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Author Topic: Is anyone else missing their prints? Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-22-2003 03:49 PM                     John, I have asked various people at TES from the ladies who answer the phone all the way up to the highest supervisors I have managed to get on the phone. The reasoning given was always bootlegging, that the studios didn't want the prints on the street 2 days prior for bootlegging reasons. The other obvious reason is for those films when the studios don't finish the movie in time, but that was never used as an excuse.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-22-2003 03:55 PM                     Interesting, Brad. I would take anything I heard from the regular phone folks with a grain of salt; that is, I'd question how much they really know about the "why", and how much might be informed speculation on their part. ("Question everything!," that's me.) If NATO were useful, this certainly seems like the kind of thing they should be good at. Of course, talking to Brad Carroll might be good too. (As a non-theatrical, I don't have the same issues you guys have, so I'm not going to engage in active lobbying...) --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-22-2003 04:10 PM                     That's why I asked to speak to various supervisors as well.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-22-2003 04:15 PM                     Sure...but the job of the supervisor is to solve problems and manage people, and I suspect it's really unlikely they are involved in the policy-setting or studio-interfacing side of things. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-22-2003 04:19 PM                     Probably so, but when it's all you can get ahold of...that's the answer. If TES didn't want that being used as an excuse, they need to train their people better or get a spokesperson of some kind answering questions. Brad Carroll would be perfect for this, but they don't seem to want to let him talk publicly.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-22-2003 04:22 PM                     Oh sure. But this is a very common problem across almost all industries. It's difficult to train front-line employees to give good answers to difficult policy questions. I agree that it's not particularly excusable, but I would focus on solving the problem, rather than getting stuck in the rut of "If you really believe the answer you gave us...," because that doesn't get you anywhere. Of course, if Brad isn't effective, perhaps you should talk to upper management. Go straight to the relevent Vice President (C. Singh?)... --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-22-2003 04:30 PM                     John, I've been repeating that answer for 3 years here on this forum. If it was wrong or TES cared, they could've done something about it by now. Far as I'm concerned, that is what I have been repeatedly told and that is their reasoning. This is getting old.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-22-2003 08:18 PM                        The last time I was in the Victoria Film Shipping depot (which is owned by TES), everyone's prints were ready to go (already labelled) on Tuesday. As far as I know they just sit there waiting till Wednesday night (for shipping early Thursday morning). I guess the system is setup for the people who can't manage to get all their films booked by 6:00pm Monday.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-22-2003 08:25 PM                     Daryl, I don't think it's reasonable to assume that anything we see in the US has any relationship to how its handled in Canada... --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-22-2003 09:01 PM                        Prints are shipped on Thursday's in Canada. Prints are shipped on Thursday's in the US. TES owns the depot and shipping company in Canada. TES owns the depot's in the US. It sound's pretty similar to me. My point is the prints, most often coming from the US, are ready in Canada on Tuesday, they're probably ready on Tuesday in the US also. So it is probably some stupid studio or TES decision that is behind this nonsense.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-22-2003 09:15 PM                     Prints are shipped in Thursdays in the US? News to me. My prints are shipped 2 days before. Since most first-run theatres receive most TES prints on Thursday, I assume they are shipped on Tuesday, but could be Wednesday, but Thursday doesn't seem plausible. In any case, regardless of superficial resemblance, the fact is that you get prints on Tuesdays in Canada, and pretty much no one gets new opennings on Tuesdays in the US; therefore, policies and procedures must be different. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-22-2003 09:48 PM                        I only receive prints on Tuesday's when I pick them up myself at the depot -- there are only a few theatres which I do this for. Regularily I receive prints Thursday morning... the trucks leave Toronto early in the morning, probably around 4am. Like you've said, 2-day prior is possible though. If they shipped the prints before noon on Tuesday, I don't see why the couldn't be at most theatres by mid-day Wednesday. Maybe I'm just expecting too much. Maybe they should ship prints via UPS instead. Heck, I can get a print, same-day, from across the province via bus.  |  IP: Logged Chad Calpito Film Handler Posts: 23 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 02-22-2003 09:58 PM                     Man, I can't stand Technicolor at all. I've had to deal with them on numerous occassions regarding film pick-ups. Also, I hate those cardboard boxes. Star Wars II came in those boxes and I hated to deal with them. I prefer the cans. But, luckily, there is an elevator to both Projection Room #1 and Projection Room #2 which makes it easy to transfer prints from one to the other. Chad  |  IP: Logged Mark Maxwell Film Handler Posts: 55 From: Tyler, TX, USA Registered: Jul 2002 posted 02-23-2003 11:47 PM                     Nicholas, Is your' theater in Lake Jackson the one in the mall. If so, I heped the Nazis (Carmike) close it down a few years ago. It turnes out that one of my friends worked there as a concessionist in high school. If it's the same place, let me know how things are doing, and if they are doing well, let me know what company you work for that had enough brains too keep it going.  |  IP: Logged Nicholas Roznovsky Expert Film Handler Posts: 156 From: College Station, TX, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-24-2003 12:12 AM                        That theater is now operated by Starplex Cinemas as a discount theater, as it's in a really crappy location and isn't all that great in the interior design department either. We mainly keep it open because the mall was itching to have a movie theater and we didn't want another company moving into the area. We cleaned it up as best we could and have been running it as a sub-run for almost two years now. It does well enough to pay for itself, but our area isn't really big enough to support a discount theater. The theater I was referring to in my previous post is a first-run 10-screen which was built by Starplex in 1997. It (and no small amount of corporate mismanagement by Carmike) put both of the Carmike theaters in Lake Jackson out of business. BTW, Technicolor won't deliver to this sub-run location since it's not open during Airborne's delivery window, so all of that theater's prints are delivered to the first-run facility. This theater opens around five everyday, the same time Airborne is picking up packages out of their drop box in the parking lot. Yet another example of "Print Delivery Done Wrong".  |  IP: Logged

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