Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Movie Cash

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-03-2004, 03:27 PM:

How does Movie Cash work? This is a system for giving out tickets to new movies, such as with coupons enclosed in DVD's. Mechanically it's a bank *draft that the theatre can fill out for the amount of one ticket (up to $7 on the example I have for Princess Diaries 2) and deposit at the bank. But I see it has to be a participating theatre and they have to fill out a code number. Does the theatre get the full amount or is it discounted some way? What is the wholesale price of a typical sell-through DVD? Seems like this is turning the theatrical run into a mere promotional effort for the DVD.

* Draft not check because it says Payable through not Pay to the order of which gives them the chance to refuse it if the rules haven't been complied with.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 08-03-2004, 05:21 PM:

Since they don't net much off the theatrical run, I'd say it makes sence.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 08-03-2004, 06:14 PM:

If it brings them in the doors to buy popcorn, it can't be bad!

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 08-03-2004, 06:23 PM:

"Hollywood Movie Money" is a much better company to deal with. We had numerous problems with Movie Cash. Movie Cash still has us listed on their website, even after numerous attempts at getting it taken off.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-03-2004, 06:37 PM:

We are listed as a "participating theatre" on the tickets, but I have never received a code number that I know of. I think there must be some other Roxy out there that's registered, because I never signed anything myself.

I don't want to argue with customers since it clearly says ROXY THEATRE on the tickets, so we just take them.

We don't get many of those tickets, but I always just fill'em in and deposit them with no code number. They have always been paid, no problem. I suppose since it's just a couple of tickets in a week, they just let'em slide through.

If they ever start bouncing we'll have to rethink the strategy, but for now it's fine.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 08-03-2004, 07:05 PM:

We've been taking this stuff for a couple of years now. So far, no problems at all. It can be a little cumbersome though. Some tickets state that they're good for certain times and levels... like a matinee child's ticket. They also have pretty tight expiration dates, so you need to have your boxoffice people take a close look at them when they go through.

The amounts printed are the maximum allowable cash values. You fill in your ticket price for that level. In our case, they have our ticket prices on file, so you can't cash a $10 check if your ticket price is $8... Well... maybe you can, for a while, but we haven't tried that one.

Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 08-03-2004, 09:08 PM:

At one chain i worked for, if the movie cash check said it was payable up to $7.00 (or $11.00), we would print a 7.00 evening-priced ticket, even if the customer was seeing a $5 matinee. Not sure how honest that was, but that was the corporate procedure.

-Adam

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-03-2004, 11:41 PM:

So you do get the full amount and that's that?

Posted by Gordon Hedges III (Member # 863) on 08-04-2004, 01:19 AM:

I have been wondering about that same question for a long time? Here is a link to the PROPERTIES GROUP: MOVIE CASH PROMO

My take on it is just like the idea on gift certificates. The company already has the money in hand and the customer/consumers would have to use them before an alotted period of time. For Movie Cash/Gift Certificates lost by the customer/consumer, the company would be ahead. I have had many customers complain that they left their Movie Cash checks at home for the movie that they came to see. But since it is an incentive, most customers I have dealt with don't really care whether they have them or not. Surprising for my area since they seem to complain about other *interesting* things, namely ticket prices. [Confused]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-04-2004, 02:30 PM:

Yes, we get the full amount.

Posted by R. Andrew Diercks (Member # 1725) on 08-05-2004, 12:10 AM:

When I took over my current theatre, they filled out our adult evening price, even when seeing a matinee as well. I stopped that immediately. I don't think the employees can be expected to be honest if they know management isn't even on that small level.

Regarding your question, we have never had a problem with Movie Cash or Hollywood Movie Magic. Both always pay the checks and the customer feels they got a freebee. Win win I say.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 08-05-2004, 11:10 AM:

Simple: Patron is coming to see Matinee movie, Print $5 matinee ticket. Fill in $7 evening price. Theater makes $2 percap on that customer [Wink]

=TMP=

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-05-2004, 08:42 PM:

What part of fraud don't you understand?

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-05-2004, 09:40 PM:

Oh I'm sure Tom understands it just fine, I think he was being a bit tongue-in-cheek to describe the very real fact that A LOT of theatres are defrauding the companies that handle these checks. Personally I'm a bit surprised they don't send out checkers to see what price the ticket they get says and then track the check to see what it is cashed for. Perhaps this is already done on a small scale but if they really care about their money and preventing fraud they really need to step up their efforts.

Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 08-05-2004, 11:49 PM:

keep in mind that this wasn't my policy, thats why the organization will remain nameless... But we were printing $7.00 tickets, not $5.00 tickets. The check was filled in according to our "prevailing adult ticket price" as stated on the movie cash check. There was a different policy for the 'child admission only' checks.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 08-07-2004, 12:05 PM:

The coupon indicates the maximum amount it can be redeemed for. If your normal ticket for that time is priced higher, the customer has to make up the difference (or you eat it). If your normal ticket price is lower, you enter that amount into the space. This is supposed to be a promotional motivator... not a way to scam off a couple extra bucks.

This might not be the case with everyone, but we were asked for our ticket prices when we signed up for this. Personally, I've got much better things to do than explain to somebody why I'm cashing an $11 check for a $7.50 ticket.

Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 08-08-2004, 12:27 AM:

like i said in my first post, I'm not saying it was the honest thing to do. In reality, the theatre would only make a small percentage off of that two dollars, probably less than fifty cents if it was a first run movie. You're right, it's not worth it.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-08-2004, 03:15 AM:

The far more common method of fraud (as opposed to writing in the checks maxinum amount regardless of ticket prices) is to write in the adult ticket price and ring up a bargain/child/senior/student/whatever ticket. Unless they send out checkers the companies have no idea what time of the day you took the check and thus this kind of fraud is untrackable without an operative physically going to the theatre to pass the check.

Posted by Stephen Jones 1 (Member # 114) on 08-15-2004, 09:29 PM:

You can bet that if the cost of hiring "checkers" and keeping track of fraud on the part of theatres is more than the cost of the fraud itself, then it makes no monetary sense to keep check on the fraud.

This is the same practice used by pretty much every major credit card company around. If the cost of fraud is less than that of a fraud prevention department, then fraud prevention just doesn't happen.

That being said, any fraud detected at my theatre would result in immediate termination no matter the amount. In my book, theft is theft.

Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 08-19-2004, 02:40 PM:

We teach our employees to right the amount on the spot for the cash as the amount of the ticket being printed, but it is good for only one ticket not a set of tickets less then $12.00(or what is on the check) We tell the employees to use it on the most expensive ticket(example...if there is an adult and a child, use the check for the adult ticket) customers like that best.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-19-2004, 03:58 PM:

I can't imagine the cost of checking being more than the cost of the fraud. If the theatre in question does a lot of business you can easily take in $50-$100 on a weekend day of movie checks. Checkers usually aren't paid all that extravagantly. It would likely cost more to put an ad in the paper/online/whatever that it would to hire the checker. Hell, if I didn't work in a theatre I'd do it just for the free movie I'd get to see.

As far as theft being theft and properly training employees to handle the checks I agree 100%.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 08-19-2004, 05:08 PM:

That's probably true, Dustin. However, the cost of checking doesn't stop with the wages of the checker. Compare it to a casual labor outlet like "Labor Ready". The "purchaser" is going to pay them the cost of the worker, his taxes, plus all of their overhead, then their profit margin. All you see at your end it the worker. You can bet the studios are paying plenty, on the gamble that the effort will deter major ripoffs.

Posted by Stephen Jones 1 (Member # 114) on 08-22-2004, 01:50 AM:

You also have to remember that hiring checkers doesn't stop all the fraud. In fact it may only stop a very small percentage. It's all a delicate balance of cutting more payroll and saving less on fraud or cutting less payroll and saving more on fraud.

Posted by Matt Hefright (Member # 2470) on 08-26-2004, 12:43 PM:

in reference to the fraud question, this is where the code number comes into play. after registering with the company they know exactly how much your ticket prices are and they expect to see only those amounts. if you don't have a code and still are able to cash those checks, i feel that it is movie cash that needs to have an internal investigation.