How Did Our Cinema Ecosystem Get So F'd Up To Begin With?
Another HopeForFilm Masterclass
We have to examine our past and present before we are able to effectively design a future for ourselves that will actually do something close to what we want. This is true in both your personal and professional life, as it is for any industry or community. As we all are such multi-faceted, that’s a lot of work. Fortunate for you, my fellow filmworkers, I have been trying to do that for our cinema industry and ecosystem since I launched this newsletter back in November, 2022. The tree we’ve grown together has birthed some fruit. Please nibble away.
Do you need a refresher course on where we are now?
Within this post below you can get the link of a talk I gave in 2023 about the total sh*tshow the FKA Film Biz was then, and still is in today:
Even after those bitter pills of reminders of where we now stand, I suggest before you enter this race, you first retrace our steps a bit.
There were moments when we faced a choice, where the path split; I think if we see them a bit from the past, we might more clearly spot them in the future too:
And now let’s get into this masterclass!
How did we get in this situation in the first place?
We have to admit, we failed:
We built our ecosystem wrong:
And most don’t even want to fix it:
We should have built to lift the good into the great, and for the many rather the few. We had the wrong goals:
And some of the answer to how we got here is that we never truly defined what “indie” or “authored” cinema was…. We never set First Principles or tried to define the attributes:
The situation also has to do with our own behavior, acting like Baby Reindeer:
We didn’t build a system that would help us with what was needed:
And the people we entrusted with our work, don’t really seem to care anymore:
But maybe it is all because no one really cares:
Did I leave anything out?
The fact though is we are going to turn this ship around. I feel it happening. Good things are coming. This is all going to change for the better.
FilmStack! NonDē!!
Being a History major in college (my first degree) your post has struck a chord with me that we must study the past in order to more accurately determine our future (as we want it to be). When we forget our past we make the same mistakes over and over. Never was this more apparent to me than yesterday when I went to the movie theater after a long absence of over two years.
While my car was being serviced, I found myself with a block of 3-4 hours in the day where I was on my own time. I decided that while my mechanic was busy getting me back on the road, I would venture over to a nearby Greenville, SC theater chain to see SUPERMAN. To say that the front of house service, and layout was a comedy of errors would be too kind. It was a disaster in customer service, commercial building design, and marketing.
As I was dropped off, I approached the outside ticket booths, only to find them all empty, with a small set of inkjet printed signs pointing me inside, alongside another small single sign saying "Pardon our mess, we are renovating." Oh boy...
Inside, I found there were two automated ticket kiosks. I was in a hurry as I was running late and I was certain the trailers were already running. Nothing upsets me more than to arrive late. Legacy of being in the military I suppose. I was having trouble getting my ticket, but with some help (the bright spot of the experience), I was able to get my seat. Then, the kiosk asked if I wanted popcorn and a drink and wouldn't let me navigate away until I made a choice. I picked up a small buttered popcorn (extra butter, natch!) and a small drink. I figured that since I was ordering at the front of the house, and had to walk over to the concession stand anyway, it would speed up the process...
With tickets in hand, I had to have them checked off at the next stop, then I walked over to the concessions where I thought I would present my ticket, receive my goods and be on my way.
No such luck... the person behind the counter asked for my ticket, had to squint to read my order then called it out several times. As the clock ticked and I realized the start of the movie was imminent.
Now please understand, this was the matinee showing at 11:30. There were approximately five of us in the lobby area, and four of them were employees. In any case I received my food, grabbed some napkins and a straw and headed toward the next "Checkpoint Charlie" toward my theater. Another scratch on my ticket and I was off and briskly walking.
Despite the renovation going on, and the workers in the tunnel-like corridor, I reached the theater mid-trailer and sat down. To say the actual theater was heaven compared to the exterior hell is an apt metaphor. The seats were roomy, well-padded, reclined, and had a swivel away tray with drink holder. Well done! As I turned off my phone, I glanced at my ticket and realized I had paid $35.16 for the privilege of sitting in that (admittedly very comfortable ) seat, and have popcorn and a soda. Half of that $35 was for the small drink and small popcorn (extra butter).
But then I sat back, and watched the movie. I won't review it here other than to say I liked it, but I didn't love it. I liked the screen, the sound, the seat, and the fact there were only a handful of people in the theater with me. Just like I like it.
Afterwards, I thought about it and said to myself, "If only the front of the house experience was as good as the theater experience." That's when it hit me - the theater chain had forgotten their history. They had forgotten their business model was predicated on the mandate of customer service. There was no personal attention, no human presence to the whole affair. No understanding that when they make the theater-going experience an "event to remember" that people want to come back.
How could they have fixed it, or at least mitigated the drawbacks of being a theater under renovation?
- Big signage saying "Thank you for understanding while we are under renovation to serve you better! We appreciate you! (a familiar phrase in the South)."
- A person outside the theater, welcoming people in, drumming up business, answering questions, etc...
- If you must use kiosks have someone there to assist. I am an old man, but if I can figure out the tech, then a teenage usher should know it backwards and forwards. But they don't because they don't ever have to use it.
- If you are going to solicit popcorn and drinks at the kiosk, make sure it's ready by the time I get there. Especially if I am the only one there. Send the order to concessions as soon as it's paid for.
- More / Better signage down dimly lit corridors. Make it a mandate that every employee must say, "Enjoy the show!" as people make their way. Make it personal, fun. If they see someone they recognize say, "Welcome Back!"
Remember when theater ushers showed you to your seats? Yeah, neither do I, but we have pictures and film of it. Documentation that the theater understood their lifeblood was the movies, and most importantly - the audience.
They've forgotten their history.
This is awesome, Ted. Sometimes it is really important to go back and look again and again and again. This is such an amazing way to track not just the ‘how’ and ‘why’ but also how this community you brought together and see not only your thinking evolve, but the thinking of the diverse voices that have gathered since 2022. This is real refuge when I feel like I can’t figure out the next action to take to get a story told. Movies are meant to be a communal experience, clearly echoed by the community here.