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Topic: increasing workforce efficiency - boothless

Carsten Kurz
Film God

Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 03-08-2013 06:06 PM

from http://www.dcinematoday.com/dc/pr.aspx?newsID=3144

'It’s great to have all the equipment, including our Library Management Server (LMS), as part of the box office. That way, staff can input movie files and set playlists while still being available to customers.'

;-) Carsten

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-08-2013 06:13 PM

Translated to English: "It's great not to have to hire projectionists."

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Randy Stankey
Film God

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

posted 03-08-2013 06:24 PM

Would you keep all your company's money in the box office? Would you keep all your concession supplies and food in the box office? Why not? You could have your box office personnel sell tickets and dish out popcorn, too. That would save a lot of money, too!

While we are at it, why don't we get rid of the box office, move the tickets and the concession stand into the auditorium and have the ushers do everything. They could sell tickets and popcorn in between sweeping the floors.

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Mike Frese
Master Film Handler

Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 03-08-2013 07:01 PM

So is there a need for a projectionist full time in a digital booth?

75% of the time a theater does not need to have a separate ticket booth and concession stand. Nice to be able to have that flexibility.

Gee, stay late Thursday night/Friday morning building movies on film or do that at 8pm when no one is at the counter while movies are running.

I thought less booth staff was a means to pay for the equipment?

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Randy Stankey
Film God

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

posted 03-08-2013 09:45 PM

My statements were meant to be understood as reductio ad absurdum.

Why would a theater put one of its most important assets in one of the least secure locations of the building? Why would a theater manager put some of his least technically skilled workers in charge of such a vital asset?

If you're going to do that, why not just reduce the operation to bare minimum, get rid of box office cashiers, concession stand workers and make ushers, the most expendable employees, do all the work?

In fact, why bother having employees at all? Just receive all your movies via satellite, put in vending machines in place of the concession stand and install ATMs and turnstiles in place of the box office?

You would need only two or three people to run a 20-screener all day long.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 03-08-2013 10:31 PM

Being a full-time projectionist to babysit a digital multiplex would probably be pretty boring...at least until Thursday night.

Operationally speaking, I think digital is a whole lot easier than film. Ingesting movies and assembling playlists is not a big deal. Many film "projectionists" were really just glorified ushers and concession workers. So, philosophically, I don't see much difference between the old way and the new.

Oh, and I seriously doubt if they install the actual server inside the box office. More likely, they are networked to it. So, no worries about putting all the valuable goodies in one location.

As far as streamlining staff, I have often wondered why box office ATM's aren't all the rage by now. (Be careful what you wish for. More jobs could be lost.) The "follow the money" rule would lead me to guess that hiring box office staff is (presently) more cost-effective than buying ATM's. I'm also reminded of my recent visit to a Cinemark in Fort Lauderdale where something like 5 out of 6 ATM's were out of service. So maybe it's not ready for primetime just yet. But the day will probably come...

I guess, then, it's wrong to say that ushers are the most expendable -- guests can self-serve tickets and concession -- but they SURELY will NOT clean up after themselves.

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Frank B. McLaughlin
Film Handler

Posts: 76
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Dec 2011

posted 03-09-2013 05:46 AM

I can see a need for a thread dedicated to procedures relating to the removal and cleaning of hard drives exposed the excessive fountain syrup and popcorn kernals.

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Jock Blakley
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 218
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Oct 2011

posted 03-09-2013 06:21 AM

quote: Manny Knowles
Many film "projectionists" were really just glorified ushers and concession workers. So, philosophically, I don't see much difference between the old way and the new.

I'll mention that tomorrow when my colleague is making the two machine conversions, nine threads, and eight change-overs to show HAMLET in 70mm [Razz]

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-09-2013 06:30 AM

quote: Mike Frese
So is there a need for a projectionist full time in a digital booth?

When I worked in the theatre industry, film projection (and tasks related to it, e.g. equipment maintenance) was not the only part of the job. It basically encompassed looking after everything that plugged into the wall, including air handling plant, auditorium and public area lighting, IT troubleshooting on box office and back office systems, replacing failed compressors in the fridge in the bar ... you name it. With digital projection, those jobs will still have to be done. When the switchover started my gut feeling was that theatres would be employing fewer technical staff and that there probably wouldn't be one in the building all the time it was open and showing films, but that the technician's job would not disappear altogether. I'd be interested to know if that's turned out to be the case.

quote: Manny Knowles
As far as streamlining staff, I have often wondered why box office ATM's aren't all the rage by now. (Be careful what you wish for. More jobs could be lost.) The "follow the money" rule would lead me to guess that hiring box office staff is (presently) more cost-effective than buying ATM's.

Perhaps for the same reason that supermarket chains are struggling (and IMO, losing the battle) to replace checkout staff with self-checkout machines? The technology is fundamentally flawed and customers will go to considerable length to avoid the things. It takes multiple attempts to scan the barcodes on plastic and paper wrappers (not flat), triggers repeated 'unexpected item in the bagging area' false alarms (i.e. the machine detects a false positive on weight in the bag platform, thinking that you're trying to pack an item without scanning, and thus paying for, it), and if you want to buy booze or other age-restricted items, you have to wait until a human comes along to authorise it. That wait is often longer than if you'd just gone through the queue for the manned checkout.

At my local supermarket, there is almost always a queue for the manned checkouts while the self-checkout machines are deserted. I know many people who avoid supermarkets that have a whole load of machines and just one or two manned checkout lanes, and I'm sure the executives in these retail chains must be looking at the numbers and concluding that consumer resistance is a major issue.

Interestingly, I haven't seen these things anywhere in the US except at Fresh and Easy, the now failed grocery stores that represented the British chain Tesco's attempt to break into the American market. The first time I went into one (in Palm Springs) I was shocked - they had the same machines as the British Tesco stores, right down to the slightly Germanic-accented female voice saying 'Unexpected item in the bagging area!'. All the other shoppers were looking at this thing with a 'What the?! ...' expression on their face, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was part of the reason why the venture failed.

Presumably self-service theatre ticket machines would be a bit more reliable, as they wouldn't involve handling items. But you'd still have the age problem - a human can see if a 12 year-old is trying to buy a ticket for an R-rated film, but a machine can't. Presumably under those circumstances, an employee would have to come to authorise the transactions, which, if you're showing R-rated films in 6 out of your 8 screens, means that you might just as well have a full-scale manned box office.

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Dave Macaulay
Film God

Posts: 2321
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-09-2013 08:23 AM

Other that the maintenance tasks (cleaning port windows, changing/cleaning projector and server air filters, deleting out of date content, and changing lamps) and ingesting there is nothing for a "projectionist" to do in an all-digital booth. That might all add up to one shift a week.
An all-digital theatre with a TMS/LMS system pretty much runs itself. Once content is ingested in the TMS/LMS and the show playlists are set up (different procedures with different TMS/LMS systems) the system gets its schedule from the POS system and takes care of server ingests and starts the shows automatically. Assuming nothing goes wrong (ahem) the only daily booth task is to do whatever turn-on and turn-off is required before and after shows. And all that can be automated as well.
I'm not a big fan of the truly boothless idea, it makes projector maintenance pretty annoying. But I see it coming for most if not all future builds.

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 03-09-2013 09:24 AM

My experience is also that the "projectionist" did many other things in the theatre for which he was not paid, even the Union guys. I have wondered for 20 years if the "head honchos" ever realized what a free ride they were getting.

When the Union (i.e. pofessional) guys were removed, I can tell you that MANY other bills went up since no one else in the building knew how to reset a breaker or change a fuse.

Unless managers become very technical, the bills will go up. Many male managers couldn't change their own tire.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 03-09-2013 09:37 AM

I think that if the projection operators had positioned the job (early on in the 1950's and 1960's when automation was just starting to come about) as a movie theatre technical director taking care and maintenance of any electrical/mechanical devices and systems (HVAC, Concession equipment, Automaticket machines, lighting) and then as automation and computers came about starting to maintain and repair the computer and POS equipment etc... the value would have shown bright and clear.

It would be in my opinion reasonable to have a "tech operator" on shift at all times to operate/maintain the digital projectors and also perform all of the other technical maintenance and repair instead of hiring third party contractors. I think that by refusing to change with the times and expand into other areas as they developed proffesional projectionists (union or not) made themselves obsolete.

Personally, I think that having a dedicated projectionist even with digital is a good idea. The movie is the most important part of the theatre but unfortunately it is often treated as the red headed step child.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 03-09-2013 12:51 PM

Leo -- the U-Serve grocery checkout works flawlessly here in Bloomington -- we have the opposite situation -- the only people using the "old school" checkout lanes are those with too much grocery for U-Serve.

As for union projectionists -- my mileage varied from person to person -- the old guy that ran the movies in Detroit wouldn't even carry a trailer upstairs to the booth. Why not? Because union projectionists didn't touch film until it was in the booth. Meanwhile, the younger one was more relaxed -- he went so far as to repair a "butter" warmer.

In fairness, attitude varies from person to person, union or not. Even so, first impressions are hard to shake, and I have never forgotten the old guy with the bad attitude. He was the first "union guy" I ever met. That was back in 1988.

The few union operators in Los Angeles were extremely nice people, and I enjoyed working and hanging out with them. But the whole reason I was there in the first place was that they wouldn't touch video. (We were working a film festival with all sorts of formats.) One year, around 2008 or maybe '09, I asked two of them what they planned to do about d-Cinema (aka "video"). One of them was about to retire. The other one couldn't say what he'd do, because it wasn't up to him -- it was a union matter.

quote: Sean McKinnon
I think that by refusing to change with the times and expand into other areas as they developed proffesional projectionists (union or not) made themselves obsolete.

I'm inclined to agree.

quote: Sean McKinnon
Personally, I think that having a dedicated projectionist even with digital is a good idea. The movie is the most important part of the theatre but unfortunately it is often treated as the red headed step child.

Yes, but as you mentioned earlier in your post, the scope of work would need to include more stuff. Otherwise, you're bound to become resentful about paying someone to do "not a whole lot" most of the time.

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 03-09-2013 01:15 PM

Theater owners in the Washington area wanted to go with the manager/operator concept, but the IA was to short sighted to see what was coming. In the words of a long deceased business agent from now defunct Local 224, "We work with our hands, not our heads". For real; I was there when he said it!

Its a damned shame because the operator was probably the most skilled person in the theater and could have easily handled both jobs. And, it included an increase in pay.

I wonder where we'd be today if that concept had taken hold?

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Tony Ratcliff
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 216
From: Madison, IN, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 03-09-2013 03:07 PM

As for going box-officeless, the Silverspot in Naples, Florida, does not have a box office at all. The only way to buy tickets are on-line or via the ATMs outside the theatre. The ATMs are not even inside the theatre complex itself, but in the mall outside the theatre.

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