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Topic: best chain to work for?

Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-14-2000 05:43 PM

With the recent discussions about AMC et al, I'm interested in seeing the opinions of those who work or have worked for the major chains about which ones are especially good or bad as employers.

I don't expect anyone to come out and say that he hates his employer, so I'm mostly interested in seeing responses from people who are happy with the way that they are treated as employees and who belive that their employers have some sort of commitment to presentation quality.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 04-14-2000 05:52 PM

General Cinema gets my vote for best "overall" company. (None are without faults.)

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 04-14-2000 06:27 PM

What you have to remember is the chains like Carmike and AMC do have some good managers and therefore some halfway decent theaters, albeit not many.

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

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

posted 04-14-2000 06:41 PM

I worked for two chains, Landmark Theatres and United Artists Theatre Circut.

Landmark 1985-1990

The Good

I worked with wonderful people who were great conversationalists. They were the most intellegent coworkers I ever had. I saw great films. Popcorn was served with real butter. Got to convert my theatre to 70mm and run Lawrence of Arabia. I learned more at this job than at any other.

The Bad

Landmark never had great equipment. Everthing was patched together. I was paid very little. I felt limited in my options for advacement. In the end, I had a realy nasty boss.

UA 1991-1997

The Good

UA put together some realy nice theatres with all the toys. They let me be involved in the set up. I got to interact with all the Vice Presidents. I was deaply involved in the rollout of Dolby digital, DTS and Sony SDDS. I got to design my own uniform.

The Bad

At the district level, the managers were clueless as to the way to run a theatre. They didn't fully appriciate the projectionist. We were underpaid. Raises were few and far between. When they did come they were strictly limited. I outlasted the nasty boss. They eventualy made us wear the staff uniform. I was gone one month later. Joe quit one month after me. Erika! quit one more month after that.

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Dwayne Caldwell
Master Film Handler

Posts: 323
From: Rockwall, TX, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 04-14-2000 09:37 PM

I've worked at General Cinemas, AMCs, and a small movie grill company. I'm gonna have to go with General Cinema as the best theatre chain to work for. Just about every AMC manager I've ever worked with was really cool and very competent. But the problem lies in the corporate people. The decision makers that are more concerned about quantity (number of screens) vs. quality (picture presentation). They've also put restrictions on manager qualifications before (i.e. at least a bachelor's degree. Business degree preferred) and because of that, were hurting for managers and forced to hire or promote out of desperation when they should have been looking for people that have had experience and know how to run a theatre operation as opposed to a person that has a piece of paper saying he or she knows how to run a business. Maybe things have changed with the advent of their megaplexes, but I can still see their presentations need a little work.

------------------
The man with the magic hands.

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Andrew D'Vrey
Film Handler

Posts: 92
From: St. Paul, MN USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 04-15-2000 12:49 AM

General Cinemas...for now. Things may be going down hill in a few months. Eh.

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"And the monkey flips the switch."
- Major Don West, "Lost In Space"

Andrew D'Vrey
IATSE Local 219

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Andy Davis
Film Handler

Posts: 49
From: Gainesville, FL
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 04-15-2000 06:53 PM

The rumor is GCC is having serious financial troubles. Not as serious as UA though.

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Chris Erwin
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 195
From: Olive Hill,KY
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 04-16-2000 09:19 AM

I've seemed to notice that the smaller regional chains are best to work for. I work for Chakeres Theaters and have had no real complaints.

--Chris

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 04-17-2000 08:24 AM

Ditto, Chris! I liked working for Chakeres, too. Good people, especially the late Frazee brothers.

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Better Projection Pays!

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Charles Lubner
Film Handler

Posts: 78
From: Milwaukee, WI USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 04-17-2000 08:33 PM

I enjoy working for Marcus Theatres. All of their new complexes feature digital sound and stadium seating. They have also been very good about upgrading older theatres with these amenities instead of closing them down as many chains would do. Marcus also still uses the union in Milwaukee and Madison to supply operators, and they contract out new installations and digital retrofits to them. I'm an assistant manager and projectionist for them and I've found them willing to purchase the necessary equipment to keep a booth in good working order. Floor staff wear classy tuxedos and we still install curtains in every auditorium. I enjoy working for them.

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James Dunn
Film Handler

Posts: 23

Registered: Oct 1999

posted 04-19-2000 11:20 PM

Kerasotes Theatres rule!

(yeah, it's short and sweet, but it gets the point across. lol)

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Bernie Anderson Jr
Master Film Handler

Posts: 435
From: Woodbridge, New Jersey
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 04-21-2000 02:13 PM

I have recently started work at GCC Bridgewater in Jersey. And I have to say that I'm very impressed with the company. I do the film build ups on Thursday and when I come in everything is organized; trailer lists (what comes on and off) What trailers come with the film. Everything is thought out. The quality of the presentation is very good. The machines are in top shape and have some of the brightest pictures I've ever seen in any theatre. The pay is pretty good for a 7-plex And the theatre is ten years old and it's really kept well.

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Marie Leger
Film Handler

Posts: 3
From: DeKalb, Illinois, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 04-22-2000 02:08 AM

Go Carmike, Go Carmike , Go!

Actually, we have the cheapest projectors I've ever seen and our splicers don't cut straight. But, we wear better uniforms than UA.

UA was a better chain to work for, but no where near perfect. They still left us a little behind in the way of supplies. We had dusty christies, but they were christies. Now I work with Billy-Bob's rubber band projectors. Oh well.

Carmike, since they give us little financial support, give us a bit of freedom to compensate, (where as UA was pretty tight with the employee handbook.)

Overall: UA treats their film better.

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