This is topic Seating of Patrons in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-04-2002, 06:21 PM:
Here is a scenario that was brought to my attention today. The manager asked me what I thought of the idea of telling people to move to different seats for Spiderman because the auditorium was getting full, and she could not guarantee the couples seating together.I personally thought it was a bad idea for anyone to go into the auditorium and ask people to scrunch up so other couples could be seated together for several reasons.
1. People are buying tickets to see the movie, and they are entitled to sit wherever they so desire.
2. People resent being shuffled around like a herd of cows.
3. Some people would feel there “space” is violated.
What is your opinion?
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-04-2002, 06:33 PM:
I hate to ask people to "compress," but if we are nearing sellout, I'll do it. People are generally understanding. We have a lot of customers who drive 30 - 40 miles from outlying towns and it just isn't worth the bad PR to turn them away if we can possibly get them in.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-04-2002, 08:08 PM:
Cinemark here does this fairly often. An usher will ask for everyone's attention and say something like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see this show is going to be very full, and we would like to help everyone get the best seats possible. Please look to your left and your right and note any single empty seats. If it looks like your party can shift 1 seat in either direction and make room for other couples sit together to see the movie, please help us out by doing so. Thank you!" They then watch to see what happens and offer additional encouragement to get people to shift seats. Most people are very cooperative if you *ask* for their help. It also helps if the usher making the speech is "personable" and upbeat. 
Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 05-04-2002, 08:25 PM:
I have to agree with David here, when we get to under 10% of the seats remaining I'll either send in an usher or go in myself and help with seating. In the years I have done this I have yet to have an occasion where when I've asked if someone would mind moving one seat in one direction or the other that I have had anyone refuse or get upset by the request. It all boils down to your customer service skills in my opinion.
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-04-2002, 08:33 PM:
I agree with David's post the way that particular Cinemark theater is handling it. So long as the person who makes the announcement is polite and specifically asks the customer's to help instead of demanding it to get everyone a good seat, I've found it has never been a problem. Never a complaint.
Posted by Jeff Akin (Member # 1198) on 05-04-2002, 08:37 PM:
Something I've used in the past may be of some help as well. You will likely have patrons lined up outside the auditorium while the previous show is still running or being cleaned.
During this time, have a manager or an usher get the attention of the lined up crowd and say something along these lines:"Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, this show has just about sold out. When choosing your seats, please keep in mind that just about every seat in the theratre will be used. Go ahead and sit next to someone else to ensure that there will be seating for everyone. Thank you and enjoy the show."
I've also thought of throwing something along the lines of, "If we all work together, we can all get seated comfortably and the show will not be delayed to facilitate the seating of everyone."
Those dreaded words, "DELAY THE SHOW," will get them all working with you.
------------------
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2 Time ICWF Champion
2 Time ICWF Hardcore Champion
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 05-04-2002, 09:00 PM:
Dave recounted the exact proper way of doing this. The only thing I can add is that audiences used to appreciate a little humor with the suggestion that the couple(s) might not be on speaking terms after the film if they can't sit together. I might add that moving is not mandatory, but a courtesy to others.In many cases, I would NOT move. Some theatres have good seats and bad seats. If I'm told to move to seat with a worn out pan, or asked to sit behind Ian just because Joe can't get his act together and get Brad to the show on time, my reaction is "Tough 
"
Early bird > worm. Ant and grasshopper.
I always informed latecomers that "Seats WILL be separated and/or towards the front, and there are NO refunds on the last tickets sold." Latecomers should be discouraged, not rewarded. I used to have more problems with people trying to "save" seats for non-existant friends. I'd check restrooms and then it was "Sorry, if you can't show me the ticket for the person, that seat next to you isn't yours."
Even with the problems, I still like open seating.
Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 05-04-2002, 09:02 PM:
My view is this: If a couple wants to purchase four tickets to ensure elbow room, then they're more than welcome to do so. If not, however, they should expect that they will be sitting next to someone. Usually if you ask the couple if they could move in one direction or another to get two seats together, they appreciate the choice and will take the two better seats. I've actually had a guy refuse to move once, so i had to split a couple, one on either side of him. They kept passing their drinks and popcorn back and forth, over the middle guy. I can't see how this was better for him than moving one seat. -adam
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-04-2002, 09:07 PM:
Like Jerry said, humor helps. That's what I meant by a "personable" usher. And yup, early birds may not like being asked to moved. If someone doesn't want to move, drop the issue and move on. Jeff's suggestion sounds good too: plant the "fill all the seats in" idea in people's heads before they enter the theater.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-04-2002, 10:16 PM:
OK - it works for all of you...the proof is in the pudding. Thanks for your info, appreciate it.
Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 05-05-2002, 12:33 AM:
We usually let people have open seating and will let a few seats go empty to ensure the comfort of our patrons. ------------------
Adam Fraser
www.pinestheatre.com
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-05-2002, 12:39 AM:
I agree with all the previous posts. Asking (as noted before ASK is the key word) people to shift over one seat is rarely a big deal. In the several years I've been in this business not one customer has ever gotten upset with me over this.I will add however that I would NEVER ask someone to move to a different row or from the side seating to the middle or vice versa. They showed up early so they get to pick where in the auditorium they watch the movie from. If ten people show up at the end of the trailers and want seats together it ain't gonna happen and I for one will NOT give them refunds.
Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 05-05-2002, 02:02 AM:
I would always get up in front of the auditorium and make some snazzy little speech about how "I know y'all wanna keep that buffer zone between you and the guy next to you, but there's a long line of people outside that really want to see this movie, and I'm afraid if we don't get them through the door there might be a riot... so if you could help us all out and become better friends with the person sitting next to you, everything will turn out okay."Usually people laughed at me - which was fine - it got the job done.
Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 05-05-2002, 05:01 AM:
I would always try to use humor to get people to help out with this. I often would say "excuse me, may I have your attention. It is unfortunate that this has to happen, especially tonight with it bieng a sell out, however our print of tonights movie was accidentally left running and the projector melted it down.... no wait, it look like that our projectionist in the booth is signaling that we are going to be able to run it after all. WHew, thats a relief. Well now that I dont have to refund your money, could I get some help squeezing everyone in?"Different variations, such as accidentally scheduling wet-t-shirt night or its four drink minimum night, depending on the movie, work very well to warm up a sold out crowd.
Dave
Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 05-05-2002, 01:12 PM:
I'm going to *try* the announcement concept. I have doled out more refunds/time swaps this wknd than I have ove the last few months combined!Someone said tardiness should be discouraged, not rewarded. AMEN. But, what happens when you have 300+ people waiting in your lobby (at one time, of course) for the already sold out show? They all enter at teh same time, but seating is, at least in my chain, first come, first served. I always leave a moderate buffer zone in my sell out cap for situations like this, but there are invariably ALWAYS going to be folks who will not move, will not sit up front, will not seperate, etc... and sadly,it doesn't matter that I tell them that if they hold a ticket, there IS a seat for them. So, do I piss them off and not give them a refund? I find it to be, more often than not, a no win situation...
Then, the next morning you're explaining to your DM why you had so many refunds.. which many weren't actual CASH refunds, they are simply time swaps.... I feel the beginning of a huge rant, so I'll stop now...
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The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-05-2002, 04:34 PM:
I must ask this quick poll:Do you sell out EVERY seat in the house? If no, what is a percentage that you do not sell for people who sneak in and to make up for those seats where people refuse to sit?
For a 300-400 seat house my personal rule was always 50 seats. For something smaller like 150-200 I would always leave 25 seats. Doing this saved a LOT of unhappy customers, saved a LOT of wasted time trying to force every person into a specific seat (because let's face it, if you sell EVERY seat there will be a lot of people unhappy with their chair's location) and I think it just helps out overall with customer satisfaction. I wonder how many people are mandated by their corporate pencil pushers to sell every seat so they can make those extra few bucks.
Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 05-05-2002, 04:43 PM:
I normally leave 20-25 seats on a 300 seat house. I bump it up to 35 on particularly busy movies (ie. SW, HP, Spidy, etc). Looks like I will have to bump it up a tad more to alleviate headaches, but doing so, I'm afraid the 'men behind the desks' (I like that phrase) will piss and moan about loss of revenues, and, honestly, somewhat rightfully so.As I said before, it's a no win situation. I'm simply in search of that 'happy medium'.
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The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 05-05-2002, 05:38 PM:
Most larger cinemas I have gone to have specified seats on the stubs.
We are developing this on our home made ticketing software as MOST people are fine with the seats they are allocated.We are working on the "Best Available Seat" option.
i.e. the first seats sold are 2/3 back etc.
However I am still reluctant to sell that last 5%, due to the people who arrive 5 minutes before showtime & demand to be seated.
In this situation we go by the addage of "the customer is always a right bastard" and seat them in the front row next to the wall.
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 05-05-2002, 05:38 PM:
Back when the first Star Wars came out, the larger auditorium at my theatre had 414 seats and I sold 414 tickets to every show for the first weekend. I had signage all over the place and a strict ticket check. I had only one very vocal complaint from a couple that ignored the signage and tried to use their tickets for the first matinee at the second matinee. They went so far as picketing the theatre until their parents? keepers? drove up and told them to quit acting stupid and get in the car. Other customers who listened to their complaint were looking at them like they were brain dead.Sometime in the mid eighties, I realized that booking terms didn't reward theatres for selling every last seat, and the late starts, customer complaints, and added staffing costs seemed to make it more sensible to do an auditorium check at fifty seats and leave between one and two dozen seats open. I still think that is a good guideline for a 250 - 500 seat house.
I would never leave fifty seats empty unless the auditorium had an unusually high number of "booker" seats that were so neck straining they came with chiropractor business cards.
As a "man behind a desk" I would be more concerned about low fill levels as an indicator of loss of control in people swapping auditoriums or a ticket seller/taker skimming than I would be about any minimal loss of revenue during the high percentage weeks.
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-05-2002, 09:14 PM:
If we are showing a movie which attracts mostly adults or older kids, we leave around 20 empty seats. (We seat 212.) If it is a little kids movie, I'll lower that number to 10, because without fail there are kids sitting on parents laps, or two kids to one seat, or whatever.
Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 05-05-2002, 11:37 PM:
We have a 450 seat auditorium and we like to leave about 50 seats empty for a full house. Sometimes that number can go down a few if the people over and above 400 are willing to sit wherever there is an empty seat.------------------
Adam Fraser
www.pinestheatre.com
Posted by Jacob Huber (Member # 1138) on 05-06-2002, 02:49 AM:
At our theatre, if a movie is selling out we usually stop with 2% of the seats empty, not a huge problem, where those who can't find seats usually trade for the next showing. The only time in recent memory where we had a problem was a day-before screening of Orange County where Paramount (or whatever company it was) gave out free 2 person tickets to the local colleges and high schools. Our largest stadium house seats about 275 and they gave out around 250 of these tickets. Needless to say, we had about 225 people who could not get seats and I was forced to remove about 50 of the people who would not leave and thought they were permitted to either sit on the stairs, on the ground floor, or stand along the wall.
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 05-06-2002, 09:07 AM:
filmcompanies usually do this without reguard to how many seats the auditorium holds. A lot of times they just don't expect those people to show up like sometimes they do. The best way to keep everyone happy in these cases is to tell the peop;e who can't get in that they can use the passes to see the movie during the regular run.
Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 05-06-2002, 12:06 PM:
Some tickets do say on the back that management reserves the right to designate where the holder of the ticket will be seated. I have never heard of this happening, and I would not do that. I agree, ASK is the key word. But I guess that statement is there as a disclaimer just in case.Regarding saving seats: Aren't patrons encouraged to always keep their ticket stub with them for re-entry? Then how could you expect the person in the auditorium to produce the tickets stup for someone who has stepped out?
------------------
This one time, at Projection Camp, I stuck a xenon bulb....
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 05-06-2002, 01:15 PM:
Ken, that disclaimer may or may not be on tickets. I suspect it is more of a holdover generic disclaimer from assigned seating auditoriums. It really has no place in an open seating situation, and there are better disclaimers. I've ordered and designed a lot of tickets.Regarding the "saving seats" question, you'll note that I included a restroom check (with the unsaid purpose of counting heads (nice unintentional pun ) prior to demanding a customer give up a "saved" seat. In the extremely unlikely event that the person actually did show up, I would move the latecomer. I never had that be the case though. Some customers lie through their teeth, and others get "stood up" on dates.
Posted by Darren Briggs (Member # 1071) on 05-06-2002, 05:58 PM:
The cinema I work at has numdered seats after 6pm , so this avoids the problems of peolpe leaving spare seats, they can choose where to sit at the box office , if people dont sit where there tickets tell them , the ushers just point out the numbers on there tickets and the customer normally realises they are in the wrong row etc, no problems, We have 8 seats out of 226 called house seats which we use for mix-ups and computer overselling cock-ups, these are in good places 2/3rds the wasy back on the middle section isle. We ar eonly a 3 screen venue so we can keep an eye on the seating situationon large films no problems.
Darren
Posted by Manuel Francisco Valencia (Member # 710) on 05-07-2002, 12:17 AM:
Everybody seems to be on the same page as far as seating but what about the wait. Friday our last show of Spiderman was at 10:15. It was in our big house (567 seats) and we sold it down to about 50 seats left. The problem was that everyone came early, inbetween 8:45 and 9:15. The were 45 minute intervals so the show before was getting out at 9:30. Give about ten minutes to clean after 500+ people makes the wait even longer. Then a good ticket check can slow up the line. Then when people do get in and finally get their seats they only have about twenty to twenty five minutes to go to concession and get their food. Our lobby and hallways are big but when you have that many people together at the same time it makes everything complicated. It is loud so concessionists have to yell for customers to hear. It makes customers going to see another movie angry that they have to move around all these people. Does anbody have any solutions to these problems besides cutting showtimes?
Posted by Rob Jones (Member # 902) on 05-07-2002, 06:52 AM:
We only run 4 shows a week so we have to fill these as far as possible (300). However on occasions on a Friday night if the show fills and people are going to be left with the few crappy seats in the house we will usually tell the latecomers that they might get a not so great seat and ask them if they'd prefer to go to the bar for an hour or so (hey they're students!) and come back for a later show. Its usually obvious which films will pack so the late shows are always pre-arranged and advertised.
Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 05-07-2002, 07:06 AM:
As a patron what i hate is when a cinema is using numbered tickets BUT the person/computer at the box office assigns you a seat without asking you where you would like to sit. When i get to the auditoriun i usually sit where i like. Since i feel that if the cinema wants to assign me a seat, to be polite they should ask my preferance.
Posted by John Moriarty (Member # 1153) on 05-07-2002, 08:45 AM:
We only occasionally sell out a showing, and as a student cinema only showing films for one night, it is rarely an option to suggest people come back later (if any showing sells out it is almost always the last). The last people to come in are made aware that there will not be any good seats left but are still happy to pay to come in, and often the people we turn away ask to be allowed sit in aisles or on the floor at the front for full price (we have to turn them away for safety rules). As someone else mentioned, customers are often annoyed if they don't get in (even if they haven't had to travel far), and so we don't like to do it (hence we let in as many people as we can).If we still have a queue of people coming in at the published start time, we delay the film until everyone has taken their seat (with the house lights on).
John
Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 05-08-2002, 01:31 PM:
I sell em to ZERO. This is easily accomplished with a good seater, and good box office workers. There are actually two different methods which I have used. For the shows that sell out after seating is already started, I simply keep the box office worker informed via radio on the seating situation. I start working the auditorium when there are 25% of the seats remaining (125 in a 500-seater ... 60 in a 240, etc.) This gives me plenty of time to look around and get a "feel" for the seating situation. That way, if a customer wishes to purchase a ticket, they are informed before buying the ticket that they will be sitting up front, the group will have to split up, etc. Knowing this before they go in, they usually don't mind doing what is necessary. The second method I have only used on "The Grinch." We were sold out for our 230, 500, 730, and 1000 shows by 1230pm. It was in a 256-seat auditorium (my largest), so I sold 256 tickets for each show. By the time the 1200 let out at around 145, I had 250 people in line for the 230. 15 minutes for cleaning, so seating started around 200. I had an assistant controlling the crowd at the podium, letting about 30 people by at a time. Then, I had an assistant controlling the flow at the entry door. They would ask "How many?", and radio the number to me. I would ask how far back they would like to sit, and put them where it made the most sense for the size of the group. I had 4 seats on the left aisle, 9 in the middle, 6 on the right. In controlling this, I eliminated the problem of single seats being left open. 30 minutes was plenty of time to pack the auditorium. My pet peeve is the college-age guys that won't sit next to each other, for fear of others thinking they're gay or whatever. I just tell em that if they won't move together, I'll plop down a complete stranger in between each and every one of them ... that usually alleviates the problem.
Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 05-09-2002, 10:43 PM:
Mike,
If I might ask, what size theatre are you at? ------------------
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Posted by Jan Hackett (Member # 1231) on 05-09-2002, 11:40 PM:
I have always sold to zero........ Takes a lot of huzzle and a few late starts but nothing like a "sro" house. BTW i found people hate assigned seating for a movie..........What gives...? They would rather scoot over a seat to accomodate a late comer than get stuck with a seat #.............. your thoughts? ------------------
Jan Hackett
Theater Operations Manager
Extreme Screen Dynatheater
NM Museum of Natural History Foundation
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-10-2002, 01:14 AM:
I'm sure everyone here would love to sell to zero. But usually given staffing constraints that is not an option. I know it was just one example, and given the kind of business the Grinch was doing you must have been super staffed Mike, but I can't imagine anytime when my theatre would have enough staff to have three managers doing nothing but seat one auditorium.
Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 05-10-2002, 03:13 PM:
Jason - "The Grinch" scenario was at an 8-screen. Now I'm at a 10. I used to be the Usher manager at a 14, where I also sold to zero.Dustin - Not necessarily super-staffed. Remember, this seating scenario only happened every 2.5 hours and lasted for about 20 minutes before we had everyone in a seat. Then, we all jumped behind concession and helped out. Keep in mind that all the shows for "The Grinch" were sold out for the day ... so we only needed one box cashier ... and could put the other one that was scheduled wherever necessary to help out.
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-11-2002, 02:15 AM:
Oh I see, you had ONE screen that was selling out. That makes sense then.Of course, next week we have 3 prints of Spiderman and 4 prints of Star Wars....*screams*
Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 05-11-2002, 03:35 PM:
Yeah - when you have an 8-screen in a shared product situation (w/ 8 other screens) ... the bookings end up being feast-or-famine. The Grinch was right in the middle of one of my feasts ... no room for multiple prints of anything (except 102 Dalmations ... go figure)
Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 05-15-2002, 02:03 AM:
The whole point of arriving early is to select a good seat. I've never obliged those "requests" because I'd be giving up my preferred seat to some random latecomer. No way! I've sacrificed visits to the concession stand to get the best possible seating and so I'm not too forgiving when I see someone coming up the aisle with a tray full of snacks with that all-too-familiar "where-am-I-supposed-to-sit" look of anticipation on his/her face.
For me, it isn't so much about "personal space" or having a "buffer zone" - although I know that's certainly a real issue for a lot of people. I don't usually care if I end up sitting next to a stranger...except for that one time at Mann's Chinese on Hollywood Blvd in Los Angeles...I was watching MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL when this guy sits down next to me, opens a trenchcoat and reveals himself - totally naked - and then starts...ahem...getting animated.
Yeah...that time turned out to be a personal space issue.
I don't have too much say in this anymore, but I used to sell down to 20...and I started giving warnings at the box-office when we were down to 50 - those tickets were marked "LATE" so that I'd know they'd been warned about the seating. We'd still refund them if they came wandering back to the box-office, but it short-circuited any potential dramatizations.
------------------
~Manny.
Now...where was I ?
Leonard Shelby, MEMENTO.
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 05-15-2002, 08:02 AM:
"MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL when this guy sits down next to me, opens a trenchcoat and reveals himself - totally naked - and then starts...ahem...getting animated."Another reason to always buy an ice cold Coke before entering the auditorium... 
Of course you could just lean over tap his shoulder, and ask the guy "Pardon me, is this the animated short subject before the feature?"
These guys depend on shocked silence to do their deed. Teach your kids to respond to the situation by standing up and loudly yelling "Hey everybody, stupid naked man with a tiny .... over here! Come and see!"
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-16-2002, 04:16 PM:
Manny, you are saying that if you were sitting in a sold out house with an empty seat on either side of you, you would not move over one seat so a couple could sit together?
Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 05-16-2002, 05:15 PM:
It feels wierd to quote myself, but here goes:
quote:
My view is this: If a couple wants to purchase four tickets to ensure elbow room, then they're more than welcome to do so.
I had a couple do this today (first time i've ever had it happen). They bought 6 tickets so that they would have a seat on either side of them and two in front left open, and were the first in line for the midnight of SW:EP-2. Upon further consideration, it seemed like it would be a huge hassle to try and keep those seats open, and it would piss off a lot of other customers trying to find seats together. In the end, [edit] everything worked out.
-adam
Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 05-16-2002, 05:36 PM:
And by doing so, and publicy acknowledging it, do you think that would be a violation of booking terms?
Not knocking, just asking.------------------
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 05-17-2002, 05:01 AM:
quote:
The whole point of arriving early is to select a good seat. I've never obliged those "requests" because I'd be giving up my preferred seat to some random latecomer. No way!
quote:
Manny, you are saying that if you were sitting in a sold out house with an empty seat on either side of you, you would not move over one seat so a couple could sit together?
What time do the couple arrive?
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-17-2002, 01:35 PM:
If they arrive before the feature starts I can see no reason why someone wouldn't move over ONE SEAT to accomadate them.
Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 05-17-2002, 02:12 PM:
Jason, you may be right. If its any consoloation, they DID purchase six tickets for the two of them, which weren't voided out and resold or anything. Heck, we didn't even sell out for the midnight anyway. But thanks for the warning, i'll go back and cover my rear.-adam
Posted by Ryan Powers (Member # 1059) on 05-29-2002, 03:17 PM:
I always thought if a particular show sells out completely full the management should insert a special slide in the slide machine that remains on the screen until the lights go down. Something such as...Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Blank Theaters. Due to the high demand for this feature presentation, all remaining seats have been sold and are scheduled to be filled. We kindly request of you to fill any remaining seats between you and your party at this time to ensure an on time performance. Thank you for your consideration, and enjoy the film, Management.
Something along those lines. It maybe something easy that would cut the time an usher has to find empty seats in a dark auditorium for people.
Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 05-31-2002, 10:45 PM:
We (a campus theatre) have one of these, it works pretty well.We also have a corresponding "joke" slide for when the room
is empty ("As the room is unusally empty, please...").
Of course, being a changeover theatre, we have the option to "overflow" to another screen when we sell out (this hasn't happened in a few years, unfortunately).
--jhawk
Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 06-01-2002, 02:50 AM:
Non changeover theatres can also "Overflow" to other theatres without even having to wait 20 minutes for the first reel to end! We just Interlock them
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-01-2002, 12:45 PM:
There are lots of good ideas pointed out by many of you in this topic. Thank you.I like the idea of communication with the boxoffice as Mike Spaeth does, if there is sufficient staff personnel available.
Something else I do is this: When it is time to start the movie, I look out the porthole window to see what is going on in the auditoriom. If I see a bunch of stragglers milling around with an arm full of popcorn, soft drinks, etc. looking for a place to be seated, I will hold the start a minute or two to offer them the common courtesy to be seated.
They don't know I am doing that for them, but if they did, I know they would appreciate it. But two minutes is the maximum I will hold the show.
Posted by Kyle Caudill (Member # 1252) on 06-02-2002, 01:12 AM:
Holding A show was a courtesy that I was tought. Another method would be to leave the lights up full during the trailers or at least during most of the trailers.
Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-02-2002, 10:16 AM:
While threading on weekends, I would keep an eye on the popular shows and call down to the box office on the radio if there was only floor seats (we were a stadium theater with about 100 seats on the floor level in our big houses) remaining or if we needed an usher in there to tell people to scoot in. They were always appreciative, as none of the other projectionists seemed to do this.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-02-2002, 12:42 PM:
Kyle, half-lights are better than full sometimes. We run half-lights on all our trailers providing we have the dimmers that have that provision. Some of ours don't. It is either OFF or ON. I also think it really depends on how the light placements are. In two of our houses of the older theatre, it nearly washes out the screen if they are on.
Posted by Kyle Caudill (Member # 1252) on 06-02-2002, 05:52 PM:
I should have explained a little better. Our projectors have dimmer knobs on them, we just adjust them, we dont go full bright, but brighter than half-light. Just have to remember to adjust them back at the end of the show. Our auditoriums have 3 to 4 sconces on each side of the auditoriums. No lights in the front or back.
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-04-2002, 08:29 AM:
Kyle said: "Our projectors have dimmer knobs on them".I assume you meant that you can dim the auditorium lighting. Projected screen luminance aim is 16 footlamberts, with an allowed range of 12 to 22 footlamberts for theatres (Standard SMPTE 196M).
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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
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Posted by Kyle Caudill (Member # 1252) on 06-04-2002, 08:01 PM:
Yeah, the auditorium lighting.