Famous News (Jan 1981)

All Night Shows _ Big Business in Timmins By David Dymond In the following article, David Dymond, Manager of the Victory Theatre in Timmins, examines the programming, pricing, advertising, confection operations and general policies of a theatre taking on an allnight show program. ® Giant all-night shows, properly programmed and promoted can be an asset to any theatre’s operation by creating extra revenue above regular theatre grosses. In Timmins, these all-night shows have become so popular that they are now an “‘event’’ not to be missed. Programming The cooperation of the Booking Department in providing suitable shows is important, and many times, our bookers, (Danny Moses and Charles Klassen) have gone out of their way to get films our patrons would enjoy. First of all, I would suggest not showing restricted movies because they automatically cut the potential audience by at least 50 percent. We cater to a 14-18 year age group — a group at an awkward age for whom recreation and activities are limited. Therefore, restricted movies would spell death at the box office. In our earlier all-night shows, we programmed action films only. Later, we tried comedy with great success and I have come to the conclusion that any genre can be used as long as the subject matter relates to Our target audience. But serious dramas and ‘‘message’’ films should be avoided; it is best to keep the program on a lighter note. Pricing All seats are sold for your regular adult admission price. This includes children attending with their parents or adults. Advertising Advertising is one of the most important aspects of the giant all-night shows. Manager David Dymond gets into the spirit of Horrorama. In the theatre, our one-sheets are placed underneath a large banner which reads: GIANT ALL-NITE SHOW! SUNDAY AT MIDNIGHT. FOUR BIG HITS! This banner is made out of canvas and can be rolled up and used again and again. A local sign shop could do this for you. Make sure to use lots of bright colours — you are not just advertising an all-night show, you are advertising an ‘‘event’’. Post the banner and one-sheets in a prominent place in your lobby, six days prior to the show. We flash the front of the theatre with 11 x 14 stills showing various scenes. from the all-night program. Completely covering all the glass on the front doors, these stills create a lot of attention. On two occasions, we used colorful flyers to get our message across. A deal was worked out with a local printer: we would give him a certain number of passes if he would print flyers at no cost. This could probably be done in your situation. The flyers were placed on the candy bar one week ahead of show time and, approximately five days prior to show time, they were stapled on telephone and electrical poles so everyone on the street could see them. Before putting the flyers on the telephone poles, check with your city hall to see if this is legal in your area. By far, television is the best advertising medium to use to promote all-night shows. I worked out an agreement with our local station, CFCL Television, to aid in our promotion. For fifty single service charge passes, the television station provides approximately thirty spots gratis in the three/four day period prior to the all-nighter. The television spots have been of great help. This type of agreement may not be possible in most markets. But it is worth a try and, if possible, I would give serious thought to purchasing a few spots during the evening just prior to the all-night show. If this is not possible, I would then recommend purchasing some radio spots. A contest with the radio stations giving out passes as prizes could be effective. The disc jockey could ask the question, ‘‘What are the four shows playing at the Victory Theatre Giant All-Night Show?’ The lucky person who phones in and names all the four shows correctly would receive a service charge pass to a regular show. We advertise in the newspaper for three days prior to showtime. If the all-night was on a Sunday, for example, I would use the following lineage breakdown: Thursday — 200 lines, Friday — 300 lines, Saturday — 500 lines. It is important to leave enough space around the movie ads to have the newspaper set your copy in extremely bold type. Copy in very bold type creates a want-to-see attitude and a sense of excitement. Theatre policy such as price of tickets, what time the doors open, and what time tickets go on sale should be included in each ad. Continued on page 26 Premiere Issue, January 1981 25