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Author Topic: Film-Tech NEW product: ShoWizard Pro Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 10-17-2007 04:26 AM                     I stopped by and talked to Brad about this yesterday and saw the demo. It looks very cool. In case anybody doesn't understand, the system actually creates your show schedule for you in the most efficient manner possible. You give it your parameters for operating hours, desired intermissions, max shows to start at same time, max shows to end at same time, and much more info in initial setup. Then, put in your movies for the week and hit go (or whatever the actual button is) and it makes the schedule for you in the most operationally efficient manner possible. I was very impressed by the demo and I'm very excited to try the software in the trial period.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 10-17-2007 04:43 AM                     We haven't finalized pricing, but regardless it WILL save you money any way you slice it. As far as a trial period, the aim is to give a chance to let people use it themselves to see just how much more efficient it can make your theater run. A comparison of this product to some of the built-in schedule planners from POS systems quickly reveals that this is much, MUCH more. Of all the questions asked since I last posted, yes to all of them...it does it.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-17-2007 07:42 AM                        So, when does Showizard Amateur come out? This seems like a clever idea, but it also seems to be geared toward theatres with large numbers of screens. Does it do anything that would be useful in single-screen houses? How are showtimes normally determined in multiplexes? Is it normally a manual process?  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 10-17-2007 08:13 AM                        This sound too logical. Do you think anyone in our industry's mamagement will want to be that logical? Louis  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 10-17-2007 11:31 AM                     The Amateur version has come and gone. Sorry Scott. Single screen theaters? Nope. If a manager can't make a schedule for a single screen, there are far bigger issues at hand. (Regardless we have received demo requests for 1 and 2 screeners, why I have no idea.) I would say the product starts becoming useful at 6 screens, and obviously much moreso as each additional screen is added. Most people think they can make a schedule and that it isn't hard, which is where I expect to get the most resistance to such a product. After all making a schedule isn't hard at all. It is making a GOOD schedule which is EFFICIENT that is hard. As of yet we haven't found a theater that we weren't able to knock off a bare minimum of 20 minutes of the operating day vs. the manager-created schedule (of which also inevitably contains many errors that cost extra labor and patron congestion).  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 10-17-2007 11:40 AM                        Scott, Show Izard Express (the non-professional version) was programmed by Darryl and had many limitations. For one it would only let you schedule 35mm shows, no digital stuff. Secondly it only cut operational time by up to 13 minutes per day. But it wasn't web-based, so if your internet connection went down during schedule-making time, you weren't screwed. I keep wanting to call the software "Show Lizard". I still prefer my idea of Showtime Maker Professional (Limited Edition version 2.1 Director's Cut)  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-17-2007 11:44 AM                     I'm curious, since this product is "patent pending", what part of it is going up for a patent? Also, with your data showing that every theater you've compared to you could shave a minimum of 20 mins, was the data including a minimum changeover time for houses? Lots of the big chains, as you know, do ads in between and have rules/contracts governing the time between shows so that all the ads are shown to guests. And if your data didn't include at least a "guess" for that amount (assuming you don't have access to the internal contract agreements) that could give false good results for the software.  |  IP: Logged Scott D. Neff Theatre Dork Posts: 919 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Oct 1999 posted 10-17-2007 12:24 PM                        I did read all the main page links, and while I agree there are some good ideas, I think I'm spoiled because Century had developed something similar in-house, though not containing EVERY feature that SWP does. I think that's where my concern lays: Other POS systems may have something similar, though not exact, and it may be a hard sell to those who feel they have enough functionality in their current system. Couple that with having to then re-enter the showtimes to the POS and you may have some people wondering why. Now get the demand for an interface so high that Radiant wants to buy it from you and then you're talkin $$$.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-17-2007 01:03 PM                     quote: Scott D. Neff Couple that with having to then re-enter the showtimes to the POS and you may have some people wondering why. 1) If they were saving enough money this would be a minor issue. 2) If there were a way to make the schedule exportable to the various POS utilities then it would make it a non-issue.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-19-2007 12:12 PM                     The Wizards at work at Shoeast... the one on the right was meditating.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 10-19-2007 07:52 PM                  Who are those guys? I don't recognize ANY of them...  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 10-20-2007 12:17 PM                        I was actually impressed with this product. I went in with about 30 questions in mind, and they successfully answered every single one of them. I'm going to set up my 4 theatres as a demo almost immediately.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Spracklen Film Handler Posts: 39 From: Arlington, TX, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-20-2007 01:17 PM                     Mark, I was not meditating...I was just preparing for the first-annual all-company Film-Tech mini-golf death-match. Trust me...it paid off. They got powned!  |  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 10-23-2007 08:19 PM                        Boo software patents. BTW, Joe's sort of correct... mine wasn't (only) web based, it had a CLI running off of the same Perl library.  |  IP: Logged

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