From Entry to Exit: Interacting with Audiences

“Good evening and a warm welcome to The Scotsman Picturehouse” is the first line I would say when I introduced the evening’s screening as the Cinema Supervisor for the Scotsman Picturehouse and I would do so for each and every screening, changing it to morning and afternoon when required. This was not the first interaction I would have with my customers nor the last but it was one of the most important and one of the stand-out moments for myself. It was the true beginning of the cinema experience for the audience. The trials of booking, finishing their pre-film meal and purchasing their cocktails and snacks was over and they were finally ready to begin their cinema experience. With this interaction, a short pre-film speech I would give and tailor to each film, the body and mind forget the real world and dive into the world presented on the silver screen. A true cinema experience and a highlight of the incredible importance of, for us working in film exhibition, interacting with our audiences.

It’s often the last thing we think about, with importance often given to programming, aesthetic and other exhibitor’s needs but it is often the key element that keeps audiences engaged and raring to revisit a cinema, film festival, film club or venue. It is something everyone will do differently and, especially in our current pandemic predicament, it is constantly evolving and changing. But its importance remains all the same and underestimating its importance can result in difficult issues down the line. It’s something I really found important whilst working in The Scotsman Picturehouse and working with our parent company to develop our audiences experience.

To give some context, The Scotsman Picturehouse’s audience experience begins in a café/restaurant, not the cinema itself. The cinema offers a meal & a movie package with every film, may it be brunch, afternoon tea or dinner. This would begin in The Grand Café, our sister location, where they would be treated by their staff to their meal choice along with a choice of drink. Once the audience were finished with dining, they would proceed down to the cinema in their own time. They would immediately be greeted by myself by the door where I would prepare their tickets, offer them drinks from our bar and seat them in our lounge area to relax before grabbing any additional drinks or snacks before heading to our cinema room for the start time of their film. Before the beginning of each film, I would introduce them with a short greeting along with information on our bar, fire exits, upcoming films and events along with a personal input from myself before I would begin the screening. Afterwards, they would be free to stay in the lounge, depending on the time, and would be greeted as they left. This is a basic overview of the average experience within the Scotsman Picturehouse which I helped develop and was very much a daily part of my job to perfect, teach and practice. From entry to exit, I always found it important to be present and pleasant in my actions and feel I did so in a professional manner.

Though I will admit the system we developed had both pros and cons. Unlike the ordinary cinema trip, where the only human interaction is often at the box office or concessions, this experience was far more personal. Audience interactions, introduction to the film, personal promotions and guidance given by a human rather than a voice recording, providing a quicker transition to the film itself. I was very lucky to have previously trained in and performed stand-up comedy which has given me the skills and confidence in public speaking, stage presence and responding quickly and appropriately. It gave a special quality to the cinema experience which was one of its unique features. However, one of the downsides is lack of control over the beginning of the experience. Being in the upstairs restaurant which is somewhat separate to the cinema, you would often be unaware of how the experience was going for the audience members so far. They might have had issues with the food or service which would put a damper on their evening and cause tensions on arrival to the cinema. This is where my customer service experience would come into play. Being able to assess the audience on arrival as well as asking them about their day and their meal when printing their tickets was incredibly important to identifying any issues and finding the right solution, may that be an apology or a gesture of good will such as carrying their drinks or offering them a popcorn on the house. This can of course differ from place to place and I always made sure to plan this with my staff so they were aware what appropriate actions to take. We all learn about customer service in different ways, both within cinemas and more often outside of them, but It is always an important aspect that I am glad I planned out and practiced myself in The Scotsman Picturehouse.

But in our recent situation of the pandemic, this has very much changed with most activities and actions of interaction now being forced to take place in digital spaces especially on social media. One stand-out example of this I really admire is the activities of the Social Media team for Filmhouse & Edinburgh International Film Festival. With their cinema, very much the film heart of Edinburgh, closed and the festival postponed and then digitized, they very much sprang into action to produce content and promote the cinema as well as tie back to its current fundraising efforts. This included ‘Filmhouse Recommends’, an interesting series of recommended films by programmers, staff and guests along with articles on these films. They also published previous In-Person events online from previous editions of the festival for audiences to view online. This was backed by constant interactions with digital audiences via Twitter and always referring back to their current fundraising to help support Filmhouse and its activities. It was through this successful and cost-effective method that they were able to hit their crowdfunding target as well as increase interactions via their social media which benefited them when re-opening and, sadly soon after, re-closing. Being able to adapt on social media plans, especially in the face of international crisis, is incredibly important to the sustainability of interactions and engagement of audiences and I feel examples like that of Filmhouse do our industry justice.

I think we also need to explore new ways of interacting with audiences. Especially with a suspected drought of new films upcoming, cinemas and festivals need to think of new ways to programme and invent new ideas to keep audiences engaged and entertained. To some, this may seem costly and risky but I feel, especially with my own ideas, that films events which will be needed can be done cost effectively and provide the same strong impact. This is something I’ve seen before and would like to explore in a further article in the near future. But for now, I feel I have outlined some of my thoughts and ideas when it comes to basic interactions with audiences as well as my own experiences with them as a cinema manager and digital audience member. Developing methods and practices, as well as training staff, in good ways of interacting with audiences might require help and support from fellow industry members and consultants like myself but I feel that in the long term, this is an easy and cost-effective manner to develop a personal relation with audiences and create long term trust and engagement with them.