The new Lakeside Cinemas gears up to deliver indie flicks--but are we ready?

By Patrick Sullivan

WANT TO CATCH Arnold dueling with the devil in End of Days or Pierce Brosnan blasting his way through The World Is Not Enough? No problem: You can head for virtually any movie theater in Sonoma County and be confident that your Hollywood blockbuster of choice will be playing on at least one screen--and maybe two or three.

But if you're searching for a film that's unusual, challenging, offbeat--or, God forbid, foreign--you might run into a nasty little problem. It's what local film buffs call the "Will it ever get here?" syndrome. Independent films that dazzle and delight audiences in San Francisco often march north at a snail's pace, and despite the valiant efforts of a few local theater owners, many movies--films like Boys Don't Cry or Perfect Blue--never reach Sonoma County at all.

That may be about to change. If Ian Price and Ky Boyd have their way, local film fans will find themselves sticking around home base a lot more often to get their dose of indie flicks.

On Jan. 14, the two men will swing open the doors on the newly renovated Rialto Cinemas Lakeside, boldly going where no Sonoma County theater owners have gone before by presenting the public with five screens dedicated to independent features, documentaries, classic movies, and . . . gasp . . . even foreign flicks.

Which leaves a lot of people asking one very big question: Are we ready for this?

"I think so," Boyd replies with a cheerful briskness. "All of our research indicates that you are. I think it's interesting because I think the people who most don't think Santa Rosa is ready for it are the people in the mainstream movie business. The reactions of other people have just been amazing. So that's really encouraging."

Sitting side by side at a table in a local coffeehouse, the two partners seem an odd match. Boyd, 35, is slender, chatty, and prone to laughter, eagerly rattling off facts and figures to explain why Sonoma County is a ripe market for an art house. The stocky and reticent Price-(I was going for quiet and enigmatic)-who has more than a decade of experience in the theater business and often serves as a projectionist at the Telluride Film Festival--lets his partner do most of the talking, content to occasionally interject a brief anecdote or some quiet irony into the conversation.

But neither man stays silent when the subject turns to their love of independent films. For some 15 years, since they met and became friends at the University of Montana, Boyd and Price have shared the dream of opening a theater dedicated to films outside the mainstream Hollywood fare.

"Independent films are about life," says the 37-year-old Price. "They're very simply about life. Whereas a lot of the commercial films are about not very much. . . . It's nice to see a film that makes you want to talk about it afterwards, as opposed to just forgetting it as soon as you walk out of the theater."

Boyd first plunged off the cinematic beaten path as a college student, when he happened upon a screening of Diva, the stunningly stylish suspense film from French director Jean-Jacques Beineix about a young opera fan who accidentally becomes involved with the underworld.

"I had never seen anything like it," Boyd explains. "In Great Falls where I grew up, we didn't have a theater that showed independent or foreign films. I saw all the studio stuff. And this was just so different. I was just like, 'Wow, that was really cool.' "

That's exactly the response the two men hope to evoke from Santa Rosa filmgoers with the first month of movies at the new Lakeside. Just days after the old lease expired and the old management moved out, the posters advertising Toy Story 2 were replaced by new ones for Some Like It Hot (opening Jan. 14) and In Search of Kundun with Martin Scorsese (opening Jan. 21).

Also slated for the marquee are Edge of Seventeen, a film about growing up gay in the Midwest that opens on Jan. 28, and West Beirut, a stunning coming-of-age story about two young friends in war-torn Lebanon that opens Feb. 11. Even Perfect Blue--the acclaimed anime feature--is coming, opening on Feb. 18.

But fresh flicks are not the only change at the Lakeside. A serious physical renovation is also under way, and the price tag for the transformation of the old theater into a shiny new art house will eventually reach $100,000. Among the changes planned are new projection and audio systems and tons of fresh paint and new carpet. The ticket booth will be moved inside, and the video games will disappear to make way for tables and chairs for a cafe.

"The renovation is about creating a new identity for the theater," Boyd explains. "We want to build a core audience of adventurous filmgoers who think anything playing at our theater is probably worth seeing."

Of course, this new venture is hardly the only spot to catch indie flicks in the county. The Independent Film Series at Sebastopol Cinemas and in Petaluma's Washington Square brings offbeat flicks to the screen every Wednesday and Thursday night, and the Sonoma Film Institute continues to provide adventurous programming on the weekends at Sonoma State University.

What will distinguish the new Lakeside is the theater's commitment to relatively long runs of independent films. Movies will play for at least a week instead of a couple of days. But Boyd adds one caveat: not every film will be independent. The next Star Wars movie will not appear on the Lakeside's marquee, but you might see something like Shakespeare in Love or Tea with Mussolini.

"I think it's going to be a mix," Boyd explains. "There are films that are released by the major studios, what I call Hollywood story films, that are not your traditional studio offering. It's what they call prestige films. Those are films that we want to go after because they fit the demographic that we're appealing to."

Moreover, though both men say they were inspired by the example of the Rafael Theater in Marin, which often screens quirky films almost impossible to find anywhere else, they aren't sure whether the Lakeside can afford to be quite so adventurous.

"It's hard to say," Boyd says. "I can't tell you, 'This is what Santa Rosans want to see.' We have to experiment, see what works and what doesn't."

But some local observers wonder if even a modest attempt to emulate the Rafael can be successful in Sonoma County.

"I don't know if that sort of thing is really commercially viable," says Eleanor Nichols, director of the Sonoma Film Institute. "We have a hard enough time at SFI filling up the room that we have with art programming. But I certainly hope it works out. The more choices people have, the more opportunities they're going to take to see different kinds of film."

Price and Boyd seem eager to challenge such notions about local filmgoers. Among the eclectic possibilities for the future, the partners say, is that the theater will play host to traveling film festivals, perhaps screening a "best of" package from the Mill Valley Film Festival.

That may have to wait, however, until the Lakeside gets the equipment to run 16mm film and video projection--two formats that film festivals often require.

"There are a lot of things that we want to do," Boyd says. "It's a matter of making them all happen. The first six months, it's basically getting all the pieces assembled. It's not like you go, 'Boom, instant theater.' It's going to take a little time. But we're here for the long haul."

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From the January 6-12, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.
Copyright © Metro Publishing Inc. Maintained by Boulevards New Media.
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Theatre #1
Dowser pivot bolt broken
Flat and Scope plates need to be refiled,
Need new scope back up lens, the old one is cracked.
Need new flat lens as existing lens is wrong size.
Oil pump does not function and they just filled the case with oil to compensate.

Aud #1 - 288 Seats
Simplex 1050 Projector
Flat Lens - Kollimorgan
Scope Lens - Kollimorgan
Sound Head - 5 Star (needs reverse scan kit)
Console - Strong Super Highlite 3000W -
Platter - Speco - LP-270
Dimmer - Cinema Film
Automation - Strong SPA-7
Digital Processor - DTS (original issue unit)
Cinema Processor - Dolby CP65 w/SR -
Amps - 4 QSC 1400
Monitor - Compnent Engineering MS-100
Screen -
Manual Side Masking -
Stage Speakers 3 - brand unknown -
Surrounds - 8 Boston Acoustic -
No sub-woofer
Seats - Seating Concepts (Contour, I think) - 288
Wireless Microphone

Theatre #2
Hand dowser is busted
Mirror on strong x-90 is flaking,
Turret latch and screw need adjustment
Intermittant sprocket is hooked
Gate latch lever is busted.
Must reduce picture hight with new lens in flat
The scope is ok

Auditorium #2 238 Seats
Projector - Simplex 1050
Flat Lens - brand unknown
Scope Lens - brand unknown
Sound Head - Simplex 5 Star (needs reverse scan kit)
Console - Strong X-90 2000W
Platter - Speco LP-270
Dimmer - unknown -
Automation - Strong - SPA-7
No digital processor
Cinema Processor - Ultra Stereo - JS5/95 -
Amps - 2 - BGW 7500T -
Monitor - Component Eng. MS-55
Screen
Masking - Manual Side Pull
Stage speakers - brand unknown - 3
Surrounds - JBL - 8330 - 8
Seats - very old rockers in ugly brown fabric, dirty - 238
CD Player - Sony 5 disc -

Theatre #3
Scope image is too big, need new lens.
Flat OK
Need latching relay for Non Sync
This is generally the best machine.

Aud #3 - 161 Seats
Projector - Simplex 2000 -
Flat lens - unknown Japanese make
Scope lens - unknown Japanese make
Sound Head - Simplex 5 Star needs reverse scan kit
Console - Strong X-90 2000W
Platter -Speco LP-270
Dimmer - unknown brand
Automation - Strong SPA-7
No digital processor
Cinema Processor - Dolby CP50 w/o SR Cards -
Amps - 2 QSC 1400
Montior brand unknown - model M400
Screen
Masking - manual side pull -
Stage speakers - brand unknown - 3 -
no sub woofer
Surrounds - Boston Acoustic - 8
Seats - Seating Concepts (again, Contours), 161
CD Player - Sony 5 disc

Theatre #4
Scope image is too small. Must raise masking.
Need dowser plate.
Hand dowser needs bolt.
Clean Blowers,
Rebuild lamp assembly due to bad mirror.
Fix the 2 lens bushings.
Need a coil for the changeover.
Gate latch.

Auditorium #4 - 112 Seats
Projector - very old Simplex XL
Flat lens - unknown brand
Scope Lens - Cine Navitar
Sound Head - Simplex SH1007 (also very old - needs reverse scan)
Console - Christie Xenolite H90 lamphouse and rectifier on pedestal -
Platter - Speco - LP-270
Dimmer - Xetrol IV
Automation - Hightec - HDT11
No digital
Sound Processor - Kelmar - in glorious mono
Amplifier - Kelmar - AA7000
Monitor - brand unknown
Screen
Masking - manual side pull
Stage speaker - brand unknown - 1
Seats - Seating Concept Contours - 112

Theatre #5
Need projector door knob
Needs new lenses.
Lamp needs to be rebuilt.

Auditorium #5 - 126 seats
Projector - Simplex XL -RP1002 (same vintage as one in #4)
Flat lens - brand unknown
Scope Lens - Kowa - 0
Sound Head - Simplex SH - (same vintage as #4 and surprise, surprise - needs reverse scan)
Console - Christie Xenolite H20 lamphouse and rectifier on pedestal -
Platter - Speco LP-270
Dimmer - Xetrol IV
Automation - HighTec - HTDII
No digital
Sound Processor - Kelmar - (more glorious mono)
Amp - Kelmar -AA7000
Monitor - brand unknown
Screen
Masking - side pull, manual
Stage speaker - brand unknown
Seats - Seating concepts - Contours - 126 -

Other Stuff:
Rewind Bench
Rewinds - Teco
Platter MUT - Speco LP-271 - 2 -
Trailer cabinet
Storage cabinet
Film Cleaner - Christie FC-1
6,000 Foot Reels - 7

He has yet to turn on a sound system. But he has made sure all the platters will work.

There will be more later when we tear apart the sound system to install Dolby Digital.
 

------------------

 

Did you have to sign a "non-compete" with the former theater operators before you could take over the theater?

 

Thank you. Yes we will get 1:66 and 1:33 lenses as our need warrants them. We will not be showing all that much rep. so we will not need them right away. (I hope!) I seems that none of the lenses in this theatre are the correct size anyway and one of them is cracked. Nothing has been cleaned in a long time.

So we are buying, unexpectedly, 8 new lenses and 3 new mirror assemblies.
 

No, We didn't sign a non compete clause with the former owner. I don't think he thinks we will survive. If the way this theatre was put together is an indication of what he likes to do, then I think he should be worrying. He is building a 14 plex in downtown. It is now two months behind schedule. As a result, we are having bookings rammed down our throats. We are starting with 7 titles in our 5-plex and changing 5 of them in week two. It looks like we have one month to make a name for ourselves before his 14-plex opens. This has been a gift.

Now if we can just survive on 5 hours of sleep per night and if my partner can survive his one hour commutes each way, per day, we will be fine.
 

We had the core of our new staff here today and yesterday primeing and painting the lobby. We are going from teal and pink to tuscan yellow and juniper green. It will have more a mediteranian feel. Ky is heading up that detail. The kids seem to be having fun. Most of them that worked yesterday, turned up today. We take that as a good sign. We are working them hard, but in the best tradition of hard work, we are feeding them well.

The cinema tech and I have been stripping and cleaning the projectors. We are using ZEP Purple degreaser. The old projectors cleaned up very well. The new projectors paint came right off. That silver paint Strong uses on the Simplex jumps off the aluminium. So be carefull with that stuff. We now have the cleanest XL's I have ever seen. We will tear apart the lamphouses next and get the bad reflectors out. My hands are raw from the chemicals.

We had the cover of the entertainment section of the local paper this Sunday and the artical at the top of this post. Our phone is beginning to ring off the hook. A lot of people are asking all kinds of questions, things like "when are you going to open? What are your show times? Are you showing movies now." I love it when they walk into the lobby full of painters and construction workers and ask what is showing this evening.
 

Mansfield Park
Girl Interrupted
Princess Mononoke / Being John Malkovich (split)
American Beauty (on its own screen so Ian doesn't have to go change the manual masking)
Some Like It Hot / North by Northwest (split)
in the small house both in brand new prints.

Should be fun. Fortunately we've hired most of the previous operators staff (17 year-olds) but are adding a few older mostly art student types to the mix (perfect for an art house)

We'll keep you posted as to how it goes.

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement. We'll send pics to the warehouse soon.

Ky
 

ps: BF new lenses for the Nugget and the Masons has been on my hit list for a couple of years. It makes that much difference. It is good to see what you are spending your money on make that much improvement.
 

I guess this means you won't be out to ski this year. Not to worry, the conditions suck right now, even tho Luci and I are going out this afternoon.

It's hard to justify spending the money for new lenses when you have had a series of 15-one year leases. Lenses, unlike so many other theatre parts, are not interchangeable and are absolutely site-specific.

You boys do good now. Stay out of trouble, book great movies and have fine work and fun.

Buena suerte!!

BF
 

People seem enthusiastic about our theatre project. I hope we can convince them to return. The pictures look good on the screen, so that's something.

"The worlds best cinema tech" left town this morning, so we are on our own. Ky and I need sleep. There are no days off in our future.

Our per cap in the concession stand was $1.42 so we can work on that.

We will post before and after pictures of the lobby and the booth after a while.

 

Jan. 09, 2000

By JOHN BECK
Staff Writer

Ian Price and Ky Boyd are the new owners of the Rialto Cinemas Lakeside, where theyt plan to showcase independent and foreign films on their five screens
After decades of random sightings and surprise visits, independent and foreign films have finally found a home in Sonoma County.

Sure, they've always been around, slipped into theater lineups like a dark horse filling out a race ticket, buried in a midweek film series or dredged up for a university weekend tribute.

But, starting Friday, the new Rialto Cinemas Lakeside will devote five screens to "specialty" films. Call them what you will … art flicks, low-budget films, sleepers … finally an art house has arrived to showcase all their glorious idiosyncrasies and quirky obsessions.

With the recent blockbuster success of indies like "The Blair Witch Project" and foreign films like "Life is Beautiful," such a venture seems like a no-brainer.

Offbeat films
The venue: Rialto Cinemas Lakeside
Location: 551 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa
Admission: $7
Information: 539-9771 or http://www.rialtocinemas.com/

But it took the ingenuity and daring of two outsiders to pull it off.

Relocating from San Francisco and Denver, new owners Ky Boyd and Ian Price are basically two film buffs with a business plan, years of theater industry experience and, most of all, a love of films that tell stories that would otherwise never be told.

"I love story films … films that are driven by characters and by narrative," said Boyd, who cites Jean-Jacques Beineix's "Diva" as the first "art" film to turn him on. "Ian says they're about life, and that's really true. They're not vehicles to showcase some star. They're not made to fit a marketing demographic. They're films that are very personal for the filmmakers. There's passion in them."

It's an obsession they're banking on, convinced their celluloid product will appeal not only to fellow film junkies, but simply other "moviegoers" in the community.

At the same time, they're well aware that the sudden transition from zero local screens devoted solely to independent film to five screens is an astronomical leap in Sonoma County.

In fact, based on the sheer number of screens and potential movie options available at the new Rialto, it will rank as one of the largest Bay Area theaters devoted purely to art films. The Rafael Theater in San Rafael has three screens. In Berkeley, the U.C. Theater has one screen and Fine Arts Cinema has two. In San Francisco, the Roxie has one screen, the 4 Star has four screens and Landmark's Lumiere and Embarcadero Center Cinema each have three screens.

Can Sonoma County sustain such a specialized enterprise?

"It's a huge leap," Boyd admits. "A quantum leap. But we really think it's a leap that's ready to be made. We've done an awful lot of research on Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. Part of that research was looking at how the types of movies that we want to play did at the box office when they played at the UA6 or the UA5 or the Lakeside."

Sifting through local theater nightly grosses compiled by A.C. Neilsen company Entertainment Data, Boyd and Price could gauge how indies and foreign films fared in Sonoma County.

"What we noticed was that some of those movies would be hole-fillers in the schedule … if something opened and didn't do well, well let's bring in a little independent movie here for a couple of weeks to fill this gap and then we'll take it off screen when the next big thing comes," he said.

"We found that the movies were still grossing a decent amount, but because the exhibitors are so dependent on the distributors, and the distributors need the theaters and they're really pressing them to get their new product on screens, the independent films suffer.

"We realized that people are going to these movies, but they're running all over the county to do it. There's no centralized location."

Boyd and Price are so committed to the project, they signed a 10-year lease with building owner David Codding.

Other Sonoma County theater owners and film buyers applaud the bold move, but they're also skeptical.

"We don't have the (audience) base for it," said Beth Feintech, who books the midweek Independent Film Series at Sebastopol Cinemas and, starting Friday, at Cloverdale Cinemas. "You do have upscale people who will go to an art film. Are they going to go to more than one a week? No.

"If you look at the quality of film that's out there, some of the things I get for Sebastopol are very obscure, and part of the reason is because that is the best film I can get at the time. So, do I think they can get five good art films or foreign or independent films a week? No."

Boyd and Price, who have never owned a business before, both acknowledge the risk, even if it's a "calculated risk."

"We're going to have to experiment a little," Boyd said. "Because I can't honestly tell you that Santa Rosa moviegoers are going to like this. You have to figure out what the pulses are and what the niches are."

They plan to launch a film discussion forum on their Web site at www.rialtocinemas.com. In remodeling the lobby of the former Lakeside Theater, they're doing away with the teal interior and video games and putting in tables and chairs for a small cafe. Dolby digital sound systems will be installed in the two largest theaters and Dolby stereo added to the others to replace the "glorious mono" of Lakeside, Boyd said.

And, for the popcorn crowd … the former Lakeside may have been the only theater in the region still popping corn in coconut oil, but the Rialto will use canola oil and "real" butter.

"We have to develop a loyal audience so that the question is not 'what's playing at the movies,' but 'what's playing at the Rialto?' " Boyd said.

For the past five years, the two partners, who met while studying at the University of Montana, have been searching for the ideal venue for their dream art house.

After pooling together investors comprised mostly of friends, family or "people we've worked with or known for a long time," they began scouting Colorado and Bay Area locales. At one point, they considered building a four-plex in a 12,000-square-foot vacant space near Barnes and Noble in downtown Santa Rosa, but scrapped the idea when Airport Cinemas owner Dan Tocchini announced plans to build the 14-screen Roxy on Santa Rosa Avenue. They also considered taking over the former site of Coddingtown Cinemas, but decided on the former Lakeside Theater instead.

"Of all the businesses to start out in, we picked a capital-intensive one," Boyd said. "In the age of dot-com and Internet start-ups, we're starting up a movie theater. People kind of look at us and say,'What's wrong with you two?' "

A veteran of Landmark Theatre's Embarcadero Center Cinema, Boyd has also worked for the Cincinnati Playhouse and Indiana Repertory Theater. In college, he was a film programmer at the University of Montana where he promoted "Dive-In" movie nights, which amounted to giant pool parties with films like "Jaws" as the backdrop.

"When you work at a non-profit you sort of a develop a can-do mentality and you learn to make the most of limited resources," he said.

One bonus will be the "limitless" amount of films available, said Price, who is moving to Santa Rosa from Denver, where he managed a theater and later worked for an electronics company.

Unlike most theaters, which are at the mercy of the latest teen-slasher flick or Schwarzenegger vehicle shuttled down the distributor pipeline, the Rialto can pick and choose from the entire history of filmmaking.

"I had a great time picking out the films for the calendar," Boyd said. "I started with a two-page list of films that I wanted, and then we started deleting ones we can't get, ones that played the Independent Film Series in Sebastopol or opened somewhere nearby recently."

Although the Rialto will the largest indie film hub in the region, it will still face stiff competition from local theaters for genre films.

"I would love to be able to play 'Sweet and Lowdown,' but we lost it to United Artists," Boyd said. "There's nothing we can do about that. You just go on to the next movie. There are enough out there."

Likewise, Boyd and Price will have to wait their turn for the Swedish film "Show Me Love," which they wanted to screen in January, but settled for a shot in March because Strand Releasing is only circulating seven prints nationwide.

To their advantage, they've struck up a relationship with Los Angeles film booking firm Exhibitor Support Partnership, which already books about 100 screens across the country.

"Now that we're here and available we're going to have to convince the distributors that they're going to want to open in Santa Rosa with the rest of their little push," said Price. "Instead of waiting until that little push is well over before granting us a print, and that will just take some time."

In addition to the rotation of independent, classics and foreign films, the Rialto will also go after what Boyd calls "Hollywood story movies."

"It's a line I stole from Norman Jewison who said it at the Oscars a few years ago."

Thanks to film companies like Miramax and Lion's Gate, and the latest crop of polished film festival fare like "Happy, Texas" the line between Hollywood product and independently produced films has never been so blurred.

Boyd points to films like "Shakespeare in Love" or "Tea With Mussolini" or even current titles like "The Talented Mr. Ripley" or David Lynch's G-rated "The Straight Story" as examples of the kind of Hollywood films that might play the Rialto.

Ultimately, it all comes down to feeding audience tastes. And that's something they're committed to researching and experimenting until they get it right, Boyd said.

"It's costing us about the same to open this theater as it would be to produce a small, off-Broadway play," he said. "But I'd say our odds are a lot better. The play's not going to be around in 10 years, but God, we hope to be


© 1998 The Press Democrat

Steve

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"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"

 

(Nothin' like a good platter, eh Ian? )

 

Brad, yes it's nice to have a good platter system. Unfortunatly I have Speco LP-270s. I do miss my old Potts.