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Topic: Anyone work for Carmike theatres?

Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 04-13-2005 10:50 PM

quote: Monte L Fullmer
I used to work for Carmike back in the early 90's when they took over a small chain called Excellence Theatres, that they themselves went under due to mis-management of sorts, but didn't stay long since my booth responsibilities were taken away to MO's.

Monte, the way I understand it Excellence wasn't perfect but was far from being mismanaged. What happened to excellence is the lender they were working with to finance their rapid expansion (mostly through acquisitions) got bought out by a larger firm that had a different philosophy about debt and called the entire debt due immediate. Excellence of course couldn't pay but Carmike could. Carmike bought the debt and thus the circuit.

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Allison Parsons
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 630
From: East Peoria, IL
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 04-13-2005 11:12 PM

questions:
-Do they have a booth tech for each market/state that they are located in. Or if you have a problem will I have to call home office and someone will walk me thru it.
-Are ticket prices comparable to other chains (I can probably look on their web site for that answer)
-Do they have any 'perks' for the employees (examples: contests, etc.)
-Coke or Pepsi products?

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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-14-2005 12:54 AM

quote: Jarryd Beard
Also, almost all new Carmikes are at least THX certifiable, if they don't go for the certification.

Carmike had an architectural/installation design for its Wynnsongs where every other auditorium was THX. So even in the non-THX rooms, you at least had THX-spec sound isolation from the adjoining rooms (which is about 100 miles better than new builds for some companies where you can still hear the next room through the walls). I don't know if they're still using that design.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 04-14-2005 01:00 AM

quote: Sam Graham
Not true. Carmike's website CLAIMS all THX, but in fact, the 12-plex had maybe one or two houses built THX-certified. Same holds true for the Wynnsong in Johnston, which originally opened with THX certification on either six or eight of its sixteen screens, but which is only renewed on the two "largest" (insert laugh track here) houses.

This would be news to me. It would seem to be an oversight on either Carmike's part or that of THX. Carmike does operate a number of all-THX locations, despite not having some high profile locations in cities like Los Angeles or New York. I think that's part of what makes Carmike a stupidly easy target for theater bashers.

The Lawton location (here in my town) is not currently advertising any screens of being THX certified due to having undergone a recent stadium seating conversion. Carmike and Lucasfilm are still working out details on how to get screens #4 and #5 into THX compliance. The theater was originally built with those two screens THX certified. And they did sound great (they still sound great anyway). The only thing better to my ears was Northpark #1 in Dallas (RIP), or Brad's screening room. And that's saying a Goddamned hell of a lot.

The point is, Carmike is not necessarily the hellhole some people love to paint it as being. They need to spread the HATE a little more fairly around. Otherwise they're just going to sound just a little bit stupid. Get onto AMC, Loews, Cinemark (those weak-ass bass M-fers) and others.

quote: Allison Parsons
questions:
-Do they have a booth tech for each market/state that they are located in. Or if you have a problem will I have to call home office and someone will walk me thru it.
-Are ticket prices comparable to other chains (I can probably look on their web site for that answer)
-Do they have any 'perks' for the employees (examples: contests, etc.)
-Coke or Pepsi products?

Carmike typically has at least one or two techs per district to keep things in line. Naturally, if you have a better theater with better equipment your location is probably going to get more attention.

Ticket prices at most Carmikes are comparable with what other circuits charge. The Carmike in Lawton gives military discounts for Fort Sill personnel and also gives discounts for police and fireman workers too.

I do know that Carmike usually works out agreements with other movie theaters in the same town so any worker at any theater will get free passes to visit whatever location he/she chooses. The mall theater here in Lawton kinda sucks, so most people if they work for Dickinson, Wallace or Carmike just want to watch movies at the Carmike here. That's just how it goes. They do run the best theater in my town.

I guess I'm glad I don't live in Montana.

[ 04-14-2005, 12:02 PM: Message edited by: Bobby Henderson ]

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 04-14-2005 02:10 AM

quote: Bobby Henderson
do know that Carmike usually works out agreements with other movie theaters in the same town so any worker at any theater will get free passes to visit whatever location he/she chooses.

Hmmmmmmmmm. News to me. Far as I am aware Since the Carmike has been open, about 10 years, in our area no one has approached us about allowing any of their employees in to see our first run movies at any of the Cinemark locations here. Of course Carmike is running discount here so I guess they see everything there just later.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 04-14-2005 02:35 AM

quote: Dustin Mitchell
Carmike bought the debt and thus the circuit.

Thx for this added info, for I always thought it was some sort of management thing.

I remember when the expansion project was going on, in 1989-90 with all of the Excellence theatres throughout the "Heartland of America" - doing the best to make them look new and they looked good afterwards.

When our 4-plex theatre was completed with the expansion project, the contractor who was in charge of the project never got paid for a long time afterwards until the following year, in January of 1991. When we heard that, we knew that something was wrong from the home office of Excellence, but never knew what was going on. They kept us in the dark at the time.

That theatre now is a department store after Carmike closed it down due to a 21screener coming in town.

Yes, now I remember that Excellence was placed in a "receivership" of sorts, even though the full story was never brought out to us-just in a snippet of a paragraph in a newsletter from the home office. Then all of a sudden, Carmike were our new owners.

Dustin: did you used to work for Excellence back in this era? If so, did you remember any of the "office brass" of Alan Silverman, Larry Hanson, Tim Warner (who is now head of CineMark..I think..) and others?

-Monte

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Wolff King Morrow
Master Film Handler

Posts: 490
From: Denton, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 04-14-2005 02:40 AM

I remember when I worked as manager at UA, they had a nifty trick of putting all managers on salary. We then each had to work 65 hours a week and only get paid for 40. I remember once getting chewed out by my boss for ONLY working 50 hours one week. [Roll Eyes]

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 04-14-2005 02:54 AM

quote: Wolff King Morrow
I remember once getting chewed out by my boss for ONLY working 50 hours one week

I had a friend who was manager of a UA cinemas in my hometown who went through the same crap: crammed in the long,long hours for little pay. His big problem was that he couldn't make any money due to his inventories were always short, and this shortage was taken out of his concessions commission.

He had employees, who unfortunately were also his friends, who were "thieving" from him.

He loved the business, but those long hours were murder on his social and individual life.

Makes one wonder why circuits expect their managers to "give up their livehood and their souls" for the company.

-Monte

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 04-14-2005 07:29 AM

quote: Bobby Henderson
The point is, Carmike is not necessarily the hellhole some people love to paint it as being. They need to spread the HATE a little more fairly around. Otherwise they're just going to sound just a little bit stupid. Get onto AMC, Loews, Cinemark (those weak-ass bass M-fers) and others. I'm tired of this idiot Carmike only bashing bullshit. Grow a F**KING BRAIN.

WOW. Do you feel better now?

The point of my post was to correct Carmike's "oversight" (and subsequently, your assumption) that these plexes are all-THX. They are not. Most of them never were. Period.

I made NO ARGUMENT with you about the sound in a Carmike Cinema built to THX standard. I made ONE flip critical comment about Carmike's operations, and it had NOTHING to do with sound.

IF I have a personal problem with Carmike, that's not it. And I won't start ripping them apart now either.

And if you can honestly say you're not seeing any posts critical of AMC, Loew's, or Cinemark operations, you are not reading these forums in the first place.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 04-14-2005 07:31 AM

quote: Allison Parsons
-Do they have a booth tech for each market/state that they are located in.

They did, at least when I serviced them in Oklahoma, in the early nineties.

quote: Bobby Henderson
if you have a better theater with better equipment your location is probably going to get more attention.

Umm, it usually works the other way around. Crappy equipment gets more attention by far.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 04-14-2005 12:20 PM

What I meant by the "more attention" thing was the better theaters are going to get upgrades of better equipment and stuff like that. Lots of older theaters can't even be upgraded for items like digital sound and stuff like that.

Sam, I'm sorry if it sounded like I was personally attacking you. That wasn't my intention. I was venting a bit (late at night after a few beers with some friends) over what I see as a kind of preoccupation with Carmike. They're certainly not perfect. But they have no monopoly at all on bad theaters either. Every theater chain has them. I've been reading these forums for a few years now. And I haven't seen other chains get nearly the level of criticism that is being directed at Carmike.

Once in awhile I'll see a negative post about AMC (such as its Torus screens --or my posts griping about their stupid practice of sticking surround speakers in the ceiling). I might see a tidbit about Regal or UA. But threads about those chains don't tend to go onto multiple pages the way these Carmike threads are more likely to do.

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Jarryd Beard
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 229
From: Hellertown, PA
Registered: Jul 2004

posted 04-14-2005 12:26 PM

quote: Sam Graham
If you read the showtimes for these two plexes on Carmike's website literally, they're playing every movie in a THX auditorium in both Dolby Digital AND DTS simultaneously. I don't even think they opened all digital in the first place, let alone being capable of such an amazingly silly technical feat.

Sam, you're misreading the web page. The specs for each movie are listed next to the title by the use of an icon. The icon legend at the bottom right explains each. This legend lists all icons, even if they don't pertain to that auditorium, movie, or even theatre. If you go to the Southern Hills 12 showtimes, you can see that THX isn't listed at all for this theatre.

Also, when I said almost all new Carmike theatres are built with THX certifiable specs, I didn't mean all auditoriums in the theatre. However, I do agree that there are a select few Carmikes that are THX certified in every auditorium.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 04-14-2005 10:44 PM

I think each Carmike theater has to enter in its showtimes and other technical information for their theater showtimes/info on the Carmike website. I have seen some theaters have both a Dolby and DTS logo put onto a single screen listing.

Even though some inaccuracies can occur, I still have to give Carmike points for making the information available. The websites for most other theater chains and other online showtime listings don't provide any technical information such as sound format, THX or stadium seating availability. Sites like Yahoo! will sometimes get shows and showtimes completely goofed. For that reason, if you're looking for showtimes online for any Carmike theater, you're better off going to Carmike's website.

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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 04-14-2005 11:35 PM

Sweet Jesus Christ Almighty.

Carmike is FAR from being a SUPER DUPER compnay to work for, HOWEVER, they are also not a TERRIBLE company to work for.

I'll sum it up by saying this.. You, in all probability, will only like your job as much as you like your local level management. If they are piss-poor at their job, then you will, more often than not, dislike the job. If you have a good, effective manager, you will like the job more than you would the other way 'round.

It's not simply the company, it's the business and the way it is run. It's pretty much cut and dry that way. I'll agree iwth others, the upsell policy or be fired is (was) a PITA to deal with. You've got some 17 year old kid who likes what he does who fails to offer one person (and possibly more) a combo or upsell. You fire them, no questions asked. Pretty shitty in my book, and yes, I had to do this.

All in all, I worked for the company for nearly 17 years. Were the all peachy? Nope. Have I seen worse places to work? You bet.

The determining factor(s) in my leaving were a DM whom I didn't respect, nor trust, and a better opportunity presented itself at the right time.

Allison,
To answer your original questions...
1) The dress policy is white tuxedo shirt (which varies by Division Mgr) and a bow tie with maroon vest. black slacks/skirts.

2)techs will vary from region to region. You'll have one specific to your theatre, unless there is an emergency, where you may see a diff. tech. get to kno wyour tech and they will help you outand teach you what you'll need to know.
(PS- I'd dare say anyone in the HO will have a clue how to walk you thru anything!)

3)I've found our prices to be comparable, given varying locations. We're cheaper than most, most of the time. (you get what you pay for, right [Smile]

? )

4)Perks? LOL.. yeah, free movies. Didn't you know? Oh, and a $35 upselling bouns if 'caught' upselling by an ALCOPS rep.

5) Coke, all the way. Is there any other? [Smile]

Good luck. Don't let the people here scare you off. Try it out and make your own decision, otherwise, you're only short-changing yourself in the long run.

One word of advice. Unless you don't care about life outside the theatre, dont' plan to go into mgt. with Carmike. 60 hour weeks are routine and tend to hit 65+ MANY weeks of the year thanks to the inane showtimes MANDATED by the home office. (I'll leave that one alone for now).

Anywho, good luck... hope it goes well for you.. [Smile]

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Richard Greco
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1180
From: Plant City, FL
Registered: Nov 2003

posted 04-15-2005 12:04 AM

I hated Carmike, but I did realize that my old manager, whom I thought was horriffic, was right all the time now that I'm in management.

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