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This topic comprises 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Author
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Topic: My time has come.. resignation
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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today
Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99
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posted 10-09-2009 01:29 AM
I missed this thread the first and second time it came around, probably because I don't usually visit the Ground Level forum.
But since I'm here, I must admit that I am no longer in the theater industry as well. I most recently worked for the Regency Theatres Tamarac Square in Denver and for the most part it really was a fun and rewarding job. I was usually treated very well and enjoyed most of my time there. We were the furthest Regency theater from the home base which is in California. I was hired by a great manager, Tony, who truly knew where I belonged in a theater environment. As such I was able to get away with minor things that corporate probably wouldn't have liked, such as not wearing a uniform and not cleaning auditoriums, etc. But corporate came out and visited a few times and they made no real effort to make me conform to those rules and seemed to appreciate my work, and I liked that. Once before when I put in my notice when we changed managers, they flew someone out from California to convince me to stay, and that they did. I am glad that I stayed and eventually the new manager and I became a great team. It was great to be so appreciated. We had the best, brightest, cleanest and probably best-sounding presentation of any Regency theater ever based on the comments from the corporate people who would come out. One of them even told me that I was a "clean-freak" because the booth was so clean. Of course, I took this as a compliment.
However a few months back the main owner came out to visit the theater and he brought with him a new "district manager" of sorts (he appeared to be about 25 years old, but I didn't ask). After that visit, everything in the theater got much worse... not just for me, but for everyone. They were watching us like hawks, nitpicking everything even when there was nothing really wrong. It was very odd and from what I am told it still is going on. They only wanted me to work two days a week to build up film and change trailers, no more maintenance whatsoever unless I could squeeze it in those two shifts or there was an emergency, yet they complained about some minor dust inside the lamphouse door hinges during their visit. In August I made a thread about Screenvision and how much they suck (they really do, by the way). Regency did not like that I was making negative comments about someone they were partnered with, claimed they were made aware of the thread by Screenvision and asked that I remove it. Since I am not usually one to cave into silly threats like that (especially when Regency was never mentioned in my original posts), I did not comply. They asked me to leave. I complied with that request, of course. To be honest I had planned on putting in my notice a few weeks before simply due to how un-fun the job had become, but they beat me to the punch. When I told Tony the former GM about this, he said they may have wanted me gone because of how much I made and were trying to trim the cost of the entire operation. I'm not sure about that, but I guess it could be true, maybe, maybe not.
Since I have left, I have been called many times about projection issues they were experiencing. Although sometimes I was nice and gave them answers, I usually had to say "Hey guys, I don't work there any more. Nothing personal, but you need to figure this out yourselves or hire the $85 an hour tech to fix it". Apparently scratched prints and bad splices are now the norm along with a nice quantity of dirt. Although the GM who hired me had quit last year due to his overall dislike of the company (I do not know all the details of that), the current GM that replaced him has also put in his resignation recently. The place has been open maybe 5 or 6 years and the GM that is leaving now I think is maybe the 7th since it has been open. In my opinion that is quite a high turn-around. Still, my job there was very enjoyable and I had fun, much more so than I did while working for Madstone which used to exist in the same building. I took the job so that I could play with film while I still had the chance and upgraded that booth tremendously since I arrived, all for my regular wage. Sad to say that I wasn't quite done. I was sad to leave, but oh well. All things end.
I am still doing video editing for a living know, as I have done professionally since 2004 (the theater was an additional part-time job). What is nice is that I can do much of it from home in the middle of the night. Due to the economy I don't quite have as many jobs/hours as I'd like, but hopefully things will improve.
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Monte L Fullmer
Film God
Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 10-09-2009 12:57 PM
Were, in all due actuality, all of the cinema business is in food selling, not movie selling since we're just showing movies for someone else and taking a cut of the profits.
When you think of it, generations ago the concession sales were just the side step of the business with small counters low quantity of items and choice since Hollyrock was churning out movies by the hundreds that could be made for pennies to make along with the hundreds of actors under contract that they can get cheaply.
Thus, having us better paid projectionists was acceptable and part of the norm for operations.
Now, with Hollyrock churning out junk with outrageous film making budgets (and we know that only 10 to 20% of all films made that has actually made a profit-put that studio in the black on returns along with the seasonal big releases now), overpaid actors and staff has really forced those numbers to unreachable levels for the filmmakers to at least break even-levels that the cinemas have to follow trend in resorting themselves in now "selling widgets" .. which is now the highly needed profits from the concessions stand since these new cinemas were built with millions of greenbacks compared to thousands of cartwheels that would jungle in our pockets, along with the huge power expense just to keep these googooplexes operating while standing.
Thus, it's not because we're not respected in our trade, just that we have become an added expense that eats into their profits.
Thus, it's either put on a penguin suit and shovel popcorn, become company techs and run all over the country fixing their junk that the 'widget operators' are destroying, or find another line of work/career to still make ends meet.
Sorry, but the "supply and demand" syndrome in this industry is getting to be like the lemmings going over a cliff-gonna bust the industry one of these days.
-Monte
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 10-09-2009 01:37 PM
quote: Joe Redifer
....it really was a fun and rewarding job. I was usually treated very well and enjoyed most of my time there. We were the furthest Regency theater from the home base which is in California. I was hired by a great manager, Tony, who truly knew where I belonged in a theater environment
Joe, next to finding a soul-mate and the joy of seeing your children grow up, having a job that brings you satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment and working with collegues who respect you and become good friends, well, it's quite precious thing....priceless, actually.
I have been lucky to have such jobs all my career where I actually forget that it's "quitting time." I can work on a project late into the night and be so engrossed that I forget to have lunch or supper and leave only when I am so tired that my eyes won't stay open. It's not that I am a workaholic, because, believe me, I do double black flips to get out of doing stuff I don't like.
Indeed we, who do have jobs that we would do for free as a hobby if we weren't getting paid, are the very very lucky ones. When I see my friends who hate their jobs and who live for that hour hand to hit 5 o'clock EVERY DAY or live only for the weekend to come around, I realize how incredibly lucky I am because a high percentage of my fellow humans have to drudge thru jobs that they either hate or are just bored for 8 hours of their day. I can't imagine how awful it is to spend most of your waking hours hating what you are doing. Yup, we are the lucky ones, and I for one count my blessings. Except of course when, like last night, I got home at 2am and had to explain to my lady why I didn't get home at 9pm like I said.
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