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Sundance Virgin

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Tom Lawes

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Hi,

I'm a theatre owner and Red using film director based in the UK and I'm thinking of heading to Sundance this year. Yes I know it's last minute!

I've left it too late to buy anything other than the basic $200 Credential, so will I be able to buy tickets for films when I arrive?
Is there an Odemax/Redray announcement happening and if so does anyone have a date yet?
Accommodation is sparse, so I'm planning on staying in the Hyatt Escala Lodge, North Park City, about 5 miles from Main Street. Is it easy to get around in January using taxis etc?

Thanks
Tom Lawes
Electric Cinema, Birmingham UK
 
There's a bus service that is pretty decent, and maps showing you where venues are, etc. Cabs are not all that timely due to traffic so if you can't bus it use your feet. Everything in the downtown area is pretty close.

Sundance is a great time and you will be moved by the films you see. Inspired too. Audiences who love film. All around a great atmosphere.

As for tickets there are always screenings available. Some may be sold out but if you happen to be at a bar or some party producers and filmmakers often have a ream of tickets to give away, so definitely get out there and mingle!
 
Thanks Jeremy, I've booked the flights and the accommodation and I'll just chance the ticket situation. As you say, I'm sure I'll sort something out once I arrive. See you on the pistes!
 
Tom: there are tix available each day for that day's screenings, on a first-come fisrt-served basis at one of the main box offices. Quantity through this method is variable and not every showing has them. That means, wake up fricking early and stand in line. There is also another round of last minute tix available shortly before the screening. You basically que up a little over an hour before the screening, at the screening location, get a number. Come back about 30 min before screening time and hope that your number is lower than the number of tix that are being released. Occaisionally, there are also peeps walking up with extra tix. its blind luck.

Finally, tix are much easier to get for the Ogden, Sundance Resort, and Salt Lake City screenings, although a car is necessary. Sundance Resort is sweet because you can ski there and hop off to see a flick. Very nice upscale resort. The theater is also very intimate, like 100 people. I sat next to Jill Hennessey at a screening of her film Limelight (OMG is she hot up close and in tight jeans). Snowbasin and Powder Mountain are secret resorts with huge vert and acreage and 20-35 minutes from the Ogden screenings at The Egyptian (itself a very cool old theater).

Park City is a cluster fuck for logistics those 10 days. Its also prime time for dumping huge. If you are slopeside, a two foot dump (happens often) is the best day ever, but being 5 miles out, a 2 footer will slow things way down for you.

I stay in downtown SLC (near Midvale), rent a car, grab 30 to 50,000 vertical at the slopes (Snowbasin, PowMow, Solitude, or Brighton) and am still able to catch 2 or 3 flicks per day. I am running around like a madman to do that, but it can be done. It helps to know the screening locations and the roads to get to them, as I said, logistics are a bitch. I actually try to avoid Park City at all costs.
 
Tom Lawes said:
Hi,

I'm a theatre owner and Red using film director based in the UK and I'm thinking of heading to Sundance this year. Yes I know it's last minute!

I've left it too late to buy anything other than the basic $200 Credential, so will I be able to buy tickets for films when I arrive?
Is there an Odemax/Redray announcement happening and if so does anyone have a date yet?
Accommodation is sparse, so I'm planning on staying in the Hyatt Escala Lodge, North Park City, about 5 miles from Main Street. Is it easy to get around in January using taxis etc?

Thanks
Tom Lawes
Electric Cinema, Birmingham UK
Click to expand...

Hi Tom,
Sort of off topic - but I'm up in Chester and am in Birmingham quite regularly - What sort of theatre do you have?

Also if you do make your way to Sundace, I'd love to hear your experiences!
 
James - The cinema conference looks really interesting but unfortunately I'll arrive too late. Is that John Cooper on the home page? I had lunch with him in Cannes earlier this year. Nice guy. Let me know if you want to hook up for a drink after the 17th.

Michael - Thanks for the info. I'll try the first two days without a car and see how it plays out.

Gary - I own The Electric, it's a two screen digital cinema and the oldest in the UK. We also have a 5.1 dubbing theatre, a custom built Da Vinci colour grading suite, a Red One and a Scarlet (although I plan to buy an Epic before April). If you want to know more about the cinema, I directed a film about if and several other indies in the UK. www.thelastprojectionist.com Unfortunately I made it before we owned the Reds so it's shot on DSLR. Still played at 70 theatres in the UK over the summer though!
 
Mike hit it on the head. As an avid Sundancer there are many things you pick up on the way. I grantee you'll love every moment of it. There's so much going on and it's a great time to see the best in the indie world. They do have a large free bus system in Park City that is great, I used that a majority of the time last year, just make sure you get on the right bus or you'll be late and miss a film. I actually got very lucky this year and got one of the best bids to get tickets, but if you don't have tickets like most of the people, plan out your days in advance and always have a plan B on what film to see next incase you miss the cutoff in the waiting line/waitlist. The legendary waitlist line is how I usually get into a film that I didn't get a ticket for, they give out numbers in line two hours before the screening and people sometimes arrive two hours before that to get the lowest number, you come back a half hour before the actual screening in order by the number given and they let a limited number of people in to fill house, and the number they let in depends on the size of the theater, sometimes 20 or sometimes 100 plus.

But the real secret is to try to catch films away from Park City. In Salt Lake City there are many screenings (about a half hour drive) and those are immensely easier to get into by the waitlist, but Park City is the happening spot with many films, large parties, panels, and skiing/snowboarding. Also a warning, if you do venture away from Park City and a big snowstorm hits, they'll close the canyons for many hours or a half day until it's safe for cars to drive.
 
Thanks Jason, all useful stuff! Can you recommend a bar or cafe that's good for networking?
 
Filmmaker's Lodge is always good but I can't recall if you need a special pass to get in.

Most of the bars end up getting booked for various parties so consult the daily events...there's always two or three parties to bounce between, and that doesn't even count the ones that end up in the chalets!
 
Tom Lawes said:
James - The cinema conference looks really interesting but unfortunately I'll arrive too late. Is that John Cooper on the home page? I had lunch with him in Cannes earlier this year. Nice guy. Let me know if you want to hook up for a drink after the 17th.

Michael - Thanks for the info. I'll try the first two days without a car and see how it plays out.

Gary - I own The Electric, it's a two screen digital cinema and the oldest in the UK. We also have a 5.1 dubbing theatre, a custom built Da Vinci colour grading suite, a Red One and a Scarlet (although I plan to buy an Epic before April). If you want to know more about the cinema, I directed a film about if and several other indies in the UK. www.thelastprojectionist.com Unfortunately I made it before we owned the Reds so it's shot on DSLR. Still played at 70 theatres in the UK over the summer though!
Click to expand...

Hi Tom, sorry for the late reply.
We've been looking for a friendly indie to strike up a working relationship - I'll definatly give The Last Projectionist a looK!

-Gary
 
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