Movie theaters need to focus on cleanliness, making the front staff your ambassadors (take time to invest in them by training them appropriately). When return to the theaters, life will be totally different.

Alice Tentori- Milan Audio Description

Make sure you keep in touch with the audience. The cinema is not dead. People will want to enjoy the magic of the movies.

Chanotele Jones- Omdia- Global Perspectives

Cinemas will remain a first choice with customers. We need to focus on 1. improve the experience with more recliners, fan engagement and special events. 2. innovative pricing 3. content- need all important content even stuff from “streammers”. There is a document link at cj summit community page that is 30 analysts, created 90 pages with ranges for all the possible outcomes. There will be 3 phases of this pandemic 1. full lockdown 2. social distance 3. market to open. France did a poll and 52% who participated said they will head right back to the movies.

Byron Berkley- ICTA

120 members officially in existence 1 year ago. The main thing they are hearing is the content will be available but there will be new regulations. All issues are up in the air with the studios. Plans are being developed regarding cinemas opening but there will be recommendations on changes. Many conversations are happening by nothing is confirmed.

Jess- Screen Mobile- wrote and article- The top 5 things theaters are (should be doing)

5. selling gift cards | vouchers |memberships

4. curbside concessions

3. everyman house party – community watch party and tag a photo #everyman

2. suspended ticket sales (currently done in Italy)

1. watch ads (Germany) tag theater to show support

if you want to submit any topics go to tips@celluloidjunkie.com

to find the videos from the discussion, go to https://community.cjcinemasummit.com/

Patrick from NATO

On the call- over 700 people from 30 different countries

Where are we? Industry will be shut down 2-1.5 months. Two biggest concerns 1. Movie releases- End of June limited releases. Major releases in July. 2. Employees-Nato helping financially until the state kicks in. This industry has gone from $15 billion to $0 revenue. Nato is working with the government to make sure there is liquidity. Small business economics to be able to come back.

Stimulus package. Talk to your banker RIGHT NOW. Providing grants and loans that are forgiveable but limited to 2.5 times month payroll. Talk to banker about your needs. Nato still have conversations and should have answers from the treasury in 2 weeks.

Interesting comment in the chat room from Rick Stowell: CARES Act+ paycheck do NOT help small movie theaters. None of us has payroll 3x as mush as the rent + utilities. So very little of rent will be forgiven which is where theaters need help. 

Estimated close down period www.auravision.ai/covid19-lockdown-tracker 

Will Rogers Initiative only works for employees 5 years or more at a theater. however, you can donate if you would like to. Many GoFundMe and Arthouse theaters initiatives have been created to help the industry.

WIE- Women In Exhibition- Group. Heather Blair is the president.

John Fithian: Current goals 1) help workers with unemployment fund 2) keep company afloat- need liquidity for members 3) keep everyone safe

Global Cinema Organization- working with NATO to address content and releases.

Make sure you stay in touch with local health professionals. When theaters open, they most likely will be at 50% capacity and will need to do intense cleaning.

Distributors + availability- theaters want new or have the vaults open. Active conversations are happening. The model is not broken, it is just on hold. Many movies were release before corona virus. They are not going to maintain the regular window and are being sent directly home faster. The movies that have not been released yet, they are being postponed for a later date and will be released with the standard regular window. So now, 1) later specified date or 2) or postponed with out picked a new date. If the movie was set to be released in April | May | June, it will be released later in the same calendar year. All projects have ceased so there should not be a huge back log and it will all work out.

Will people be used to home viewing? NO. People are getting stir crazy and will rush to the cinemas. They miss the social experience.

There is tremendous support from theaters distributors and studios. They are a business and it is smart business practice for them to get back into the theaters and support the theaters.

Director Chris Nolan wrote an OpEd. Here is the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/20/christopher-nolan-movie-theaters-are-vital-part-american-social-life-they-will-need-our-help/

Bobbie from B & B Theaters

Make sure you are keeping in touch with your customers.

It is vitally important for theaters to have a United Front. This is being done in other countries. #moviestogether- this will be started when it makes sense. It is too early to start now. Need to wait until the 30 day mark. The cinema industry must stand together. The community needs to be united. When you unite the community= unite the audience.

With your business, stay relevant by running a social media campaign, favorite movie, hype up the holiday releases and stay positive. One example of good  social media use is at www.prospecttheater.org and www.belcourt.org. 

What a great webinar from CJ Cinema Summit. The videos used are located at community.cjcinemasummit.com. It is free to join and well worth to have at your fingertips.

Global Round Up- The billion dollar question: When will studios open? AMC says it can be mid June. Sony is shifting all titles to next year. They began grabbing dates. Some of their movies have not been filmed yet.  Once movie theaters open, it will be a slow roll out. State by state and region by region.Distributors want to feel confident movies will hit as many as possible.

Project 12: What will things look like 12 weeks from now? Right now theaters should be taking the time to get ready for people to get back into the movies. Time to rebuild customer confident. As a theatre, you need to stay in contact with your customers. Some theaters are taking polls: 10 ten movies of all time, what content customers want to see etc. One theatre is focusing on their 32nd anniversary and listing all the number one movie of each year.  Continue to be relevant in your customers world. Another theatre is acknowledging the super hero’s in their  industry while incorporating the hero’s of their community.  Another theatre is doing hand washing videos by taking hand washing scenes out of movies.

A majority of social media platforms are being used. Most popular one is facebook followed by instagram and twitter.

Stan from Box Office: We are currently in Phase 1- hibernation preparation. take this time to clean everything and communicate this to your employees and customers. Show cleaning on your social media pages. Goal, to allow the client to feel confident.  The internet is based on algorithms. You need to make are you to miss your status on the internet by staying silent.

Consider doing a daily VLOG allowing the guests to watch and hear from you.

We need to be form a united front with talent, distributors and movie theaters.

Tuesday March 31,2020 Open Forum

John Holstrom: Moderator

(this event was not recorded)

Sperling Reich:
1. the following conferences are still planning on moving forward
cineeurope: august 3-6
cineshow: august 24-26
expo cine: september 29- october 2
show east: october 19-2020
Mena cinema forum: October 27-29
Dine in cinema summit: november 9th -12th

Scott Cassell of Roadhouse Cinemas
converted their kitchen for take out. use mobile bites. customer would email and do modifications for take out orders.
laid off a majority of the employees and their goals was to make enough money to pay the managers salaries.
created a commercial  and used facebook for a media campaign. goal to make $1500 per day. community support has been amazing. tipping their drivers well.
tuscon location managers requested to stop doing this. scottsdale location still going
decreased the menu price by 25% and will consider keeping this service on the future.
suggestion for theatres to contact providers (sysco) for a financial break on food.
plan on increasing menu prices and considering having the drivers only on tips when they resume.
right now, they are just wanting to get people back in the door so in the beginning they will keep the prices lower.

Matthew mader of Venue Valet
#1 issue is employment costs in the theatre business. vista and venue valet have incorporated this in to their plans
this whole event is a time to reset employment approach
owners have been giving more than they have been receiving from their employees. what can be done for employee incentives?
we will be coming off this into crazy unemployment rates

Matthew Baizer of flix Brewhouse
the main issue that all owners will be dealing with is not having content… need content to get people in the doors
theatres cannot pay their bills.. vendors need to look at a forgivable loan
need to get NATO to promote
retaining employees is a must. imperative to communicate daily. keep the messages informal and keep the updated
provide valuable resources to them as this is crisis management 101

swade geiger of vista
look at the functionality of social distancing
vista is holding town hall meetings
focus on what can be done when the theatres are up and running
rebuilding customer experience

Craig Hall from alabama
employment question do you want good employees and not just employees
apply for a loan.. it only takes 15 minutes
bring back necessary employees first
hire more employees— get the best 10%
have to find the right balance
need strong advocacy from NATO

Q&A session
actively remodeling for 2 states at a time- have love seat booths and satisfy VIP
consistent changes moving forward

Cinema In Flux Wednesday April 1st 10:00am

Speakers

Harish Anand Thilakan- Organizer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harishanandthilakan/

Mark Waldman- Moderator: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmwaldman/

Greg Creighton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-creighton-3398179/

Bruce Wren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucewren/

Joe Masher: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmasher/

Luis Castelazo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luiscastelazo/

(disclaimer: these notes might not be perfect, so watch the whole video at the link below)

http://bit.ly/cinemainfluxwebinar1rec

Hire and Rehire from Furlough
Retain corporate people  at 135% of their rate
AMC providing active status with health insurance benefits
need to focus on SOP when you reopen
Bruce : How do pull this together: maintain communications, treat like it is a new opening, CDC has documents on website about cleaning procedures
Greg: Retained key leadership at theatres, touch base with team members and thoughts regarding coming back. have a marcus facebook page where staff can ask questions regarding current and future prognosis, guests will need to see active cleaners “visibility of cleanliness”
Joe: kept a handful of general managers, food served in closed containers to ensure guests safe and federal government restrictions
Salary: bring back everyone at the same level as when they left. concerned about new opportunities people have had to look for because of money. challenge with training new people. higher competition than in the past
Opening: will all depend on government but will be not possible to open all locations at one time. it will be a roll out.
Stimulus program: hire an attorney to help you navigate the stimulus program. there is an employee tax discount and payroll tax deferral but there are rules that go with it.

helpful websites
www.catran.sba.gov
www.wrpioneers.org/covid19
sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance