Here's the senario. Film runs at a theater for a trade or press screening. Film is to open in a week, maybe two at that theater. The film received is a finished print and there are no lab defects in it. The theater is happy with it.

Then on Monday the week after the screening playdate a call comes from TES. They have decided that instead of letting the theater keep the print, they want the film broken down on Tuesday for a late afternoon pickup. They assure the manager that the film will be returned to the theater on Wednesday. (Yes, the very next day!)

So my big question here is: what in the hell are these people smoking? I have come up with a few reasons for them wanting to do this. (Please pardon my sarcasm.)

Scenario #1 TES gets a percentage of that $18 per pickup and $18 per delivery from Airborne and they don't want to miss out on a single penny! Tell me I'm wrong here.

Scenario #2 TES wants to ensure that all films are handled as much as humanly possible. The idea of an unnecessary breakdown and re-buildup intrigues them, as there is always the good chance that dirt and scratches will mark the print from such foolishness. (This idea stems from their "Integrity Inspections", of which everyone knows is a complete waste of an otherwise perfectly good sticker.)

Scenario #3 TES knows this will waste the theater's payroll time to have someone break the print down and then rebuild it back up a day later. TES also knows that the theater will be charged an additional $36 to have that print picked up and re-delivered. (TES wants theaters who are running film to see how much cheaper digital projection will be by over-shipping film prints so they can implement their crappy video projectors.)

Scenario #4 TES is actually not to blame, because Airborne has secretly broken into the TES computer systems and are churning up shipping business for themselves. (Hard to believe)

Scenario #5 TES thinks that Tuesday night is the magical night of the week for bootlegging and that if a theater was actually going to commit this crime that Tuesday would be the only day they would consider doing it. (This of course stems from their practice of never delivering a print earlier than the afternoon before it must start playing. As if that would really stop a bootlegger. All that stops is the chance for a theater to replace a defective reel before the first public showing.)

Scenario #6 TES employees hate projectionists. (This is evident from their choice of reels and "give us that print back 2 minutes after it finishes it's last run on the projectionist's busiest day of the week" philosophy. Then again, Thursday wouldn't be such a busy day if TES delivered prints a little earlier.)

I'm sick to death of this. I've received press screening prints that are to run on Wednesday and they want the print back that night after the show...only to get that same print right back the next afternoon for it's regular playdate!

I challenge a representative from TES to register and answer these kind of problems publicly RIGHT HERE in full public view. I know they read these forums from the web stats pages and within 24 hours I will know that they have read this specific thread.

TO TES: If you guys are really serious about wanting to do a decent job of distributing film, come join us, listen to the complaints here, answer questions and help everyone to understand why you do the things you do, then do what it takes to solve any remaining issues. I think most people on this forum will wholeheartedly agree with me that the idea here is not to constantly complain, but to see some specific improvements so everyone's jobs will go smoother. Am I right?

(I will register any representative from TES immediately upon receipt and verification. Please include your direct extension at the 1-800-99-FILMS number so I can verify you work there. I will not request any further information from TES reps for registration.)

Honestly, TES's unwillingness to participate in these forums indicates that they have no honest answers, nor the intelligence or courage to deal with actual customer complaints. C'mon, TES, prove me wrong here.

The print stays made up, TES gets the churning money, and your dead trailers get to rack up frequent flier miles.

The only way TES can tell is if they actually inspect the print <chuckle> or have lied and ship the "print" to some other location, in which case you've caught them in just as big a lie as they've caught you.

Document the times you do this, then when it reaches 25 verified times, contact the trade journals and NATO and demand the practice be stopped, as being totally worthless.

Brad. I too have experienced the infamous breakdown a print and recieve that same exact print 24 hours later. It was not uncommon for the theater that I previously worked for seeing as to how they handled a lot of trade and other screenings. I remember having to deal with the frustrations of breaking down a print only to see the same exact one return to us the following day. It's highly illogical! Then there were the times that we shipped out a perfectly good print only to recieve one that has been run through a toilet. How frustrating is that? What is the point? Why did we just say goodbye to a flawless print only to recieve one that is most of the time not even playable. Just so somebody can make a couple of extra bucks while paying customers are forced to suffer with horrid presentations? Why should that theater be punished and end up with a bad reputation? That is just complete nonsense. In my opinion, I think that the theaters that never call in for replacement reels shoud get all of these ruined prints simply because THEY DONT CARE about their presentation. My theater should be on the A list because there is not a week that goes by that we have to change out 2-3 reels on every movie that we get in.

It is time for some answers. When will TES stand up to their name. I highly doubt they even have the guts to register. TES would defintely be higly more respected if one of their representatives were to register and shed some light on these matters and maybe even make some improvements. If you wonder why projectionists hate TES so much, it is because we are having to deal with the consequences of their problems.

------------------
--"That's my story and i'm sticking to it!"--

At previous theatres I worked for we would do that, and they would let us keep the sneak print. Finally they eventually stopped calling and asking us to break down a sneak print for which we were playing the next week.
 

Your idea is a good one and don't think that I haven't thought about it. But we should make an effort to try to be as honest as possible ourselves so that we don't look like the bad guy. If TES just happened to open up a can and found trailers (which would be amazing considering their past history) they would just use that as an excuse to incorporate stricter rules. They're bad enough as it is.

I don't know exactly how many companies have representatives who post on these forums, but it is evidenced that each of those companies garners a great amount of respect. I used to favor Fuji film stock and bash Kodak. John Pytlak came on and explained how things were in a very intelligent manner. I am thankful for that and now have nothing but the utmost respect for John and Kodak. I used to hate everything Neumade stood for, but then Bob Maar came on and told a couple of jokes. I now buy Neumade products whether I need them or not! The point is that by registering and posting, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

It is easy to badmouth an enemy who never defends itself. But when they come on an explain things in front of everybody it evens the playing field.
 

The moral of the story, try to work with TES. Politeness and openess will get you very far in this world.
 

But then, I had a great booker. He was previously a theater manager. Eventually, he started making the arrangements for me when he booked the event.

Check the print number and leaders next time, and see if you got the same print back.
 

On the other hand I never heard of a theatre being billed for pick up or drop off of a trade screening print. That is usually paid for by the studios promotional department.
If you have to tear down a print its not your fault OR theirs. Your theater could have one screen set up with r to r, C/O operation so trade screenings can be run painlessly. Just my nickles worth.....
Mark @ GTS

I was told that delivery dates aren't set my TES but they are set by the individual studios. I told her that it wasn't just my theatre that wants their films on Wednesday but all theatre would like them a day earlier. She said that every theatre that requested films earlier should individually call each and every one of their distributors to ask for their films earlier. I guess TES really works for the distributors and not the theatres.

I understand that some theatres have called TES and successfully gotten their deliveries changed to Wednesday. So the fact that this woman told me that it is up to the studios sounds like a line to alleviate TES of responsibility. I have asked TES to deliver my prints on Wednesday before but to no avail. So does this mean that this woman is lying to me? Or does it mean that TES as an organization is lying to me? Or is it that this woman doesn't know the truth? Either way, it is a poor way to run a business.

I will write a letter to my booker and ask them to contact each and every studio to have them change our deliver date to Wednesday where appropriate. I understand that not all films can be here than early. But if they are available that's when I would like them. This is a pain in the ass for my booker and me.

What we need is an industry group to contact the studios on our behalf to get this done. We are an industry group, we are Film-Tech. The only other industry group I belong to is NATO of California/Nevada. Perhaps I can get them take an interest.

Early last winter, I received a call from Airborne Express (not Technicolor!). The rep said they sometimes have our shipments a day before scheduled delivery, and asked if it would be OK to bring the delivery in a day ahead of time. I said, of course it would be all right. (I assume that TES was shipping a day earlier in some cases to give an extra day for inclement weather problems, but still having the Thursday delivery date on the label to honor their orders from the studio.)

At any rate, the result has been that probably about 50% of the time, we get our prints on Wednesday.

So my suggestion to you all is, call Airborne Express and ask them to make a note that you want your deliveries to be made immediately upon receipt, whether it's a day ahead of time or not. Can't hurt!
 

But that was just one of the rarities of not recieving the print on time at the correct location. I thought nothing of it until I got a call on Friday from TES if we received our Open-Captioned print of "CHOCOLATE". Yes we did, but it was to be booked at our sister theatre down the road. Not to us. I just said yes and informed him that it would be sent to its BOOKED theatre so he can make a note of it.

I really do find it strange that the prints are delivered a day before they are to be shown to the public. Especially when we screen it after the theatre has closed for the day and we may need replacement reels after the our intial screening ASAP. But most of the time when I do ask for replacements, they tell me to call someone else from the studio at 2AM to get one here. That is truly fun when it is only ONE person to contact.

TES should definitely take responsibility on the deliveries and customer service. Many problems are due to their part, but they try to pass it on to someone else.

I will try to see if TES (or Airborne) to deliver our prints a day earlier. I would truly enjoy screening the print without worrying of my other duties on a typical Thursday close. From Marquee to Trailer replacements. I will try the advice given and cross my fingers that it would work.
 

I used to work at a theater that did 3-4 Trade shows/Promotional screenings, etc. per week. We were never charged for delivery/pickup of these prints. The only ones billed to us were the prints that we were actually booked with. My guess would be that the studios picked up the shipping costs on these.