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I'd like to show some older films, some classic (Gone With The Wind etc...) I use a booking agent to book my films, is it cool to book some of these films myself or should I use my booker?

I want to get a film I worked on "The Chipmunk Adventure" as a Saturday Morning kid show. MGM/UA has the title I believe, but I can't seem to find out who to call to see if it's available.

Any thoughts?

Thanks Tom

Your booker should be able to handle these for you. GONE WITH THE WIND is handled by Warner Classics. Any of the MGM/UA titles are now with Columbia Repertory.

LT

Thanks for the info.

Tom Watkins
Magic Lantern Theater USA

As mentioned elsewhere, most distributors won't, or are reluctant to rent older or classic titles to theatres with platters.

Please keep this in mind!

When did platters finally become the industry standard?

They're not. It's just that the likelyhood for print damage is much greater with platters, and they don't want to risk rare or limited items to automation, and having the heads/tails cut off to do so.

You said: "It's just that the likelyhood for print damage is much greater with platters, and they don't want to risk rare or limited items to automation, and having the heads/tails cut off to do so."

Damage is NOT more likely with platters. Carelessness can damage film on both platters and changeover operations.

But those dealing in hard-to-replace prints assume theatres running platters and large reels are more likely to have unattended (i.e., automated) projection rooms where a film damaging situation will not be caught in time. They also do not want to lose frames at the head and tail of each reel at each of the many theatres booked, and so often prohibit removal (splicing) of the leaders.

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You are correct, John. My terminology was flawed. If properly handled by caring individuals, platters can be fine. Unfortunately, many times they are not.