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Newton's TheoryScript from a well-known local film critic: “How to Keep Greater Worcester’s Independent Movie Theaters Alive”
Editor’s Note: Robert Newton is the film writer for Worcester Magazine, co-founder of the MassBay Film Festival and a filmmaker. This marks his first monthly column with The Pulse. October 2003 - Any formerly overweight person who has managed to keep a sizable amount of weight off for an extended period of time already knows the secret to keeping film culture alive in Worcester. “What did he just say?”Let me lay this out for you. Anyone who has dieted knows that diets just don’t work. There is no Magic Button. You either eat right and exercise, or you don’t. No short-term, fad meat plan or massive infusion of grapefruit will take weight off and keep it off. Diet (not a diet) and exercise is key. Worcester, a viable city in its cultural adolescence, thinks much the same way when it comes to film. We may have the best of intentions, saying that we support grassroots alternatives to the big theater chains, but really, have our actions wholeheartedly supported that? How many of us would recognize the guy who has manned the booth at Cinema 320 for the last 20 years if we saw him on the street? How many times have we passed West Boylston Cinemas on Route 12 on the way in to Wal-Mart without ever taking five minutes to step into the theater’s lobby? How many never got around to patronizing the Bijou Cinema in its first two-year incarnation? Perhaps we haven’t had the time, or we were waiting for another couple to go with or we didn’t want to pay the $2.00 for parking at The Bijou on principle. Whatever the excuse, Worcester almost learned a painful lesson this year when Bijou founder Leslie Courtney announced the closing of her charming experiment in commerce and culture. Were it not for a loyal core of supporters stepping up and pledging their own time and money, The Bijou would now be a sad footnote, spoken of in hushed tones of regret. The ripple effect after the closing of any one of the Worcester area independents would have been devastating. Crisis averted... For now. I am no Mr. Peabody, but I have been to more theaters than there are operating in the entire state right now. I see about a dozen films a week, to which anyone who has ever accompanied me to a press screening will attest is often akin to taking a bullet for y’all (you’re welcome). I take my movies very seriously, and if we are to continue to enjoy this unsurpassed profusion of choices on local screens, so must we all. Let us, as moviegoers, continue to celebrate all that is good in the Worcester-area film scene, and be not afraid of inviting a pox by casting a critical eye on our shortcomings. Here are a few suggestions for the area’s theater managers so that we all might help keep Worcester’s presently burgeoning film scene vital: “Gentlemen, let’s broaden our minds!” — The Joker (Jack Nicholson), Batman (1989)“If you build it, they will come” is a nice, easy way to run a business.. into the ground. The voices in the cornfield left out the part about, “Once they’ve come, you’ve got to work your ass off to keep them coming back.” As highly as you may regard that MBA on the wall, you must be willing to accept that certain formulas and modes of traditional thought do not apply here. Try new things, like the Bijou hosting numerous film series, live performances and mini-fests. Find inexpensive ways to vary the menu at your concession stand. Make a night at the movies a true event. Learn from your missteps. Listen intently to your customers (patrons, speak up!), even when they request with all seriousness that you would make a lot of money showing Three Men and a Baby. “Of course with the birth of the artist, the inevitable afterbirth — the critic.” — Narrator (Orson Welles), History of the World: Part I (1981)While critics certainly enjoy being lavished with limousines, expensive meals and betrothals of photogenic firstborn daughters (dowry optional), a little forethought will get you very far, promotionally speaking. By no means am I suggesting that opinions can be bought, because no matter how distracted one is, the “American Idol” movie is still a crime against man. However, to paraphrase Dr. Seuss, “a critic’s a critic, no matter how small.” Treat the college press (Worcester has over a dozen colleges) and their readership with the respect you would afford a quote-whoring national critic and their demographic. You will fill more seats if you work out a way to make all members of the public — not just the limited vision you may have of your potential customer base — more aware more often of what you’re showcasing. Steve Sandberg at Cinema 320 goes out of his way to loan screening cassettes of his entire seasonal lineup. Send out a press release. Schedule a press screening if you can. Don’t be afraid of being perceived as a shameless self-promoter. If you don’t tell the world about what you have to offer, who will? “It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.” — Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), Office Space (1999)Just because the Bijou has been saved and re-launched as the non-profit Bijou Community Cinema does not mean that the future for it and a diverse film scene in Worcester is assured, so this is no time to get complacent (as if any time is). Maintaining Worcester’s newly svelte figure will require both diet, meaning a more-than-occasional new film to keep filmgoers interested, and exercise, meaning a healthy free-market competition, if we are to ever emerge from the shadow of Boston or even the swanky thunder-stealer to the south, Providence. This will be a perpetual, never-ending effort. West Boylston recently had an amazing five alternative selections — one for every screen. Whether or not this aggressive programming was in response to the revitalized Bijou, it is still a great opportunity to stop competing so much with Showcase North on Brooks Street and start developing a symbiotic rapport with each other, even if some have suggested that this would be cannibalizing an already limited market. In the eyes of others, though, Worcester is a newly awakened legion of culture mavens, a market that has not been fully explored. Now is the time for all of us to fully mobilize and see exactly what that market will bear. I, for one, think all of Greater Worcester will realize that we are lot hungrier for this delicious gourmet stuff than we thought. |
By Robert Newton