how much "production" work do you do as an exhibitor?

[Scott Norwood]

This is a bit of a rant.

Background: my current cinema work is mostly for film festivals, rentals, special screenings, and such, often at venues that aren't actually commercial cinemas.

I am of the opinion that cinemas are in the exhibition business. In an ideal world, the movie arrives in playable condition, the cinema shows it, and then returns it. The cinema is not in the business of developing film, mixing soundtracks, or correcting color. Those are production services, not exhibition services. (I am not saying that cinemas with the proper equipment and skilled employees cannot provide those services, but rather that they are not normally offered by cinemas, and that anyone who requires those services should pay market rates for them.)

In the real world, we sometimes get prints that require repair and DCPs that, for example, arrive on non-CRU media or on incorrectly formatted storage devices. This is to be expected on occasion.

What I am seeing lately (and which seems to be a bit of a trend) is "film" makers and distributors who are unwilling to ship a physical item to the theatre and expect the venue to download the movie, often make a DCP, and possibly make edits to the version that is supplied (e.g. to remove a 2-pop or add subtitle files). This strikes me as lazy (on the part of the content provider) and an imposition on the exhibitor. Large downloads don't scale (imagine having to download a dozen features the day before a festival), nor does providing some weird, non-DCP-format digital file. Providing a non-DCP version of content to be screened also prevents the "film" maker from being able to approve the final form of his movie.

How much of this are people being expected to do in 2025? How much is reasonable? Should we charge extra for it, and, if so, how much? At what point should exhibitors put their foot down and say no to being expected to perform post-production work for free and often on short notice?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Interesting topic.
I can only speak from the perspective of a mixed use live/film theatre, that runs 2 real festivals, and two smaller ones a year.

I generally don't have to do much true post production that involves edits or changes. Though I do often make DCPs of provided pre-roll/ads/stills. Festivals I end up remaking half of their pre-roll DCPs because, and I can't blame them, they only provide for the least common denominator of cinemas that can't mask properly for the unusual ratios. Remaking DCPs is easier for me than doing a bunch of manual lens moves (ILS no workie on our zoom).

I'm an FT/hourly union projectionist though, in a booth that still uses one, If I end up doing work outside the scope of a client's call, my employer still pays me, and presumably above a certain threshold charges additional prep time to clients. This can go sideways though when the client is expecting a certain budget for events and gets surprised by this other stuff.

A recent somewhat inexperienced film festival with novice film-makers ended up with 14 hours of prep time on my end, had to build their powerpoint decks from images, assemble and check 60+ playback media assets into a player for 3 different program sequences, transcode several of them, and I even made the primary film blocks into DCPs to have as backup should something go south with our playback software and ALT methods. Honestly they needed more than that too, they mashed the shorts into a single file and the audio mix/levels was all over the map. Thankfully FOH was able to ride those, there was certainly no time provided to really tech-check each one and take notes on where the level changes occurred. Had I been running DCPs I could have automated some of that, but not without the time required to get there.

But usually it's just format or aspect ratio shenanigans based on playback devices/methods. I might adjust near-field mixed audio levels while making DCPs, or add mid-side decoding if appropriate.

Generally speaking if they deliver "files" then they have no say in what workflow and tools I use to project it. If DCPs suits my time available and approach, I make them, but the client never gets those copies.

Downloading can become quite the headache though for sure, especially if they are DCPs on short notice. Even if they are not DCPs and a quick download, I usually don't have time to make a DCP of anything feature length "day of", I have got to get heads up on that stuff otherwise they are stuck with whatever we can get on screen in the time provided.

DCPs are strictly a film world thing, no other events should be expected to know how or deliver content that way, despite it perhaps being the superior presentation of their content. If I resort to DCPs outside of film events it's just cause I don't want to mess with the ALT methods and have the time to do it.

ASIDE, our biggest festival is all downloads, but they use SimpleDCP to sync to delivered servers days in advance. This year we didn't have to ingest a single CRU, they were ON IT. Late changes are usually when they'll resort to running over a CRU via a festival person.

[Ryan Gallagher]

My biggest pet peeve is film related "speaking tours", that presumably have the license to show the film, but can't be bothered with touring a DCP or getting venues to get a distribution. Instead carry a Blu-Ray copy to be presented. Talk about short selling the presentation value. (Color, Aspect Ratio, Pixels... the whole package is inferior).

There is ZERO reason for that nonsense. Your biggest fans are there, many of them paid a lot of money for VIP experiences, don't show them the home edition!

[Mike Blakesley]

We've shown films on occasion for directors that are used to the film being on home video on Day 1, or people wanting to sponsor a showing of some sort. Without fail, the process is the same.

I tell them we need the movie either in DCP format, or if that's not available, in some other digital form like a BluRay or on a hard drive. I tell them that I need to convert the movie to DCP so I must have it several days before the expected showtime.

Without fail, they never send the movie, and show up with it on the day of the show expecting me to just play it. Which I do, but I'm pissed the whole time.

Same thing happens with people who want to use our stage. We have a very small stage in front of the screen that could work for a speech or similar, but there is no lighting in that area because we're a frickin' movie theater and we never use the stage for anything. I had a comedian want to do a show in the theater once. I said, You need to bring your own lighting, because we have no lights down there. I told him that at least 3 times, and I also told the organization that was sponsoring him the same thing and reminded them several times before show day. It would be taken care of, they said. Sure enough, they (and the comedian) showed up with no lights and said "it'll be cool, we can just do it with the house lights up." Which would have looked ridiculous and he still would have been in the dark because there are NO LIGHTS down there. In the end we had to scramble to borrow a spotlight from the high school.

I guess I need to make them sign something that makes them guarantee they'll do what we need, and if they don't, they pay a penalty of some sort. But we do those kind of things so seldom, so it's low on the priority list.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Mike, FYI it takes a whole team outside of production/projection to advance live shows here. And we have the benefit of cozy relationships with several local rental outfits that can get us things that fell through the cracks at a moment's notice.

As cinema spaces evolve into other uses, it may be a tough learning curve how much work is actually involved in advancing a show and finding out what they need or don't need. What is supposed to create business opportunity, might actually require some additional gear and staff in some cases (and be a huge time suck for exhibitor/managers).

I would pick up some basic lighting package if you can, it could even be a couple ellipsoidal's on stands at the back of the house that are only brought out for such events. It's very weird to offer such a space without at least a minimum stage wash. That is probably why these clients are thinking "well surely there is something", and assuming you are promoting them bring "anything special" they need. Despite you saying exactly what you meant several times!!!

[Mike Blakesley]

Well that's the thing, we don't "offer" or "promote" the space. But people see the stage there and get ideas. Most of them go nowhere because the screen isn't removable and the stage is too small (only 6' deep in the middle tapering to 3' deep at the sides) to do anything with, and there is no "backstage" at all. We are just not set up for live performances so we don't encourage it. There's also no power down there except a couple of outlets for screen lights, so power is always an issue too. It's just not worth what it would cost to make it usable as a stage.

[Kyle Addy]

Since the pandemic, as our focus shifted to alternative content and private rentals, we have encountered a recurring issue—content being presented in incomplete form. Unfortunately, this trend persists and has only worsened over time.

Just last week, I worked with a group that was particularly insistent on having their content accepted in its existing format. While I maintained our standard requirements, I assisted them in converting it to DCP. Due to time constraints, I ultimately downloaded the content from their Dropbox, as they had not taken the necessary steps to secure a distributor.

A key reminder for our team is that we exclusively play DCPs. Other formats cannot be accepted, nor do I have the time or resources to convert large files to DCP. However, once content has been properly converted, I am happy to test it to ensure it meets the required standards. Adhering to this policy is essential in maintaining the quality and consistency of our presentations.

[Scott Norwood]

Oh, wow. Dropbox is another sore point. I _hate_ Dropbox, Cinesend, Aspera Connect, and everything else that requires a GUI web browser to download files.

These all work OK if a) I want to download the files now (as opposed to in the middle of the night, when the bandwidth usage won't be an issue) and b) I want them downloaded to the computer that is sitting on the desk in front of me. This is very rarely the case for me. I want to be able to use command-line tools like curl and wget, and none of these services will let me do that.

_Please_, "film" makers, if you must make me do your work for you, at least let me download from a standard http/ftp server using standard tools, not some weird Java app or browser plug-in.

[Ryan Gallagher]

All the consumer cloud storage services are notorious for mucking with things when dealing with files as large as feature DCPs too. Once you know the quirks you can usually fix the filenaming issues, but it's YET ANOTHER step.

Agree on the clunkiness of it all, technologies have existed for eons that are better than all these options. When we need feature downloads via dropbox or Media Shuttle (Signiant) and need them to work without time a re-attempt day-of, they often have to be monitored by a human, which can mean 2-6 hours in front of a screen, either a booth machine, someone in an office, or doing them at home and transporting to work.

[Benjamin Ruder]

Don't forget Google Drive! "film" makers upload to there because it is seamless for them. I have rarely had it be seamless on my end, requiring extra apps and other workarounds to download a 70- 200 GB DCP that is incorrectly named. This past year an Oscar winning movie was delivered (from a distribution company) by one of these download sites (not Google this time) and they sent me a version that had out of sync audio (like 5 seconds!). It's like no one cares about the movie in this crucial point of exhibition. Oh yeah, that's OUR problem to fix for THEM for "free".

[Randy Stankey]

Could a DCP be enclosed in an ISO or a DMG package before being uploaded to a cloud server?

There is certainly some overhead involved in the process but I think it would keep remote entities from messing with files and directories. Wouldn't it?

I suppose you could compress the image after creating it. You wouldn't save any space from compressing the images because they are already compressed but, since an ISO/DMG contains a complete copy of files and directories, including unused space, ZIP-ing the image file would compress that part, at least. Right?

Further, a ZIP would further block other entities from messing with things. Right?

You would have to teach your client how to create a disk image and compress it. Then, of course, somebody would have to do all that...and get it right. It would, potentially, take a lot of time.
At the receiving end, somebody would have to reverse all of that before the program could be played. Again, more time and more complexity but, the idea is to prevent other problems during the transfer.

Would it be worth it?

[Leo Enticknap]

Among my arthouse/screening room/higher education customers, being asked to download DCPs is now the norm, and it's becoming clear that DCP distribution on physical media is on its way out. I am encouraging them all to get Deluxe's "e-delivery" box if they receive DCPs regularly from Deluxe: it's free, so why wouldn't you? But the mom and pop shops, archives, smaller post houses, kids with a Mac and their first festival entry, etc. etc. are using Google Drive, Dropbox, Aspera, WeTransfer, and the other usual suspects, and the staff at these screening venues are expected to be able to handle all of them. We now offer these specialized exhibitors support for this, usually consisting of a PC with a large content drive (typically 4 or 6 TB), two NICs, a direct connection to the DCP server's media NIC, and FTP server capability, plus training to download, unzip, and use the DCP server to pull the DCPs in via FTP from the PC.

I have experienced some pushback from site staff whose line is that they are comfortable handling ingestion from CRU drives and don't want to go outside their comfort zone. My response to that is that the way DCPs are shipped is moving from physical media to online as improvements in Internet infrastructure make that possible, and as with all professions, you have to learn new skills over the course of your career, not just during initial education/training. That having been said, meaningful support to acquire and consolidate those new skills is necessary. It's problematic to expect someone just to be able to do it, or teach themselves to do it, especially if they don't come from an IT background.

But this is not production work: it's just adapting to changes in the way DCPs are transported from A to B.

I do agree that expecting cinema staff to create DCPs from other media, wrangle alternative content, integrate a/v for live shows and movie content into the same event, and other tasks that turn a movie show into something significantly more is a lot more problematic, and needs to be resourced accordingly. The issue usually happens (in my experience) when a nonprofit or educational theater takes a private rental or festival, the organizers of whom assume that Powerpoints, speeches, ProRes files, DCPs, and some sort of live performance can be handled just as easily as a straight movie show, and expect that. As always, it comes down to managing expectations between theaters and customers.

[Scott Norwood]

My issues with downloadable DCPs are that a) this doesn't scale to festival levels of data, b) there is no standardized method used for it (as noted: http/ftp, Google drive, Dropbox, etc.), and c) Internet connectivity is not 100% reliable, and no screening venue that I know of that isn't part of a larger institution (college, etc.) has redundant Internet connectivity.

Furthermore, it turns what would normally be a few hours' worth of my time (go to venue, ingest DCP, check on screen, run show, go home) into a two-part job, either having to download the DCP to a CRU drive at home or having to go into the venue twice--once for several hours to do that and again for the screening. And the download-at-home thing costs me real money in hardware and connectivity (which, admittedly, I would have anyway, since I work in IT for my day job...although I might have fewer CRU drives), and I therefore end up working for free. If I squawked about this to anyone, the inevitable result would be "just show an MP4" or whatever, which ends up being worse for everyone (I know of only one venue in town that can maybe possibly show a file-based format with a proper 5.1 soundtrack, as opposed to decoded Lt/Rt).

I'm obviously not in this for the money, but I don't see how this isn't an imposition (or cost-shifting) on the exhibition venue and its personnel. Is it really that hard to mail a physical drive? Certainly, downloads are sometimes necessary due to last-minute booking changes or DCP flaws or missing subtitles or whatnot, and I agree that the job of the projectionist has evolved to require these skills, but for exceptional situations and not as a matter of course.

(I can't speak to the Deluxe offering, as I haven't dealt with it.)

As for DCP packaging, ZIP is kind of pointless, and also can cause (used to cause?) problems on Macs (when the Zip file was over 4GB and created on a Mac, the file format was corrupt, and could only be unzipped on a Mac...I haven't seen this in a while, so it might be fixed by now). tar is really the right format for consolidating files and directories, but is not commonly used on Windows. I have mixed feelings about downloading a tar/zip file vs. individual DCP files. Separate files make it easy to reget only one of them if there is a delay or corruption, but are especially annoying if the downloads can't be automated with wget/curl, since someone has to specifically download each one and make sure that they end up in the right place.

[Frank Cox]

no screening venue that I know of that isn't part of a larger institution (college, etc.) has redundant Internet connectivity.

Now you've heard of one.

I have Internet service from both of the companies that provide that in the town where I am. So if one of them is down (rarely) or something big is getting downloaded on one of the services I can just use the other one.

It's not difficult to set up and it's not super expensive considering what's at stake when you're trying to get your shows set up.

I just have two routers set up as separate gateways and on my desktop computers I just have this script to switch between them:

#!/bin/bash
CHOICE=`zenity --list --title="ISP Switch" --column="" --column=ISP 1 SaskTel 2 "Access Communications"`
case $CHOICE
in
1) nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.gateway "192.168.0.254"
nmcli connection up "Wired connection 1"
zenity --info --timeout 3 --text "You chose SaskTel"
;;
2) nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.gateway "192.168.0.1"
nmcli connection up "Wired connection 1"
zenity --info --timeout 3 --text "You chose Access Communications"
;;
esac

On stuff that uses dhcp I just assign an address through my dhcp server, as so:

host cinesend_receiver {
hardware ethernet d0:50:99:d6:00:16;
fixed-address 192.168.0.18;
option routers 192.168.0.254;
option domain-name-servers 142.165.21.5, 142.165.200.5;
}

If there's ever a need to change that I just re-edit the config file and reboot the gadget in question.

[Leo Enticknap]

Furthermore, it turns what would normally be a few hours' worth of my time (go to venue, ingest DCP, check on screen, run show, go home) into a two-part job, either having to download the DCP to a CRU drive at home or having to go into the venue twice

The solution we offer for this is the PC installed in the booth as described above, which the theater employee can operate from home using AnyDesk, RustDesk, Teamviewer, Microsoft Remote Doodah behind a VPN, or whatever. The entire process, from starting the download (into the PC in the theater), and then transferring the DCP files into the playback server, can be done remotely. The only thing that has to be done physically in the theater is the on-screen tech check. However, as you point out, that remote work needs to be on the clock, which is an issue for theater staff to figure out with managers, including with union input in some cases.

Agreed with all your issues (difficult to scale to festival level, and no standardized method or platform). The bottom line is that many DCP suppliers now simply aren't offering to provide physical media anymore, meaning that screening venues will have to adapt for that.

The Deluxe "e-delivery" solution makes it super easy. It's basically a glorified NAS with bespoke software in it, and two NICs. One connects to the Internet, the and the other to the booth's media LAN. Once a movie has been booked, the box automatically downloads it overnight when usage of the theater's Internet connection is low, and then it appears as an ingest source in the server's or TMS's UI, at which point you click ingest just as you would if there were a CRU drive in the reader. If only a similar, unified platform could gain traction for all the smaller and independent distributors, life would be a lot easier at the theater end. But so far, sadly, it hasn't, despite a few attempts in recent years.