Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.

Mal ,'Serenity'


The Minearverse 3: The Network Is a Harsh Mistress  

[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.


Matt the Bruins fan - May 27, 2005 6:16:37 am PDT #7425 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

But the movies aren't trying to sell advertising time for Mercedes Benz or whatever, they're selling a $6-$12 ticket. How likely is it that rich people are going to buy enough tickets to make up for something that's more friendly to the masses?


§ ita § - May 27, 2005 6:18:23 am PDT #7426 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

the movies aren't trying to sell advertising time for Mercedes Benz or whatever

When I go to movies, I'm being advertised to, both inside the movie and before it.


Jessica - May 27, 2005 6:20:43 am PDT #7427 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Movie theatres make almost no money off of tickets. They make money off of showing advertising reels, and concessions.


Matt the Bruins fan - May 27, 2005 6:21:40 am PDT #7428 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

Well, product placement, true. But I think habitual lateness tends to protect me from the prior advertising most of the time—I'm lucky if I catch any previews in the theatre.

At any rate, I was probably speaking more to the issue of what studios are trying to sell, rather than the theaters. Which makes it less of a one-to-one comparison to TV, I guess.


msbelle - May 27, 2005 6:32:29 am PDT #7429 of 10001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

I'm lucky if I catch any previews in the theatre.

!! Wha!! previews are the bestest.


Polter-Cow - May 27, 2005 6:45:12 am PDT #7430 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

msbelle speaks the truth. I'm really irritated by what the theater we usually go to (since it actually has student tickets) does.

They intersperse the slideshow with the trailers.

Seriously. There will be those ads for a few minutes, and then a trailer. And then more ads, and another trailer. So you have to watch the trailers with the lights on. And the sound not cranked up to superstereo. And they lose all the trailer momentum since you keep coming back to the fucking jumbles and quizzes. They do show one or two trailers after the lights go off and the sound's in place, but gah.


§ ita § - May 27, 2005 6:47:19 am PDT #7431 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Does that happen after the movie's advertised start time?

AMC here shows slides, then ads, and then when the start time rolls round we get previews, and then the keep quiet stuff, and then movie.


Jessica - May 27, 2005 6:54:27 am PDT #7432 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

UA/Regal theatres also now have "The Twenty," which is a 20-minute ad/trailer package that runs before the scheduled start time of the movie (instead of slides informing me where I can eat after the movie, and that the rock garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens is in bloom). So by the time the movie starts, if you've gotten to the theatre early enough, you've seen 30-40 minutes of ads and trailers. It's exhausting.


Daisy Jane - May 27, 2005 6:56:09 am PDT #7433 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."

I have no Nielsen box.

Which reminds me, they contacted us the other day. Mr. H wants to do it, but I can't imagine the weird data they'll get from us during the summer. It'll be The Inside, Dallas, Melrose Place, Knots Landing, NOW, Lehrer NH, mixed with reruns of my very favorites- mostly Lost and VM to pick up pieces of their mysteries I may have missed.


Allyson - May 27, 2005 6:59:28 am PDT #7434 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica

Heather, I will bake you cookies every week for the entire run of the show.

What's your fave?