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Author Topic: Payment for screenings James R. Hammonds, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 931 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-13-2003 10:26 PM                     Does anyone NOT pay employees who screen their films before being shown to the public? The management at my theatre (actually one in particular and most likely others that will agree) wants to stop this practice. The main arguments are that it eats into payroll and none of the other theatres in our chain do it in our market. I need to get back to work so I can't get into my thoughts or concerns on this, but what is everyone else's policies and procedures on payment (or nonpayment) for screenings?  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-13-2003 10:46 PM                     As far as I know, we still do. But, the person who is paid is the one who is running the show.  |  IP: Logged Steven Pickles Film Handler Posts: 81 From: Gainesville, FL, USA Registered: Mar 2001 posted 03-13-2003 10:57 PM                     James, Usually this is done for insurance reasons. Being if there is an employee in the building outside of normal operating hours and not on the clock... should anything happen the theatre could possibly be liable. That's what I've been told, anyways.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-13-2003 11:06 PM                     Steven is correct. I think you will find that to be true in most states.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-13-2003 11:09 PM                        I've worked for four seperate companies and lots of theatres, none of which paid me to screen shows.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-14-2003 12:26 AM                        I've never heard of anyone being paid to screen anything. Normally, prints only get screened if someone wants to watch them. If I were a theatre owner, I'd have a hard time justifying paying someone to watch every film, although I could see doing it under bizarre circumstances (e.g. print arrives without head or tail leaders and with reels unnumbered and someone wants to make sure that the film will be shown in the proper order). Obviously, if the employees are being required to screen prints as a condition of employment, then they should be compensated for their time.  |  IP: Logged Tim Turner Film Handler Posts: 87 From: Chula Vista, CA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-14-2003 01:46 AM                     We rarley screen our movies at all. Its very seldom, and the person to do it usually is the head projectionist whoes on Salary, I've ran films for Managers and friends after closing hours, like Blade 2 but that wasn't a quality assurance run, it was just because it was popular movie and my Manager was really hyped to see it. But I wasn't paid to do so. And then with a movie called "II Tu Mama Tambian" (forgive me on the spelling). We didn't get any info on the movie, and it didn't come with a rating, and I remember we were selling tickets to kids for about a week. We had heard from a few of our Spanish speaking employees who had seen the film months ago in Mexico, that joked about the movie being a porno and was not for kids. So one night I ran the movie for the general manager so he could decide what its supposed to be rated. But even then I wasn't on the clock. I guess the fact that I got to watch a free movie was my payment.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-14-2003 02:14 AM                     I strongly feel that all movies (no matter how bad they are...yes, even that stupid "Piglet Movie" opening next week) should be prescreened by someone who knows what to look and listen for. It is all part of putting on a quality presentation to make sure that the print you are given has no defects in it's presentation. If the theater waits until a customer complains, it is almost always too late to order a replacement reel for a lab defect. The other half of that stance is that if someone is in the building screening a movie, they should be paid for it. No ifs, ands or buts! However only one person per print should be on the clock. If there are 3 projectionists who want to watch a certain movie, only one of them should officially be in charge of it and on the clock. Preferably whoever physically assembled the print should be that person. After hours screenings should also be strictly limited to projectionists and members of management. Steven's insurance point above is all too true.  |  IP: Logged Michael Rourke Expert Film Handler Posts: 159 From: San Luis Obispo, Central Coast of CA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-14-2003 03:29 AM                     To that effect; don't fall for the stranger offering you 50 dollars to watch a movie after hours. He/she will most likely hurt themselves on purpose and sue.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-14-2003 03:36 AM                        I should note that even though I don't get paid to screen each print I try to watch them all -- of course walking out of the theatre at 7:00am after getting to the third bill, Master of Disguise, left me wanting to kill myself. I try to make sure none of the staff knows about the screening... before you know it they'll be out of room and asking if you can interlock it.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 03-14-2003 06:56 AM                        I agree with Brad: "Film Done Right" includes pre-screening to look for defects that may have been missed during normal inspection done during make-up. For example, a sync issue or a digital track defect that causes repeated default to analog should be found well before a busy Friday night. Certainly any work done as a condition of employment must be done "on the clock". I've already suggested enlisting technically-saavy customers willing to evaluate presentation quality in exchange for a free admission during normal shows. In effect, a theatre-run Theatre Alignment Program (TAP), or like the SMPTE Theatre Quality Evaluation Program in 1983: SMPTE Theatre Quality Evaluation Program [ 03-14-2003, 08:05 AM: Message edited by: John Pytlak ]  |  IP: Logged Rick Stowell Film Handler Posts: 13 From: MN Registered: Feb 2003 posted 03-14-2003 08:32 AM                     I previously allowed any of our staff plus one guest each to preview any movie after hours. We had rules: had to start within 5 minutes of closing, could preview two simulateously, but not back-to-back, free pop and popcorn, had to fill out a rating sheet for the trailers and feature. Our goals were: running time, familiarize staff, "running" properly. However; some policies were being violated, and most of our very few problems stemmed from preview nights. Now, all previews are during the day. With most of our staff in school, yesterday two of us plus a friend of mine previewed "The Hunted", and in a few minutes (8:30 am CST), I have the privilege of previewing "Agent Cody Banks" alone. We never paid an employee to preview because it was optional. If it became mandatory, we would definitely pay them (at least one).  |  IP: Logged Tim Turner Film Handler Posts: 87 From: Chula Vista, CA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-14-2003 09:47 AM                     What do you guys do about the nights you recieve like 4-6 new movies? Do you watch all of them? at night? What about the issue of the projectionist whoes on the clock, getting too much over time?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-14-2003 11:58 AM                     Being in the entertainment industry (not sure if this varies from state to state), employers do NOT have to pay overtime rate when you go over 40 hours. At that point, who cares if you work 40 hours or 90? They are paying the same amount per hour. And yes, ALL of them get screened one way or another.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-14-2003 01:28 PM                        Since it's extremely rare (in my experience) to see "major" print problems (sound out of sync, wrong soundtrack, etc.) that wouldn't be caught during inspection, I would think that the $20 per feature that would be spent in payroll to have someone pre-screen every print would be more effective at improving presentation quality if it were put into Filmguard and cleaning media, more hours for projectionists in booths which are manager-operated for part of the week, improved equipment maintenance, fewer slide/film ads, etc. Sure, the ideal situation would be to do all of the above anyway and to have someone pre-screen every print, but we all know that theatre owners tend to be cheap and I, for one, think that they should be encouraged to spend their limited funds on whatever is most likely to improve presentation quality. Pre-screenings are good, but the return on investment is very low in my opinion.  |  IP: Logged

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