Tonight was one of 'those' nights where things seem to happen weirdly. I was projectionist tonight. I ran the first show (Boy in Striped Pajamas ) with no problems. I threaded up for the late show (The Spirit) and was about to go back out to the lobby when I realized I should check what time the late show hit credits so I'd be back in the booth to turn up the lights. Comparing what times the two movies hit credits I realized Spirit was longer than Boy. I happened to look at the films sitting on the platter on my way back out of the booth and realized something looked odd. As the films are in a circular pattern on the platter the longer films form bigger circles. The smaller film was threaded up. It turned out I had threaded up Boy again rather than threading up Spirit. I haven't done that in years.
And it's almost as if fate was telling me that I didn't need to bother threading up the Spirit, we had no one show up for the late show?! I wasn't completely surprised, we only had 7 people Sunday night and Monday is often, but not always, quieter than Sunday. We haven't had a no show in about two years.
So we waited 10 minutes in case anyone showed up late then packed up. I got to leave a couple hours early which was kinda nice.
2 comments:
I have wondered how business is on nights that is "non-traditional" movie nights. It's good that this has not happened for a couple of years.
Silly question but would you still play a movie if only one person showed up?
In general over the last few years attendance has spread out so we don't have any days that are always quiet. Sunday and Monday can sometimes be almost as busy as the weekend. On the other hand Monday is pretty much the only night we have ever had a no-show.
Our policy is to show the movie as long as at least one paying customer shows up. I figure it wouldn't be right to turn someone away after they have made the trip to the theatre. The one time it got interesting was a showing where only one guy on a free pass showed up. I had work to do here anyway so I ran the movie for him.
Post a Comment