This is topic Technicolor....why? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Mike Jones (Member # 522) on 03-13-2002, 06:25 PM:
I know this topic may have been broached before but I'm just sick and tired of it.
I manage two theatres (an 8 and a 12 screen, two blocks apart). On an average week, we get approximately 5 screenings for promotional events and press screenings in addition to our weekly lineup, which could be another 5 prints.
What frustrates me is when Technicolor gives us our print of Harrison's Flowers for a Tuesday night screening and we're scheduled to open it on Friday, yet they want the print back so we have to break it down and build a whole new print. There was nothing wrong with the film, so to have to waste an extra 2 hours because Technicolor wants to circulate their prints around is absurd. It costs them many too, by wasting man hours trying to track the prints and getting Airborne to do all the shipping.When all is said and done, I bet we get the same print back.
Come on Technicolor, clean up some of this inefficiency!
Posted by Brian Potts (Member # 429) on 03-13-2002, 10:24 PM:
Mike I totally agree with you. We recently had the same problem here in my area. The theatre had a sneak 2 days before the movie opened and was charged a late pickup because TES didn't even call the theatre and tell anybody they were picking up the print. I used to think that a bank was the only institution that you had to actually pay them money to harass you. I guess now I know of 2 instituions like that. As always, thanks for making our lives a living hell Technicolor. Nobody does it as well as you.
Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 03-14-2002, 12:12 AM:
If you're doing that many one-off screenings then perhaps you should consider adding a second machine to one screen and running them reel to reel.
Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 03-14-2002, 12:27 AM:
Technicolor is probably moving prints per the distributors orders.
Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 03-14-2002, 11:37 AM:
They also could be special screening prints and aren't meant for "public" consumption.Paul.
Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 03-14-2002, 11:39 AM:
Bill ordered "Shields Up!" and defended TES:
>Technicolor is probably moving prints per the distributors orders.Exactly. One hopes they point out the silliness and inconvenience of these moves but I would like to ask someone of long experience whether or not this sort of thing was the norm in the bygone reel to reel age. Maybe this is the way they always ran previews. If so then this is simply the reality of the business and if a theatre chooses to go to a single projector then this is one of the downsides just like long Thursday nights.
Similarly, it's kind of ridiculous to blame TES for lack of inspection or the "integrity inspected" issues if that is only what the studios are paying for. As long as the studios are not being misled then any complaints should go to them and not TES.
There are plenty of things to complain about regarding TES (the broken reels, for one) and Airborne (pickup policies) but when they're following orders from the studio then you're barking up the wrong tree to bitch about TES.
Posted by Joe Beres (Member # 678) on 03-14-2002, 11:58 AM:
I am certainly not one to defend Technicolor, but I bet that Bill is correct in this situation, and that TES is just following orders. IT could be a situation like Kate and Leopold in which the final release version is different than what they had on hand for the preview. Kate and Leoplold was an extreme case in which the release was actually pushed back, but I wouldn't be surprised if the studio decided to make some changes after some test screenings but still want to keep the scheduled release. Who knows?
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 03-14-2002, 12:04 PM:
"One hopes they point out the silliness and inconvenience of these moves but I would like to ask someone of long experience whether or not this sort of thing was the norm in the bygone reel to reel age. "No, it wasn't the norm in the 1970s. The whole issue came about because of videotape. Some security is required, but these print moves are overkill. Nailing the piraters is the real answer.
On the other side of the coin, Bollywood movies are famous for being illegally videotaped and distributed within the community within a week of opening. That entire market is drying up and going away in the U.S. because of poor print control. Billions of dollars are being lost.
Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 03-14-2002, 01:40 PM:
At my old theater, this problem was the norm on a weekly basis. Furthermore, as had been discussed in other threads, we never ever received DTS discs with these prints. But then again, many of these prints that we receive had low serial numbers and many came from Hollywood screening rooms and the like. Maybe the distributors wanted these prints back because they were low serial numbers? But, there were several times that the distributor would call us up last minute w/o warning and say that the shipper would be by in an hour or so to pick up the print---like I never had anything to do during the day in a 20 plex except cater to the distributor's whims 
Posted by Wes Hughes (Member # 981) on 03-15-2002, 07:30 PM:
Most of the problem lies in the fact that there aren't enough prints to go around. They don't strike as many prints as in previous years, and that is the distributors decision and not Technicolors. A lot of the time (especially with screenings) it is cheaper for a distributor to move a print three or four times through the week than it is to strike, manage, and destroy a another complete print.On another note, Technicolors "motion picture print management system" automatically generates a pickup for the day after a print comes off screen...even for "sneak" screenings. With that in mind, you should always assume this to be the case if you do not feel like calling Technicolor on the telephone to check and see if they will allow you to hold the film over until it opens at your complex.
Thats my thoughts anyways...
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 03-15-2002, 07:43 PM:
"On another note, Technicolor's "motion picture print management system" automatically generates a pickup for the day after a print comes off screen...even for "sneak" screenings. "Wes, you may have hit on a possible solution. Managers might be able to ask their bookers to book the film as "starting" on the screening date, rather than booking the "one time" as a sneak. This could be nothing more than a computer issue.
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-15-2002, 09:12 PM:
If you have a print you played for a sneak, say on the Saturday before and you are happy with the quality of the print, just call TES and tell them you want to keep this particular print. Most of the time they will say that is fine and delete the auto-pickup from their computer and cancel the delivery on your *next* print. It saves unnecessary print wear, unnecessary Airborne charges and unnecessary payroll expenses. I started doing this after I received a couple of sneak prints that were perfect, then a few days later after returning them I got beaten up sneak prints for my actual playdate. TES just ended up having to swap out my second *playdate* print until I got one I was happy with, so this automatic practice of theirs is really quite foolish.
ETS on the other hand will always let you keep the print and you do not have to call it in.
Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 03-16-2002, 04:49 AM:
Odd..We had a promo screening of The Rookie on Thursday, and we are holding the print until it opens. I called Tech and they said we were holding it (I didn't even have to ask 
)
Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 03-16-2002, 05:31 AM:
Isn't this is an issue that NATO could easily address, given that it seems to be such a univerally vexing problem? Surely the exhibition industry can make a point of how costly and illogical the system is and insist distribution remedy it. Then the other question is, who orders the sneak? It is the theatre saying, yeah, we want in on that sneak, or it is the distributor saying, if you want to book this or that title, you have to play a sneak? I don't work in a commercial setting so I don't know the logistics of how this sneak thing works.
If it is the theatre wanting to play the sneak, then in lieu of the studios making any changes in the present sneak system, the exhib needs to evaluate the cost of running that sneak -- booth overtime for makeup and breakdown, the inevitable late charges when it can't physically be done for the next day ship-out, etc. Maybe it might be better to just say, "hey, if we can't keep the print for our normal run, or if you can't give us a full 24 hours to break it down, then we won't run it." Problem solved. It's simply a matter of economics.
If it is the studio demanding that a sneak be played, then as the exhibitor I would charge back to the distributor any costs that running the sneak forces me to incur.
We run sneaks, but it is out of the publicity offices of the distribs. They pay US to use our theatre to promote their product. If I have to keep a projectionist an extra 2 hours on overtime to get a print ready for a next-day ship-out, you can be sure that is going to be tacked on to the total rental fee I charge them. TES ususally has Airborne pickup two days, sometimes more, after we play the sneak. Then again, there were a few times they just forgot to put us on the rotation and left a print for over a week. Another time they returned it to us a few days later, even though we weren't playing it other than the one night sneak showing.
Evidently this isn't as scientific a system as one might think.
Frank
Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 03-16-2002, 10:43 AM:
Quote: "We had a promo screening of The Rookie on Thursday, and we are holding the print until it opens. I called Tech and they said we were holding it (I didn't even have to ask)"We got an email saying the TES will not attempt to pick up any prints of The Rookie from theaters that are scheduled to play it when it is released. Probablly a nation-wide thing, with all circuits, not just Regal.
------------------
This one time, at Projection Camp, I stuck a xenon bulb....
Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 03-16-2002, 01:06 PM:
quote:
Isn't this is an issue that NATO could easily address, given that it seems to be such a univerally vexing problem?
Has anyone done due-diligence on this problem? I mean, I don't hear people saying they've talked to their buyer/booker, raised the issue with management at TES, or with print control at the relevent studios.
Tackling it from an industry trade organization sure seems wrong if you haven't picked up the phone and asked the right people yet.
--jhawk
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-16-2002, 02:58 PM:
Frank Angel: "If I have to keep a projectionist an extra 2 hours on overtime to get a print ready for a next-day ship-out, you can be sure that is going to be tacked on to the total rental fee I charge them."Uhmmmm....Frank you run a changeover house that runs 2000' reels...and it takes your projectionists an extra 2 hours to prepare the print for ship-out? It only takes 20-30 minutes to break down a print from a platter! Where's Steve Guttag? He has been lying to us on the merits of running changeovers!!! 
Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 03-16-2002, 05:05 PM:
As I am a firm believer in tails-out shipping {"Standard Print Makeup Do Not Rewind") since that's how I like to receive prints, I can almost always use the shippers as takeups. So a print is ready for shipping as fast as I can put the band on the last reel and close the case, much to the relief of the couriers who still don't believe that when a pickup is ordered for time=XX:YY it doesn't mean XX:YY minus 30 -45 minutes.
Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 03-18-2002, 01:25 AM:
Brad,You said: > Uhmmmm....Frank you run a changeover house that runs 2000' reels...and it takes your projectionists an extra 2 hours to prepare the print for ship-out? It only takes 20-30 minutes to break down a print from a platter! Where's Steve Guttag? He has been lying to us on the merits of running changeovers!!! <
Actually I was just responding to Mike's Jones' original complaint that TES's policy costs him 2 extra hours by their moving prints around. Me, at the last show we are rewinding back to shipping reels as the picture plays out. We are outta the booth sometimes before the last patron leaves the lobby.
I would like to ship prints tails-out like Steve K, but long ago I developed an uncontrollable terror of using shipping reels for take-up. I would rather let the next guy deal with a heads-up print than risk using a metal shipping reel or one of TES's cracked and falling apart reels for take-up. Of course I could rewind twice, but, hey, then I wouldn't beat the last patrons out of the theatre, would I?
Posted by Joe Beres (Member # 678) on 03-18-2002, 11:26 AM:
Steve, I too would love to receive all prints tails out, but I must admit that I share Frank's "uncontrollable terror of using shipping reels for take up." Considering the state of some of the reels I receive films on, I am sometimes even wary of rewinding the film onto them at all. In some cases I even provide a shipping reel when the one that came is broken, cracked, or could do irreversible damage to a print. I take everything up onto our house reels and then rewind onto the shippers and ship the print heads out.