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Author Topic: What would you do if you were NOT in the business? Robert D. LaValley Film Handler Posts: 58 From: Florida Registered: Aug 2003 posted 01-03-2004 11:58 PM                     I know alot of career employees would agree that being in the cinema industry gets in your blood. I mean low pay, working holidays and weekends for the rest of your life is such a inviting thing, I really can't picture doing anything else! *laughs* so obviously this is a question for those in the business especially those who are the vets of the industry. What would you do if you were not in the business?  |  IP: Logged Adam Fraser Master Film Handler Posts: 499 From: Houghton Lake, MI, USA Registered: Dec 2001 posted 01-04-2004 12:32 AM                        I would be a motorcycle mechanic right now if I were not in the business. Did 2 years of technical school and 1.5 years at a dealership while working for the theatre. I enjoyed the work but it seemed a bit boring after a while, rebuilding carbs 80% of the day gets monotonous(sp?), cleaning clogged pilot jets is a very large portion of a mechanic's day. Also have an AAS in Business Management, so I guess I could be working a mid level job at a small company if the theatre wasn't an option.  |  IP: Logged R. Andrew Diercks Expert Film Handler Posts: 232 From: Marion, Iowa (In the middle of everywhere) Registered: May 2003 posted 01-04-2004 12:56 AM                     I went to college for Police Science and Human and Social Services Administration for B.S. degree. I guess I would be a cop or a probation officer. Worked for Juvenile Court for a while and a youth shelter, hated the youth shelter and got to hate the kids. That was the worst, because I went in loving kids. I worked at the theatre in high school and loved it so I came back after a short time in the other field. Can't imagine any other life, I never hate going to work. I do use the Administration portion of my education  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-04-2004 01:31 AM                        I am one of the few in my family that did not get into the military or law enforcement. I would probably be doing something to that effect.. Although I could never imagine it.......  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 01-04-2004 03:00 AM                        Navy. It was that or broadcasting (movies got me through school). Radio won when I landed a job in Eastern Washington 2 weeks before I graduated from high school. Were it not for that, I'd be retired now.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 01-04-2004 09:25 AM                       Movies, or more specifically, the job of projectionist, used to be a bonafide craft. A practitioner could make a decent, liveable wage and enjoy a retirement. Good benefits. When that started to die, I became a sound man until that specialization began to go the same route. Now I am a lowly over-the-road truck driver, a dinosaur from the movie business, trying to keep food on the table and health insurance for my family. It's conceivable that I would've made a career out of broadcasting, which I did on the side for several years. But, if I hadn't discovered projection booths at age 12, most likely, I would've continued to pursue my original dream to become an animator/cartoonist. Ironically, I'm using my spare time now to bring my drawing skills up to speed, and take some art classes that I missed 25 years ago. Hopefully, it's not too late.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-04-2004 04:10 PM                        I would do what I do now for my real job: sysadmin and network admin stuff. I really enjoy this sort thing, especially the logic and troubleshooting elements. I like working with a wide variety of hardware platforms (5 at current job) and operating systems (6 at current job) and making everything work together. It's kind of like being both the architect and the janitor of a huge and unweildy (but ultimately rewarding) structure. This also provides stable (well, mostly) employment and "growth opportunities." Film exhibition is a hobby for me; I think I would go completely crazy if I had a full-time job in that industry, but I enjoy being the relief man in a number of different booths, all in theatres built in different time periods and with different types of equipment. As great as the newer equipment can be, I especially enjoy working with older stuff, as it offers a chance to work with mechanical equipment and more primitive electronics (relays, cam timers, etc.) which I don't deal with in the software industry. I wouldn't want every theatre to be running carbon arc and mono sound systems, but I'm glad to have the opportunty to work in such places from time to time. In any case, I love watching movies and it's nice to have the chance to do so for free and also help to share great films with others. Employment in theatres also helps to feed my (alternately rewarding and maddening) hobby of collecting prints of some of my favorite films by providing me with places to watch them, as I don't (yet) have a screening room in my apartment.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-04-2004 05:57 PM                     My entire background is electronics and electromechanics. Prevously to working in this field I worked in Broadcast TV repairing TV cameras...TK-45's, TK28, TK76, TK760, HL79, VTR's, Ampex Quad, RCA Quad, and Sony 1", 3/4" etc. But these great cameras have all been replaced by CCD units that require little to no maintainance now and tape machines are no longer the fascinating things they one were. If I had to return to work elsewhere it would probably be in photographic field. Photography has been a hobby of mine since I was seven year old. I would also persue the photographic opportunities out here far more than I do now. Mark  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 01-04-2004 07:06 PM                        I'd be a pimp. No, for real....  |  IP: Logged Aaron Sisemore Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day! Posts: 3061 From: Rockwall TX USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 01-04-2004 10:24 PM                     With 7 and a half years in the USAF and a 9-month world tour as an audio engineer under my belt, I tried to get into the only other non-cinema job I was really interested in: Audio Engineering. Unfortunately nobody seemed to want my services bad enough and after several months of unemployment and my severance pay gone, I returned to the cinema industry, first as a projectionist, then as a tech (where I am today). I still have my aspirations to maybe someday become a mastering engineer or mixing engineer... -Aaron  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 01-04-2004 10:31 PM                  Jason said: quote: I'd be a pimp. You mean you're not!? Damn! >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Rachel Craven Madam Moderator Posts: 2190 From: Pensacola, FL Registered: Dec 2000 posted 01-05-2004 12:40 AM                     I have no idea. Plan is to go to cosmetology school starting in April though! Maybe I would have done that sooner if I wasn't stuck in theaters.  |  IP: Logged Kyle Watkins Expert Film Handler Posts: 185 From: Stuart, FL, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 01-05-2004 12:53 AM                     I be doing what i did before i got into it. Doing car stereo and car alarms installs. I still do some on the side. Kyle  |  IP: Logged Paul Trimboli Master Film Handler Posts: 274 From: Perth Western Australia Registered: Dec 2002 posted 01-05-2004 07:34 AM                     I love being a projectionist, many people think I am crazy, but there is just something about it! Then there are the people that tell me I am just a a guy who presses play which makes me ! I am 18 and have plent of time, but I know projection can't be my life, I started studing Electronics as I have always been doing electronics but found the actual theory side mind numbingly boring! Digital Electronics- A bar B Bar Nand this Not that! So i have no idea what to study, I thought about audio engineering but that is also another get no where job I think! What to do!?  |  IP: Logged Joe Schmidt Expert Film Handler Posts: 172 From: Billings, Montana, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-05-2004 03:25 PM                     I retired 100% from the business in 1986, observing that the spectre of automation and industry-wide elimination of the projectionist craft was well along. All the kids working in the "industry" today need to be aware that it's just a hobby occupation any more, and they must find a real occupation which pays real $$$, such as Scott Norwood has; since minimum wage won't pay the bills. Another problem the young face today is: in choosing a college major, you'd better select something in which your job cannot be exported to low-wage foreign countries, after you've trained your replacement. If the job of popcorn shoveling could somehow be exported to a country where the wage is 50 cents an hour, it would happen instantly. I have seen predictions that by 2010 tens of millions of high-paying jobs in this country will be GONE, exported, never to return. Never forget, the Republicans want cheap labor above all else, and all you young folks on this site had better think very carefully about who you vote for in November. Unless you are in the topmost level of the Richest 1%, the R's are not your friend. Unless this escalating trend of "Exporting America" can be turned around, the best predictions for the future of our nation lie in "Soylent Green." As to myself, apart from nostalgic visits to this site, I am a professional investor in the outcome of horse races. But don't try this at home, folks!  |  IP: Logged

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