Now I keep meaning to get an interview with a couple of my local privately owned cinemas and get some interesting insights into being a privateer in the big chain business, but I just haven’t had the time as yet, hey life is busy. Don’t worry though, I will do it, even though I’ve discovered the Moxie blog, a story of how to make your own cinema…and I mean a real cinema, not a front room one.
Here’s just a few quotes from an article written about them that they reprinted on their blog. The whole site makes for an interesting read, and gives you a small insight into the pain involved.
Right now, though, The Moxie is just a large space with a glass entrance facing Walnut, but much of the work has already been done. Debris has been cleared, projection equipment acquired, and the chairs for the 73 person seating capacity have been
ordered……Dan, who ticks off all the hats that he and Nicole have had to wear: Construction, electrical work, duct work, carpentry, sound proofing, and “painting and more painting.” He wearily describes the laundry lists of headaches that arise, from permits and licenses they had to obtain such as a liquor license, a retail sales license and building permits, to countless other nightmares such as movie distribution rights to drawing up contracts with vendors. “My back is aching just thinking about it.”…
…The Chiltons, with just $2,000 in savings and some tenuous financing, set out to overcome the gauntlet of obstacles. “It will always cost twice as much and take four times as long,” admits Dan, “…but we’re not doing this to get rich…obviously.”…”I measure days now by how much goes out and how much goes in.” One day it is architectural plans that cost three times what was expected; the next it is something simple, like a popcorn popper that runs $1,400.
A tough existence, but wouldn’t it be a hugely rewarding and fulfilling one?
