Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 2 screen or smaller theatre

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Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 09-09-2006, 07:51 PM:

who here works at a theatre that has two screens or less....well duh..thatd be one..LOL..I didnt know how to ask that..ok...uhm, who here works in a movie theatre with only one or two screens and isnt part of a chain.
I am curious how you stay afloat, peopl ehere are exstatic we have reopened, yet seem to balk at the concept that it takes money to run stuff, and that actually coming to see a movie would be good.

I dont know if the theatre being closed over a year has made people forget about it being open, or if people are still traveling 30 miles to the nearby town with multiplexes.

I thought people would appreciate first run shows at an affordable rate...$4 before 6 $5 after 6...and our great deals, like a large popcorn and two med drinks with refills on it all for 10.00. Some people even seem offended we offer cheaper tickets..."you only charge 5.00...really...wow....its like 10.00 at such and such a place..."
We also have nice big ass screens, not the little ones you often see in multiplexes.
In comparison, tickets at the one Carmike are 7.50 all day

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 09-09-2006, 08:24 PM:

"Some people even seem offended we offer cheaper tickets..."you only charge 5.00...really...wow....its like 10.00 at such and such a place..."

Kara,
This is called "perceived value". They are wondering what about your operation is inferior to the establishments that charge the higher prices.

I once repaired an electronic organ for a friend. When I finished, she asked me what she owed for the work. I said "nothing". Her surprising response was, "We all know the worth of our own work!" That was a good lesson in marketing.

KEN

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-09-2006, 08:51 PM:

Well, if you are running first run movies, $5 is WAY TOO LOW. Or are you charging the same price for all tickets? (If so, that's a bad idea...people like the idea of lower prices for kids...it's dumb, but it's tradition.)

Do you offer digital (or at least stereo) sound? Are the seats comfortable? And above all, is the whole theatre clean and comfortable? Is the entrance inviting and well-lit, or dim and dingy with nonworking lights? Is the concession stand sparkling or dull? Is your picture in focus and in frame 100% of the time?

What about marketing? Are you running all the trailers you can? Do you put one-sheets up well in advance of the film arriving? Do you advertise in your local newspaper? Do you have a website with lots of pictures?

Is your audience quiet during the film or are they out of control? (The way teenagers behave in your place will have a major impact on ALL your audiences, especially in a small town.)

Is your staff -- especially your teenage staff if any -- friendly to a fault?

Answer the above questions honestly and you might uncover a few spots where improvements can be made. With improvements comes increased attendance, although it will take a while to build up.

Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 09-09-2006, 09:35 PM:

Well, if you are running first run movies, $5 is WAY TOO LOW. Or are you charging the same price for all tickets? (If so, that's a bad idea...people like the idea of lower prices for kids...it's dumb, but it's tradition.)
We charge 5.00 prety much for everyone, cept people who are under 2.00. The last people who ran this theatre charged 4.25 for adults and 2.75 for kids.

Do you offer digital (or at least stereo) sound? im not sure of this..I think so..i know there was an upgrade back when some starwars movie came out...
Are the seats comfortable?
well they arent horrible, most of them are vintage but we did get rid of the ones that were butt sprung etc And above all, is the whole theatre clean and comfortable? Oh yes, I can vouch for this. We go sweep after every show, and my bf who is a prof. Janitor mops them every morning. We have freshly installed carpet...the wall interior is a bit disheveled, but restoring a historic theatre that the previous leasers basiclly did nothing with is a long process. Is the entrance inviting and well-lit, or dim and dingy with nonworking lights? Is the concession stand sparkling or dull? yup, we recently repainted this area, oh it used to be this gaudy blue, like hideous, and we changed it to a more astheticlly pleasing dark red. Is your picture in focus and in frame 100% of the time?yeah, though being we run on an old vintage supersimplex there are sometimes fuzzies on the screen, and every so often the updstairs projector gets moody and wont work. But thankfully this has only happend a few times.

What about marketing? Are you running all the trailers you can?
can you explain to me how trailers help? you mean to advertise the film we are getting? Do you put one-sheets up well in advance of the film arriving? when the idiots deliver when they are supposed to...
Do you advertise in your local newspaper? our local newspaper is crap. we gave them the shcedule for the movies, and when we gave them the updated schedule last week, they assumed we wanted the old times listed.... Do you have a website with lots of pictures?well, the "official" website is aacinema.com, and I think the site sucks. I like my myspace one better,myspace.com/voguetheatre it has updates, a link to movies coming and a history of the theatre

Is your audience quiet during the film or are they out of control? (The way teenagers behave in your place will have a major impact on ALL your audiences, especially in a small town.) no problem with this...if people get noisy we ask them to be quiet or leave

Is your staff -- especially your teenage staff if any -- friendly to a fault?yup. we have weeded out the, uh, weeds.

Answer the above questions honestly and you might uncover a few spots where improvements can be made. With improvements comes increased attendance, although it will take a while to build up.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-09-2006, 11:04 PM:

quote: Kara Tillotson
how trailers help? you mean to advertise the film we are getting?

Well.....to advertise the next FEW movies you are getting, along with maybe an upcoming blockbuster or two. (We are running trailers for a couple of Christmas movies already.) It's good to change-out the trailers according to the movie you are playing.

Trailers are your absolute best advertising, partly because they're free, but mainly because the people in the audience are guaranteed moviegoers.

You should try to get trailers for every movie you even THINK you MIGHT play.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 09-10-2006, 03:09 AM:

Trailers are free Mike?
Here in Australia, cinemas are charged for trailers and posters.
But film distributors give us elaborate, expensive displays and banners free.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-10-2006, 01:58 PM:

quote: Ron Curran
Here in Australia, cinemas are charged for trailers and posters.

That sucks! Yes, in the US trailers are free except for Paramount, I'm not sure what big chains have to pay, but we have to pay $60 for a year of trailer/onesheet service. Warner Bros used to charge the same thing, but I think they've stopped. Everybody else's trailers are free, although we do have to pay shipping on a couple of companies.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 09-10-2006, 03:00 PM:

That web site needs to be totally redesigned.

The advertisers get better placement than the theatres do. Who's running the show?

You have to click way too many times to get to the information you want.

The graphics look like they came out of an Apple II (sorry).

Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 09-10-2006, 04:19 PM:

I know the official website su*cough*cks. I tried to delicatley let them know that but they reassured me its get better.
I personally thin my myspace page rocks compared to the official page, and im going to re-add the show info on the site..i just got lazy and stopped.
im thinking of seeing what I can do with a quick geocities template with a little html tweaking. which is what I did for the myspace page, and seeing if they like what they see.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 09-10-2006, 08:35 PM:

If people are going to find you for the first time through the web, it isn't going to be through your existing website. They need to be able to go to a recognized website, seach theatres in Manistee, and find something.

I searched for theatres in Manistee on Fandango, Moviefone, Yahoo, and movietickets.com. Fandango actually had your showtimes. Moviefone had your address, but no showtimes. Yahoo returned the Carmikes in Ludington as being the closest. Movietickets didn't return any information for theatres in Manistee at all. If it doesn't exist there, as far as the customer is concerned, it won't exist at all.

Submit showtimes to every movie showtimes/tickets sites that will take them. You can usually find out how through the "Contact" page of the various sites.

In most...if not ALL...cases, there's no charge to do so.

Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 09-10-2006, 10:01 PM:

i just emailed moviefone. also, if anyone wants to check ou the site I twiddled with in about 10 min, go to geocities.com/voguetheatre

Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 09-11-2006, 12:32 AM:

We have a local single screen that does OK , but this has a Organ as well , so has special shows just for the organ , which gets good support , here is his Web Site , may give you some ideas ??? Hollywood Cinema

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 09-11-2006, 02:22 AM:

I have a question about your showtimes. How do you show World Trade Center at 7:10 and 9:10 when it is 2 hours and 9 minutes long? The 7:10 won't be over until 9:19 if you run zero previews.

Agreed with others, that website is pretty bad, and listing on yahoo, movietickets.com, et. al. is a must if the owners are serious about having an internet presence.

Posted by Jamie Glossop (Member # 2180) on 09-11-2006, 03:28 AM:

Also the site is hosted from a free geocities account? A site with your domain and your own hosting makes it look a lot nicer.

"large popcorn and two med drinks with refills on it all for 10.00" Nice idea but whouldnt that leave you out of pocket? How whold you know if they didnt just come into the cinema with the cup?. If your doing that maybe to get them to show you thier ticket?, Reminds me of the subway food outlet. Love thier refillable drinks.

Anslem Rayburn, I agree, The films going to run into the next showing if its programmed like that, And people waiting for that show will be annoyed. It reminds me of my last job as a projectionist, The programme was wrong and the film was still playing 20mins into the next show, Alot of angry customers!

Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 09-11-2006, 09:18 AM:

the geocities one i the one I did just fiddling with a page to see what I could come up with.
I was thinking of doing alayout and then pointing it out to them as an option.
I had noticed the discrepancy in the movie times but didnt bother to say anything...maybe they fixed it and have a new time by now.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 09-11-2006, 12:47 PM:

Kara,

I've sent you an E-Mail with an offer to help. For a couple of bucks a week, there's some things that can be done to increase your theater's awareness level, and that can lead to improving your theater's web site as well.

But definitely take advantage of the publicity opportunities that are out there. Having a myspace page is only going to appeal to a certain audience, and the theater's web site really needs to communicate the showtimes, ticket prices, and other important details over everything else.

The impression people get online is one of the factors they're going to use to determine if they want to visit your theater (which is the ultimate goal of your operation). There are many obstructions to that goal at this time, and clearing them out will help tremendously.

Depending on your audience, the newspaper advertising may be a waste of money. I know of a few theaters in Michigan that skip the newspaper altogether because the value just isn't there. Unless you're in an area that resists picking up the phone or going online for your showtimes and information, the money spent on print ads could be put back into the theater or into other media.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-11-2006, 12:52 PM:

On newspaper advertising: It depends on the movie. If the show appeals to teens, probably 90% of the awareness comes from the internet, trailers, and marquee. If it's an adult movie, such as "Million Dollar Baby," a much larger part of our audience finds out the showtimes by looking in the paper. The key is having an ad that is easy to read, and always in the same spot on the same page if possible. Our ad is always on page 3 above the fold, which I think is the perfect place for an ad.

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 09-11-2006, 09:38 PM:

Here's my newspaper advertising story:

A couple of years ago, I advertised in the local papers. I would design the ad and e-mail it to the papers.

One week I screwed up and put the wrong times in for one of the movies.

Friday and Saturday rolled around and everything went fine.

Sunday afternoon, a lady comes in for the movie 20 minutes late. The movie had already started. She told me that was the time in the paper. I apologized and gave her a pass even though I thought she just misread the ad since no one else came at the wrong time.

Just to make sure, I checked the paper and all of the showtimes were wrong and the times in the paper were later then the actual showtimes.

No one was reading the ad since no one besides this lady came at the later time.

I have never advertised with either paper since and seen no decrease in business.

Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 09-17-2006, 06:11 PM:

our newspaper is run by idiots. They could make multiple errors in one sentence. I was thinking of us advertising the ice cream thing there though....
just fro fun...go to the geocities website....I found an art decoy layout and tweaked some stuff.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 09-17-2006, 07:24 PM:

If you send complete material or at least a word file to the paper you can retain some control over the outcome.

It is a good thing to have your local media on side. Make the effort to meet and speak with them. They need you and you need them.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 09-17-2006, 07:27 PM:

Our paper limits liability for insertion errors to the cost of the screwed-up ad... which doesn't help much on Friday, when they can't fix the problem until the next Monday or Tuesday.

To get around most of that, we started doing our own ad. We make it up in Pagemaker, then export it to PDF and email it to the paper. All they have to do is get it inserted... which they do... usually.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-17-2006, 09:50 PM:

That's exactly what I do. (Pagemaker, PDF, e-mail.) Our ads look better than most of the paper's homegrown ads.

Agreed wholeheartedly with Ron that it's good to have the media on your side. I don't know how much free advertising we've gotten from "news" stories about things happening at the theatre, but it's a lot.