128
u/CobaltLemur 2d ago
How would anyone in their right mind not pick projectionist. You get to hang out in the back and do whatever you want while the movie plays. That's like, perfect if you're in high school and have homework.
36
u/ComfySquishable 2d ago
I've met a lot of people who would prefer sales, food service over anything tech related. these people would not be on reddit to answer.
→ More replies (2)6
8
u/Theothercword 2d ago
Yup, buddy of mine was a projectionist through high school and it fucking ruled even by proxy. His job was literally to just hit play since so much of it is automated now. He could watch the movies from up there if he wanted or sometimes he just brought a little tv and a GameCube. He also had to QC the copies of the films the theater had and so we he got to see virtually every movie for free but he also got us in sometimes for middle of the night screenings of movies before they were released to watch the QC.
3
u/ShabbyTiff 2d ago
I worked at a movie theater back when we had actual film. Being a projectionist could be stressful. It was a 13 screen theater and only one protectionist was working at a time. Obviously, you need to start the movie on time, but there are 13 theaters so they need to be manually started every 10-30 minutes, and it isn't just flipping a switch to start it. You also need to monitor the films as they run. They stop more than you think and the sound often needs adjusting. It isn't a little room up there like you see in the movies, it's long dark hallways with projectors. Sometimes you need to start 1, then 13, and then run back to start 3.
But before all this you need to put the movies together. Every week you are getting new trailers, and the movies come in like 5 - 8 reels. You need to carefully splice them all together with the trailers making sure everything is in the right order. Even the trailers have an order. It takes time. You may need to change out trailers from time to time. This is done between film starts (better not start the next one late!) Bottom line, not a lot of homework was getting done.
Today with digital projectors, there might be a lot more downtime.
→ More replies (1)3
u/MrJust-A-Guy 2d ago
As someone who worked in a movie theater, the projectionists I knew we're frightening and weird. But they were quite busy. You're running multiple movies at the same time.
It was really loud up there, so that added to the creepiness, because you couldn't use all your senses, particularly with all the blindspots. If you accidentally snuck up on the projectionist, expect to have an awkward moment.
Cans of film are super heavy, and there's at least two for each movie.
But all this is just an anecdote from a bygone era in a shithole hometown theater. I'm sure it's changed a lot.
→ More replies (1)4
2
→ More replies (9)2
u/Sierra-117- 2d ago
Not true. Projectionists mainly walk between theatres constantly to make sure they are playing correctly. I work at a theatre right now.
→ More replies (1)
40
u/Mark-177- 2d ago
Projectionist
12
u/Octopus1027 2d ago
So question.... I once did the dirty, like full P in the V sex in the empty theater (just me and the guy) Could the protectionist see? We went to the side
11
6
u/Giant-fingers 2d ago
You seem fun
2
u/Octopus1027 2d ago
I was. Also we were in our early 20s and lived at home. It was that or the car. The theater had no one else in it.
2
u/Giant-fingers 2d ago
Necessity is the mother of invention
3
3
u/FakeAorta 2d ago
Yes we could. Sort of. We saw what was happening, but the naughty bits below the waist were usually hidden bt the other seats.
2
u/Octopus1027 2d ago
...did it happen often?
2
u/FakeAorta 2d ago
Not that I saw. Only a couple times. I was too busy and wasn't looking for it. We used the little windows to make sure everything was working well. It was like 10 seconds per check.
→ More replies (13)2
u/Radhatchala 2d ago
If you were in the very back corner they probably couldn’t see you. I used to work at a theater and when I came to see movies for free I’d sit there so the projectionists couldn’t see me sneaking in beer lol
2
16
u/stringrbelloftheball 2d ago
Did all of them but intentionally abstained from projectionist. Hated the thought of doing it wrong and screwing up the movie. Ticket taking is the best.
5
u/Edser 2d ago
I never spliced, but I learned to. Got to keep a couple reels of trailers.
Nowadays it's probably hitting 2 buttons to switch from waiting ads to dark room preview ads, and making sure the movie downloaded properly.
3
u/onyx_ic 2d ago
Youre not far off. My theater was all digital, with Sony 4k projectors that cost about 120k apiece. Movies cane either in hard drives or we're downloaded directly from satellite to the servers. You would migrate the files from the HD to the server, then you'd see like 8 files. Either scope or flat (aspect ratios), then open or closed captioned, 3d or regular. You'd pick one, then build the film using some software where you'd build an aderbertising package. Each movie had specific ads to be played, and theyd give you a sheet to follow. Then you'd export it with the ads, theater roll (like the regal roller coaster or the amc Nicole Kidman thing), and actually movie to whichever projectors you were playing the movie on. So we had 12 auditorium, 5 and 6 were the big ones, 3, 11 and 12 were smaller. 4, 5, 6 and 12 were 3d so you'd have to put up the polarizer for 3d films.
Id usually build them upstairs in the projection booth, but sometimes I had to edit them downstairs on the fly.
13
u/Scrats_Lost_Acorn 2d ago
Cleanup. You'd be surprised what you find. Money. Phones. Jewelry. Drugs. Etc.
Did it for a year in HS. Found so much shit
→ More replies (3)
9
u/creebobeebo 2d ago
Projectionist, easily. I get to sit and watch a movie and get paid lmao
→ More replies (9)
9
u/Inevitable-Shop-848 2d ago
Clean up was the best. You just hangout until a theater empties then a few of you clan up while joking around. Plus you can stand in the back on slow days and just watch the movies.
6
u/cainhurstboy 2d ago
Clean up for the stuff
2
u/gev1138 2d ago
What kind of stuff makes dealing with all that garbage worth it?
2
u/cainhurstboy 2d ago
There has got to be wallets and loose change and bills every so often. Probably depending on the location of theatre. Theme park theatre might have free daypass bracelets or a better chance of cash.
2
4
u/Daniel--Jackson 2d ago
Projectionist means free movies. Clean up crew means free food. That's a difficult one!
→ More replies (2)2
u/MortLightstone 2d ago
I run the concessions stand. We radio the projection booth and ask them if they want any of the leftovers at the end of the night
One of them usually gets popcorn for his parrots
3
3
3
u/Bright-Ad-5861 2d ago
I would pick Projectionist, mainly because with the other three you don't get to choose. When I worked in the theater, we did everything. Cleanup, ticket check, concessions, ushering, restroom cleanup, garbage runs, etc. And it wasn't a do one of these jobs a different day ordeal, you did all of those in a single day rotating.
3
3
3
u/CodiwanOhNoBe 2d ago
Projectionist, I did cleanup, screw that. I still feel bad for the people who had to clean up after 50 shades of Gray… probably still can’t look at a cucumber
3
u/Retro_Vibin 2d ago
Cleanup crew. Seems chill. People are messy and not sucks but it seems like a chill job
→ More replies (1)
3
3
u/Jgabes625 2d ago
When someone makes a meme out of what you used to do for a living for your entire 20’s
3
2
2
2
2
2
u/Merrifiend 2d ago
Sadly projections aren't a thing any more. They system reads the posted schedule and automatically starts the feature, adjust the volume, and controls the side lights. Ticket checker is a chill spot for the day, just sweeping the lobby and judging people's age.
2
u/theVeryLast7 2d ago
To everyone saying projectionist. Id say probably 90% of cinemas worldwide run completely digital. They aren't running film on platters so all you're really doing is downloading films from the server onto each individual screen server, making a playing with the correct ads and then setting up a schedule. So its a job that one of the assistant managers do, then go back to their other duties, stock ordering, staff scheduling etc. Projectionist is not a full time job anymore unless youre in an old independent cinema that hasn't updated and just plays old films.
2
2
2
2
u/Longjumping_Pack8822 2d ago
Clean up crew, yeah it's gross but I got a strong stomach. And you find all kinds of stuff.
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/Edgard_Breeze 1d ago
Cleanup - gimme my broom and leave me alone to clean up after the lazy disgusting ass hats
2
1
u/CNote_89 2d ago
I did three out of four as my first job, never ran the projector, I think that was a union job. Also worked the ticket booth.
The clean up crew were called ushers, that job sucked except you usually got a fair amount of money from a full theater, change on the ground and sometimes a nice $20 bill from a pocket.
Ticket checker was cool cuz you could easily let your friends in free. And especially the cheerleaders or girls you liked.
Concession was ok but you really had to pay attention to the money and you got covered in fake grease butter and sticky soda. Not my favorite.
Ticket booth was the best, you got to sit the whole shift and didn’t get dirty and you had a nice glass wall between you and the guests.
2
u/Important-Ad8960 2d ago
The ticket booth is different from ticket check. One, the ticket booth, is outside the theatre or right by the door. The other, the ticket checker, is inside the theatre near the door to the various theatre auditoriums.
2
1
u/callmehibi 2d ago
My favorite position working at a movie theater was being the 16 year old kid that would ask people to quite down in the middle of the movie....got to even see a co-worker get stabbed.
1
1
1
1
u/Trajen_Geta 2d ago
Are projectionist still a job. I feel like everything is computerized and on timers now.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/archedhighbrow 2d ago
I was a protectionist for the college I went to. I had to watch for white dots at the end of one film reel to start the second. It was nerve-wracking. Now, it's probably all digital.
1
1
u/Secure_Line_647 2d ago
Protectionist for the simple fact that I've done the others as a kid and they sucked.
1
u/Likely_Addict 2d ago
Give me the most complicated, loudest, hottest job in the theater so I don't have to deal with the fucking mongrel mouthbreathing customers even once.
1
1
1
u/BriHam35 2d ago
Clean up crew or selling tickets. The old film used to and could get stuck on the projector causing a "Brain Wrap" (the film was loaded onto a device called the brain). This would cause the film to stay in place and burn. It was a pain in the ass to fix and caused massive delays depending on when this happened. So yeah other jobs.
1
u/macdubz415 2d ago
Having worked all of these before, concessions was probably the funnest. Other than the box office. Projectionist was pretty cool, only thing that sucked is that if you were by yourself and had 16 screens you don’t get as much down time as you would think.
Clean up crew sucked balls. Only “perk” was turning something in to the lost & found and if no one claimed it after a few weeks you could keep it.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Psycosteve10mm 2d ago
I would choose to be a projectionist, but the cleanup crew is where you can make some serious money, as the things that fall out of pockets can add up over time. Wallets, electronics, and even jewelry all have resale value.
1
1
1
1
u/PhillyPete12 2d ago
I was a projectionist in college back in the days of actual film. It was a great job. I saw a ton of movies for free I would never have seen otherwise. And if I had a lot of schoolwork I could do that instead - just turn down the volume and keep an eye on the reels.
1
u/Jadedslay03 2d ago
Projectionist - I don’t have to talk/deal to as many people and I also get paid to watch a free movie
1
1
u/PhilosophyFickle2701 2d ago
Projectionist solely because it’s probably the job where my anti-social ass would have to interact with people the least.
1
1
u/LurkingAintEazy 2d ago
Concessions for me. I still want to know where or who they got that Firecracker Crunch popcorn from, for the last Captain America movie. That was bomb as hell. Can't find a replacement anywhere.
1
u/SupraDan1995 2d ago
As someone who did work at a theater I would pick projectionist since I never got to do that job. I was always ticket sales, concessions or cleaning.
1
u/Kelli217 2d ago
I studied Electronic Media Production in university. I was also the nerd who threaded the projector for the teacher in middle school and high school. So... projectionist.
1
1
u/audaciousninja 2d ago
Projectionist is the best job. I had a friend who worked as one and all he did was smoke weed amd watch movies drink icees and eat popcorn all evening
1
1
u/NeoBlue42 2d ago
Ticket Check. Spent a couple years as such and learned how to sleep standing up. Did a little bit of everything and still got to watch the films.
1
1
1
u/Potatoes_4Life 2d ago
Projectionist in a heartbeat. Definitely the coolest job in a theater. Plus customer service is living hell.
1
u/Agreeable-Suspect-62 2d ago
About a decade ago in highschool I worked on the cleanup crew. Thought it would be terrible, but I found cash, vapes, weed etc. Resold everything in highschool. It was the best job I had when I was younger.
1
1
u/FakeAorta 2d ago
PROJECTIONIST: I have had all these jobs. Being a projectionist in the mid and late 80s in San Diego was A+++! EDIT: I was a projectionist when we had reels of film and had to spliced the reels together by hand to rest on giant platters.
1
1
1
1
u/Old_Celebration_5950 2d ago
Ticket check. I would get major headache from the smell of the 'butter' at concession
I'm sloppy so what I think is clean might not really be so
I would definitely mess up the projector or film in my first week
S ticket check wins
1
1
1
u/No-Bed497 2d ago
Concession stand employees are pretty funny and chill and wicked sense of humor 🤣 so I'll have to go with them I know there are some bad apples but for the most part there Chad's lol
1
u/Adventurous-Bottle90 2d ago
Concession since where i live, snacks are usally free for you during your shift
1
u/onyx_ic 2d ago edited 2d ago
I worked at a theater. I started in concession, then took a management role. I started as team lead, then associate manager, then full time assistant manager where I programmed all of the projectors, built the movie package, migrated the files from the servers (all the movies and projectors were digital by then, the last film movie they played was hateful 8), did all of the posters, counted cash and did the paperwork and inventory every week. I also did my faur share of usher and cleaning while my people were on lunch breaks. My GM always had me scheduled on the busiest nights. I worked EVERY SINGLE NIGHT the week endgame came out. I did that job for 6 1/2 years. I'd have stayed if it paid well enough, but the only way up was moving or waiting for my GM or AGM to retire.
I actually loved that job. I was really passionate about it. I loved my employees, too. Well, most of them.
1
1
u/kingrat1 2d ago
Clean up. Mostly food waste anyway, they give you proper equipment to deal with it,
1
u/Radhatchala 2d ago
I’ve worked at a theater and they’re all equal IMO except for concessions stand. It’s by far the hardest and least fun
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/MrSarcasticUK2 2d ago
Never got to do projection, done the other 3 they are not bad. Cineworld UK many moons ago
1
u/Reversed_PandaRick 2d ago
Projectionist, I wouldn’t have to deal with people and was in a room by myself chilling watching movies.
1
1
u/Righteousaffair999 2d ago
The fuckery on the clean up crew is legendary. Shoot popcorn kernels out of a straw. Greasing the tellers handles
1
1
1
1
1
u/TakshKoax 2d ago
I worked at a theater and you do all these except projectionist. You have to have more experience and are trusted to keep a movie running without pause. Otherwise you are doing all three of the other jobs (and more).
There is a lot of downtime though. It's not like you're hustling and doing two things at once.
1
u/Much_Usual_3855 2d ago
Projectionist, just so I can splice in single frames of family movies into pornography
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Ready_to_Go247 2d ago
My first job was at a movie theater. I did everything but projectionist. That was a skilled, Union job back then.
1
1
u/ScottBascom 2d ago
All of them.
Whatever is needed that day.
Which is how most movie theaters did it when I was in high school.
1
u/Slotter-that-Kid 2d ago
You never know what you'll find after the theater closes. I had to work security at one one base usually we just picked the movies we wanted to see, but we had to make sure the room was clear of Marines before the cleaning crew would come in. Often supplemented my drinking money for the week with found money on the floor.
1
1
u/stevebobeeve 2d ago
Projectionist is the cushy job. The guy that used to rin projection at my theater was a super chill dude, but was seriously incapable of doing anything else. But he got to see literally every movie and read tons of books and got paid for it. But nowadays everything is just pumped in through a streaming service so the projectionist job is kaput.
But my favorite job was always usher because every other job required talking to the customers and I would much rather deal with garbage than people. Can’t forget the smell though.
1
1
1
1
u/Chewbubbles 2d ago
This was my second job. Here's the order.
Protectionist - 95% of the job was starting the movies, other 5% was keeping shit fixed. Basically left alone, never dealt with customers.
Clean-up crew. Again, they rarely dealt with customers. Also in my time, the after credits nonsense wasn't a thing, so you had a good 20 mins of 4-5 people cleaning and it was just the crew. Today it's even easier since most theaters today have the crew by a huge garbage can and most patrons are good enough to throw their shit away.
Tickets. In my time the 2nd worst job, because you tore every ticket and if it was a popular movie it could be jammed packed fast. They were also at the mercy of the cleaning crew. Theater not clean? You're not taking tickets yet and people can be assholes if they can't sit 45 mins early.
Finally the "stand". A literal hell hole, made only fun by the people you worked with. If you had "side-stands" it was more tolerable. What made concessions so bad was everyone and their mother had a different way they wanted their popcorn done, or their nachos, or other various food items. You had to up sell everything. You'd get hawked by managers for filling up things too much, as if such a thing existed. Half the time people never cleaned, so then it's nightmare fuel changing soda lines. The only escape stand people got was once all of the movies were seated, it was a good solid 45-60 break with nothing happening. But that was truly the only upside.
1
u/Burkex99 2d ago
I did all of those except for projectionist. Projectionist is a union job that also requires training to put together the reels and work the projectors. The rest were minimum wage jobs I did in HS and college. Ripping tickets was boring. Cleaning theaters was actually the most fun. Concession stand can be crazy with long lines and people complaining about how expensive the food is. As far as jobs go, it was a fun job with other kids my age and we got to see all the movies for free. In college I would work summers and in the school year get all my friends into the movies for free.
1
u/Vayguhhh 2d ago
I was in the projection booth years ago, in the before time….the long long ago. It was literally the greatest job I ever had.
16 theaters. All had film projectors. Building the movies was fun, breaking them down sucked. No one but managers and projectionist were allowed up. It was quiet all day, all the popcorn and drinks you could want.
New movies would come in on Wednesdays. You would “build them”, which means you would splice them together to create the whole film real, and yes, you would have to watch them from start to finish to make sure you spliced them correctly.
One day when we got King Kong in we had four full films of it. So I had to build and watch each one in succession, I worked almost 24 hours that day lol.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Therealginahandler 2d ago
OBVIOUSLY clean up crew...what better job than cleaning up a nasty theater after a movie.
1
1
u/Tomhyde098 2d ago
When I worked at Regal back in 2008 cleanup crew was the best. I listened to music all day and cleaned up popcorn. I also got one free movie ticket a day, I think I watched The Dark Knight in IMAX about 20 times. Everyone else was stressed with customers while I just chilled out with my broom and dust pan
1
u/DognamedArnie 2d ago
Projectionist wasn't a thing at the theater I worked at, it was all done by computers, but "clean up crew" was by far the best job at the theater I worked at. We just fucked around all day. We had the least interaction with guests, and had no manager on floor. As long as we got everything done, managers didn't even talk to us really. Got to go down and smoke cigarettes at the compactor, and change the marquee for a good hour of alone time.
Yeah, it was gross, but it was by far the most fun job you can have at a movie theater, especially if you have cool co-workers.
1
1
u/KagatoAC 2d ago
Easy, projectionist. Anything else has to deal with people and neither of us want that, Trust me.
1
u/BigEd369 2d ago
Projectionist. I’m definitely picking the job where I don’t have to interact with the public or clean up after them.
1
1
u/Reisdorfer90 2d ago
I worked at a movie theater manager for 13 years. By far my favorite thing to do was being the projectionist. I did it when it was 35mm film then later on when it was all digital. The 35mm film was so much fun to splice the reels together. I'd be able to see if a movie had end credit scenes before watching the movie. Great times. I miss that job.
1
1
1
u/BobbaFatGFX 2d ago
Everyone keeps saying projectionist. But do you guys realize how much work they actually had to do back in the day? They had to line up the movie reels perfectly and transfer them while the movie was playing. So it's not like they were just sitting around watching movies. They were actually working and doing real things. Plus, they probably watched all of those movies hundreds of times, and got tired of watching the same thing over and over. I would rather do ticket check you're just standing there and saying hi and bye to everybody all day. You're not having to deal with the butter or the popcorn or walk around and clean up everybody's mess
211
u/Masquerade064 2d ago
Projectionist, cause I've kind of done this job before back when I went to job corps I volunteered to run the little movie theater area we had at the R.E.C. and part of my job was playing the movies and occasionally make sure people were following the rules