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Author Topic: Not Happy Texas
Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 10-19-1999 10:35 AM      Profile for Ian Price   Email Ian Price   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
This is a letter I sent to the District Manager of the local theatre chain. I have yet to receive a response. So I thought I would post it here for your enjoyment and as an allegory as to what not to do.

I have changed some items to make it more difficult to identify the theatre. This is mostly to cover my rear. I would like nothing better than to publish a full page ad in the local newspaper, if I thought it would help the theatre run any better.

(Name),
District Manager of the Theatre.

File this under, I just thought you should know.

I went to see Happy Texas at the (theatre name) on Saturday, October 16th at the 12:50 PM show. Happy Texas was in Auditorium #15. I arrived a few minutes late and the LED sign said "In Previews." When I arrived at the auditorium, I discovered that the film hadn't started yet. I settled in and waited.

The slides were sharp and bright.

After 5 minutes went by, I pulled out my cell phone and called the theatre. The phone was answered quickly. I informed the lady that Happy Texas in Auditorium 15 was 5 minutes late. (Lazy bastard, aren't I?) After a further five minutes, I called again. I wasn't going to walk down that hallway and down the escalators that don't seem to run. I waited some more.

Finally I called again, at 20 minutes and asked if there was a problem. She said they were having problems with all their films. I called someone else a got the code to the booth. (#####) I went in the booth with the intention of starting the film myself. When I arrived I found a very agitated manager who told me that his projectionist didn't show up that day and that the other manager didn't know how to run film.

He started the film (30 minutes late) and took off running. I stayed and reframed because the film was started out of frame. I waited to check focus and went back to my seat. During the trailers I noticed that the sound came and went like it was going into stereo and into mono. I ran up to the booth again. The film wasn't in DTS but the trailers were. It seems that your DTS timecode reader isn't getting all the timecode. So when it is getting timecode it is in Digital and when it isn't getting timecode it reverts to Ultra Stereo, emulated SR. I would recommend either adjusting the reader of not running the trailer DTS disc.

By the time I got back to my seat, the feature had started. I noticed that the lights hadn't gone down. By this time I didn't feel like running up the stairs again. I saw someone running out of the auditorium and I thought they would tell someone. They didn't.

The only other thing I noticed was that all the green tags had been removed from the previews. I had started doing that at the theatre in which I used to work and was told to stop because we were legally required to show them.

There is never any excuse for not showing up at work. I never missed a day at the theatre where I used to work. The other projectionists missed a couple but they always made sure that the shifts were covered.

I think with the way this theatre is laid out that there should always be an attendant in the upper lobby. The patrons feel so abandoned when they run out there to find no one. That's why I used my cell phone.

I was so happy when the (Theatre name) opened in downtown (Big city where the theatre chain is located). I thought that now there was a good movie theatre to go to in my neighborhood. You guys are going to sink it if it continues to run this way. I would hate to see your theatre chain become the joke that AMC has become.

(Signature)


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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999


 - posted 10-19-1999 06:26 PM      Profile for John Walsh   Email John Walsh   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Dear Mr.(PATRON NAME)

Thank you for your comments. We enjoy receiving feedback from people like you. We try hard to give our valued customers the best avaiable theater experience. Our employees train for many hours on the latest equipment to provide for your enjoyment. We hire the very best projectionists avaiable for $4.50 an hour, two or three night a week.
When it comes to equipment, we don't stop. Our Powers projectors with unique dog-beater"
movements were obtained specially for our company. Combined with our xenon-modified Motiograph lamphouses, we can confidently state that we have a picture on screen that must be seen to be believed. We purchase the finest audio equipment that e-bay as to offer, and with our single roll-around DTS rack, every auditourium (all of which have a "DIGITAL" sign above the entryway) can experience the wonder of digital sound- at one time or another.

As you know, motion picture film is easily damaged. After two of three weeks, it is practically unshowable. Here at (THEATER NAME) we have a firm maintaince policy of replacing worn parts like sprockets every 10 to 15 years. This waste will be a thing of the past however, because DIGITAL PROJECTORS will make every thing better, and at a lower cost to us. We don't want to spend your hard earned cash on projection equipment that we will only be throwing away in 10 to 12 years.

Of course, there's no need to thank us; we do it for the look on the faces of our valued customers as they leave the theater. From the morning, when we fill up the popcorn bins with 4 day old popcorn and chase the cockroaches out of the soda heads- to the evening, when we get the projectionist off the clock as soon as the last show has started, (the <START> button on the last projector punches him out automatically) we look forward to you being served. And as the last stuffed bank bag is squeezeed into the deposit hopper, we look back on a hard day of pouring over per-capita reports and putting candy that's not really that bad back into the display cases.

Please accept these two passes to make up for any inconvenience you may have experienced, although we are not admitting any. We look forward to your continued patronage and gulliabilty. We are glad to provide a warm friendly place to enjoy the finest in motion pictures. (Not good on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, or after 6PM on alternate Wednesdays. Not transferable. Can not be combined with any other offer. Not good for Special Engagements or when our "NO PASSES ACCEPTED" sign is displayed. May be revoked or modified at any time for any reason. Management may determine where ticket holder may sit. May be subject to a $1 service charge.)

Very Truly Yours,
(A LOWER LEVEL MANAGEMENT TYPE)

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99


 - posted 10-19-1999 07:42 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Interesting. This letter was indeed sent to the district manager of (theatre chain) and passed on to the manager of (theatre). Who is the first person the manager of (theatre) calls? ME! Even though I do not work for (theatre chain) anymore, but the competition. I guess I must be behind every evil plot around, eh? Anyway, I found it amusing. The manager of (theatre) can be quoted as saying to me about Ian "I didn't really appreciate that!"

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 10-20-1999 09:11 AM      Profile for Ian Price   Email Ian Price   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The Manager's appreciation aside, was I right to complain?

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David Koegel
Film Handler

Posts: 55
From: Alexandria, VA
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 10-20-1999 10:20 AM      Profile for David Koegel   Email David Koegel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
John Walsh: You ought to be ashamed of yourself! How am I supposed to look like I'm hard at work at my computer when I'm laughing out loud and rolling on the floor? Thanks for brightening up what would otherwise have been yet another ordinary birthday :-)
-- David

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Tom Ferreira
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 203
From: Conway, NH, USA
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 10-20-1999 11:31 AM      Profile for Tom Ferreira   Email Tom Ferreira   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I feel sorry for the people in the other 14 auditoriums who may still be sitting there waiting for the film to start. At least you were lucky enough to find a place that was playing Happy, Texas locally. I fear that the closest that film will ever come to here will be Blockbuster Video.

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Erika Hellgren
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 168
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 10-20-1999 01:36 PM      Profile for Erika Hellgren   Email Erika Hellgren   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Ian, must you ask? Of course you were right to complain! If [COMPANY NAME HERE] paid their projectionists a decent wage, and treated them with respect and dignity, they'd show up for their shift!

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001


 - posted 04-05-2002 06:24 PM      Profile for Charles Everett   Email Charles Everett   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
We had a problem with Happy, Texas here in New Jersey.

A local newspaper refused to run the Miramax ad for Happy, Texas even though the movie was playing in a nearby Regal megaplex. Why? The newspaper's top editors are a born-again Christian and a right-wing Catholic. Happy, Texas featured a gay couple.

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Manuel Francisco Valencia
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 151
From: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Registered: Dec 2000


 - posted 04-05-2002 11:06 PM      Profile for Manuel Francisco Valencia   Email Manuel Francisco Valencia   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I know that if you want something done right you got to do it yourself but that is completely ridiculous! Ian you should have demanded a few bucks for what you did, hell, you did what nobody else in the theatre could do. Did you at least get your refund, or did they not know how to do that!

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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000


 - posted 04-06-2002 01:19 AM      Profile for Jesse Skeen   Email Jesse Skeen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
How did I miss this one the first time around?
What do theaters do if someone who does not work there finds their way into the projection booth? One place I used to work had the booth door right inside one of the theater entrances, and I was the ONLY person who kept it locked- when anyone else was working (and I assume it's still this way now) if you were seeing a movie in that theater you could just open the booth door and walk upstairs. Legend has it someone once went up there and pushed a movie off the platter.
I'm just waiting for an opportunity to go see a movie and end up upstairs fixing something

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999


 - posted 04-06-2002 11:41 AM      Profile for Frank Angel   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Angel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
John,

That is the funniest piece I have read in a long time. You should send it to Variety, or IFJ. I am still laughing. I hope you don't mind if I post copies of this in our booths!

And Ian, like Jesse said, what in incredible concept -- go to a movie theatre and run the movie yourself.....start it exactly when you are ready, make sure it is framed and in focus and that it is at just the right sound level to your own personal liking -- need a bathroom run? -- stop it and resume when you come back. I like it!

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Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001


 - posted 04-06-2002 12:48 PM      Profile for Ken Lackner   Email Ken Lackner   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Even if the booth were unlocked, how could you just walk into a private "employees only" (even if it doesn't actually say that on the door, you know it is) area at a place you don't even work at? Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have the balls to do something like that.

Most certainly you were right to complain. But when reading complaints, managers always think that they are right and the customers are full of . I'm sure he could come up with one excuse after another for what happened.

Wow, this in an old thread!

------------------
This one time, at Projection Camp, I stuck a xenon bulb....

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001


 - posted 04-06-2002 12:54 PM      Profile for Richard Fowler   Email Richard Fowler   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Many times at a local multiplex near my home I have gone up to the booth to rethread the projector properly ( a loopless projector is not the way to do it ) or to take the house lights down.....when the staff arrives minutes later, I say I am "so and so" supervisor from the home office.
Richard Fowler
TVP-Theatre & Video Products Inc www.tvpmiami.com

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999


 - posted 04-06-2002 01:01 PM      Profile for John Walsh   Email John Walsh   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Hi, Frank; Sure copy it if you'd like. I'd forgotten all about it, although I remember I thought Ian was being far too nice to them. I wrote it a few years ago when I was less cynical!

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999


 - posted 04-07-2002 03:52 PM      Profile for Frank Angel   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Angel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Ah yes.....as we all were.


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