Bare with me.

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So I know I haven't really been around much recently, but now that I need help making serious life-changing decisions, I run to the only sound source of advice in my life. That's right, Massassi.
I started college wanting to be an architect, and after a year and a half of design studio, I realized I hated it, and now, upon dropping out of architecture, I have also realized that the college I'm at really has nothing that interests me. So I'm taking a leave for at least a year to travel and work.
What I really want to do, however, is something with movies, either get in the business, or open up my own theater specializing in indie films. What I need is advice from anyone whose got any, because google is pretty worthless on the subject.
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I want to open up my own "Mom and Pop" theater that specializes in indie films, and any advice anyone has is welcome.
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Start on Youtube and see if the public likes you.

If Yahtzee could get noticed on Youtube, I'm sure you can.

Oh yeah, good luck with your stuff.

Find a theater that does what you want to do and get a job there. See how you like it.

He wants to host indie films.

A lot of indie films don't have much advertising budget, and you're not going to make a lot of money charging people to see movies they don't know about.

It really depends where you start it up. A city with an already booming art scene, but no really consistent indie theaters would be ideal. A suggestion is to get a big enough space to use it to showcase art and whatnot when not being used as a theater. Also, attaching bars or other social elements tends to help.

I know all of this because our old poetry slam was at an indie theater, and it was one of the best places we've had poetry. Now it's a strip club because no one wanted to pay 10 bucks to see no name, and often bad movies. The only reason they were open for as long as they were was the attached bar.

It really does depend on location. An indie theater nearby my department is doing quite well. But this is because it has a decent cafe and is near a college (well, 2). From what I've seen, indie film theaters work well near college settings, otherwise they seem to fail.

Actually "seem to fail" may be a generalization. But I don't see how an indie film place out in the middle of nowhere could work. Regular theaters would do well pretty much anywhere seeing that the average joe wants to see blockbusters and big budget flicks. Indie films have to rely on select tastes.

The number one spot I have been considering is indeed a college town.
I really appreciate the ideas concerning an attached bar or cafe, that was pretty new to me, and in my research, I have found that some sort of supplementary income will be necessary. the art gallery idea was also particularly intriguing. Maybe I'll try a little one-screen theatre cafe combination in the beginning.

I'd be more concerned about where you are going to get the money and where you are going to find people to fill positions you need filled who are qualified.

Hint: For the most part college students that work at movie theatres are horrible employees. This is only made by the "mom and pop, I work at a small company so I can smoke pot on the job and be late all the time as well as only ocassionally being productive" behavior I'm all too familiar with.



Running a business is running a business. It isn't fun, it probably won't even make you any money. It isn't going to grow unless you put ALOT OF WORK INTO IT. Even then, odds are it will fail you might end up worse off than you originally were.

If I were going to do any college-indie themed business in a "college town" it definately wouldn't be a movie theatre. As cliche' as it might sound a record store, if there already isn't one, would be much easier.