Film Handling and Food Together

[Paul Finn]

Do you have hard and fast rules about handling film and eating food in the projection booth? Or, because sticky and greasy fingers only normally handle the film leaders and tails, is this subject not considered important in your operations?,

Thank you, Paul Finn

[Jim Cassedy]

As far as I know, there are no "official" rules at my organization regarding food in
the booth. If I do bring in any munchies like a bag of chips, or pretzels or cookies,
etc, I eat them at my workstation desk which is far from the projectors and rewind
bench. This is both for my own personal standards, and also to avoid leaving
crumbs on the floor which might attract rodents. Liquids are another issue
entirely. I sometimes bring a vacuum thermos of fruit juice from home and I'll
occasionally grabba glass of soda or a milkshake from the theater kitchen, and
just like my food rule, there are only a few places in the booth that I allow myself,
or any visitors, to set down any container of any liquid down at. All of three places
where I might set any beverages down are far from any equipment or film, and
were picked because if they did get spilled, it would only create an easily cleaned
up a mess on the floor and maybe a countertop, and not do damage to anything.

When doing film shows, I try to avoid eating any snack while the film is actually
running that would leave grease on my fingertips during the show. I keep a bottle
of hand-cleaner at my desk if I just can't resist the temptation to eat some fries
or something like that during my shift. If I get some popcorn, it will be un-buttered.
Many years ago, I worked with an (Asian) projectionguy who used to eat buttered
popcorn in his booth using chopsticks- -which was a very creative way of being
able to enjoy a bucket of buttered corn without winding up with greasy fingertips!

[Marcel Birgelen]

Our screening room booth is entirely digital, but even there, I don't tolerate any food.

I guess it's something different if you're doing some changeover in a sweaty booth without any good ventilation and/or cooling, but otherwise I'd say that food and drinks have nothing to do inside a booth running film either.

[Ryan Gallagher]

We didn't used to. But just in the last month we've noticed our first mouse/rat problems all the way up there. One got into a bag of novelty "hot" chips a spot light operator left behind and almost offed itself. I found a trail of chip puke along the back edge of the desk. I don't eat popcorn during shows but plenty of my co-workers do.

That booth is now down for 11 months of renovation. Either the rat problem is going to get better, or far worse. lol

When we re-open I am going to at least implement a separate small food waste bin that you have to take out of the booth at the end of your shift.

For film handling events we try to discourage it for the operator, but those days are often long with minimal breaks, so eating a meal is inevitable, I just encourage hand washing when done (at least we do have a bathroom). They do hour long doors here, so usually you have plenty of time to eat and get cleaned up in that window.

[Mike Blakesley]

For the past 40 years or so, the only person who's ever spent any time in our booth is me...and of course I'm hardly ever in there now.

When I first started projecting, the owner didn't really have any rules about food in the booth. The grocery store across from the theatre used to have the most delicious fried chicken on the planet. It was called "The King's Chicken." I've never seen it anywhere else, but it was to die for. Many nights, I'd go over there and get a 3-piece box to munch on during the evening. The only rule we had was, make sure all the trash goes into the can and gets emptied every night.

After we became owners and got the platter system, I moved my eating habits downstairs and declared the booth a food-free space, which it has stayed ever since. I'm still not above taking a soda (in a Yeti cup) in there if I have work to do, but it stays on the old rewind bench out of the way.

[Jesse Crooks]

We have shelf on the far side of the booth from the film handling area where you can leave a beverage (and sometimes it does get hot enough that a bottle of water is a good idea), but nothing is allowed in the film handling area.

Long gone are the days of using the lamphouse to keep your lunch warm! Haha

[Marco Giustini]

My rule was

- NO food or drinks in the projection room. Not even for a minute.
- Drinks were allowed in the "admin" area only