I'd personally guess that the average nonunion projectionist pay is minimum wage. Most theatres don't care what they're putting on screen and prefer to hire young people who don't need to support themselves and don't know they're being exploited. Actually when you consider that so many "projectionists" have to work the floor at the same time and are doing two jobs, it's like getting paid $2.50 an hour. I know some manager/operators who are on salary, but when you divide their salary by the hours they put in and all of the stuff they do, it winds up being slightly over minimum.

Union pay is without a doubt better but it varies extremely from town to town. And not all Union theatres have health insurance anymore. If the town you're moving into has a Union, I'd contact them first.
 

In the seventies, I realized that the role of projectionist was on the way out. Therefore, I looked for something that would still keep me involved with the equipment at the level I had previously enjoyed as a professional projectionist. The logical choice was to become a sound man (field service engineer).

About 1982, I applied to, and was hired as a sub-contractor, by what was the old Altec Service company. This provided occasional work for the next couple years and was good hands-on training in service. I kept my still-good union job and took off to go do service and emergency calls for Altec when they needed me. A couple years later, they hired me full-time. The pay was (and still is) fantastic and you can make a good living at it.

Since the job of projectionist has died-out, there are fewer and fewer skilled people to be hired into the service field. It's an in-demand job. If you're interested in becoming a projection and sound service engineer, learn electronics, first and foremost (not just knowing how to change diodes). There are many good basic books on the subject, home-study courses, and vocational school-training opportunities. When I was hired, they required you to have an Associate Degree in electronics. This is no longer the case, but you DO need a good electronics foundation.

This will get you on at one of the national service companies, which are union. The pay, benefits and conditions are best here. You may consider starting as a tech for one of the theatre circuits that have their own service, but they have a tendency to work you to death with no overtime pay.

Secondly, to increase your chances of getting hired into service, you must be willing to relocate, and not afraid to TRAVEL.

This is the only way I know of being able to make a living in the projection field today.

Tim

Make sure to go back and ask that twin's manager how much they have to pay ushers. I'm wondering how it will balance.
 

1. Working with fast food is disgusting.

2. After finding out how disgusting it is, you never want to eat it again (if you ever liked it in the first place.)

Movie theaters can offer free movies as a perk. At current market prices, free movies for employees is of significant value. After working at McDonalds, I doubt any employees are really going to want to have their free Big Macs...

I was in Maine over the summer and a Burger King had closed down except for the drive-thru because they couldn't hire enough employees to open the dining room. They were offering something like 12 dollars, too.

Personally, I'd take a low paying job at the movies over food prep in a second.
 

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You want that AW3 more sluggish? Try this one...

Set your led card resistance to 25K ohms each deck.

Then time your platters to the following specs:

100%=5 3/4 to 6 revolutions per 15 seconds
20%=1/4 to 1/3 revolutions per 15 seconds

That'll make 'em nice and smooth.

As to projectionist's pay, the best paying jobs are definitely not in the major chains, but in independents which are doing nicely. $9-12 is not uncommon once you get outside the "big boys" theaters. You will also get more respect there, as everyone knows everyone and how hard you work.