The program offers low interest loans to hire back employees. Some theater operators have looked into the federal government’s Payroll Protection Program. “They have been excellent at following all the social distancing guidelines.” “We hand out our guidelines when they come in.” He limits the attendance to around 125 cars per night.
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“We've doubled the distance that they need to park away from each other to about 8 feet,” Spiess said. Owner Mike Spiess worked out a plan with the Oregon Department of Health, creating a safer way for his audiences to watch films. There is still one theater screening movies in Oregon: the M-F Drive In in Milton-Freewater. They are just trying to help make sure that those businesses are still there when all this is over.” Tillotson says they sell between 250 and 400 buckets a night. Helens is offering drive up popcorn sales on Friday evenings to raise funds while their theatre is closed.
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We’ve figured out how to keep everybody safe.” “We don't touch their money, they put it in a bowl. “We wear a mask and gloves,” Leah Tillotson says. Hood Theatre in Gresham, where they sell their popcorn on Saturday nights. In the first weeks of the sale, cars sometimes waited up to an hour to pay their $5. On Friday nights they sell buckets of popcorn to customers who line up in cars.
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Owners Leah and Lance Tillotson have figured out another way to generate income while their theaters sit empty. Helens, Oregon, a long line of cars snaked down the main drag, headed for the Columbia Theatre. These virtual screenings don’t bring in much money – nothing like filling theatres with a paying audience. “So it's a little bit of revenue for us,” Whyte says, and “it's good for the distributors because we're shooting out their movies to our audience who are the people who are wanting to see it anyway.” Many other theaters have also embraced the virtual screening model. Customers rent the film from the Hollywood website, then screen at home. To generate income during this down time the Hollywood has begun hosting virtual screenings like the recent Ashland-produced film, Phoenix, Oregon. Even so, they still have monthly bills to tackle. They’re a nonprofit with over 4000 paying members, and they own their building. In many ways the Hollywood Theatre is an exception.
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Even before the pandemic many were barely getting by, so shutting down for months is a big blow. Movie theaters operate on razor thin margins. But since mid-March all indoor cinemas have been shut down, putting their futures in jeopardy. Portland has more independent movie theaters than any city in the country, and historic movie houses are dotted across the state. The Hollywood Theatre in NE Portland, like all indoor theatres in Oregon, has been shut down since mid-March.ĭan Halsted/Courtesy The Hollywood Theatre