my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Prints not being delivered.. (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Prints not being delivered.. Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-13-2010 04:38 PM                        For the first time in the 20 years I have been in the business we did not recieve our prints for Friday openings. They blamed it on the bad weather here in the Mid-Atlantic. I wanted to say something on here about it. Thanks.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 02-13-2010 04:56 PM                        Did the prints for other local area theaters meet the same fate? If not, then I'd raise questions. If so, then, well, it happens... I guess.  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 02-13-2010 05:07 PM                     It happens to the best of them, had a print delayed for 2 days because they delivered it to the wrong theater.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-13-2010 05:37 PM                        I've had wrong-theatre deliveries, but those were always to places that were close enough that someone could just drive over and pick it up at the other theatre. I have never personally not had a print arrive in time for a scheduled show (though there have been some close calls). When I have heard of it happening, it usually arrived later that day.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 02-13-2010 05:46 PM                        We had an issue yesterday where we ordered a replacement print for movie we were opening that we rejected due to scratches, but the local depot did not have keys to the building. We told them that someone would be there at 10:00am. We had an 11:00am show of the movie. What did they do? They decided to try and deliver it at 8:30am instead, despite that we told them we wouldn't be available then! They said they wanted to try their old key anyway and maybe leave it with the cleaners. Since obviously nobody was there, they left it with another store in the mall. At 10:40am they decided to call us and tell us all of this information. My manager was understandably upset, as was I. The guy's excuse was simply "Yeah, I should have called you sooner". Thanks.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-13-2010 05:56 PM                        Although the delivery system seems to work quite well, things do get interesting at venues that aren't actual theatres. The film distribution system isn't really designed to deliver prints to colleges, hotels, offices, PO boxes, and other random places, and I have had some "interesting" experiences with those types of deliveries. At colleges, the prints will typically be delivered somewhere on the campus (often to the campus police station), but the people responsible for the event often do not know where the print is. Sometimes, it will take up to an hour of searching and phone calls before someone finds it.  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-13-2010 06:53 PM                     FWIW, we were graced with 18 inches of snow on Wednesday, closing the mall and thus our theatres. UPS had the Technicolor prints Wednesday and tried to deliver them, but Mall security would not let them in, even though we had a manager on site. We got our DeLuxe depot prints on Thursday evening, a little later than usual, but they were swamped by the conditions in our region. Still, we had plenty of time to get them made up and ready for Friday's matinee.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-13-2010 11:26 PM                     I understand DFS's Boston depot had a lot [weather-related] of delays this past week because they didn't receive their prints on time. I think this was mostly a Mon/Tuesday phenomenon so it didn't really have much impact on theatres getting Wed/Thu deliveries, other than to stress some folks out a bit more... It takes two to tango, Joe. Yeah, they (probably *not* the depot but instead your local transport company!) should have told you, but you should also have called them at 10am to find out where your print was! The squeaky wheel gets the oil. I dunno, Scott, the film delivery system is remarkably flexible. But I'm stunned at the people who take it all on faith. I mean, you can and should call DFS/TES to verify your bookings if there is anything special going on. Those people are there to help you. (It doesn't help that most of the venues you outline probably are inexperienced and don't know who to talk to to find out what has happened, etc.) Police stations? Wow. That sounds pretty unprofessional... Have I ever had a print miss? Hmm. I recently had a replacement print fail to Saturday-deliver (FedEx) because of a shipper error (wrong checkbox) and by Monday the shows were over. And certainly I've had prints that were supposed to deliver 1 or 2 days later than anticipated, but still in time for the show. And then there was the special screening where the Editorial guys in Hollywood decided to provide additional footage at the last minute (atually about 90 minutes before showtime) and they sent it via fiber, but the screening was on HDCAM SR but the fiber facility only had D5, so it ended up with the lowest common denominator...maybe that counts as a miss. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 02-14-2010 01:56 AM                        We didn't have their number, so we called Deluxe. They were supposed to arrive and get a new key as well and we figured they were running late. We didn't figure that they had zero brain cells and thought 10:00am meant 8:30am. The depot does their own "shipping" to and from local theaters. They go under two different names, but it is the same people. It's just one of the guys who works there who drives them around town. It's all kind of confusing since it seems to take 18 companies to do the job of 2. But hey, everyone wants to get their palm greased and that's why we are a country of middle men. No shows were canceled.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 02-14-2010 07:14 AM                        Still, WE are paid to do our jobs well, 100% of the time. I expect nothing less from my suppliers and vendors. Eliminate those who fail to measure up. Louis  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-14-2010 07:29 AM                     You don't have the phone number of your local courier who delivers films to you? OK, I give up. Louis: Yeah, Joe should stop doing business with Fox, Paramount, Sony, and Warner Brothers. That'll be a win for him. --jhawk p.s.: Joe, is it 322-5585?  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-14-2010 09:58 AM                        It's been a couple of years since our last missout. It almost always happened when Tech/ETS would do a day of show delivery, and the print would get bumped from the flight it was scheduled to be on and there was no next flight. Most of our deliveries now are Wednesday, so it's rare for a missout. Nonetheless, I've been doing this for 25 years, I call and check every Wednesday to make sure the delivery is in the system and has a projected delivery time. I prevent several screwups a year that way.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 02-14-2010 10:06 AM                        John, that is one of the three numbers I received. Why you went out of your way to research this I have no idea. You're trying to solve a problem which no longer exists. quote: John Hawkinson You don't have the phone number of your local courier who delivers films to you? Your detective skills are amazing.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-14-2010 11:35 AM                        The last missout we had was the animated film, "Surf's Up" a couple of years ago. Sony had to fly the print in from Salt Lake City, and we had one of those "it hasn't landed yet, but should be on the ground soon" phone calls from the courier service. Then at 4:00, they called and said the print was on its way from Billings to us (a 90-minute drive). I started to get nervous when it was 6:30 and we still hadn't seen the courier, so I made a couple of phone calls and got reassured that it HAD left Billings some time ago and would be here "almost anytime." So we started selling tickets and just told people the show would be up to 30-45 minutes late starting, and we gave out free refills and all the usual show-delay tactics. Well then at about 7:15, the print still hadn't arrived so I started calling again...and found out the stupid print still had not even landed in Billings yet! It had missed a flight out of Salt Lake City. (I guess the print was in the bathroom and didn't hear the boarding announcement?) So we sent the crowd home, and a lot of them came back the next night, but a lot didn't. So now we have a new policy that we don't sell tickets until the print is in our hands.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 02-15-2010 04:00 AM                     We missed the entire first day of 'The Life Aquatic' due to a snowstorm delaying flights. It was supposed to open on Christmas Day which was a Saturday that year. I think we finally recieved the print about 15 minutes after the last show as supposed to start.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.