06/17/2016
Hi everyone...I dont know who's more heartbroken...Me or all of you?? I have spent the day answering every call that has come in to try and explain why we arent open..Some people understand and some say "well its the cost to running a business" YES and NO....We opened in 2008, no clue about a movie business but learned so much over the years that has made us capable of doing this. From Movie agent to Movie Companies, vendors, state licenses, how to run our snackbar eqipment, how to put 7 reels of film onto the platters and the list goes on. What we didnt know was digital was coming around the bend. We believed we would eventually need it but not realize the movie companies would completely stop making 35mm film. Last year some companies were and we were limited to what we could play but this year we got the word NO FILM. Alot of driveins have had to close down due to the cost of the upgrade..minimum $50 grand and up (buy machine-installation etc and you are not allowed to do any maintenance on the machine if it has any issues.) You have to call in a digital licensed maintenance company (Movie companies rule and thats one rule of many to be digital). When weighing out the pros and cons you have to think of what income you bring in versus the cost to upgrade. You have to pay movie agent, movies companies get up to $75% gross fee that we collect at door or minimum cost per film we play (could be $300 per film for that weekend only), buy movie posters, shipping film in then back out, food costs for snack bar, all state licenses, gas for stoves/ovens, wages for staff etc...The reason I am explaining this is because I am getting people not understanding why we arent open. We are trying so hard to get the down payment we need. Some are not understanding and saying "well you knew you needed to upgrade, guess you shouldve planned better), not true. We had an idea but never expected up to $85 grand completed, cash in hand. Only a Few companies left that can finance the machine now without a big amount of $$ down. Ray and I are not ones to ask for help, but I am trying to convince him to try and set up a go fund me page...any thoughts as this is breaking my heart waking up every day looking across the street and seeing our drivein "in the dark"...I want to see the movies playing, all the children running around having fun with their family and most important giving back to the community and giving families a place to go to make memories with their family and friends....Sorry this is so long but we want you to know we are working hard to find a way to get back open...I am doing alot of research looking for grants etc...Thank You Annette Dubreuil
