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Author Topic: Becoming a general manager Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 04-03-2010 01:08 AM                     So, Here's the issue. I'm currently a college student studying hospitality administration, through our studies I'm realizing that even the "hard" stuff is basically what I've learned from this industry in the past 3 years of working for it. A lot of people are saying that I'm a prodigy (jokingly of course), I know that if a first assistant position opened I would apply for it and probably get it, and then hopefully move on to a GM position. I was wondering if anyone has/is a GM or 1st assistant at a Regal location, if they could tell me if it's worth it or if they regret anything. I know some things may be confidential but I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to continue with college or continue with a career in the industry. I know what the job entails (especially for first assistant) but I'm just wondering if the pay is decent, etc.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 04-03-2010 02:20 AM                     Its been almost 10 years since I worked for Regal, but as first assistant the pay really sucked (21k /yr gross) compared to what my GM was making plus commissions (65k+ /yr gross). And you're basically doing everything the GM does, especially when the GM is on vacation. Just my 2 cents.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 04-03-2010 04:00 AM                     ..and you're covering your privates all the time, for "the buck stops here" with that position. Kinda ain't too fair when you're doing a 65k/yr job for 10 buck/hr .... really ....  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 04-03-2010 03:14 PM                     yeah, I was only thinking first assistant because it is doing the GM's job for a bit, until I could get the hang of it and then apply for a GM position somewhere. Just noticing from all the postings going around a lot of GM positions are opening up constantly  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 04-03-2010 05:10 PM                     quote: Manny Montes Just noticing from all the postings going around a lot of GM positions are opening up constantly That's usually not a good sign unless they're new locations.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-03-2010 09:07 PM                     I was in a similar position in 1997. Although I worked for an independent chain, an assistant management position opened in which I was asked to fill. The debate was quit college with only one year left till graduation, or take the job. I stayed in school. Thirteen years later I have a degree, but only utilize it for part time work. I still work for that independent chain as the head projectionist, but with digital on the horizon, I do more thinking about overstaying my welcome than I used to. Point is: I ain't getting any younger if I plan to start over in another career. Last night, just to see what my wife would say, I floated the idea of joining one of the big chains as a GM. She was not amused. Next year marks 20 years I have worked in the motion picture industry. In all that time, nobody - not one - person who was or is close to me ever respected what I do in that industry. Make your dispositions accordingly . . .  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 04-03-2010 11:16 PM                     I've come to expect that, I know its not a "respectable" job, but from what i've heard the salaries vary, but the average is decent and livable. I enjoy very much being an associate manager now, and think that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I wanted to make sure that the jump from fun associate doesn't turn into "i hate my life" GM  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 04-03-2010 11:49 PM                     quote: Manny Montes I wanted to make sure that the jump from fun associate doesn't turn into "i hate my life" GM That'll happen no matter what your career.  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 04-03-2010 11:59 PM                     haha, I hope not Don't know the exact quote but Love what you do and you'll never work another day in your life thats what i'm hoping  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 04-04-2010 07:04 AM                     Manny, and everyone else on the board, allow me to bore you for a few moments with a sad story. When I was 18, I had finished my first year in college, when I went home for the summer. A couple days after I got home, some friends and I went to see a movie at one of the local theatres, and on a lark, I applied for a job. Got an interview the next day, was hired and told to come in on Friday to start... only to discover upon arriving on my first day that I had already been fired. It seems the managers and the staff of this theatre were robbing the place blind, and everyone on staff had gotten the boot the day after I was hired. It was clear the new manager needed the help, so I was able to talk my way back in to a job. I told him straight up that I didn't know any of those people, that I had been going to school 400 miles away up until seven days previous and I hadn't even started yet, and I made a deal with him: that if I was not the best employee he ever had after two weeks, I would leave and we'd never have to see each other again. Four weeks later, he promoted me to assistant. And I've been doing this for most of the last 24 years. I did quit school after trying to juggle work and studies for a year, but I wasn't really all that much in to school anyway. College should be a place of discovery, and all I discovered was that they weren't going to teach me the things I wanted to learn when I wanted to learn them. I had to follow their rigid structure about what could be learned when, and I had already learned all the stuff they were making me take as a freshman and sophomore. I've been a GM with UATC (pre-Regal), Landmark, an independent theatre, Mann and now Rave. All of them had their ups and downs, and their positives and negatives. Do I regret choosing working at a movie theatre over what I might have accomplished had I stayed in school? Not one bit. No matter how many times things don't always go the way I would have preferred them to go, and it still happens far more often than I would hope, I still love what I do, and I have the added benefit at my current location of startomg to breathe life back in to a once-popular theatre that fell on hard times the past ten years. So in the end, the question you need to ask yourself if how much do you love what you do? Because all the money in the world isn't going to make a job you hate worth it. The few times I've left the theatres, I did make more money at those new jobs than what I was making at the theatre, but I didn't really get much satisfaction, because I didn't love what I did. I did them for the paycheck, and that's a crappy way to live.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 04-04-2010 10:33 AM                        quote: Manny Montes Becoming a general manager Why would you ever want to do this? That's about as exciting as becoming a businessman. quote: I was wondering if anyone has/is a GM or 1st assistant at a Regal location, You work for Regal? Uh oh. They are on to you, now. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. You cannot be a general manager for Regal and post on Film-Tech at the same time. They really threaten their employees about what they do in their private lives and they try to control you outside of the job as well. So, if you are serious about getting ass-raped oops I mean promoted by Regal, cancel your Film-Tech account right now. We'll always welcome you here, but Regal sure won't. Also, cancel Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc... or at least block them sufficiently so that no other member of the company can see them.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-04-2010 10:47 AM                        I won't comment on this thread other than to say I really do actually enjoy what I do for a living. If I didn't I would have quit a long time ago. Take it or leave it - I enjoy this crazy business.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-04-2010 01:27 PM                        To the original poster: if you like customer-service work, consider hotel and/or restaurant management as well. There are more opportunities for growth than in the film exhibition industry, and the hotel/restaurant industry is larger and more likely to have openings near where you want to live. I don't know if this is the case for hotels and restaurants, but I agree that assistant managers at movie theatres tend to get screwed. Often, they get paid less than the projectionist, yet have equal or greater responsibility. The only reason to take this sort of job would be if you could do so with a guarantee that you would be the nth person in line for a full manager position in the future. Otherwise, it's just a gamble. That said, there are some very good movie theatre managers out there, and I am happy to have known and worked for some of them. If that is the job that would make you happiest, then I would encourage doing it.  |  IP: Logged Mike Frese Master Film Handler Posts: 465 From: Holts Summit, MO Registered: Jun 2007 posted 04-04-2010 01:51 PM                        First thing I would do is see if current GMs have college degrees. If they do, finish college. Their many ways to accomplish that these days vs 20 years ago. I have a MBA as well, and IMHO it is not worth very much. But, many in the corporate world value college degrees. So again, look at other jobs you might want to aspire to and see what they need. If it is a degree, then get it. How much more do you have left to graduate?  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-04-2010 01:55 PM                        quote: Mike Frese Their many ways to accomplish that these days vs 20 years ago. The above sentence really shows what a college degree can do for you. When did 'their' become short for there are?  |  IP: Logged

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