Welcome to The Projection Booth!

What is The Projection Booth?

Good question.  Before uncovering the answer, let’s examine some definitions.

projection booth

• A booth, as in a theater, in which a movie projector is operated.

projection

• The attribution of one’s own attitudes, feelings, or suppositions to others.

Suppositions.  Yup.  That’s what you’re stopping by for.  Suppositions, a word I didn’t even know existed until now (thanks, TheFreeDictionary.com).  In the case of The Projection Booth, a weekly column featured at Beyond the Marquee, the suppo — can’t wait to use this word in Scrabble — sitions will explore a range of topics related to the motion picture industry.  TV may also be covered.  Perhaps an occasional podcast or comic book.  But no video games. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Famous projections in cinema history — Citizen Kane

Similar to the shafts of Spielbergian projector light seen in darkened cinemas everywhere, this column will seek to illuminate answers to such hard-hitting questions as:

• Where are the best coffee shops to write your screenplay?

• Why is Joe vs. The Volcano the most underappreciated movie of all time?

• What’s the best way to butter theater popcorn? (Ixnay on this one since we all know the answer is the Layered Method, i.e. popcorn, butter, popcorn, salt, popcorn, butter.)

But The Projection Booth won’t stop there.

It’ll deliver astute commentary and whimsical observations on anything from the ethics of directors’ cuts to first moviegoing memories, from surviving a 48-hour filmmaking contest to a day in the life of a movie theater usher.

— The Artist

That’s what The Booth is, and, in case you missed it the first time around, here’s a preview.  Here’s what The Booth isn’t.

It isn’t a review column, though critiques may arise from time to time.  It isn’t a how-to piece, though occasional bits of wisdom could shine through.  It isn’t a never-ending glut of lists, though if it fits the topic I might just have to bust out my Top 5 Heist Films (for the sake of Topkapi I’ll make it fit, damn it).

Think of The Booth as an editorial such as the back-page columns once penned by Stephen King and Diablo Cody in Entertainment Weekly.  This missive, however, shall be penned by yours truly.

Who is “yours truly” and what qualifies him to write such a column?  After all, any Jonny Internet who knows WordPress can do it, right?  Fair enough.

I’ve been both filmmaker (director, storyboard artist) and filmgoer (ArcLight customer, NetFlix subscriber).  I’ve worked for Warner Bros. and Disney Studios.  One of my screenplays is currently a semi-finalist in the Nicholl Fellowship competition (fingers crossed).  My college summers were spent in the employ of a multiplex theater, occasionally in an actual projection booth, while my college semesters earned me a degree in Communications (yet ironically my go-to greeting is “…hey.”).  I’ve written for this site many times before and I live in the LA area, the heart — some would say armpit — of Hollywood.

I feel that these experiences more than qualify me as the best candidate to compose this column on a regular basis.

Also, I know WordPress.

— Ed Wood

So that concludes this initial meet and greet (Meet & Greet = Schmooze & Booze).  I hope you were entertained.  I hope you were enlightened.  Most of all, I hope you stop by again since there’s nothing sadder than a booth projecting a movie into an empty theater.  Unless of course said theater doesn’t layer its popcorn.  Repeat after me: Popcorn, butter, popcorn, salt, popcorn, butter…

NEXT THURSDAY:  Hey, I’m walking here!