A Noteworthy Lesson on Movie Distribution Anyone Can Use & How It Affects Your Haircut

As a high-level executive assistant in the entertainment industry, most of my friends are in the biz. And most of my career being at film studios, it's obvious I love watching movies. I think this weekend was an extreme example. And it's the first time I've done such a thing. Here's an edited snapshot of my weekend.

Fri - dinner & Inglourious Basterds (loved it)
Sat - dinner & Post Grad (eh...)
Sun - dinner & Cold Souls (eh...)

Now, the lesson here is that before you go watch a movie, pay attention to which theatre # it's in and how long the movie has been out. Why? Because if the movie is in theatre #10 on opening weekend that's a bad sign.



I learned all this AFTER it was too late! And I've been in the industry for about 9 years! You learn something new every day!

My friend who used to work in distribution at a major film studio starts freaking out as soon as we sit down to see Post Grad and I didn't know why. I had gone ahead and bought the tickets online for the Arclight at Sherman Oaks. She explains to me that movies only get to the smaller theatres at the back of the venue which are assigned the highest room numbers because the movie will have a smaller audience. I didn't realize that, but it's true. All the huge blockbuster movies are in theatre #1 so that throngs of people exit the theatre happily chatting how great the movie was.

On Sunday when I went to see Cold Souls I bought tickets online waaay in advance. I went to the Landmark at Westside Pavilion. The cool thing was, it was in "the lounge" which is not a regular screening room. Instead of having seats, it has COUCHES. So I picked a two-seater for me and my date. It was really cool cause the couch was leather and only about 40 people could fit in the stadium seating-type room. Very comfy. For some unknown reason, only the first two couches in the room are cloth and orange with round ottomans which my date called "Romper room" and "left over props from Carrot Top's act." LOL Alas, he is also in the biz with his colorful descriptions. LOL ;)

So Cold Souls was in Theatre 10 which I thought was okay because it had been out awhile and older movies end up with smaller audiences around week 4 or 5 so I was in good shape. EXCEPT when I went to the restroom and came back my date told me that the "seating attendant, for lack of a better term" said it was opening weekend of Cold Souls. So of course I'm thinking, oh crap! And I tell him my newfound lesson about distribution and the small theaters are for the crappy movies and what not.

And guess what!?

We didn't really like the movie so I think this little tidbit is true.

If the movie is in a small theater opening weekend it will probably suck.

When my friend told me that story I tried to rationalize it by saying, "Well, if Basterds is out, maybe it's in 1/2 the theatres so by no fault of their own, Post Grad had to be in theatre #10." Yeah, I wish!

So what does this all have to do with haircuts? As I type this post, I realize it's the same concept for haircuts. At hair salons, the best stylists have stations at the front of the store. Why? Because they should be highly visible for any would-be clients passing by or observing the stylists at work. So keep that in mind next time you get a haircut, you want the stylist in the window at the front...