Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Who or what inspired you in this business

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Topic: Who or what inspired you in this business

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 05-31-2005 03:21 PM

I've been taking photos since I was only 7. Started developing them myself at the age of 10. Was yearbook photography editor in high school, doing all the film processing too. Electronics was also a hobby since the age of 7. Started doing self-taught radio and TV repair around the age of 12, and at a TV repair shop after high school. My career objective in high school was to be an electronics engineer, likely for a consumer electronics company.

I commuted to college with a high school classmate who's father leased and ran the local drive-in. Driving to school at the end of my freshman year in May 1967, he asked if I would be interested in working as their projectionist, using my background in photography and electronics. I really enjoyed the next three years working there and at a local "hardtop" too. Also filled in at the Buffalo IATSE 233 local, becoming good friends with the business agent, Ken Kavanaugh. He is the one who really encouraged me to apply to Kodak, where my first project was designing a 100-seat screening room. (I also applied to AT&T, Sylvania, and Wurlitzer). Thirty-five years later (June 8 is my 35th anniversary at Kodak), I still enjoy "show business". [thumbsup]

My most exciting achievements were receiving the Academy Technical Achievement Award from Renee Zellweger for developing the LAD system, and the EPA Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award in Washington DC on Earth Day 2003 for my work in developing solvent-free film cleaning technology.

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Jeremy Jorgenson
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1002
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 05-31-2005 11:56 PM

WOW!

tough post to follow... my girlfriend in high school had a manager at the store she worked at that was also the GM of a local 2 plex... she convinced me to apply & I got the job. I eventually made my way up to projection. 12 years, 6 theatres (and theatre chains) and 4* film formats later, I'm still doing it.

(* well, three at theatres - 35, 8/70 & 15/70... one at school - 16)

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Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 06-01-2005 02:36 PM

I was born into the business. My father started cranking out silent films in a "6 by 8 sweatbox suspended from the ceiling of an opera house" in Michigan. He married and moved to the West Coast. He became an I.A. member in '37. I followed in his footsteps and became an usher in '45 then a member of I.A. local 577 in San Bernardino, CA in '50. I remained primarily in the business for the next 25 years owning and operating theatres in Solvang, CA (now the Bit'o'Denmark restaurant), Portland, OR and Kathlamet, WA. Most recently I became a manager for Regal Entertainment Group in Poulsbo, WA but have been forced to resign because of a physical problem I didn't know I had when I hired on. I am looking forward to owning and operating a private theatre (film club) sometime in the future. Right now I am Resident Manager of an adult care facility.

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