I wonder if Tenbury Town Council, the owner of the Tenbury Regal are going to offer a lifeline to the volunteer led Tenbury Regal Cinema Group?
Tenbury Town Council (and by default, us the Council Tax payers) support the Bowls Club and Tennis Club with thousands of pounds of subsidy each year.
By contrast, they charge the Cinema Group thousands of pounds a year for the privilege of running a community service that is accessed by a far greater number of residents.
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If Town Council can give £500 to someone to put on a panto, can't they contribute £500 towards putting on films?
Has the council said they are not going to help save the Regal or are we speculating
Does anyone know how much the council are charging for rent or do they charge per film?
I think the Council charge £50 per session (including the end of term film for the Primary School). The film distributor charges on average about £90 + 35% of the Box Office Gross, the Courier charges £1560 per year to deliver & collect the films and other costs are in the region of £20.
£50 a session is quite reasonable, but if they can subsidise Bowls & Tennis, why not film?
The cinema group are not looking to make a profit as it's a community benefit organisation, but they do need to cover their costs. Unless the films shown are going to be a very small cross section then, it is reasonable that some are going to be more popular than others. Perhaps the Town Council should have a %age of the Box Office Gross rather than a fixed rent?
The other thing to consider is that unless the Regal is shown to be a vibrant, well used Public Building it stands no hope of receiving the £900,000 Heritage Lottery Grant to help maintain the fabric. Opening the building a few times a year for TADS and TAOS, and the occassional hire by Professional Companies will not be enough.
Make the most use of the cinema now because no one will be able to afford the changeover to digital technology for the Regal. According to Peter Buckingham of the film council, there probably wont be films available other than in digital format in 5 years time.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article4974795.ece
Even if the film industry does go digital, there will be plenty of 'prints' of existing films floating around for some time yet.
Maybe the Town Council regards Opera and Amateur Dramatics as culture whereas, to them, cinema and films is purely entertainment. The Cinema Group is providing a wonderful community service and the Council should be supporting them in every way possible.
Regarding the comment about "existing prints floating around" - the point is that NEW FILMS will be digital hence the need to plan for the future.
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