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Anyone ever work as a projectionist or know anythign about it?

post #1 of 3
10/17/04 at 3:41pm
Thread Starter 
Saw an ad in the paper today that a new theater is hiring projectionists and paying $8-10 an hour. Now this theater is an hour from where I live, but in the same town I drive to 3 days a week for class. So I'd probably only be able to work on those 3 days. I don't know much about what they do, so any advice would be great.

What kind of work is it? Do you just put together films when they come in and set them up on the projector or what? Any free time for homework or anything? Do you watch the movies? How many projectors are you usually in charge of(its a 16 screen theater)? Are you mostly alone? When can I expect to get outta there at night? I know it probably depends on their showtimes, but are hours like 6-12 reasonable to expect? How much training is needed?
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post #2 of 3
10/17/04 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HypnoToad
Saw an ad in the paper today that a new theater is hiring projectionists and paying $8-10 an hour. Now this theater is an hour from where I live, but in the same town I drive to 3 days a week for class. So I'd probably only be able to work on those 3 days. I don't know much about what they do, so any advice would be great.

What kind of work is it? Do you just put together films when they come in and set them up on the projector or what? Any free time for homework or anything? Do you watch the movies? How many projectors are you usually in charge of(its a 16 screen theater)? Are you mostly alone? When can I expect to get outta there at night? I know it probably depends on their showtimes, but are hours like 6-12 reasonable to expect? How much training is needed?
I'm just starting as a projectionist, and it seems pretty neat. I had to be promoted to it, which is something I wanted to do when I started at the theater I worked at last summer. It's a fairly reclusive but rewarding job. At least, I take pride in knowing that (soon) I'll start as projectionist, and I've had a little taste of what it's like.

Aside from the specifics about your movies being on reels or a platter, or what kind of projection system you're on, basically it entails cleaning up the projection machines, going between booths periodically and making sure the movie's running all right, and the technical stuff depends on what kind of machine you're running.

I'd say go for it. In a 12 screen like my theater, though we're short on projectionists, we usually have maybe one guy on a floor. That means basically two guys at any given point checking the movies. And about 3 weeks of training (and that's if you can pack a lot of hours in-I'll probably have to put in more) is necessary.
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post #3 of 3
10/17/04 at 6:23pm

I know he can GET the job, but can he DO the job?

I suspect that the advertisement in question is going to favor applicants with at least some projection experience. Depending on how many others you work with on your shift (and most multiplexes keep such staffing to the bare minimum), the learning curve can be pretty steep. I started at an 8-screen theatre, but at the bottom-- usher, concessions, box office, eventually a couple of training shifts in the booth each week. And at that time there was a union man working half the other shifts, including all film-work: building prints, changing trailers, maintaining the projectors. Those shifts were pretty sweet when the showtimes alowed for it-- downtime could be as much as 45 minutes between sets. With 16 screens, I imagine it would be less.

At my current job as operator-manager of a three-screen, I now do everything but projector maintenance. Add that to working the floor, and it's not a lot of spare time. Especially on Thursday.

Give it a shot. If they're willing to train, it could be a great experience. Plus, you'd be getting in on the ground floor as far as digital presentation is concerned.
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