Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: TES/Airborne shipping "rules" -- why?

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-11-2003, 07:38 AM:

Has anyone ever gotten a good reason for why theatres aren't allowed to transport prints themselves when said prints are under TES' responsibility?

Latest example: two theatres, both platter houses, within a few miles of each other. Both projectionists know each other. Print is leaving one house and opening at the other the next day. Moving the print ourselves on 6000' reels would save both operators' time and money for both theatres. Why wouldn't TES let us move it ourselves like ETS would? [Mad]

Posted by Don Bruechert (Member # 1538) on 04-11-2003, 08:24 AM:

I would assume it is because of the way TES claims they track the "Chain of Custody" of the film. If they use delivery services and couriers then they have a paper trail of the movements of each print. If you merely take it the theater across town there is no documentation of it's movement, and it would be conceivable to believe that if they trashed it, and said they never received it or some goofy story like that, you could be held responsible.

Now having said that, I don't know if it is a TES film or not, but we just had this happen with our print of How to Lose a Guy. It went right out our door andd into the buck-house up the street, and since we both have the same platter systems she took the print over there, fully assembled. We kept the film cans and stuff as hostage until we got back our clamps and film cans. The thing that amazes me most is the just tossed the whole enchilada into the trunk of her car for its ride across town
[Eek!]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-11-2003, 08:46 AM:

The paper-trail argument is plausable, but if both theatres called TES and agreed on the proposed move, then wouldn't that be just as good as Airborne/Sky Courier documentation stating that the print had moved?

I could have had this print ready to run last night (it was in good condition [actually, I'd inspected it myself at the other theatre when it opened there two weeks ago] and wouldn't need to be re-inspected), and the operator at the other theatre could have gone home earlier. Now, someone has to be at the theatre for an 11:30am Friday morning delivery to inspect and make up this new print which, for all anyone knows, may be completely trashed. The first show is at 1:10pm today.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 04-11-2003, 09:13 AM:

Scott writes: "The paper-trail argument is plausable, but if both theatres called TES and agreed on the proposed move, then wouldn't that be just as good as Airborne/Sky Courier documentation stating that the print had moved?"

Why would it be? It is not the case that theatres calling TES is "strong authentication", and there seem many ways in which determined malicious individuals might try to game the system. Perhaps if TES was willing to call the theatres, maybe it would be OK...

But it's really about what TES' procedures say. I suspect they have no procedure to enter into their tracking system, "print moved from A to B via non-Airborne mechanism." (that, or the front-line phone people don't know how to do it).

Now, they could enhance their systems or their training to cover this case, but would that be a good business decision for them? How often does this case actually occur?

(I have the impression that, in some markets, it is a frequent occurance, but other markets it is not.) If it's a real concern, then it seems like maybe you need to have a private chat with TES of the form, "What do you guys need on your side to make this happen?" This thread is probably an ok way to brainstorm, but probably not such a good way to get results...

--jhawk

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 04-11-2003, 10:27 AM:

What ticks me off about TES is there lack of comunication at times to tell you what to do. about a month ago we had someone show up to pick up a print of Agent Cody Banks after a sneak. No one told us that they were going to pick the film up so it wasn;t ready. They charged us for an attempted pick up do to this. I sometimes think they are just trying to ground the money out of us in pick up and delivery costs.

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 04-11-2003, 11:07 AM:

Why does TES require you to use airborne when the next venue is down the street? Why MONEY of course! Airborne gets to handle the print and charge a fee for their service.

I am sure that this was part of the original agreement when Airborne aligned with Technicolor. Airbore would have sole rights to move any print. (However I do know TES does allow the circuiting of prints without Airborne if it is within the same chain!)

I have always thought that this would make a nice class action lawsuit for someone. This appears to be a classic 'tying' arrangement prohibited under federal antitrust law (you can't get the product unless you use and pay for the additional service.)

This is especially blatant because: (i) you don't need the service to move a print down the street; (ii) with many of the same studios who now insist you use Techicolor/Airbore to move their prints because of "security" reasons, you were allowed to move their prints all the time before the Technicolor/Airborne alliance came along; (iii) non Technicolor studios (through ETS) allow you do it all the time and (iv) it is discrimnatory against smaller theatres and independents in favor of the chains which are allowed to do it all the time.

The antitrust argument is further strengthened if TES prohibits pickups at their wharehouses and requires you to use Airborne. (I dont know if they do or not) However many theatres pick up their own prints at ETS.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-11-2003, 03:05 PM:

Because it is TES. I know of no other reason. [Confused]

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 04-12-2003, 12:24 AM:

We've been circuiting prints ourselves to the theatre two miles down the road for years, both TES and ETS, never with any problem from either.

The last couple of sneaks we've had TES has called and told us they were going to pick up the print. If you ever have a question about when one of your prints is scheduled for pickup just call TES, they'll tell you.