The Reel Austin Cinema Expirience

By Mayya Zaslavskaya

AA movie theater.

The lights dim and a brilliant array of colors illuminate the room. The audience is drawn into a world of flashing movement and entranced with the story that draws them close into the intricate characters and scenery. They feel that they are transported into another world, and forget about anything other than the perfectly curated plot.

With the big screens and flashing lights, it is easy to forget that there are people working behind the scenes to provide the best movie theater experience possible for the average viewer. Managing and working for the administration of a local Austin cinema takes tons of effort and skill. There are many things that happen out of sight of the viewer that bring them the ultimate and authentic experience of watching a movie in a cinema.

Cody Franklin has been the manager of the AFC Cinema for over six years. According to Franklin, most people working for movie theaters are avid film lovers and have been since a young age. “I’ve been a big fan of film ever since I was a little kid,” said Franklin “We had cable and I’d just watch as much as I could. And then when I went to college I got a radio-television film degree from a university in north Texas.” The passion for film and desire to contribute to film culture has been the major pushing factor for Franklin to pursue a career in cinema managment.

James Jennings, the head of the Austin Bob Bullock IMAX and Texas State Theaters said that his love for film started off as the simple indulgence of film media. As the future movie theater administrator grew older, he began harnessing his passion for movies by getting cinema related jobs. “One of my first jobs when I was seventeen was working in a movie theater,” said Jennings “I did it because I liked movies and got to see movies for free because I worked there. It was a lot of fun. And, while I’ve done other things since, I always wind up back in movie theaters.” involves scheduling movie sessions, being able to work with customer complaints, as well as cooperating with people who do other jobs at the theater. “My job is a lot of paperwork,” said Jennings “I do everything from negotiating the contracts for the movies we show as well as overseeing the maintenance of the equipment and the technicians who run it and making sure that they’re up to date on their training. And, we deal with everything like finding film.”

The job also requires a lot of other skills and abilities not obvious to be needed in movie theater management at first glance. Bethany-Jo Hernandez is the Administrative Assistant at Violet Crown Cinemas and has worked in the company for ten years. “You have to have patience to have my job and a lot of knowledge of how a cinema operates. It takes vision, a good team, and tenacity,” said Hernandez “You have to push to make things happen and not let any red tape bring you down or make you give up. You also have to provide what people can’t get at home.”

The journey to become a major cinema manager in a city like Austin is not always simple. There are several qualifications and skills necessary for the work. According to Jennings, the job requires not only proficiency in sound, light, tech, and managing skills, but also requires mastery in areas of work such as communication and being able to negotiate and plan for movie contracts. It also

Many smaller movie theaters of Austin have to face competition with widely known cinemas such as the Alamo Drafthouse. For this reason, local scale movie theaters often decidee to appeal to specific audiences to achieve financial success and keep in business. “We [Violet Crown Cinemas] are geared more towards a more mature audience. You will not see any children’s films playing at the cinema. We focus on first run films [new releases like John Wick and certain Marvel films] and independent films,” said Hernandez “We will play films that you won’t see at an AMC because we prefer art house and indie film over the big budget stuff.”

Another approach to keeping small cinemas in business is having a unique viewing experience that can’t be achieved in other movie cinemas. “The big giant screen. That’s probably the biggest difference [between our movie theater and others]. Because you can go to other places and you’re going to have twelve channels surrounded like we do. You can go to other places that will have a laser powered projector like we do,” said Jennings “But, there’s not another place in town with a screen as big as ours. And, I think that’s probably the biggest difference and what sets us apart from everybody else.”

Being stationed in Austin provides unique opportunity for local movie theaters. Austin is a wonderful and different place for film lovers and cinemas, as described by Jennings. It has an extensive film culture and appreciation that has been cultivated for many decades. Being based in Austin allows for a lot of non mainstream movie directors and indie films to find their way to the screens of local cinemas and even be shown in film festivals, which are a staple of Austin’s yearly celebrations. “Austin is so cool because it’s not like every other place. People come here to make movies. We’ve had screenings for people like Robert Rodriguez, who films here. And we get things like South by Southwest where they come in and they’re debuting our films,” said Jennings “And, those films wind up coming here. It’s a very different place than being in Dallas or something. More people, I think, enjoy the film better because they know that it’s being done locally.”

Although many cinema managers and administrators enjoy their jobs and genuinely appreciate what they do, there are undoubtedly challenges that they have to face everyday to give audiences what they are looking for, as described by Franklin. Sometimes things go wrong or there is an unsatisfied customer that they need to take care of. The AFS Cinema works hard to tend to the needs of customers and provide a satisfactory experience for their wide range audiences. “It’s a seven day twenty-four hour kind of job. Even though I have weekends off, I still get text calls about problems and stuff like that, which I’ve gotten used to so it’s fine. But, it’s also because even though it’s a digital format, there’s still a chance there’s something wrong with it. We’ve had things happen where films come in and there’s problems with them…” said Jennings “Probably the hardest thing about running a theater is when we fail and someone has a bad experience.”

When asked to talk about the rewards of his job, Franklin explained that even though running a movie theater is a hard and time consuming job, it is overall a positive experience for the people who decide to go down that path and succeed. Movie theaters create unique and authentic atmospheres that are overall very positive and uplifting. “You get a finished product every day, you get to see people happy, you get to know all the members here,” said Franklin “Also the staff is just, you know, everyone is kind. It’s a nice place, the theater.”

“I love everything about film!

The cinematography, the music, the story lines! Essentially film is another form of escapism from our regular daily struggles but sometimes you can learn valuable lessons or feel less alone when watching characters navigate situations familiar to your own life,” said Hernandez “I love Violet Crown because everyone on every level of the company is deeply passionate about what they do.” dealing with twenty-five different personalities and sometimes there’s a little bit of friction,” said Franklin “I’ve done really well with the staff that we have right now. And, then you have some of the challenges like customers who come in and they’re difficult.”

Keeping in mind how much hard work is put into showing movies may help a person appreciate their local movie cinema more when they next decide to sit back and indulge in the marvelous and complex art of film and its presentation.

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, and movie theater administrators have to sort out issues as quickly as they can to not hinder the viewers from getting to see the movie they payed money to indulge in. “Because believe me, it happens, people get in a hurry and you mix up the order of the film, or you put it in backwards and there’s no sense. So, that’s kind of carried over into modern times