I agree that in many situations it would be nearly impossible to do both jobs really well at the same time. You would wind up compromising.

I'm all too familiar with that Carmike policy. My wife used to live in a Carmike town and we would go to their theatres on dates. Talk about botched presentations...almost every show we saw was screwed up in some way.
 

Sorry Tom, I needed something to do while i'm sitting here in Brockton! Wondering why the heck they didnt just hire Two separate people for those two postions.
 

We have a union guy 2 nights a week - a non union guy who REALLLLY wants to learn all he can, he works 4 nights a week, and then we fill in the rest.

Except MONDAY... MONDAY is Manager day. It's really TOOOO slow to afford a separate position. Besides - if I work that day it's my day to go upstairs and check that all the projectionists have been doing what they're supposed to be doing.

If a manager is trained properly in BOTH aspects of their job, projection AND operations, then they should be organized enough to handle the booth and the floor.

But hey - I've been manager / operator for the last 5 years and I can run the floor and build up a movie, change trailers and do all the Thursday night paperwork.

Of course I'm completely nuts by the end of the night, but it CAAAANNNN be done.

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Scott D. Neff
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www.cinema-west.com
 

Of course I spent countless unpaid hours after work on the equipment doing maintenance making sure nothing would go wrong. Only time I can remember having a problem was during one of the Star Trek films a bad splice (not mine) caught in the failsafe and held them up while the film dumped onto the floor in front of the projector. It was me and one employee and timer run all the way. Other than that, I cannot remember having any problems (but again, the maintenance and early versions of FilmGuard kept things running smoothly). Still, the presentation was hands down the best in the district.
 

Can it be done well? Yes in certain situations. Single screen and twins - no problem if the booth isn't hidden away from the rest of the theatre. Once you get to three screens I think there should be a projectionist on duty at all times.

Like Mike, my theatre is laid out in such a way that it is very easy. The theatre as built in the twenties originally had no access to the booth from the theatre proper. You had to go outside and in the vestibule leading to the 2nd floor apartments. Once upstairs, you entered the booth across the hall from one of the apartments. The managers office was up there as well. Once the box office and concession stand closed there was no one on the floor to see what was going on, unless you paid an usher to stay till close.

I took space from one of the rental stores and created a nice roomy office just off the main lobby where I could see anyone who entered the theatre, and could hear everything that goes on in the concession stand as well. By stealing a little space from one of the 2nd floor apartments I was able to have a staircase go directly from my office into the booth. I can hear everything running, and if anything unusual happens...I know it right away and can be up there in five seconds.

As I use two machines with 6000' reels, I never need to be there when I'm needed on the floor. I only go up for a couple of minutes to start the show. Most of the work is done before opening or in the middle of shows. I also use the Eprad co-operators for changeovers, and they never fail. I've been using them for over twenty years now.

If I had an operator it would be a total waste of money, and this theatre would be closed, as that extra expense would be just too much to afford.

NOW HAVING SAID THAT...I truly would not want to run a 4 Plex or larger without a full time projectionist. I would want to know, amd have the peace of mind, that there was someone up there keeping things going as they should be. As an owner I want to be downstairs attending to that which I'm best suited.

I don't understand the arguement that they can't afford to have a full time operator in a 10 plex. I would think they can't afford not to!

Let's look back a few years...ok, a whole bunch of years...back in the mid sixties when I got started in this biz. If you had 10 theatres in town you would of had 10 managers, 10 assn't managers and about 25 union operators to cover all the shifts for those 10 auditoriums scattered around town. A total of aprox. 45 people to cover management and projection. Now with 10 screens under one roof they want to replace 45 people with two or three. And only one at a time!

How cheap can they get?

For every man-op theatre lucky enough to have someone caring and talented like Tom or Brad, there are a hundred more that are pure garbage. It's very difficult to find people who are interested in good film presentation who are willing to work as a man/op. Projection and management require two different sets of skills and different mindsets. It's easier to find people well suited to one of the two then it is to find people who can do both well. And even with an exceptionally talented film handler managing a theatre, there can be major problems that aren't caught or fixed as fast as they would be if the booth was constantly manned. Sure it can be done (I have a friend who is a good man/op), but that doesn't mean it should be done. In the majority of cases quality will be better with projection treated as a separate, professional position.

Another thing that really bugs me are theatres that really DO have a dedicated person in the booth most of the time, but go through this elaborate charade to create the illusion that they have no "projectionist". Near the end of my tour of duty at GCC, my paychecks started listing me as the maintenance man, because the managers didn't want the home office to know how many hours they were giving to operators. Anyone who stays in the booth and only runs film is a "projectionist" or "motion picture machine operator" and should not be called anything else.

IMHO:
Manager/Operators are a terrible for any theatre larger than a 6-plex. Even then it should be a slow 6-plex, not one that does a lot of business, and all theatres should staff at least one knowledgeable projectionist to keep things in tip-top condition.

The problems with Manager/Operators have been well pointed out so far, so I won't go in depth. My main beef is that MOST (not all) Managers don't have the time or the desire to learn about proper projection technics. They are Managers, that's what they are, most that I know are not technically inclined people but man they run great theatres. Me I am a projectionist, I don't want to run a theatre, I am a technical person. I have a desire to learn everything about every mechanical and eletrical system that I use, most managers just don't like that type of work.

The idea of combining two opposite personalities is just bad. FEW can handle it, but most of them would rather do one or the other and not both.
 

I think, at some slower theaters, on weekdays (non-summer or Xmas), it can be done, with great efficiency, as long as you have dedicated weekend projectionists, who can pick up the slack with some cleaning and preventative maintenance.

There's just so much lack of detail to the sad, sad, projection booth if there's one person running the theater, who also has to run the floor.

Extreme circumstances... brain wrap, causes burn through... you have 300 angry people, and a movie that's not running... WHAT DO YOU DO? WHAT DO YOU DO?

Glad we all agree. It can be done, if you're a God, or are forced to, but it SHOULDN'T be done.

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Scott A. Magie

scoooot@hotmail.com
"Anybody wanna peanut?"