egotrippin
Senior Member
It makes me feel old when a building whose construction I followed on UT is getting reno'd. Where does the time go??
Toronto Festival Tower and tiff Bell Lightbox | 156.96m | 42s | Daniels | KPMB
ProjectEnd
Superstar
Pretty amazing that two posts above @Northern Light's, the preceding one is a decade old...
rdaner
Senior Member
Pasted by Lightbox yesterday and they have already started the renovations. Didn’t realize that they would be so soon but makes sense if they want to be finished by festival. Don’t know where the new outdoor screen would go.
Northern Light
Superstar
rdaner
Senior Member
I was by Lightbox again and it looks like something is going on in the Members Lounge. But no permits! Hmmmm. 
artyboy123
Senior Member
Toronto condo owners are getting huge payout after falling balcony glass incidents
Select condo owners in Toronto (who one could call lucky or not-so-lucky, depending how you look at it) are now in line to receive some potentially...
www.blogto.com
This popped up in the website.
christiesplits
Senior Member
Bell is pulling out as long time sponsor of tiff, starting in 2024.
www.thestar.com
Given the stature of tiff as one of the premier global film festivals, I suspect there will be other sponsors to take Bell’s place, including brands with global reach. Think credit cards or tech companies.
Bell is ending its long-standing TIFF sponsorship, sources say
In a blow to the Toronto International Film Festival, the telecommunications and media giant, a sponsor since 1995, is moving on after this year’s event, sources say.
www.thestar.com
Given the stature of tiff as one of the premier global film festivals, I suspect there will be other sponsors to take Bell’s place, including brands with global reach. Think credit cards or tech companies.
Argol
New Member
Definitely doesn't seem difficult for TIFF to resell this spot. RBC is already a major sponsor and could step up further – alternatively, I always thought that putting aside RBC's present sponsorship slot, Scotiabank often felt like a natural fit, given they already have made such a branded investment in the movie space (unless there's any Cineplex exclusives that would prevent them from tying up with TIFF too).
Bayer
Senior Member
And TIFF is "pausing" its relationship with Therme according to the G&M.
rdaner
Senior Member
This is the first advertisement I have seen for the reworked members lounge. Taken 7 September.
rdaner
Senior Member
Varda open. Third floor has had a bit of a Reno. Taken 20 October.
Towered
Senior Member
Carpet...in a bar?
christiesplits
Senior Member
Canadian Business: How Did TIFF’s Lightbox Become Its Money Pit?
The outlook was bright for the Toronto International Film Festival when the arts organization opened its sparkly King Street hub 24 years ago. What happened?
How Did TIFF’s Lightbox Become Its Money Pit?
The outlook was bright for the Toronto International Film Festival when the arts organization opened its sparkly King Street hub 24 years ago. What happened?
canadianbusiness.com
Northern Light
Superstar
Canadian Business: How Did TIFF’s Lightbox Become Its Money Pit?
The outlook was bright for the Toronto International Film Festival when the arts organization opened its sparkly King Street hub 24 years ago. What happened?
How Did TIFF’s Lightbox Become Its Money Pit?
The outlook was bright for the Toronto International Film Festival when the arts organization opened its sparkly King Street hub 24 years ago. What happened?
Very good piece and I agree with pretty much every conclusion the author draws.
The general tone is that the organization doesn't seem to have good business sense and hires/promotes people who lack the skill set/experience for the jobs in which they are placed.
The festival is too disconnected and too corporate and has alienated many cinephiles and some of the broader public.
Prices are too high, the building (Light Box) poorly laid out, and venue is poorly run, the website is confounding and entirely non-intuitive.
****
Other than senior management who mostly avoided any contact with the author, and who conspicuously failed to answer a majority of questions posed to them........
What stood out to me is that the Light Box as a venue brings in less than 1M in annual ticket sales (for reasons I can't fathom the exact number is a secret).
Excluding 2 weeks of the main Festival, there are 50 weeks and ~350 days per year. The venue has over 1,300 seats but I'll round down to that number.
That's 1,820,000 sellable seats at 4 shows per screen per day. At a mere 10% of capacity, that's 182,000 seats at $10 per ticket, that would generate $1,820,000 per annum.
This implies lots of times when theatres are sitting empty, and/or attendance below 5% of capacity. The latter lines up with my own experience at the venue many times.
While I've been in the odd film to attract 50+ people; I've also been one of 10 in the largest auditorium they have on many an occasion.
Put simply, the venue is badly run and the programming poorly executed!
****
Rule 1: Program the majority of new films the same way Cineplex would, they do it that way for a reason. Meaning that the film should run 4x per day or more, for 7 consecutive days minimum at the same exact times every single day.
This allows people to drop in to see a movie w/o too much planning, and gives a chance for a film to build momentum from good audience reviews.
Rule 2: Almost never schedule a film in Cinema 5 which is hardly a screening room.
Many people have larger TVs (ok, that's hyperbole, but it is not a good experience) .
Rule 3: Announce coming movies as far in advance as possible and promote them through your website with trailers, synopsis/cast, and the release date; and allow advance ticket sales as soon as possible.
Likewise, trailers before movies should regularly promote what's coming soon, and backlit digital posters on-site, including facing the sidewalk should advertise current and upcoming content.
Rule 4: Keep prices low, especially during low performing periods (weekday matinees).
This does several neat things. The first of which is that it gets movie goers to attend more often and form a habit of going, the second is that it opens attendance to a wider range of people (low income, shift work, retired); and the third is that it makes money, because exhibitors make all their money on concessions. (seriously that's where their money is made). So cheap to get in the door, but we'll get you on the popcorn is an important bit of business acumen.
Rule 5: Don't make buying a ticket cumbersome. At TIFF there are no machines to buy tickets, you must go up to box office, where a minimum of two staff are generally working, in theory, one for members only and another for general sales.
This is expensive, and awkward, but its worse than that. I've timed the transaction to buy a ticket. The process at TIFF literally takes upwards of 2'30 from the 'How may I help you'. Their software is cumbersome, they throw in the 'are you a member' question, their ticket printing is archaically slow, it all makes for a very poor customer experience.
Rule 6: Concessions are money.
That means you want to do the core offering (popcorn, pop etc.) well, and price fully, but still to move; but it also means at a venue like TIFF you want a licensed bar (Beer and Wine), high end coffees, and treats from local bakeries. You want mingling space to enjoy these outside the auditorium or inside.
You're not doing this to be fancy, you're doing this because there's great margin if you do it right, low spoilage, and its on-brand.
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ProjectEnd
Superstar
24 years ago? Then goes on to correctly note that the Lightbox opened 14 years ago throughout the piece...