By Graham Malin
I have been to my fair share of screenings over the years and have noticed something that has becoming more and more apparent while attending. Let me start however, by describing the experience of a screening for the people who haven’t had the opportunity to attend one. Usually these events are put on by studios, radio stations or other promotions to treat people to a special early screening of an upcoming film and/or sometimes get feedback from the attendees about the film.
The best part about these screening are that they’re “FREE” and cost you nothing, which is a great deal you would think. Usually you need to arrive about an hour to an hour and a half early to ensure you get a decent seat because they do over book these events to guarantee a full crowd. This is where things get a little tricky though because along with the people who have received passes to see the screening, the press is also allowed to come and they have reserved seats which are usually roped off. On average, they usually mark off between two to six rows for the press based on how many have RSVP for the screening (which is fair because these are the people who opinions will be heard about the film and advise the general public about the quality of the film).
Unfortunately, this is where the biggest issue arises, because these sections are marked off for the press and only leave a very limited amount of seating for the people who have passes. In a decent size theater that seats about 300 people, the only available seating for people with passes is usually in the front rows or a few rows at the very top, and the rest is for press. This is where greedy people come in and things turn from enjoyable to uncomfortable and annoying. They start complaining to the people running the screening that they don’t have a seat because there are so many press seats reserved and they are very furious.
My most recent encounter of this happened this week when I attended a screening for “The Fighter”. We arrived early, like usual, and were able to get a decent seat right in front of the press and even congregated a bit with a few bloggers and film critics attending. Within three minutes of being let into the theater, most of the seating had filled up besides the six rows that were reserved for press, and the complaining began. I heard at least ten different people complain and become upset because of the reserved seating and how they didn’t have a seat and they wanted to be compensated for this and allowed to sit there. Now normally these people are not the classiest ones and usually are the ones that show up late and feel a sense of entitlement when it comes to life. These people bitched and complained for nearly ten minutes before they finally left, or should I say asked to leave.
People, these are “FREE” screenings, you are not paying a damn thing for them therefore you have no right to complain about the seating because you failed to arrive early or plan accordingly. If you want to see the film that bad, then wait a few days and pay to see it, or show up early next time. I can not stress how annoying it is to everyone around having to listen to these moronic crybabies when it’s not going to change a thing. So the point I’m trying to get at here is, if you go to something that is “FREE” do not complain, it’s free, just make the best of it and if you don’t want to sit in the front row then take your ass back home and stop ruining the screening for the rest of us.
