Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Effect of Showtimes on Payroll

This is topic Effect of Showtimes on Payroll in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Brent Mahaney (Member # 1090) on 03-23-2003, 05:37 PM:

What do you find works best...four showtimes or five? Let's not factor market size into the equation, because obviously if you are running a multiplex in a small market you have little to gain from 5 showtimes. And if the film is a blockbuster like Spiderman or Lord Of The Rings, you would certainly fit as many showtimes as you could into a day. I'm talking about a movie that is somewhere between a flop and a blockbuster. On the one hand, you can staff a lesser number of concessionists and box people if you add an extra show because you spread your attendance out. The drawback is that you will most certainly be cursed by your projectionist who is trying to build up, break down, clean sufficiently, thread, and do regular checks. This can be a detriment to the booth, especially when there are newbies who can easily feel overwhelmed. On the other hand, if you go with four showtimes, you have bigger rushes but you have to increase staff to compensate. There is a definite correlation between your times and your payroll, so I'm wondering how all the managers who are actually entrusted with the task of drawing up your showtimes handle this situation.

Also, do any of your bookers require you to run five shows rather than four?

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-23-2003, 08:25 PM:

Our market is about 225,000. We have 44 first-run screens (including the drive-in), 3 discount screens and an art-house single.

We run our schedule based on day-of-week, holidays, school schedules, etc.

During the school year we'll run 3 shows on Mon-Thur, a late show (for 4 total) on Friday, an early and late show (for 5) on Saturday, and an early show only on Sunday (back to 4). In our market, a couple of the chain outlets run a grind schedule full-time, and a couple run just 2-shows on weekdays.

The decision how many shows to run is ours. The bookers don't get involved in that.

Posted by Patrick McDonough (Member # 1363) on 03-23-2003, 08:28 PM:

As with Jack we run what ever the day proves best, Wed we run all day mats, but mon tues thur fri, we run half a day with two shows.