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Tips For Seeing Free Flicks
By Michael, Guest Writer |Email| |
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As far as entertainment goes, movies offer the best bang for the buck. In any major city compare the cost of seeing movies versus sports events or operas or even, say, The Rolling Stones, and the cost per head is lowest for a cinematic experience.
Of course seeing flicks for free beats paying for a movie any day of the week. |
Become a critic for your college paper, radio station or even a niche website or publication. The average American sees approximately 5 to 7 films per year. A full time critic sees 300 films and probably more if they can stand the bombardment of unceasing celluloid.
Say you're only 16 years old, then approach a local kid's publication or daily newspaper with the angle to cover the teen movie beat. Hone in on your audience and write especially for them.
Work at a theater. Movie employees are always screening films at midnight and if you're the manager you can smoke and drink beer. Plus other theaters provide quid pro quo comp entry to those in the industry.
Most major towns have a film society or club or even film festival that screens films periodically throughout the year for their members. For instance, in Austin there's the Austin Film Society, or in Houston and Dallas local film festivals keep their coterie of supporters flush with monthly promo screenings.
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Speaking of promo screenings, most films preview before their open date in what are called word of mouth screenings. Borat, to take one film as an example, was screened over half a dozen times in my city before it officially opened. Good places to find free screenings are newspapers and movie websites. Try coffee shops, record stores, malls, ah, movie theaters and small boutique stores; these places are always ripe with promotional giveaways. Additionally, promotion teams target such establishments for their freebees. |
When a normal person looks up the show time for films playing down the street they don't say, Hey I want to go see a film from Paramount tonight, or even I'm dying to see a Warner Brothers flick. Have you ever noticed that Warner Brothers films always start with ten seconds of black film leader between the last trailer and the beginning of the film? In other words, there are six major studios (at last count, but someone is always buying someone else) and they all hire regional companies to handle their promotion. Do your homework, find out the companies that do the P.R. for your neck of the woods and contact them. These companies keep lists of people they send free passes to whenever they need to fill a theater, which is usually every week.
Become a filmmaker. Once you reach the rarified air of professional filmmaking you will work your ass off, but in the down time there's usually an associate anxious to show off their latest project. If you become a member of the Academy you get sent DVDs of all the films released throughout the year at the end of the year. In movie speak that makes little sense because that's the time of year everybody is off work and goes on vacation.
Be very nice to everyone you meet. When I was a kid, Big John Hamilton lived in the same neighborhood. Hamilton was a popular supporting actor in John Wayne films in the 60s. Halloween was the best time to go ring the guy's doorbell. He would throw a bushel of Pixie Sticks into my Trick or Treat bag.
Well, good luck and enjoy your quest for finding free flicks
- Michael -
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