This is topic Employees bringing friends to theatre in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 02-27-2001, 12:19 AM:
What is your theatre/company policy regarding employees and employees bringing friends?
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-27-2001, 12:35 AM:
As far as an employee bringing friends to see a movie the policy is you and one guest everyone else is suposed to pay unless they have a special guest pass that you can recieve from management. Usually one guest pass a week to use at other theaters. As far as friends hanging around work as you work is not acceptable if it is interfering with your job.
Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-27-2001, 12:42 AM:
At Colorado Cinemas Holdings LLC (or whatever the hell they are called) any employee can bring any freinds they want to for the late night Thursday print screenings. Of course the building is closed at this point and it is not normal operating hours. Does insurance still cover this if something happens to a non employee?
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-27-2001, 12:54 AM:
No, As far as I know insurance does not cover this. Our policy is manage and projectionist are the only ones allowed to stay ad watch a screening. Now if the theater is open the insurance covers everyone in the building. When it is closed it only covers employees of the facility. That's why outside janitorial services have to be bonded and have their own insurance.
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-27-2001, 11:46 AM:
Lots of theaters allow the "free for all" late night Thursday parties. I have heard way too many disasters from such after hours screenings from destruction of company property all the way to trips to the emergency room. In fact, one circuit had a party several years back and someone snuck in beer. One of the teenage employees got drunk and ran off of the road driving home and was killed. A similar incident involved a high school employee who stayed up to watch a movie and by 3am was just simply too tired to drive home with his regular early morning high school schedule and he ran off of the road too. As every theater chain that I have ever heard of has explained it...once the building is closed for the day that NOTHING is covered by insurance. It's one of those "read the fine print" things in the insurance contract. The only people covered are the people who absolutely have to be there (meaning projectionists) and most contracts also include management, for obvious reasons. Staff, friends of the employees and the general public are not covered. Of course I am sure there are some theaters that have set up full coverage even if the building is closed, but I've not heard of one yet.I suppose once somebody trips down a flight of stairs and has a hundred thousand dollar medical visit, only for the theater chain to realize that it is coming out of their pocket and NOT the insurance, will the lesson be learned. This seems to be the case with most chains, as once a couple of bad incidents happen the policy is changed. Not to be a party crasher on this topic, but the safety of the employees really must come first. After all this is a business and not a playground.
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 02-27-2001, 11:56 AM:
Agreed. Not only that, but the theatre would undoubtedly be held at least partially liable if an underage guest got into a car crash on the way home from a 2 AM screening. IMO, late night screenings should only be for projectionists and management. Too many times, I've seen beer and stinky cigarettes work their way in.S.O.P. most places I've worked is: employee and one guest or employee and immediate family (mother, father, sister, brother) weekday shows. Don't hire employees with big families. 
Oh yeah, courtesy is that employee and guest purchase something from concession. I've seen employees try to get free soda and drink for the guest. To me, that is going too far.
Posted by Greg Borr (Member # 386) on 02-27-2001, 12:45 PM:
At our local theatres we credit $35.00 per month to each employees Movie Card "Debit Card", they can spend it any way they wish, Movies, Concessions etc. They receive an employee discount on items only for them, and pay in full for any guests. The unused amount rolls over to the next month.Greg Borr
Ready Theatre Systems
Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 02-27-2001, 12:53 PM:
Most chains have a policy against this. However even with policys in place it does not always work. And far too often its not just beer and cigarettes snuck in, at times so are drugs, which is a real problem.I don't think that there would be too much of an issue, as long as it is supervised by management (although this does not always help as I've seen managers leading the way into trouble). Also the maturity of the staff at the theatre plays a part. I've been to theatres that had open screenings, and never had a problem.
Annother aspect that I've heard is that the studios do not want open screenings, from my understand they don't want the movies run period outside of a paying audience.
Posted by Paul Cunningham (Member # 501) on 02-27-2001, 05:10 PM:
At the family owned theatre I work for the policy is employee and immediate family only, no Fri or Sat nights, if the show is sold out then you miss out or pay, you are also expected to lend a hand if it is really busy for 15 min or so prior to the show. We do not have test screenings.Paul
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-27-2001, 06:42 PM:
Paul,My theatre is even stricter than that! 
We allow free admissions for the employees ONLY. No family, friends, boyfriends, kids, etc. They get a substantial discount on pop & popcorn, but again, only the employees get this.
I guess if we were starting from scratch I might be more liberal, but this was the policy when I started working here and it's just never changed.
Posted by Rachel Carter (Member # 693) on 02-27-2001, 11:15 PM:
At my theater we give 6 free passes per month to each employee to use however they choose....no discount on concession items.------------------
"Blood is thicker then blondes" - From the movie, Save the last Dance.
FUNNY!!!!!
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-27-2001, 11:37 PM:
Whatever the theater or company policy is, it is up to you to make sure some idiot does not spoil it for the rest. Some theater chains, no matter how rottin' they are, depend on you to make sure the privilege is not abused.
Posted by Kevin Baglow (Member # 721) on 02-28-2001, 03:53 AM:
Hi from OZ.
from past experience new staff only get passes for the first 4 months and family free it they last after that. With future ones I will charge us US$2 for the first 4 months. And wait and see if they deserve privilages after that. Cheers ------------------
Posted by Paul Cunningham (Member # 501) on 02-28-2001, 07:39 PM:
Hi KevinDid you buy that cinema in Yeppoon recently?
If I'm thinking of the right place I saw a brochure for it up for sale.
Paul
Posted by Russ Kress (Member # 461) on 03-02-2001, 12:01 AM:
We give employees a pass that admits the employee and one guest to any performance Monday through Thursday (non-holiday). The pass is valid for the pass holder only on weekends and holidays provided that seating is available.We carry special stock to allow the employee and guest to receive drinks for a quarter and popcorn (85 oz container) for fifty cents.
Test screenings are for the staff only. Management can bring guests. It's just easier that way.
There's no trouble at the screenings. The police department has an office across from the theatre and one or two off duty officers usually stop by for the screenings. (Police and fire personnel are admitted free to the theatre anyway).
I agree with Brad. There's no reason to open up the test runs to guests in a free for all situation. We make exceptions on a case by case basis, like when somebody want's to bring their mom, but the general rule is no.
Russ
Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 03-11-2001, 01:26 PM:
While I was working for Cinemark 1989-1990, we used to do screenings on Thursday night for Employee's and friends. This came to an abrupt end when an employee who ws drunk, walked through a plate glass window at the Mall his theatre was at and fell two flors to his death! Cinemark was sued by his parents and won the case hence Cinemark quit doing after hours screening, at least at thier Dollar Houses.
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-11-2001, 02:20 PM:
Cinemark policy states that there is to be no employee screenings. However, if a manager deems it nessecary one of the projection personel and a manager may stay and screen a print. No guests. I do know that this rule can get broken. This was established do to the incident mentioned above.
Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 03-12-2001, 09:01 AM:
The thing that ended employee screenings at one theater I worked at was the time the manager got a phone call from someone unrecognizable asking what time the free showing of "Mission Impossible" was.
Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 03-13-2001, 04:00 PM:
I think it is important that someone from the technical staff watch every picture that is played in the theatre. At the very latest it should be seen on it's first run through even if the paying audience is in the auditorium Preferably, before the public is able to see it so corrections can be made.In the day's when I managed theatres, every film was tech'ed. reports were written and the distributor was notified of any problems with the print.
Employee's were invited to attend the tech screening and the theatre supplied the pizza or burgers (which we had to send for in the old days).
After the screening employees were driven home either myself or in a cab. Under 18 had to have parental permission to stay for screening.
Posted by Russ Kress (Member # 461) on 03-13-2001, 10:38 PM:
Pizza!!? Burgers!!?Can I work for you!?
Russ
Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 03-13-2001, 11:38 PM:
Bob, Make mine a double meat with cheese Plain and dry, and could I talk you into a Milkshake to go with it? I would have to agree it is important to screen a movie before the public see's it that way if you put a reel on upside down you have time to fix it and if you get a trashed print you can warn the public when they buy the ticket, that way there are no excuses on Presentation quality for a refund.
Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 03-14-2001, 01:39 AM:
>> and if you get a trashed print you can warn the public when they buy the ticket<<NO... You can CALL THE DISTRIBUTOR and DEMAND A REPLACEMENT PRINT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trashed prints of anything are completely inexcuseable!!!!
Aaron
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-14-2001, 01:53 AM:
Yes, NEVER accept a damaged print of any kind. There are no acceptable excuses.True story. One certain person I know of (whom would most definitely NOT want his name revealed) would make damned well sure that if he ever got a print that wasn't new or in mint condition at his theater that it would never see the light of day again. He had a procedure for breaking the film down onto the reels by pre-bending the flanges in (before TES in the days of metal reels) and crimping the edges so the film could not possibly be removed without severe damage. Then he would kick in the sides of the cans to the point where he had to get a hammer to bash the reels in. Trust me that alone was more than enough, for I personally tried to get one of those reels back out with no success...but he would go one step farther by super glueing the edges of the reels together and against the inside flanges of the can. Then he would beat the lock for about 10 minutes until he was certain it would never be able to be opened again and proceed to use the compactor in the back of the theater to further mutilate the cans (just in case someone figured out a way to get past his busted lock) and finally he would toss the cans off of the roof a few times!
His dedication to damaged prints was admirable, for he was absolutely right in that there was no possible way that film would ever see the light of day again. Those workers at NFS must've spent hours upon hours trying to retrieve the film from his cans. (Serves them right for sending out a damaged print! 
)
Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 03-14-2001, 05:39 AM:
To: Russ and WilliamI have your food ready...please come and pick it up. You realize of course, it is over 30 years old, it smells and looks funny...Hurry up now, it's waiting for you.
Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 03-14-2001, 08:34 AM:
A little clarification on what I meant by trashed print, I was taking this from the Cinemark Dollar house stand point, in which most of the time We were picking up prints from one of the first run houses and did not have the chance to do a very thourugh inspection of the film. So running to see if it was scrathed all to crap or was going to constatnly break because Sproket holes were strip and what not would have been the only solution to prevent the public from getting a bad presentation, or at least letting public know what to expect until we were able to get a replacement reel or print in. Two theatres in town were especially bad about mishandiling film The UA Cinema 4, and the Mann National Twin. I later worked at Cinema 4 and understand why there prints were alway trashed, Management with a bad attitude that transfred into the Staff. 
Posted by Rachel Carter (Member # 693) on 03-14-2001, 05:32 PM:
Mmmmmmmm, sounds yummy...will you guys share some of your food?At my theater, When I screen a Thursday night movie I welcome employees (if under 18, have written permission from their parents) I don't like staying alone...they can't bring anyone with them though...only the employees.