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We have a staff policy that says: if you want to go to a movie at any time you may do so for free and you may bring one guest for free.

But then we have all the rule bending variations:

....I can not get to the mnovies ever. Can my son go for free without me?

.....A husband and 2 kids come and go for free.

.....A person comes in with her 2 kids and 2 nephews too.

....one person works 1 shift per week and goes to 3 movies per week with a guest always.

What is your policy for staff?

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Employee and one guest only. We never variate from that. With the exception of one guest we took the standard retail employee policy. Ie: If an employee works at a store that store may give them a % discount off items the employee wishes to purchase. As an "Employee" benefit. It does not extend to the employee's spouse, kids, mommy, grandpa, uncle Joe, or third cousin removed Buddy Jr.

(Drive-in operator here)...

Our policy is much like Sevstar's. During the Summer, when we're open every day, it's pretty easy to enforce... so long as we stay firm and consistent about it. Otherwise we get some of the abuses Mike's talking about.

Our policy is also a bit more restrictive, in that we only allow (free) staff attendance once per week, and no Fri/Sat freebies for anyone. We also require that the employee clear the free admit with one of us first, at least the day before... they can't just show up with their family and friends and "guilt" the boxoffice person.

Our problem is when we're open on the weekends (early and late-season). Since the staff is working on the only day's we're open, they can't accompany their family/guests, as we normally require. So.... we loosen up that restriction a bit. That tends to come back to bite us, at least until we get a couple of weeks into the Summer season.

[This message has been edited by rodeojack (edited June 23, 2006).]

Employee + 1 Guest.
Employee + Both Parents.
Employee + Spouse, Children.
Spouse, Children without Employee only when Employee is working.

No Employee passes to a show that's close to or expected to sell out.

I allow only the employee in for free. They can have a free soda and a popcorn in a brown bag. If they leave their cup and bag in the auditorium for us to clean up, their free soda and popcorn privilege is suspended for a month.

The theatre I work at has free screeners for workers and there family the day before the movie opens!
It serves as a test to make sure the film was put together correctly and sound and print are 100%!

BurneyFalls: LOL! I like your suspension policy. Too bad we can't enforce that on our customers

We allow our employees to watch the movie for free (no free guests, except for our families that might watch the movie). We also give our employees a free plastic cup where they can fill up their pops and drink them at the theater for free. If they want to take popcorn home with them, we ask that they bring in their own container (i.e. empty ice cream bucket). Any speciality drinks (smoothies, slush puppies, and bottled water) and candies must be purchased at regular price.

Our staff are allowed in free to any session any time. We have had to add that you must be on the roster as weve had a lot of the uni kids come back and get in free but haven't worked for months!
They can have free soft drinks and popcorn while they are working. All other times they get 25% off all purchases. Their immediate family who live with them get their tickets for $4

Our employees get in free all the time except for when I have a known checker on a hot movie. Although we still try to get them in anyway. They earn passes to give to family and friends by working 20 hours in a pay period. That way they decide who gets in for free because of their connection to the theater. They also get free pop and popcorn when at the movie and we don't care if they share it with whomever. Just don't send your friend out for the refill. We have also instituted a policy that employees bring in their own cups and buckets for pop and popcorn as we have to account for the paper goods in the inventory. When we first came here we tried limiting them to one free water cup per day. After going through 100 or more water cups per weekend for the staff only we decided that free cups were no longer available to staff. So now they have their own cupboard for cup storage and they are required to keep it clean themselves.

If you allow staff free admission to see a movie, how about having them fill out an evaluation form to keep tabs on presentation quality? I developed a similar system that had members of the SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) provide evaluations of presentation quality to theatres they visited -- the SMPTE Theatre Quality Evaluation Program, that eventually was copied by the Lucasfilm THX Theatre Alignment Program TAP.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Cell: +1 585-781-4036 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

So, what happens when there is a checker in the theater? Are we allowed to comp employees and family? I've made family pay to get in when we've had a checker. I know this could be eliminated by not allowing comps during an opening week but given our small market it doesn't really matter.

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Tom Watkins
Magic Lantern Theater
Bridgton Maine

Staff +1 are allowed in anytime. Soda and Popcorn is free for them in their own container. I like them to use one of our refill cups for their soda so it does not look like they brought in ourside food or drink.

Depends on how closely you follow the master license you signed with the studios, and whether they care to question the difference between your numbers and the checker's.

Most of the paperwork I have these days is pretty clear about this... ALL viewers are supposed to pay to watch a show (some age exceptions, though). Deviations are not allowed during the first two weeks. After that, you're supposed to get their written OK to let in freebies. The studios don't make any accommodation for letting friends, staff and families see their films for free.

They could probably call for a chat if the numbers were too out of whack. I've never heard anyone say they had been called though.

When I had my quad, I had some show that I set up a special price for... I don't remember what it was, maybe some discount for a disabled group that came in from time to time. Anyway, the "special" showed up on my boxoffice report that was automatically sent by my POS system (which I knew would happen). The studio actually caught that one, and asked for an explanation.

So much for honesty, eh?