Screwed?

Azmyth

Azmyth

Veteran
I'm gonna make this short.

We are working out a contract to show our feature film in the ONLY local theater in the town it was shot in.

The buzz is huge, and we expect a sell out crowd.

after digital projector rental/audio hook ups and other theater related costs are reimbursed the "BOX OFFICE"
would be split

65 them 35 us..

screwed?
 
Not really. They make their money on the door. 50/50 would be nice , but they are the only place in town. I'd get as much swag and DVD's with some limited stuff that cost a bit more for people to toss you a bit of money if they liked it.

ie a boxed up DVD with some production stills and the sound track for $50. Poster signed by the stars for double the price of unsigned. I know my friends would buy it up if it was my project.......
 
Well that what we wanted to do. But they've waited so long to get us this information after us constantly staying on them.. it feels like it was done on purpose to make it so we had no choice. Which I have news for them, we always have a choice. We are going to talk to them this morning to see if thats negotiable at all.. or at least give us an explanation on WHY they feel it needs to be the way they've listed it. Since from the beginning they wanted to "help" us.. which is not what they are doing at all.
 
Sounds like a basic four-wall deal and they aren't cutting you much of a break. Ask fro 35% of concessions! ;) But the swag sales is a good way to make some additional revenue..

Michael
 
If it sells out the first show, they may want to have other showings, if thats the case, then re negotiate the second or third showing for more. But I wouldn't burn a bridge just yet. you need to get your film shown. And remember many times people pay to have a showing. So something is better than nothing first time around.
 
Azmyth said:
I'm gonna make this short.

We are working out a contract to show our feature film in the ONLY local theater in the town it was shot in.

The buzz is huge, and we expect a sell out crowd.

after digital projector rental/audio hook ups and other theater related costs are reimbursed the "BOX OFFICE"
would be split

65 them 35 us..

screwed?
Click to expand...

You are fretting over your take at the door for a short you have yet to produce?
 
You totally have the upper hand here and don't even know it. I'd be very calmly telling the theatre owner that the premiere is cancelled at his theatre and you'll be informing the local media of your feelings on what you believe about the tactics you perceive and despite his being the only theatre around you're now BOYCOTTING his theatre. The townspeople can do whatever they like from here. Then I'd just walk out and wait, but that's just me. Having any kind of controversy around your feature is actually a good thing.
 
Here's a bit more info to this..

This movie has been 2 years in the making. It was shot locally, using almost entirely all local crew, all local/regional actors, and about 180 local extras. So, just from the production side, there's about 250 people who would come to see this. Not counting their families, friends, or all the people in town who are going to want to see a movie shot in there town, with people they know in it. We have 1700 fans on facebook, and The theater themselves have said countless times that someone calls, comes in, or asks about our movie every single day. This is a rural town, where there's nothing to do but friday night footbal, and ONE movie theater. The crowd we are expecting is beyond anything else they've ever had in this town ever. And no, we can't guarantee that. But I cannot go to town at all without being asked about it. I got my hair cut yesterday and every person in there knew about it and wanted to know when they could see it once they found out who I was.

I'm proud of that fact, because I spent tons of hours marketing and promoting my film locally, regionally and even some nationally. We've been in several popular Horror websites multiple times, and I've been on local TV, and local newspaper multiple times. This isn't a bunch of kids with a camera. We were a community involved project. We worked with the police dept, sheriff's dept, EMS service, tons of local businesses and our biggest supporter was the president of the chamber of commerce. The owner's of our one and only theater aren't from here.. so they don't "Get it" apparently. As far as I am concerned, we hold the cards here. This is not so much about us being greedy as just the amount of time and work that went into this, for them to feel they "Deserve" a bigger portion on something they had no contact with until now some 2 years later. They came to me when we were still filming wanting to know when they could show it. On top of that all the frustration we've had with them contacting us at all, over the past couple months while I am having to put off all my promotion and marketing plans for the month of October waiting. We asked several times to have a formal meeting with them to negotiate and discuss and we just got ignored. When we finally wind up having to go around our elbow to get ahold of the booker, we are told they'd been working on a contract this whole time even though they never bothered to tell us this. So we get this short and honestly what felt like a slap in the face.. email from them.. that didn't explain anything, just tossed out some arbitrary figures.

The sad part is, my partner in this worked at the theater for a few months and has seen their books, and knows what they make on a nightly basis. Even on "Hollywood" movies.. unless its Twilight, or Harry Potter.. they don't do that well.. its sort of surprising. I even told him to ask, how much it would cost us to just "Rent" the entire multiplex for a few nights... so we get control of everything. The reason why this was looking so good for us, was because up until now.. we thought they understood the magnitude of this and were going to "run" the movie there along with their other films. They won't even hit a fraction of the people who want to see this by only doing this on one or 2 nights. Not counting the fact that anyone with half a brain, knows they make their money off the concessions. The deal we've been given is only slightly better than what Hollywood studios get according to my partner who worked there. We are a totally different situation. To the big studios, they aren't making their money off these tiny theaters in podunkville.. they're getting millions of dollars in revenue from other sources.. so taking a crappy cut like that means little to them in the long run. This may very well be our ONLY theatrical showing.. I just feel it would be stupid to kick ourselves like that. Knowing what we know. I'm prepared to take the deal if it means not getting to show the movie at all, but we have some back up plans that would involve not showing the theater there, and we also have contact with another MAJOR theater chain whom while not in town.. has shown interest in showing the movie as well that I won't mind bringing up. Our theater here is part of a indie chain of 2 multiplexes. thats it. We aren't even getting the whole theater.. just the main house that holds 96 people..

I've already done the math.. 2 nights, gross on tickets would be about 2 grand. Thats before they take out costs on the rental of the projector and sound hook ups. I spent 2 grand on food alone. So unless they show this multiple times.. grrrr...
 
as of this moment, the theater is not happening. There were more discussions but they aren't budging.

We are moving forward with plan B.. which is to rent out an auditorium in town that seats 500 people, already has a projection screen and has been newly renovated with a good sound system.
 
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