so i've been holding all of this in since the dobie was closed last august (2010). it's gotten worse and worse over the last several months. mainly due to the fact that every so called "IN" i thought i had, well, it just wasn't the case. there was no "IN". people only want you when they can get stuff out of you, i guess. once they get it, they toss you out like a man whored dixie cup.
here goes.
when i took over running the dobie in july of 2009, i knew it was heading for closure. numbers were beyond horrible and i'd heard tons of rumors that it was going to be closed from all corners, except LANDMARK. naturally, they have to protect their interests, i understand, and after a few go rounds of talks with them, it was pretty much understood that i knew what was up and i knew they couldn't say it to me. rules. alright.
so i began project SAVE THE DOBIE or whatever. at first, it was a goal to take over and run it myself, then chris entered the picture and it was going to be our project. problem one, can't get MONEY. that makes the world go round and it just wasn't going to happen.
step two, contact rich people with a connection to the historic theatre. i contacted richard linklater and q. tarantino. linklater got back to me relatively fast and we conversed and met a few times over SXSW in 2010. from there, the austin film society got involved. this is rick's non profit organization in town. he hooked me up with rebecca campbell and they informed me that AFS's long term goal was to have a theatre of their own. no more renting the alamo at sky high prices, easy going programming your own thing.
step three, pretty much put everything aside, but AFS and their involvement. i began to work with rebecca and the entire team on how we could transform the dobie into a great wonderful theatre again and make it the best for AFS. i was all for it and did everything i could to help. i worked on my own time to prepare financial reports, repair lists, much need improvements, and prices, and everything they wanted from me, i did within my power. on my own time. no money, no perks, i just wanted the theatre saved and turned into something it's original idea had.
step three point five, contacted the landlords to the property. informed them if WORSE comes to worse, i will run the theatre for them, but they have to be the OWNERS of the business, and i would be the base manager and handle all things on that level. in comes a suit from new york and we talk and give him a business plan etc. then he publishes an article in the newspaper about it, leaving me nameless for fear of complications with my job at landmark. at this point, it was in the paper and landmark came CLEAN with me, told me we would close at the end of August 2010, but can't tell the employees. i did. i can't be like that to employees. i had to honest and let them know, hey come august, look for another job, and if you stick around with me, it will look better and be better for you, me, and the company. and guess what? i didn't lose any employee early due to this. they all stuck around till the very end, i will love them dearly forever for that.
step four, contact scott dinger, original dobie man who made the place great. we met with him and he seemed interested, but really he's got a lot going on and it just wasn't in the stars.
step five, afs brings in their board of directors to look around. who's on the board? only tim and karrie league, owners of the alamo drafthouse. does anyone think that they want afs to have their own theater? sure they are on the board, they have support for the organization, but it means losing money for their local theatre chains? tim league is a known for being competitive and after finally shaking the infamous hand of his, i thought he's understand at least what my point
of view was, aside from afs. after all, at the opening of the highball during a fantastic fest feud, i passed him my card and asked him, well, sort of begged him,
to help me save the place. make it an alamo, whatever, it doesn't deserve to go dark.
(i know people think it was about me losing my job, but it wasn't, i love the dobie, it's my favs, the first theatre i ever came to in this city, nothing else like it. hell at THIS point, it might have been one of the only theatres in town to be using 35mm projectors, since everyone and their overweight dog is going digital. it was really an elbow grease labor or love, and i'd love to say i tried my best, but i can't, i got lazy)
afs, started having architect after architect come in and do surveys and that seemed
to go on for ages, which is understandable. i wasn't hearing much from them, but tried to check in with rebecca campbell, the executive director, as often as i could and i really was under the impression we were good working contacts at this point. we seemed to get along very well. shit, afs even paid for me to take THE BIRKMAN METHOD, a several hundred dollar test that tells your everything about yourself, how you work, and how you work with others. i thought afs respected me and valued my work.
come july 2010, haven't heard from afs, get a call from landlord. he tells me that afs is no longer interested, because the remodel they want to do will cost about half a million dollars. hmmm, why didn't rebecca call to tell me this? don't know. is landlord hearing them right, surely rebecca would have called me. no. she didn't. i called her. what's up rebecca? she replies with a oh we are still
looking but it doesn't look good. oh really? first time i'm hearing that it doesn't look good. rebecca, the landlord told me that afs pretty much pulled out?
she tells me, that yes, the board of directors were not wanting to move forward and that the remodle would be an insane amount of money. as tears ran down my cheek while on the phone with her, i'm sure that i grew silent and tried to just end the call as fast as i could so that i could emotionally break down. i was hurt. not by the fact that they couldn't do it. only by being shafted and out of the loop. ONE MONTH before the theatre was due to close, i find out the main people i thought were going to ride in on white cinema steeds and save the damsel that was the dobie, were out.
oh well, right, next step. i understood. i still understand. and i wouldn't want afs to even do it unless they could make it work for their society on their terms. maybe they didn't know i felt that way but i did and do. it's business. and it wasn't making business sense for them to move forward.
hey, but we're still cool, right afs? i sure thought so.
after that happened, i got insanely busy with two things: A.) the landlord wanted me to run the place and B.) closing the landmark portion down.
i was told to hire a film booker, get vendor etc. so with one month to go, that's what i did, followed the landlords instructions and i was contact, but still nervous. i was pretty sure dobie was going to be alright. the days grew closer to the end and i wasn't taking too many chances, i watched all teh 35mm film prints i had purchased since taking over the dobie, i rented jurassic park out of my own money and invited as many people as i could think of for one last dobie summer party.
it was great. i will always see it as the last horah!
with less than one week left, the landlord called me and told me the bad news A.) their bank wouldn't lend them the money to open the dobie and B.) they wouldn't be allowed to self operate anyhow, making the entire process null and void. hey fucking landlord, maybe you should have fucking found that out in january when we began this, not a week before close in august. i could have spit on everything.
one by one every single option was falling through.
after that, i knew it was over, and i felt like it was all my fault. i didn't try enough outlets, i should have made extra effort to try things without afs or the landlord. i just waited for these other companies to handle everything and i lost of the most important things to me, not to mention a chunk of the austin film community. history was made at this theatre. and now i hear it's turning into a fucking church. i just can't take it. house of cinematic magic, not the lord.
i couldn't really give interviews to press, as per landmark's rules, so all of this was just bottled up between me, chris, and dave jackson. i couldn't even tell the staff any of it, although, i'm pretty sure they had good ideas as to what was going on. shorter and shorter the days grew, and my boss from landmark flew in to take the place down. it was stripped. all gone, minus the theatre seats and room decorations(themes).
the last time i did the outgoing time recording, all the staff gathered in the office and we played "don't you forget about me" by simple minds on the recording and said goodbye. my boss was kind enough to let me build, watch, and break the very last 35mm film to play. what was you ask? the last night the dobie was technically open, we had a pre-view screening of Easy A. that's right, the emma
stone vehicle closed out the night. and what song played over the credits? a cover version of "don't you forget about me". i lost it. as i sat in the back of the theatre and credit began to roll of the song, i knew it was the last credit sequence, the last 35mm print, the last of the last, no more. i couldn't stop the tears from eyes, it just overtook me and i broke down. i couldn't handle it, so i ran into the projection booth and called chris. i couldn't stop saying that I FUCKED UP, I GOT LAZY, I LET IT DIE, I COULD HAVE DONE SO MUCH MORE, but i hated myself at this moment, more than usual. i let everyone and everything i knew way, way DOWN. i sat in the blazing hot projection book for the last time and wept as i broke down the very last 35mm print.
we closed it.
we said goodbye.
i put a nice goodbye message on booth sides of the marquee.
check out all this media coverage, that was too little, too late.
Daily Texan - Dobie Closing Article
KXAN - Video Coverage & Article
Video Coverage & Article Nick did an interview that wasn't allowed
KVUE Video Coverage & Article
all the dobie in a truck
we got drunk, went swimming, and got drunk more.
a week later, i took the entire staff out for karaoke and drinks.
i wish i saw them more. i see one from time to time and i hope they are well.
after my employement ended with landmark, i went to my friend, a reporter for the Daily Texan, he kindly wrote this
this article.
landmark offered me two other theatres, but it wasn't going to happen, because i love my boyfriend and frankly wasn't ready to leave austin.
then what? unemployed. i though i made some good contacts and i sort of know
what's going on in the town, i should be able to get in somewhere. no. didn't happen. i contact afs to say, you know, thanks for everything, good luck, if there is anything you ever need, just ask. rebecca did not reply, but had another person leave me a message. later that night i saw rebecca at aff, black swan was showing.
i figured, it was time to see if i could get a recommendation letter from her.
i sent a few emails and left a voicemail or two, none to be returned. finally, she responded saying that she was simply too busy to talk to me. and it came off a little pissy. so i emailed her asking if she'd be willing to write me a short recommendation letter. never heard from her again. did i do something? don't really know, probably never will. it frosts my cookies a little bit to think all
the crap rebecca and i went through and all i did to help and now, she CAN'T even space 120 seconds to speak to me. fuck?
during all of this time i sort of got to know kelly williams from the austin film festival as well, but then after finding out the dobie was a goner, i missed a very important meeting with him and several aff reps. i don't think i'll ever be able to undo that damage. the honest truth, which is what i told them, i spent most of the previous night upset, crying, and overslept the next day.
so i've messed up two major parts of the austin film community at this point. ausitn film society and austin film festival. shit, where else can a girl go?
the alamo drafthouse.
i spoke with several people at the drafthouse, mainly this new guy brought in to CLEAN HOUSE at the village. be brought me in for an interview and it seemed to go every well. never heard back from him. talked to dan cofer, one of my predecessors, a GM of the dobie, that was fired or quit, or something. it was fishey, but whatever, i love dan, he's the greatest. he was hired at the alamo south lamar as the projectionist head. he's full on staff, no go. national genre film archive, the non profit organization the alamo began to make more money of the bajillion 35mm print they own, they fired their director, which i'm told is more of a "title" and all the guy did was ship prints. i can do that! i can do that with my fucking arms tied, eyes closed, mouth gagged, whatever!!
dan even told me the HR lady for the drafthouse was asking about me. i never heard from anyone after that. i even have some higher up aquaintences there, but nothing. yes, i've been childish and unprofessional infront of a few of them, but what does it really boil down to? don't really know. dan, lars, cesar, hr lady, no one ever got back to me, or gave me a reason. am i just not good enough? dan was good enough, but he manned the dobie way longer than i, maybe i'm just too green? i really don't know.
maybe it's like an insider said, "tim league DOESN'T really like you." say what?
i've never even had a fucking conversation with the guy. we've exchanged less than 100 words with each other, so i'm not sure how he doesn't really like me, i'll most likely never know. but i do know that a job at the alamo isn't looking good.
i've been told it's pretty much a boys club in there offices, but there's tons of women working for them.
now that being said, the part that really pokes my ass, is that i've seen the alamo hire countless regulars into their system and nepatism and WHO YOU KNOW is something they do all the time, shit, if you're fucking a programmer, it seems like you can get your own series pretty easily.
it's gotten to the point where i can't even go to the alamo, because when i'm there all i can think about is:
1.) this place sort of put the dobie out of business(not entirely, i know that)
2.) this place doesn't think i'm good enough to work for them
3.) i pretty much moved to austin because of the alamo drafthouse, and for what?
4.) i'm paying for overpriced food, that's not that good, all to make tim league another million dollars
5.) i hate it. i can't even be there, without all of these things rushing through my tangled mind grapes
violet crown? oh, yeah, i heard about it as soon as i contact afs. i figured, good, we need more art houses. the guy who use to run landmark, is running it. good. this looks positive. after the dobie closed, i met will bill banowsky. it seemed to go very well. he said get back end of 2010. did that. violet crown is listed as hiring on their facebook page. not only have i not heard anything as of yet, neither have any of my former dobie employees that have applied. i feel like the dobie is a coffee stain on our resumes for this. the violet crown really feels like it's opening a new door, a door that closed with the dobie and i want to be a part of it so bad i can taste it. i would work so hard for them, and it's not like it would be hard for the form CEO of landmark to call up my former direct boss. pretty sure he knows her, and she can tell him how KICK ASS i am.
she knew how good i was, and i couldn't appriciate her more than i do now, that i'm not with them anymore. i'm really ready to just flock back once my lease is up, unless i find something amazing. that is the deal i made with myself.
granted, i've left a ton of details out of this account, and naturally there are small factors that helped or didn't help, but when it's all over, i feel the like the one thing i came here to do, i failed at. i feel like everyone that seemed to be on the same page as me, was only on that page when it was convienant for them.
business. fucking business. where's the god damn heart?
it all starts from the heart and soul and drains into money buckets.
so austin film community, you go to sundance, you go to your art house convergance, you have your high earning income, nice houses, and fancy cars.
i'll be here.
trying to make things inspired.
alone if i have too.
blue starlite mini urban drive in, you've got it right so far.
it would appear to be the last chance i'm getting.
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