whew! Any bets the detailed information given on film percentages won’t be good enough? Although the good news is, he’s learned a couple more catch phrases to make it sound good for the next round of questions.
nbolmer;
What did the town bill the location for water last year, and what is the annual property tax figure? Utilities will probably impact your day to day operational costs the most. How many kilowatt hours and at what rate, did the building use last year, and what sort of heating system is in place?
I’d be willing to buy ALL of them, if you’re serious about selling. I won’t just cherry pick the valuable ones. Just give me an idea of what years they may be from, size, etc. Are they posters or programs?
For “basic operational cost structure”, what items are confounding?
For example you said “I’m looking for sources for pricing out the restaurant end, as well as film distributors which service small local theaters.” You might go back to the booking agencies you mention, to obtain costs. You might want to think about how you ran the undergrad film program to come up with a plan for how to translate that into a private business. What kind of notes did you have on various cinema draft operations, that might help, such as food and beverage distributors. Try a local Pepsi bottler, or beer distributor, for their installation suggestions. Nothing beats hard work, sir.
I think my example, while not saying they were stupid, shows you one reason why insiders understand the underlying problems. Your message suggests lack of experience in that context.
You might consider working for someone in the business already, in order to learn the answers to the questions you ask. I’m not convinced you’ve done the simplest of work on this yourself. For example, have you visited a local theater to ask questions about how film is obtained? Have you contacted a film booking agency, or even looked for one in a yellow pages? Do you know where a local restaurant buys it’s food? Do you have a library where you can research trade publications for both theatre and restaurant businesses? Your questions all show a naivitee to both the restaurant, and theater business, as well as no understanding about how to get answers.
You can log onto EBAY and find the category for posters and find as many as you wish. Isn’t the internet a great way to find things? Of course if you’re looking for a steal, it’s 2006, so you won’t find too many naive people left in the world. “gee, I’ve got an old Charlie Chaplin poster that I found while tearing down an old theatre building, wonder if someone will give me $20 to buy lunch?”
It’s not an unusual situation. In 1998, General Cinema, decided to go with a youth movement and sent requests for retirement to well over 100 long time employees who had hit the age of 50 and up. Of course, nearly everyone felt insulted, hurt and more, and took them up on their offer. I believe the same executive who was new to GCC at the time, and made the decision now works for AMC. He hasn’t changed, has he?
The Warwick Music Theatre was just like the Carousel in Framingham, the South Shore Music Theatre in Cohasset Mass, and the Northshore Music Theatre in Peabody. I think there was one in Hyannis also. Every summer there were touring musicals and groups that went from one place to the other. In the sixties, I remember many visits to the Carousel in Framingham (our projectionist was also their lighting tech and snuck in the ushers and candy girls for free shows) We saw groups like the Supremes, Temptations, Four Seasons, Lovin Spoonful, Jimi Hendrix, Brooklyn Bridge, and others there.
A theme would be a great idea, but not exclusive to horror for long runs. Very quickly, the novelty would wear off. Maybe a theme a month would work. Maybe weekend midnight shows. Or Saturday “kiddie matinees”. Sounds like a return to the good old days would be interesting.
Nowadays, AMC puts in a few rows on risers, and calls it “stadium seating”, then puts in some tables and people eat food while watching the show, and call it a “Premium Theatre”. No wonder the business has become so pathetic.
Restoring an old theatre building presents many challenges, from the physical building itself, to it’s operational status in a community that may have changed over the decades. Sometimes, once thriving communities have become economically depressed, and the neighborhoods are no longer viable locations for running film, nor presenting stage shows.
Cost of renovation has to incluce removal of the old, delivery costs, and laborers to receive equipment. If you’re buying Irwin seats at $89 each, how much does it cost to unload 1000 of them off the truck, and how much does it cost to install them? How much does the engineer charge to install a booth, once the equipment arrives?
New construction can sometimes be less expensive than retrofit.
Interesting how the public attitude has changed, from the days when a beautiful theatre auditorium with background music was all they wanted while awaiting the start of the show. Guess maybe some of today’s moviegoers have gotten so used to television, that they think commercials in a movie theatre are normal. Or else it’s another symptom of ADS.
Looks more like a restaurant with a big screen TV. Are you selling tickets and paying film rental to the distributors? (I’d love to forward your site to their auditors!)
[quote]With Six You Get Eggroll premiered at 3 General Cinemas on the same day, Braintree, Peabody, and Framingham, with a helicopter taking Barbara Hershey, et al to each location. When they arrived in the parking lot at Framingham, there was a High School band playing to greet them. Probably the same kind of local things happened at each location. There was even a Boston Record American with an extra front page wrap announcing the event, handed out at each theatre.[quote] Correction, the Premiere festivities were also held at the Loews Orpheum in downtown Boston. (I finally found my copy of the Herald for that day)
It’s interesting how many people never forget the details of their experiences working at “The Cinema”. Did you ever “do the marquee” or bring in the candy shipment?
whew! Any bets the detailed information given on film percentages won’t be good enough? Although the good news is, he’s learned a couple more catch phrases to make it sound good for the next round of questions.
nbolmer;
What did the town bill the location for water last year, and what is the annual property tax figure? Utilities will probably impact your day to day operational costs the most. How many kilowatt hours and at what rate, did the building use last year, and what sort of heating system is in place?
I’d be willing to buy ALL of them, if you’re serious about selling. I won’t just cherry pick the valuable ones. Just give me an idea of what years they may be from, size, etc. Are they posters or programs?
Good pitch. What sort of licensing experience will help to make this vertical happen?
For “basic operational cost structure”, what items are confounding?
For example you said “I’m looking for sources for pricing out the restaurant end, as well as film distributors which service small local theaters.” You might go back to the booking agencies you mention, to obtain costs. You might want to think about how you ran the undergrad film program to come up with a plan for how to translate that into a private business. What kind of notes did you have on various cinema draft operations, that might help, such as food and beverage distributors. Try a local Pepsi bottler, or beer distributor, for their installation suggestions. Nothing beats hard work, sir.
I think my example, while not saying they were stupid, shows you one reason why insiders understand the underlying problems. Your message suggests lack of experience in that context.
You might consider working for someone in the business already, in order to learn the answers to the questions you ask. I’m not convinced you’ve done the simplest of work on this yourself. For example, have you visited a local theater to ask questions about how film is obtained? Have you contacted a film booking agency, or even looked for one in a yellow pages? Do you know where a local restaurant buys it’s food? Do you have a library where you can research trade publications for both theatre and restaurant businesses? Your questions all show a naivitee to both the restaurant, and theater business, as well as no understanding about how to get answers.
You can log onto EBAY and find the category for posters and find as many as you wish. Isn’t the internet a great way to find things? Of course if you’re looking for a steal, it’s 2006, so you won’t find too many naive people left in the world. “gee, I’ve got an old Charlie Chaplin poster that I found while tearing down an old theatre building, wonder if someone will give me $20 to buy lunch?”
It’s not an unusual situation. In 1998, General Cinema, decided to go with a youth movement and sent requests for retirement to well over 100 long time employees who had hit the age of 50 and up. Of course, nearly everyone felt insulted, hurt and more, and took them up on their offer. I believe the same executive who was new to GCC at the time, and made the decision now works for AMC. He hasn’t changed, has he?
The Gorman played after the Cinema, http://natickmass.info/Gorman.htm but I don’t remember lots of Fellini.
I wish they would take this place off the site, it’s an embarrassment.
The Warwick Music Theatre was just like the Carousel in Framingham, the South Shore Music Theatre in Cohasset Mass, and the Northshore Music Theatre in Peabody. I think there was one in Hyannis also. Every summer there were touring musicals and groups that went from one place to the other. In the sixties, I remember many visits to the Carousel in Framingham (our projectionist was also their lighting tech and snuck in the ushers and candy girls for free shows) We saw groups like the Supremes, Temptations, Four Seasons, Lovin Spoonful, Jimi Hendrix, Brooklyn Bridge, and others there.
A theme would be a great idea, but not exclusive to horror for long runs. Very quickly, the novelty would wear off. Maybe a theme a month would work. Maybe weekend midnight shows. Or Saturday “kiddie matinees”. Sounds like a return to the good old days would be interesting.
Nowadays, AMC puts in a few rows on risers, and calls it “stadium seating”, then puts in some tables and people eat food while watching the show, and call it a “Premium Theatre”. No wonder the business has become so pathetic.
Restoring an old theatre building presents many challenges, from the physical building itself, to it’s operational status in a community that may have changed over the decades. Sometimes, once thriving communities have become economically depressed, and the neighborhoods are no longer viable locations for running film, nor presenting stage shows.
Cost of renovation has to incluce removal of the old, delivery costs, and laborers to receive equipment. If you’re buying Irwin seats at $89 each, how much does it cost to unload 1000 of them off the truck, and how much does it cost to install them? How much does the engineer charge to install a booth, once the equipment arrives?
New construction can sometimes be less expensive than retrofit.
Interesting how the public attitude has changed, from the days when a beautiful theatre auditorium with background music was all they wanted while awaiting the start of the show. Guess maybe some of today’s moviegoers have gotten so used to television, that they think commercials in a movie theatre are normal. Or else it’s another symptom of ADS.
Where does someone find the MGM Theatre Photo and Report Card?
Good job of getting the facts, guys! Is the Solomon Pond Mall in Berlin too?
Looks more like a restaurant with a big screen TV. Are you selling tickets and paying film rental to the distributors? (I’d love to forward your site to their auditors!)
[quote]With Six You Get Eggroll premiered at 3 General Cinemas on the same day, Braintree, Peabody, and Framingham, with a helicopter taking Barbara Hershey, et al to each location. When they arrived in the parking lot at Framingham, there was a High School band playing to greet them. Probably the same kind of local things happened at each location. There was even a Boston Record American with an extra front page wrap announcing the event, handed out at each theatre.[quote] Correction, the Premiere festivities were also held at the Loews Orpheum in downtown Boston. (I finally found my copy of the Herald for that day)
It’s interesting how many people never forget the details of their experiences working at “The Cinema”. Did you ever “do the marquee” or bring in the candy shipment?
He must be reading CinemaTour alot. The thread was beginning to remind me of their members.