Florida had it's A/C controlled from a central station in another state (GA or SC). Very strange when it's 75 degrees outside and the heat kicks in. Jason-- Carmike instructed us to have a 12:01am showing on Tuesday/Wednesday. I don't think they realized that every other theater known to man in the area is going to do that as well. And they've got stadium seating and cupholders... *sigh* =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 12-10-2002 01:59 PM                    NO INTERMISSIONS!!! Don't even suggest that here in the US! They'll just end up showing about 20 more NCN commercials! Keep the intermissions OUT OF THE US - At least for the first run theaters. We're currently starting our movies TEN minutes ahead of schedule due to insanely long NCN pre-show crap. Our customers notice it too, and are very thankful that we do that. I know we're supposed to do that anyway, but a lot of places around here don't. Hell, now we even have Geico commercials playing in the Movie Tunes! For Pete's Sake! Enough already!  |  IP: Logged

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