Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Whats with the service companies?

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

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Digital Cinema Forum » Whats with the service companies? (Page 1)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Author

Topic: Whats with the service companies?

Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-28-2015 06:07 PM

Strong and Tri-State are always advertising for techs. What is the issue? It appears that they can't keep a tech because there is always an "immediate opening" help wanted ad posted for sme location. DO they run the tech's ragged? Low Pay? It wasn't typically this way when RCA was THE service company, nor is it this way at independent dealers. Many of the RCA and dealer techs were long time employees. So what's really going on here with these outfits?

Mark

| IP: Logged

Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 02-28-2015 06:29 PM

no more projectionists -> all the workload, including the basics, falls on the service companies? Just an idea.

| IP: Logged

Sam D. Chavez
Film God

Posts: 2153
From: Martinez, CA USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 02-28-2015 08:44 PM

The projectionists that had tech expertise could transition quite easily and know all about the night hours and weekends. Now they are gone service Co's have to use techs not from this biz and these techs can often get easier jobs with better hours and pay in other industries.

| IP: Logged

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 03-02-2015 12:49 AM

I was offered to become a STS tech at one time since I knew how to use a screwdriver, a DVOM and a soldering iron.

I would learn on the site, never have a life with being chased all over the country and similar.

Prob be a great job for a single guy that loves to travel, has no life and is durable, but the demands from STRONG can even get to the best of techs making them "crash and burn" down the road.

For STS, you're just a "tool in the toolbox" for them to use.

| IP: Logged

Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 03-02-2015 03:28 PM

quote: Monte L Fullmer
and a soldering iron

It was a senior engineer position then! [Smile]

| IP: Logged

Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 03-02-2015 03:38 PM

The three most dangerous things in the world are a programmer with a soldering iron, a hardware engineer with a software patch, and a user with an idea.

[Big Grin]

| IP: Logged

Leo Enticknap
Film God

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

posted 03-02-2015 08:35 PM

quote: Marco Giustini
no more projectionists -> all the workload, including the basics, falls on the service companies? Just an idea.

I think that could well be part of what is going on. In a theater with a completely unstaffed booth - everything automated and playlists/ingestion done either by a manager sitting at a terminal downstairs, or from a remote center over the Internet - then even routine maintenance will have to be done by a visiting tech or contractor. Things like changing xenon bulbs, replacing air filters, replacing a hard drive in a RAID if one fails ... all the things that could be taken care of by a more experienced projectionist in the days of film-based booths cannot now necessarily be taken care of by anyone who works at the site regularly. So the big theater chains are needing more in-house traveling techs, and the service companies need more of them to look after the independents and small chains.

As Monte points out, the sort of people who would be willing to take those jobs (on the road all the time) are probably younger guys who don't have the experience and advanced training needed to deal with the sort of issues they're likely to encounter effectively and efficiently. I'm guessing it must be quite difficult to hire and retain people who both have the skills needed to cope with the troubleshooting element of the job, and the willingness to cover hundreds of miles a week and live out of a suitcase for days on end.

| IP: Logged

Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 03-02-2015 09:22 PM

quote: Leo Enticknap
As Monte points out, the sort of people who would be willing to take those jobs (on the road all the time) are probably younger guys who don't have the experience and advanced training needed to deal with the sort of issues they're likely to encounter effectively and efficiently.

That was exactly my predicament at Christie/Callahan when I came out here to NM - just not enough tech experience or training on my part nor enough time to get the training I needed in order to quickly and comfortably get the job done. Nobody at Christie or Callahan was happy with my work out here, especially me. After six months of being in market I collapsed and threw in the towel, totally stressed and bummed out. I drove about 5500 miles a month covering 114 screens across all of NM plus El Paso, TX - I actually enjoyed the travel part; got to see a lot of NM and west TX that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Still not sure about what I'm going to do next, but I'm pretty sure being a digital cinema tech again will not be an option.

| IP: Logged

Buck Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 894
From: St. Joseph MO, USA
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 03-03-2015 12:20 AM

I've thought about being a tech but don't have any tech background aside from just theater management troubleshooting of equipment and reading about issues on here. That said, I found myself feeling quite proficient and helpful helping the actual tech replace the light engine a while back. Wouldn't mind the travel and seeing behind the scenes of different theaters.

| IP: Logged

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 03-03-2015 03:54 AM

With the firm I'm working with, there is a slight hint that they would like for me to attend Barco School since I'm the only one in the area that is somewhat Barco smart and there are over 40 Barcos that would need my attention.

Now, with that thought is: here we go again.

If it just would curtail just staying in my region of these 40 Barcos, I might consider the offer and go to the school under their dime.

But, if I find out that I'm going to chase Barcos within two states and hardly ever see home again, I'll back off and let the young hot shot wannabe Barco dude where I work at have all of the glory and I'll sit back in my lounge chair and sip an ice cold Coke on the rocks.

Yet, they may kabosh the whole thing since the company does use a third party tech service and they're paying this service a pretty penny to babysit these Barcos - I just spoonfeed (bulb changes) then when they holler and change a diaper (board, rectifier or igniter) or two when they can't function on their own.

-Monte

| IP: Logged

Adam Fraser
Master Film Handler

Posts: 499
From: Houghton Lake, MI, USA
Registered: Dec 2001

posted 03-03-2015 09:46 AM

I have a feeling that people proficient in the things it takes to be a modern technician are being offered higher wages in other fields, like fixing medical or specialized factory equipment.

It would take 6 figures for me to be interested in having an entire state as my service area, and having to be on call pretty much 24/7. I doubt many companies pay close to that.

| IP: Logged

Sam D. Chavez
Film God

Posts: 2153
From: Martinez, CA USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 03-03-2015 10:37 AM

You would be lucky to get $50,000 plus a car to do service work. $60,000 tops I bet. Available 24/7 by phone etc.

It is a good way to learn being thrown the pool, sink or swim. I would bet Buck would do better than he thinks. He knows the business, the people and has the basic knowledge. The travel can be an adventure for the young, meeting new folks everywhere, making friends.

That's what I did starting in the late '70's and got a few breaks along the way. You never know what's around the corner.

| IP: Logged

Leo Enticknap
Film God

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

posted 03-03-2015 10:43 AM

quote: Adam Fraser
I have a feeling that people proficient in the things it takes to be a modern technician are being offered higher wages in other fields, like fixing medical or specialized factory equipment.

Agreed. With digital cinema, the job is essentially very similar to servicing other bits of computer-based infrastructure. A d-cinema booth is not the only piece of industrial machinery that is effectively a glorified Linux computer plus a bunch of networking crud. In the film days, servicing 35mm projectors and the audio processors and peripherals that went with them was pretty much a unique skillset, and the people that did it were not instantly employable doing the equivalent job in another industry. Add to that the fact that many people working in the movie biz have an instinctive/emotional/call it what you will attachment to it, and the last real film generation of techs tended to dedicate their careers to it, which had the obvious impact on what this line of work pays relative to other comparable ones.

It seems to me that we've got the perfect storm arriving, albeit gradually: the last generation of projectionists and techs who began their careers in the 35mm era are either retiring or reskilling and moving on, the intermediate and advanced technical skills that a chief projectionist with 2-3 decades of experience could bring to an actual theater site are no longer permanently there at that site, and the service companies replacing that expertise are having to compete with the rest of the IT industry to hire and retain good techs.

Interesting times...

| IP: Logged

Sam D. Chavez
Film God

Posts: 2153
From: Martinez, CA USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 03-03-2015 12:42 PM

Nicely stated.

| IP: Logged

Steve Matz
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 672
From: Billings, Montana, USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 03-03-2015 01:24 PM

quote: Sam D. Chavez
You would be lucky to get $50,000 plus a car to do service work. $60,000 tops I bet. Available 24/7 by phone etc.

It is a good way to learn being thrown the pool, sink or swim. I would bet Buck would do better than he thinks. He knows the business, the people and has the basic knowledge. The travel can be an adventure for the young, meeting new folks everywhere, making friends.

Sam, you don't suppose you could get a Guy to do this for Minimum Wage! [Eek!]

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

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.