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Topic: Corporate Lunacy

Michael Cunningham
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 186
From: Anchorage, AK
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-06-1999 07:33 AM

Hey all!!

I'm new to this forum and have realy enjoyed reading all of your comments and advice. Now, for my own two cents.

I have noticed a few items posted here on the stupidity of corporate policies, such as the "everyone must use cotton gloves" bit. I was wondering if anyone else has such stories they would like to share.

My current complaint with the "home office" involves trailer assignments for new releases. We receive our bookings and trailer assignments on Monday. These usually involve brand new trailers that noone has seen or even heard of! Prints tend to arrive on Wednesday but these new trailers don't arrive until late Thursday or early Friday. What this all means is that we either sit and wait to build until we get the trailers, we build without the trailers and use some possibly damaging scheme to get them attached at the last second or we just leave them out and get yelled at. Anyone else with similar problems?

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Mark Tiedemann
Film Handler

Posts: 6
From: Iowa City, IA USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 11-06-1999 11:49 AM

At my company I usualy get the
trailer request list on Friday. All
of my films usualy come in sometime
on Thursday afternoons. 90% of the
time it's for trailers I don't have
have. I usuall just throw the list
away and just choose my own
trailers, as most of the trailers on
the list are not apporiate for the
type of film that is being shown.
A great example is when they wanted
the Big Daddy trailer on Tarzan.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 11-06-1999 03:10 PM

We get trailer requests usually on Monday. We may or may not have those trailers and if we don't, I just substitute something else.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-06-1999 10:39 PM

We used to spend a lot of time pulling our hair out about trailer requests. Then we adopted the following philosophy:

"We can't play what we don't have"

Life has been so much more peaceful ever since.

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Ken Layton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1452
From: Olympia, Wash. USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 11-06-1999 10:49 PM

Michael:

Sounds like you must work in a Regal Cinema.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 11-07-1999 02:57 AM

Randy, Have you niticed the new trailer requests seem to lack alternatives? When the other guy was doing it, we would get a list or requests and a list of alternates. A few trailers would be listed as mandatory, but that was not often. Now, we get the "requests" with "MANDATORY!!!!" next to them...

Ironically, the number of requests for trailers that we don't have (and usually can't get) has increased dramatically.. Oh well...

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Michael Cunningham
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 186
From: Anchorage, AK
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-07-1999 04:01 AM

Good guess Ken!! Yes, I do work for Regal now, unfortunately. I signed on with Act III in 1992 and we got bought out in 1998. The frustration hasn't stopped since.

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Stephen Jones 1
Film Handler

Posts: 62
From: Tulsa, OK, USA
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 11-07-1999 04:53 AM

Yeah, I too have noticed with respect to the Cinemark trailer requests that we used to have around 4 to 5 alternatives and it was easy to play everything on the requests, now we get 5 completely mandatory with no alts. Sometimes when a trailer doesn't match up with a movie it's usually the same distributor. For instance, the attached Stuart Little trailer on Blue Streak... both Sony Columbia Pictures. I see this alot and whenever I can't find an alternative you can usually just use another trailer from the same distributor... unless of course, it is completely inappropriate. I remember hearing a complaint from a parent who saw Space Jam and it had a Howard Stern Private Parts trailer on it. But that's a different story.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 11-07-1999 01:39 PM

Before I took over the booth at the theater I am at, they had a Ravenous trailer on Rugrats (or some other kids movie, but I think it was Rugrats)...

As for the trailer requests, I used to go out of my way to get mandatory trailers on, as it seemed like they were important. Since they are all mandatory now, I don't worry about it anymore.. If I have them in the cabinet, they go on. If I don't, they won't...

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Paul Konen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 981
From: Frisco, TX. (North of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-08-1999 09:56 AM

I also have not been pleased with the Cinemark trailer requests. My gripe is that they have been trying to push 007 and we just don't have them and haven't received any. Also, not having requests made for those theatres that get 2 prints and only 1 request.

I liked it with Mummy that we ran End Of Days, Inspector Gadget, and Stigmata, in that order, because of the trailer request.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-08-1999 03:59 PM

Yeah, the last guy used to put a list of things to pick from. The new guy just says that all the trailers are "MANDATORY!!!"

Half of the ones that we are supposed to play don't come in till Friday afternoon at the earliest. It's easy for me. I just put on what I have. Put on what I think goes with this movie for the rest. I just put MY choices on at the beginning so they are easier to change out if somebody should bitch.

Most of the time,those people at corporate don't have any idea what kind of 'demographics' there are in this town and they put on some of the most F---ed up choices! I usually just ignore them.
They don't have any idea that Erie is best described as a "Budweiser and Bowling kind of town!"

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