Monday, July 8, 2013

Go Digital or Go Dark

It's an unwelcome choice being faced by small-town independent movie theaters all over the country. Movie studios are phasing out print film and transitioning to digital because digital copies are cheaper to make and to ship: $150 for a digital cassette compared with $1,500 for reels of film in heavy metal canisters. The major studios are expected to stop making film prints by the end of this year--2013--less than six months away. For the studios, the switch to digital represents a huge cost saving, but not for the owners of small, independent movie theaters. For them, the switch necessitates investing in digital projectors and sound systems, which can be prohibitively expensive.

The State Theater in Tupper Lake
Not far away, in the Adirondacks, the Adirondack North Country Association has partnered with the Adirondack Film Society to launch a campaign with the goal of preventing ten independent theaters in the North Country--in such places as Au Sable Falls, Ogdensburg, and Schroon Lake--from going dark. The campaign has even produced a video to draw attention to the problem. 

Across the country, all kinds of strategies are being implemented to save local theaters. An article that appeared on Omaha.com last October tells how one Nebraska community formed a not-for-profit to buy and operate the local theater when its owners chose to sell instead of incurring the cost of transitioning to digital. In another community, the owners of the local theater donated it to the public school system. After raising $95,000 for digital equipment and new seats, the school is running the theater as a self-sustaining business, providing jobs for students and giving them the chance to learn such skills as bookkeeping, payroll, management, advertising, and marketing. 

Theaters elsewhere in the country have turned to Kickstarter campaigns and community fundraisers to raise the money to finance the conversion to digital. One city in the Midwest even succeeded in getting a Community Development Block Grant to save its movie theater from going dark.

Here in Hudson, our hometown movie house, Fairview Cinema 3, just over the border in Greenport, is on the horns of the same dilemma: go digital or go dark. Last August, owner Bruce Mitchinson invested $80,000 in a DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) compliant projector and sound system, with 3-D capacity, for one of the three screening rooms at Fairview Cinema 3, but to stay in the game, he needs to invest another $100,000 to equip the other two screening rooms with digital projectors. (The cost is less because these two projectors would not need to have the capacity to show 3-D movies.) Investing another $100,000 is turning out to be a bridge too far.

Mitchinson told Gossips that, although he had many regular patrons whom he considered part of his theater "family," he thought that if Fairview Cinema went dark, those patrons would just drive a little farther out on Fairview Avenue or head south to Red Hook, but people have surprised him. In recent weeks, as the deadline looms and Mitchinson has started talking about his predicament with some of his regulars, he has been profoundly touched by their response. People want Fairview Cinema to survive, although how that is going to happen is not entirely clear. Still, with slightly less than half a year to go, the campaign to save Fairview Cinema 3 began this weekend . . . modestly and sweetly.  

Susan Schultz, a caterer by trade, made and donated batches of pastries that were sold to weekend theater-goers, with all the proceeds going to the projector fund, and Mitchinson started selling souvenir strips of film. There is talk of selling movie posters and organizing a classic film festival, but those plans are still in the conceptualizing stage. The goal of raising $100,000 in less than six months' time is indeed a steep one, and Mitchinson is open to any and all suggestions about how it can be accomplished. One thing is clear though. The survival of Fairview Cinema 3 will take the energy, determination, and creativity of the community it serves, so if you have an idea, go to the theater and share it with Bruce, or email Gossipsand I'll put you in touch.  
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

3 comments:

  1. A favorite movie theater we always go to when in Austin, Texas is Alamo Drafthouse. They are opening their first New York theater in Yonkers. http://drafthouse.com/nyc_area/yonkers

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  2. How about a local film festival, with prizes to the winners. All ticket proceeds go to Fairview Cinema.

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  3. Apply to NYSCA for funding a digital projector conversion program ... NYSCA will cover 50% of the cost of replacing a projector -- up to $100K. Deadline is August 12th.

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