#full price tickets being £10-15 makes me so wrathful

[transpigeon]

it’s going to be a sad day indeed when I turn 25 and have to start paying full price for cinema tickets

[lorrainecparker]

We don’t often think about exhibition … until it goes wrong

One item of filmmaking and media production that people don’t often talk about a lot is the exhibition of the projects many of us work so hard to produce. I experienced a case really bad exhibition recently when I went to attend a Fathom Event at local Regal Cinema. Theatrical presentation is that one place we all strive for yet we have the least control when it comes to the presentation.

It’s an exciting opportunity to get to see ones work on the movie screen (especially when you don’t work in theatrical).

If you’re not familiar with Fathom Events they are “live event” type movie productions that are shown in theaters all around the country in a partnership amongst a number of theater chains. They show things like sporting events; operas are a common one you often see a preview for; there are special event movies and documentaries and a lot of concerts. I had the pleasure of editing a recent documentary on comedian Chonda Pierce which was shown as a Fathom event. There was a premier screening on April 25 as well as an encore presentation two weeks later. I was at NAB when the premiere happened so I was excited to get an encore on Tuesday May 9.

Spend a night with @chondapierce in her new film Enough for a special encore presentation on May 9th only. Tickets: https://t.co/JIhd8sXfBH pic.twitter.com/dEBPoRSq1u

— Fathom Events (@fathomevents) May 6, 2017

When talking about the exhibition one wants perfect screening conditions for the film that they have directed, edited, DPed etc. Hopefully that includes comfy seats, pleasant temperatures, optimal sound and good picture. It’s funny to talk about exhibition in this modern world because so much media is consumed on cell phones and touchscreen devices but I don’t think people think about the perfect viewing experience be it in a well-equipped home theater or an actual movie house. This particular screening began with no picture as in the screen was black and we could hear a rather muffled audio playing in the theater speaker. I knew when the promos were over and the movie began because I could hear the opening score but still no picture. I left the theater and asked first employee I saw to check the problem and restart the picture. She said that they would do just that. After a couple minutes the picture turned on but the sound was still terrible. After a several more minutes of not restarting the picture I went back out on the same poor soul that had to experienced my wrath to tell them that things were still screwed up.

Hey @RegalMovies your Hollywood 27 theater in Nashville has screwed up their Fathom event tonight. No picture then bad sound.

— Scott Simmons (@editblog) May 10, 2017

After another 10 or 15 minutes of the movie playing I could see someone up in the projection booth attempting to do something and something did happen. The production stopped. There were several attempts to restart as the Fathom Events promo began playing over and over but it still sounded terrible. After about 20 minutes of this the theatre management came in and announced that they would be unable to show the production because one of the amplifiers in the theater had been blown. Apparently they had shown a Bollywood movie in this smaller theater at some point prior and “those loud Bollywood movies” were never meant to be shown in a theater that size. The Bollywood movie was so loud it “blew the amp.” Why no one monitored that is beyond me but I guess with 27 screens you just program everything in and let it go.

Back behind that glass I could see someone actually trying to fix the screening.

I immediately wondered how many other movies they had shown in the theater with the blown amplifier since it sounded like this other screening was at least the day before. A Fathom Event plays off a file so I had assumed it would be easy enough to move the showing to another screen since the Theater has 27 of them. But according to management, complications around the business side of Fathom Events means they’re unable to ever move a Fathom Event from one screening room to another. I made several attempts to reach out to both Fathom Events and Regal Cinemas by their Twitter accounts letting them know what had happened but I got no response at all. To the credit of the theater they did offer full refunds (which of course they should’ve done since the Fathom Event tickets are nearly $20) as well as offering vouchers for any other movie any other time including special events and RPX screenings. The people running the theater, and it has to be very thankless job, were very sorry about what had happened but their hands really seem to be tied as far as having another screening. They were unsure if they would be able to make up this particular screening at a later time.

At least we weren’t the only ones having problems with this Fathom Event.

The problem with the audio was a very muffled sound with the music bed actually being listenable but the dialogue was very muted. If you listened really close you could kind of understand the dialog and I was amazed by the number of people in the theatre that seemed to want to watch the production even with the bad sound. I think that speaks a lot to the subject matter and fans of the artist as opposed to people just willing to watch bad exhibition.

Hey @fathomevents the @RegalMovies Hollywood 27 in Nashville screwed up the Fathom screening tonight. Thought you might like to know

— Scott Simmons (@editblog) May 10, 2017

As the editor I wanted the best screening conditions possible. I often think about poor directors and cinematographers in the modern era who do their best to attempt to bring beautiful, cinematic images to the screen only to have them viewed in suboptimal conditions. I once chatted with a friend who hated the movie There Will Be Blood and I couldn’t understand why he hated it so much. Come to find out he watched the entire 2 hour and 38 minute movie on his phone on an airplane. There’re a lot of movies I can think about that is not properly viewed on your phone on an airplane and There Will Be Blood is right at the top of the list.

But back to the screening in the theater; box office numbers seem to be up over the last few years even if tickets sales are trending down but theaters owners and exhibitors are becoming increasingly frustrated with Hollywood. There continues to be a push to lower the theatrical window or to even have movies released in the home at the same time they’re released in the theaters … but for a higher price. The consumer wants this but the theater owner does not. You can do this today if you’re will to pay up.

To continue to have success at the box office theater owners and exhibitors need to continue to offer up a premium experience to those of us willing to pay + or – $20 per person to go to the theater. A number of “innovations” have come along in recent years that helps with that: a premium viewing experience, dinner and booze, reserved seating and kicking out cell phone users are a good start. I think that most of us that go to the theater would be fine with phones being allowed as long as the movies are identified as such and we can avoid them at all costs. But beyond the viewing experience among those kinds of movie distractions it’s the filmmaker who cringes most at the idea of a jungle gym inside the theatre or talking when everyone else is trying to watch the movie.

There were a lot of $20 refunds and Regal passes given out after the screening. The theatre also let anyone at the Fathom event go see another movie that night and get free refills on their concessions. At least the inconvenienced crowd didn’t seem too upset at the inconvenience.

Back to the actual projection of the image to the screen. That is something the viewer can’t do anything about. We sit at the mercy of the theater management and some kind of almost-projectionist sitting in the booth manning a hard drive. Best we can do as theatrical consumers is complain loudly to the theatre when the exhibition goes wrong. Ask for refunds, call the theatre chain, hit them up on social media. And what the theatre chains can do is respond and reply and let the consumer know they are doing what they can do keep the customer returning to the movie house.

Also @fathomevents your survey monkey site won’t let me use the “other” option to express my frustration with this @RegalMovies screening

— Scott Simmons (@editblog) May 10, 2017

I tried to complain to Fathom via their Customer Experience Survey Monkey form that was advertised on-screen before the event began, but that was a bust both on mobile at the screening and on the desktop afterwards.

You know Fathom if you’re going to provide an Other category you should probably at least provide a button for Other so we could continue the survey after choosing Other … I mean … Other was my answer!

Regal doesn’t even have a category on their Send Us an Email contact form for projection and screening issues.

I never heard a reply back from either Regal Cinemas or Fathom Events after tweeting to them about the bad screening experience. Others have had similar experiences and from the several Fathom Events I’ve been to over the years it’s the ones with problems that stick out in my mind. Both Regal Cinemas and Fathom Events could take a page from some of these companies about how to handle customer service on Twitter. I guess I should have tweeted to Regal Problems instead but somehow I don’t think that’s an actual Regal Twitter account. I guess I’ll send this little rant over to them via their contact forms.

The post We don’t often think about exhibition … until it goes wrong appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

First Found At: We don’t often think about exhibition … until it goes wrong

[ronaldmrashid]

When Is It OK To Forsake Stealth Wealth And Spend Up?

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird – Ultimate Stealth

One of the biggest peculiarities for hard working folks who want to achieve financial freedom is that we often don’t know when to stop grinding. Even if we get to our target net worth amount or passive income figure, we keep on going out of habit. After a lifetime of wealth accumulation, to start drawing down principal feels sinful!

Since first writing about The Rise Of Stealth Wealth several years ago, I’m proud to see a strong adoption from successful people who’ve decided to keep things low key. Society was much angrier during the recession, and Stealth Wealth became a way of life for those who wanted to survive. Recently, however, I’ve started to get questions from long-time practitioners regarding when it’s OK to forsake Stealth Wealth and ball out a little. After all, most Stealth Wealth practitioners have seen their net worths more than triple since 2009.

Here are my thoughts for those of you who want to risk the wrath of a jealous society. As usual, I’ve set up some stringent conditions so that you’ll actually feel OK wasting money when the time comes! 

When Forsaking Stealth Wealth Is OK

Forsaking Stealth Wealth is allowed if you qualify for at least THREE of the following conditions.

1) When you hit age 40. You’re half dead at 40. Anybody who rages against your spending after you’ve spent 20 years working is a moron. They either weren’t willing to grind as hard as you, don’t know how much effort you’ve put in, or simply like to blame society for all their problems.

It’s not a big deal for a 40-year-old guy to drive a Porsche 911, wear a Patek Philippe, and own a beachfront vacation condo. It’s not a big deal for a 40-year-old gal to drive a Mercedes SL convertible in $1,000 Manolos, if that’s possible. If you can’t live it up after the age of 40, when plenty of people die in their 50s, then it’s just a crying shame to work all those years for money not spent.

2) When your net worth equals 20X your gross income or more. You’ve reached junior financial independence status once your net worth has hit 20X your gross income, e.g. $100,000 household income, $2,000,000 net worth. You’ve reached senior financial independence status once your net worth is 50X your gross income, e.g. $200,000 household income, $10,000,000 net worth.

If you’re still waiting five minutes to save 10 cents a gallon on gas, aren’t willing to turn up the heat when it’s freezing, or tip your minimum wage earning waiter 20%, you’ve got to slap yourself silly for being overly frugal.

For those of you who want to forsake Stealth Wealth because your net worth is equal to 20X or more of your annual expenses, sorry. Keep on grinding because it’s better to be safe than struggling when you’re too old to work. No exceptions!

Related: Target Net Worth Amounts By Age, Income, And Work Experience

3) If you’ve owned property for at least 15 years. Owning your primary residence is the responsible thing to do because you shouldn’t fight inflation. If you’re still renting, then it’s likely you haven’t come up with a 20% downpayment yet, don’t know what you want to do with your life, and/or don’t know where you want to settle down. That’s fine, because all of us go through this “finding out phase.”

But if you’re still finding yourself, the last thing you want to do is spend your money on wasteful things. If you don’t have a 20% downpayment yet, it’s not a good idea to splurge on a $10,000 trip to Europe on your credit cards! The vast majority of people I know who decided to continue renting since I graduated from college in 1999 are much less wealthy than those who decided to buy. Deny homeownership all you want; there’s a reason why the median net worth of a homeowner is ~40X greater than the median net worth of a renter.

After 15 years of property ownership, you’ve not only increased your equity through appreciation, you’ve also paid down ~25% of your principal through regular mortgage payments. Such forced savings puts you ahead of the typical consumer because the typical consumer can’t save for donuts.

Related: Buy Real Estate As Young As You Possibly Can

4) Your house value at least 20X your car’s value. Let’s say you own a $500,000 home equity and drive a $20,000 car. You’re free to spend more frivolously given your ratio is 25:1. But let’s say you only have a $200,000 home, but drive a $55,000 BMW. It’s clear to me you’re overly focused on projecting status instead of building your wealth to take care of your family. There’s no way in hell you should be spending any more money on things you don’t need. You can be more conservative and compare your home equity to car purchase price as well.

Related: The Fiscal Responsibility Ratio

5) You have at least one additional income source equal to at least 30% of your day job income. If you’ve only got one source of income, it’s going to be much harder to achieve financial independence sooner than the average bloke. But if you can build at least one other income source equal to at least 30% of your day job income, you deserve to treat yourself to some fine shoes.

The person who makes $60,000 a year at her day job and $18,000 a year in freelance work is my hero. She knows that with more time, her freelance brand will continue to grow and so will her revenue. From experience and discussions with other hustlers, 30% is the tipping point where people really start to believe that they can leave their jobs to pursue their passions. Just be careful though. Once you leave your job, you’ve got to start the equation all over again.

The other common way to build an additional income source is obviously through investing. It feels great having your money work for you so you eventually don’t have to.

Related: Ranking The Best Passive Income Streams

6) You’ve consistently saved 50% or more of your income for 10 years. The 50% can include your pre-tax 401k/IRA contributions, your after-tax investment contributions, or a combination of both. After 10 years of saving 50% of your net income, you have 20 years of living expenses in the bank or brokerage account. There’s no reason why you can’t splurge on that three week Mediterranean cruise with a balcony.

If you successfully save 75% or more of your income for three years, you’re also free to splurge. The math is similar to saving 50% of your income for 10 years. Living like a pauper for too long kind of defeats the purpose of money.

Related: How Much Should I Have Saved By Income And Age

7) You have a profitable business that earns at least 2X the median income of your city. One of the nice things about owning a business is that you can deduct meals, trips, vehicle expenses, and other equipment necessary to run and grow your business. If you can be in a fun business, even better!

Attending a conference in a great location is one example of a nice business expense. You can write off your plane ticket, hotel cost, half your meals, taxi fares, and cellular phone usage among other things. Therefore, your true cost is whatever the original cost is minus your effective tax rate.

But running a profitable business can be hard. Therefore, your business must have operating profits of at least 2X the median income of your city before you to start feeling like it’s OK to loosen your wallet a little, e.g. $160,000 in operating profits compared to San Francisco’s $76,000 median household income.

Blogging income statement

Related: How To Start A Website

8) Your kids are independent adults. If you’ve managed to raise independent adults who aren’t coming to you for a mortgage downpayment, a place to live, a car, laundry, or your yummy meatloaf, then well done! There are so many young folks out there nowadays who don’t give a crap about working hard because they know the Bank of Mom and Dad will simply bail them out.

There are kids in high school and college who brag about their fancy cars, even though their parents made the purchase. No wonder they get beat up all the time. What kind of insensitive idiot rubs their wealth in other kid’s faces when nobody has a full-time job? There are college graduates who brag to their friends about their new condo their parents bought for them too. No wonder why they don’t get promoted or paid as well at work. Why should they when they’ve already told all their colleagues they’re rich.

Young adults are savvy nowadays. They know how to convince their parents to pay for everything even as adults. If you’ve been able to instill in your kids the pride of making it on their own, you deserve to live it up. There are just way too many spoiled rich kids ruining it for the rest of us because their parents have no discipline to tell them to make their own fortunes.

Related: Why Millennials Don’t Give A Damn About Money

9) You’ve got a pension that covers all your living costs. If you’ve got a pension, count yourself as one of the lucky few who never has to worry about money again. To earn a pension that covers all your living costs comfortably, that must also mean you worked for at least 25-30 years at the same institution. That is an incredibly honorable feat that must be rewarded given everybody is afflicted with the “grass is always greener” syndrome nowadays.

Related: How To Calculate The Value Your Pension

10) You got a full-ride to college. If you’ve somehow managed to side-step the burden of college tuition through merit, then you deserve to reward yourself for a job well-done. You likely won’t be one of those students who believes he deserves an “A lifestyle” while getting C’s. A full-ride is tuition, room, and board 100% paid for by the school or an outside scholarship. Having your parents pay for everything does not count!

Related: Why Do Smart Kids Make Dumb Decisions About Private School? 

11) You’ve successfully not told anybody how much you truly make for 10 years. When you’re young and insecure, it’s very tempting to tell all your friends how much you make, especially if you know it’s more than most people. By bragging to your friends, you end up making enemies. If you’ve been able to keep your true income and wealth under wraps for at least 10 years, you’ve been able to overcome your insecurity. Your mindset changes from trying to feel better about yourself, to trying to help others.

Related: Never Tell Anybody How Much You Truly Make

12) You pay more than $150,000 a year in total taxes. If you’re paying almost triple the annual household income in the form of taxes, you should be able to splurge on that $100,000 wedding after buying a flawless two carat ring. Such expenditure might keep you in the rat race for years more, but hey, you deserve it. You’re helping subsidize a high percentage of Americans who pay zero income taxes to keep the country humming. Live a little.

If you’re working 60+ hours a week for the privilege of paying $185,600 a year in city, state, federal, and social security tax, you deserve to live a little once in a while!

Related: Scraping By On $500,000 A Year

Or, you can be like this person who makes $100,000 a year, but pays a more reasonable ~$22,500 in property, state, and federal taxes.

Related: How To Pay Little To No Taxes For The Rest Of Your Life

13) You’re donating at least 15% of your gross income to charity. Did you know the average percentage of income donated to charity is less than 5%? If you’re consistently donating 3X the average, you’re doing a splendid job! And hopefully, if you can afford to donate 15% to charity and pay taxes, then you’re likely relatively well off.

Source: IRS Statistics Of Income 2014

Stealth Wealth For Life

Given the good times are back, it’s become slightly more acceptable to live a wealthy life now that everybody else has gotten wealthier too. Just know that as soon as there is a downturn, society will turn on you for still being wealthy if they’re not. Therefore, be forever aware about the economic conditions of your neighborhood and the state of the country in general.

The more mindful you can be about other people’s financial situations, the better people will treat you. In fact, I encourage you to be more humble and seem less knowledgeable than you really are to get ahead. The people who are shouting from their rooftops about how rich they are aren’t as happy as the people who feel no need to do the same.

Readers, what are some more examples when forsaking Stealth Wealth is OK? Do you qualify for two or more of the items above?

from http://www.financialsamurai.com/when-is-it-ok-to-forsake-stealth-wealth-and-spend-up/