Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What makes a Successful Single Screen Theatre

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Posted by Jonathan Peirce (Member # 5364) on 03-26-2011, 08:06 PM:

Just found this article:
http://www.lhat.org/Libraries/inLEAGUE/The_Whole_Story.sflb.ashx

Interesting, but I am looking for other thoughts from those working in Single Screen theatres...

Thanks
JP

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-26-2011, 08:47 PM:

Well I would say the main thing is serving your audience. Programming what they want to see is key.

Beyond that, it's the same as any other cinema -- keep it clean, make it as nice as possible, have the picture bright and in focus, have great popcorn and great customer service, and have the best sound you possibly can.

And, don't expect to sit home and let the money roll in. If you have a single screener, especially in a small town, you'll probably need to be working in it most nights.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-27-2011, 02:11 AM:

Note: That article was written by Film-Techer, Richard Wolfe. I agree with virtually everything in it.

One thing we don't have, that I really want to get, is stage curtains. It would be a challenge though, because our screen is wall-to-wall so there really isn't enough room (I don't think) on the sides for the curtain to collect during shows. We have a/c vents just above the screen, so putting a waterfall curtain on the front of the proscenium might not work either without some major modifications.

But...it remains on my wish list! [Smile]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-27-2011, 02:42 AM:

Can you curve the track so the curtains end up on the side walls next to the screen wall during the movie?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-27-2011, 07:30 AM:

Install a water curtain (think Disney's Fantasmic)...make sure you have a good drainage and recovery system in place...of course, your screen might get a little wet...if so...just show the movie on the water curtain. [Wink]

Posted by Bajsic Bojan (Member # 4928) on 03-27-2011, 03:10 PM:

most of the things are already mentioned, i'd still put most focus on getting these things right:
PROGRAMME :
-build your audience
-when your audience base is built, programme appropriately
-do experiment in programming, but not too much
TECH:
-be uptodate with current technology, strive for improvement
-know your technology inside-out, be more knowledgeable than the multiplex ppl
-be flexible with distributors/partners
VENUE:
-be unique (layout, style,..)
-make people welcome and have something to do before/after at your place
OTHER:
-have additional film/movie based activities, events, seminars
-be active in promotion of theater and events

-love your theater, love everyone working there and expect everyone to do as you do

just based of eight years of working at a successful single screen that had its up and down moments, so still learning and willing as always to improve. hope to get some good responses and feedback in this thread.

Posted by Mike Frese (Member # 4361) on 03-27-2011, 07:31 PM:

The following characteristics help greatly but are no guarantee:

a) a market with no competition, min. 30 miles
b) some coolness factor-Roxy's theater is majorly cool
c) the ability to offer a good value-either ticket pricing and/or concession pricing
d) if you buy the building, does it have other uses-retail space, living spaces
e) reasonable cost to buy/operate (This is where IMO, you lose big time on your opportunity due to the extremely high asking price)
f) extremely hard work by you with little expectation of gratitude

I believe "a" is a must.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-30-2011, 02:15 PM:

True though: the Roxy in Forsyth, Mont. is an excellent example of a single screen making it, and I give Mike full applause on what he has done to that location and what he has done and given to the community.

Yet, it's never had any close competition, thus it's really not fair to compare that location to single locations where competition is more close by.

Market area isn't that all important, but even a single screen surrounded by competition can make it with one main factor that CAN drive the nail home, and that one word is: ATMOSPHERE!

How are you presenting your location and how are you treating your "guests" (not customers - remember: they should be like inviting them to your own home...not treat them like cattle to the slaughterhouse) - are you just there to put a movie on the screen-no matter what condition your layout looks like, or are you there inviting them to your safety and concern to where they will "remember" that night at your venue?

Are your making sure that your "guests" are continally "satisfied" with their visit to your venue? (I say "satisfaction" as the main word here instead of "service" - for a vending machine can service a patron, but can that vending machine give customer satisfaction?) You want to give satisfaction for that is what the patron WILL ALWAYS remember - you went the second mile to make them satisfied.

(On a side note to verify my comment above: I know of a 3 buck 3plex that is stealing the business from a 3 buck 6plex up the street with this one very word: "SATISFACTION"-which has created an excellent atmosphere where their guests just love going there...and the owners of this 6plex can't figure this out yet..)

Is your place clean and in an orderly appearance-both outside and inside?

Is your bathrooms clean and properly stocked?

Is the concession stand clean at all times - clean counters and glass, poppers looking clean, candy displays looking very attractive, et.al?

Is your lobby clean at all times-no trash, or items that doesn't belong in the lobby causing distracting the clean appearance?

Is your staff in a very positive attitude where they want to help the guest have an enjoyable evening, or are they just there to shovel popcorn, fill drink cups and take the money?

Is your staff dressed in an attire that they themselves looks in a clean and positive way, or do they look like they came out of a tatoo parlor loaded with piercings and tatoos that can turn a stomach to the patrons that walk in the lobby and wonder if they're going to feel safe and secure in this venue?

Is the auditorias clean - no torn seats, clean floors, seats comfortable to sit in and not worry of springs coming up through the covers?

PRESENTATIONS: In focus, frame, sound excellent and a bright picture? If you got a scratching problem, get on that issue promptly, for that will drive the guest away more than anything.

IN A NUTSHELL: Make your guests feel like a winner at all times .. for that is what they want anyway!

Others will chime in and add on to this topic...

thx-Monte

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-31-2011, 06:57 PM:

quote:
Yet, it's never had any close competition,

Thanks, Monte. While its true there are no other theatres in our area due to the small population, we still compete with the Carmikes in Billings (90 minutes away) because people here tend to drive over there at the drop of a hat to shop and have other big-city fun. So we constantly hear "Is that movie coming here? We saw it in Billings, it's great," GRRRR.

Posted by Mike Frese (Member # 4361) on 03-31-2011, 08:13 PM:

I will take 90 mins over 9 mins any day of the week!

You do have a nice theater and seem to take care of it. I also respect you for going digital early when you really did not have too as you can share with the rest of us your experiences.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-31-2011, 10:02 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
We saw it in Billings, it's great," GRRRR.

..and with this, do these people come to your venue to see that movie again?

..that's when you nail them double...to pay you back what they spent in Billings....rofl.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-05-2011, 03:26 PM:

quote: Monte L Fullmer
do these people come to your venue to see that movie again?

They always say they're going to, but they hardly ever do. Can't blame them...there are hardly any movies I'd want to see twice these days.

Posted by Michael Barry (Member # 237) on 04-20-2011, 04:28 AM:

I wish folks wouldn't do that: try to influence your business decisions (asking you to play a certain movie) then not rewarding you for doing so (not turning up for said movie).

Not really fair play, is it?

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 04-20-2011, 06:46 PM:

We used to get that a bit at Hornsby for our late shows. They'd say: "Can you get (such and such a title)??? I'd get all my friends to come along to that one if you did".

So we did. You know the rest of the story.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-20-2011, 09:48 PM:

Yeah. There have been a few movies over the years we brought in because our concession crew said "EVERYBODY wants to see it!" It's surprising how few people constitutes "everybody" to a teenager.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-21-2011, 10:31 PM:

Guys, You have to realize that Mike put in Digital just so he could watch his favorite Blu-Rays on the big screen! For real!

Mark

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-21-2011, 11:13 PM:

Well...that certainly isn't a DISadvantage! [Big Grin]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 04-22-2011, 03:47 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
It's surprising how few people constitutes "everybody" to a teenager

..and with a lot of the stuff that's coming out, it really makes you wonder that the majority of the films are definitely geared to the teenager/young adult due to they haven't reached the plateau of being a "grown-up" and learned how to manage money, but just love to blow it on the fly since they want to get out of the house and do their thing...which is keeping the industry alive..

One can see the "supply and demand" syndrome here pretty easily.

-Monte

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 04-22-2011, 05:27 PM:

Jonathan:

You have received some good advise here. To me two key elements for a successful single-screener are be different (especially in a competitive situation) and be consistent (especially with your operating hours.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 04-26-2011, 03:58 PM:

One thing that no-one has mentioned here is promotion and advertising. You can be playing the hottest movie around but nobody's going to be coming to see it unless they know that it's playing at your theatre.

Advertising options in a small town are generally pretty limited. When I first opened my theatre I had an ad in the local weekly newspaper because that's what you do, right? Advertise in the paper? I did that every week for some years until the period when the first Spiderman movie was released. I had it booked for a week and the paper got mixed up and advertised it as "Now Playing" one week prior to when it was actually going to be here. Oh hell, I thought, when I saw that, and braced myself for angry customers coming in all week for the movie that wasn't actually playing. "I drove 40 miles to see this!" and that sort of thing, right?

Well, the week went by and I had a grand total of exactly zero customers come in to see the Spiderman movie that wasn't here.

After that I quit advertising in the paper. Obviously, nobody was reading that ad anyway.

Up until shortly before I converted my theatre to digital cinema, I always printed and mailed out a monthly flyer, sent as "unaddressed admail" to 6000 mailboxes in Melville and 18 surrounding towns and villages. That's always been my main advertising but when I converted to digital my booking agent talked me into trying to play newer product that I couldn't book sufficiently far in advance to print a flyer off of.

Now my main advertising is on the Internet. My webpage and an email mailing list that I set up to send automatic emails to customers who sign up for the updates to what's playing. I sent out 6000 fridge magnets to the towns I was sending flyers to with my website address and "24 hour recording" phone number on it, in envelopes with a write-up about the digital cinema conversion and whatnot on it. I actually had 10,000 magnets printed so I have the remainder out to customers who ask what's playing when they walk in the door.

Now that I've been running without a flyer for a couple of months I have discovered that it doesn't seem to make any difference in my turn-out at all. If anything, I seem be drawing more people from further away than before.

Times certainly have changed. A friend of mine who owned the theatre in the town I used to live in before I moved here never really knew what to do to advertise his movies until one day he decided to print and mail out flyers and then his business literally tripled. But that was 20+ years back and now it seems that the place to be is online rather than in mailboxes. Which suits me fine -- I've been spending around $1000/month on postage alone mailing out those flyers. Website impressions and email are effectively free.

I had thought/hoped that the digital cinema alone would bring more people in the door but that hasn't happened. As I've been reading here in comments from others, nobody knows what it is so nobody really cares. As always, it all comes down to the movie -- get the right movie, everybody's here. Get the wrong movie, they stay away in droves. I have been getting a lot of people telling me how wonderful the new 5.1 sound system is, though, so people definitely notice that a lot more than they notice the improvement in the picture.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-29-2011, 05:11 PM:

We still advertise in the local paper but I don't think it's too effective. One time, they mistakenly ran the ad for the previous week. We didn't get any phone calls or comments about it at all.

I keep it in there though for 2 reasons -- first, sometimes if a movie appeals to the "older" crowd they probably will notice the ad in the paper, and second, it's good to have a nice relationship with the paper whenever we want to get an article printed. When we put our digital in, they gave us about a half-page of space with an article and a couple of pictures.

Posted by Bajsic Bojan (Member # 4928) on 04-29-2011, 06:43 PM:

i dont have really any data which segment of our advertising is getting the most customers in (altho research was conducted and apparently it is a close one between internet mailings and word of mouth!), but we do run ads in most of the movie related papers, we do weekly fliers, we do lots of a1 posters on ad-walls, tons of emailings and regular distribution of monthly and weekly materials...

at least once a week we are also present on the street handing out (cinema)balloons and fliers.

i think every bit helps in its own way and attracts a different clientele (for different types of movies) and i wouldn't want to cut things.