Boxoffice Pro - Winter 2020

“I think growth overtook [Alamo],”
Taylor says. “The structure that needed
to be in place to take a culture that was
already pretty darn great and amplify
it” was not there. Moving forward, the
questions to ask are, “How do we prevent
any more bad actors getting in the door?
And if they do, how do you eliminate
them as quickly as possible?” To that
end, Alamo has revamped its reporting
procedure, introducing a “Speak Up”
platform designed to improve the
process of tracking, reporting, reviewing,
and analyzing workplace allegations.
Further updates aimed at improving
Alamo’s culture include workplace health
surveys, interactive training, a new
learning management system to improve
internal communication, and a concern
resolution process.
Taylor is confident that Alamo’s growth
will continue in the wake of the pandemic,
even if it comes partially as a result of
industry consolidation. “I hate saying this,
because it’s horrific, but there are going to
be—unfortunately—a lot of theaters that
don’t make it. … [That’s] not the way that
we want to win. I’d prefer to win through
competition and all of us doing our best.
But we’ll be the beneficiary of that, as well.
Right now, it’s just survival,” she says.
As of the first week of October, Alamo
stood between 5 and 20 percent of prior
year sales, with private cinema rentals
serving as a “bright spot” in a period when
the industry is hampered by a lack of new
studio releases. Alamo may play a lot of
independent and art house titles, but,
Taylor says, “We won’t survive off indies.”
Tentpoles remain a necessary way to draw
people back into cinemas. The way things
stand now, “basically, you can break even
before rent, but not with rent. We’re open
because we want to be there for the films,
and we want to be there for our guests. But
it continues to cost us quite a bit of money
to remain open.”
Still, Taylor looks to the post-Covid
future, noting that the past few months
have given the Alamo team new insights
into things like “how to be more effective
and efficient within our theaters and
improve [our] unit economics.” A robust,
consistent film slate, when it does arrive,
will open up new opportunities for the
chain, including for franchisees. “That’s
important to us, to expand our footprint.
If we’re going to [support] filmmakers and
studios and maximize the life of a film,
Left and top: Alamo
Drafthouse’s Mueller
theater and its Barrel O’
Fun event space in Austin,
Texas.
Above and p. 41: Alamo’s
Austin South Lamar
location wants you to
come play with them,
Danny.
that footprint matters. We want as many
people to have access to the movies as
possible.”
That phrase—the life or life cycle of
a film—is one that Taylor comes back
to several times. As a newcomer to
exhibition, she is not, she says, married
to the tradition of three-month theatrical
exclusivity that’s long been the standard
in our industry: “I don’t have an emotional
attachment to the model.” Before her
tenure at Alamo began, the chain screened
Netflix titles, including Alfonso Cuarón’s
Roma. After their theaters shut down
in March, Alamo joined many other
exhibitors in switching to the virtualtheatrical
model, under the brand “Alamoat-Home.”
In May, they launched their
own VOD platform, Alamo on Demand,
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