Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Projectionist's Little Secrets

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Topic: Projectionist's Little Secrets

Joshua Waaland
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 800
From: Cleveland, Ohio
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 04-30-2004 04:29 PM

First off let me start by saying Hello. It has been several years since I posted on here and it is nice to be back. I have been out of the industry since my last post and that is why I haven't been here for a while.

My wife and I are house shopping and as many projectionist would, I am only considering houses with large basements for our future in-house cinema. Herein lies the problem. I have been searching the internet high and low for used projection equipment. With my budget being smaller than I would like, I cannot afford to pay $4000-$5000 dollars for a working projector head as seems to be the case with most dealers. I am looking for something that needs work but either has most of the parts still, or parts that are still available.

This "searching" has quickly reminded me of something about the film industry that has always bugged me. When I was a young lad just out of high school in 1994, I was working for three theaters as a projectionist. Everytime a technician came in, I would pick their brain to try to learn everything that I could. I would talk to other projectionists at other theaters to try to learn what they knew. I would ask questions or do whatever I could to learn about this fascinating industry only to find a wall everywhere I went. It seemed like the "Projectionist" field was just a "Good old boys" club. This really ticked me off! It seemed that projectionists held the keys to all knowledge and they weren't letting go of any of it. Not long after that in my search to satisfy my lack of projection knowledge I found Film-Tech and met a lot of nice people. If not for Film-Tech I might have given up all together.

So now that I have been looking for equipment, I again am finding that many of the people in the industry aren't very helpful. I have called around to various dealers only to find rude and unhelpful people at the other end of the line. What is their deal? I ask them for help in finding or buying used equipment thinking that they would be the best source since they DEAL IN PROJECTION EQUIPMENT! The usual answer is a quick, rude NO without anymore explanation. Not even one person said "Well maybe try here or I know a place" or anything. I felt all the past frustrations coming rushing back into my mind reminding me of what it used to be like.

I have looked through the for sale forum here but did not see anything that I could afford or needed. Where do you find used equipment? Do you have any contacts that I could call or know of any theaters closing and selling their equipment? Thanks in advance.

Josh

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 04-30-2004 06:12 PM

Simply put, there are people who will help you, and people who won't. Sometimes it's because they are jerks, sometimes it's because they were burned (example: they taught a person, and that person took their job) and sometimes they just don't have time. It's not that there is a wall; it's a small industry and you just haven't met the right people yet. Keep asking, and try to meet new people.

The same kind of thing occurs with people who sell equipment. Some of them only sell new; some sell used, but in really good shape and take pride in fixing up older stuff to be just as good as new and this cost money. If you call someone and tell them you want to buy something very cheap, there is obviously little money in it for them, so naturally they are uninterested. The motion picture equipment dealers have been hit hard in the last few years, so they can't afford any 'giveaways.' For really cheap equipment, you need to 'network'; meet people who have done the same thing, make friends with technicians who know when theaters are closing (and equipment will be available) and get used to different equipment to know if it could be fixed up, or if it's junk and more trouble than it's worth.

All of the above takes time, so please keep trying.

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 06-20-2004 12:04 AM

Joshua:
Please send a "wish list" of equipment you'd like to get to me at :
tpatranscomtheatre@sbcglobal.net (or mxslick@sbcglobal.net)

I have many resources here and can hopefully get what you need.

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