The Regent Street Cinema Project

Regent Street Cinema Project
[email protected] – [email protected]
The Regent Street Cinema
Rayhan Rafiq Omar & Matt Snyman

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Regent Street Cinema
Project Aims
 Establish a unique cinematic venue at the
location which birthed British Cinema.
 The cinema will be supported by a full schedule
of festivals and regular events.
 Pioneering film and cinema technology in
partnership with the University of Westminster
Film School, and other organisations and
educational establishments.
 Provide student and experimental filmmakers
with a hub for exhibition, networking and
innovation.
• Based upon the principles inherent in the history of
innovation that established the site.

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Project Outline
Our Vision
To provide British Filmmakers, Professional and Student,
With a hub for exhibition, entertainment and networking.

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Project Outline
Our Goal
To establish a unique cinematic venue at the location which
Birthed British Cinema
307 Regent Street

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Project Outline
Introduction
 Bringing together various stakeholders to enable the rescue of this historic venue for
the benefit of future students, and especially student filmmakers
 Current focus is to bring together a costed plan that enables a fully functioning single-
screen cinema to be refurbished and operated outside of University time-tabled
lecturing

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 There is a major shortage of cinema screens in London’s vibrant West End
 Digital film exhibition has reached a stage meaning a single screen cinema is
commercially viable
 Situated opposite the UK Film Council, and around the corner from the major west end
production and post houses (niche in screening room market)
 6000 students on site and Oxford Circus’ Tourist pull
 Student Filmmakers have limited exhibition opportunities, yet have to independently
raise funds
 Previous attempts have overreached
Why Do This – Project Benefits
Background

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Historical Significance
 The Regent Street Cinema is the Site of the
Lumiére Brother’s first demonstration of their
Cinematographe, making the site the
birthplace of Cinema in the British Isles
 site of the world’s first photography school
and the UK’s first film school.
 Home of the Magic Lantern Society and the
Pepper’s Ghost Illusion
 Contains one of three remaining Compton
Organs in London that are still in their
original location (Recently refurbished)
 The BFI library was first launched here
 Operated as a Cinema until 1981
Key Facts About the RSC
Poster for the first demonstration

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Milestones
Pepper’s Ghost first
Performed here -1862/3
Britain’s first film school
established here -1933
The National Film Library
held it’s first public
screening here, 21st Feb
1936
Lumiere Brothers’
demonstrate
Cinematographe
Interior
remodelled.
Last used as a
commercial cinema
Cameo Poly
1896 1923 1930’s 1980 2001 2005
1860’s 2007 2009
Intended opening
of the Regent
Street Cinema
Idea for Regent
Street Cinema put
together
Engaged with
Architects for
feasibility
Refitted as the
Polytechnic
Theatre
Compton Theatre Organ
installed - 1936
Compton Organ restored
– celebrated 15th Feb
2006 with Lord Mayor
Opening
2008

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 Public profile
 Refurbishment of an essential learning space
– Taking opportunity to provide desired facilities that were previously lacking for lecturing:
 Chilled ventilation/air conditioning
 Sturdy tablets folding into seat arms
 Synergy with courses
– MAD – Film School, Animation, Contemporary Media Practice
– SSHL – Language Schools
 Keeping students on Campus
 Future partnerships better facilitated
 Higher profile lectures and events venue
 Regenerative impetus for Upper Regent Street
 Bringing Students closer to industry
 Making better use of a valuable space in its current down time
 Increasing the number of corporate clients and having more people passing through
the University’s doors
Advantages for the University of Westminster

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UK Film
Council
Operational Plan
Location & Surrounding Industry – to be completed
Regent Street
Cinema
Producers
Other Media Partners
Effects Houses
Distributors
Cinematic Community

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Capital Works
Areas of Work
 Frontage – Canopy, Interactive
elements, Windows
 Box office/Foyer
 Bar/concessions area
 Seating – Floor raking
 Projection Equipment
 Sound and Lighting
 Toilet facilities
 Ventilation
 Possible extra internal
decorations
 Total capital cost estimated
between £1.25-1.5m
 Specific Costs and Scheme to
come with procurement of
architectural feasibility

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Operational Plan
Target Audiences
 Students
– Year long pass – Sell bulk at discount during Freshers’
period and January
– Regular special offers with local businesses for members
 Local residents
– Discounts for local residents
– Membership options – annual or lifelong
 Corporate hires
– Target market between large Leicester Square venues
and small Soho screening rooms
– Partnerships with hotels
 Tourists
– Oxford Circus not served by any other cinema

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Operational Plan
Financial Projections
RSC Ticket Sales 3 shows a day
Profit & Loss Seats Occupancy Ave. Price Total pa
300 25% £6.00 £491,400
Income 2009* 2010 2011 300 25% £6.50 £532,350
Ticket Sales 491,400 532,350 573,300 300 25% £7.00 £573,300
Advertising 10,000 14,000 18,000 300 25% £8.00 £655,200
Private Hires 17,550 26,550 26,550 300 25% £9.00 £737,100
Season Passes & Membership 1,000 2,500 4,000 320 25% £6.00 £524,160
Concessions/Bar 122,850 143,325 163,800
Total Sales Income 642,800 718,725 785,650 Concessions/Bar - Based on ticket sale admissions figures
300 seats, 25% occupancy, 3 shows, 365 days a year
Expenditure Average spend per admission Annual Spend
Staff 200,200 206,206 212,392 £1.50 £122,850
Distributor Fees 158,266 170,122 182,515 £1.75 £143,325
Concessions Purchases 30,713 35,831 40,950 £2.00 £163,800
IT (EPOS) 10,000 10,000 10,000
Marketing 20,000 25,000 30,000 Private Hires average 3 hour bookings, charged per hour
Office Sundries 2,000 1,000 1,000 Frequency Rate - ph Adjustment for ticket sales loss
Total pa
Back Office (Accounts, HR, PAYE) 18,000 18,540 19,096 5 £600 -£450.00 £8,550.00
Utilities 3,000 3,300 3,630 5 £750 -£450.00 £10,800.00
Cleaning 18,000 18,540 19,096 5 £900 -£450.00 £13,050.00
Insurance/Security/Maintenance 20,000 21,000 22,050 10 £600 -£450.00 £17,550.00
Professional Services (Legal, Audit) 10,000 10,000 10,000 10 £750 -£450.00 £22,050.00
Depreciation (initial fit out + IT equip) 30,000 30,000 30,000 15 £600 -£450.00 £26,550.00
Tax (VAT) 95,736 107,044 117,012 15 £750 -£450.00 £33,300.00
25 £600 -£450.00 £44,550.00
Total Expenditure 615,914 656,584 697,742 Staff
Manager/Marketing x2 @ 30k £60,000
Profit/Loss 26,886 62,141 87,908 Bar x2 @ 25k £50,000
Usher/Tech x2 @ 18k £36,000
*Assuming full year's trading Usher/Tech x2 @ 18k £36,000
Accounts Assistant x1 @ 18k £18,000
Amount in GBP

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Operational Plan
Execution Plan
Objectives Strategy Next Steps
 Local infrastructure and security
 Fit-out cinema to West End Standard
 Compliance with Campus Security Plan
 Costed Business plan
 Tender Architects
 Hiring/People
 Recruitment and Training needs to be
structured and professionally maintained
 Programming independent if possible
 Cinema Manager
 Concessions/Box Office
 Programmers
 Licenses / Agreements  The RSC needs strategic alliances
 University of Westminster Approval
 UK Film Council
 Heritage – Listed Building - Approval
 Local Council Approval
 University Relations  Course tie-ins need to be formal
 Open to other film schools
 Regular events for student filmmaking
 Control Environment/ Platform  Engage top level Cinema Operators  Control improvement plan established
 Operation and Expansion
 Structure management roles to spread skills
across two roles
 Development of long term goals
 Engage Industry to integrate into local
community
 Forge links with industry partners
 UK Film Council/Partners to assist with
development plan
 Marketing
 Partner with local and international firms to
deliver excellence e.g. London Film Festival
 Innovative, as well as traditional marketing
 Develop brand as a mark of quality and
innovative entertainment
 Make initial contacts – subject to approvals
To build, implement, & maintain a high standard cinema platform

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Operational Plan
Organisational chart proposed structure – to be updated
2 members
University Reps
Cleaning
Outsourced
Matt Snyman
Rayhan Rafiq Omar
Project Directors
2 members
External Partners
2 members
External Partners
Ushers
Student Staff
Box Office
IT based solution
Programming Manager
Can be outsourced
<>
Cinema Managers
307 Regent Street
Finance
Outsourced
Marketing/PR Assistant
Possible integration with
management roles above
Board of
Directors
Board of
Directors
Web Designer
Outsourced

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Operational Plan
Our Logo – Literally stamped all over the building
– The image of a mounted Bellerophon slaying a Chimera is
literally embedded in and throughout the Regent Street building
– This image is also associated with the iconography of George and the
Dragon
– This particular design shares similarities with Benedetto
Pistrucci's 1815 design of St George and the Dragon for the
Royal Mint
– It was used on the exterior by noted cinema architect Frank T. Verity when
the building’s façade was rebuilt in 1911
– The logo was also an emblem of the Royal Polytechnic until it fell out of use
– The image signifies the cinema’s core values: History, Drama,
Adventure, Class, and the Power of Imagination
– The imagery entices the imagination and offers boundless scope
for creative expression:
 Bringing it to life
– Animation – a signature animation to play before features – enhancing brand
identity
– Statue – on façade, to mark the location and draw attention from passers-by

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Operational Plan
The Compton Cinema Organ
 The 2Manual/6Rank Compton cinema organ was
installed in the Regent Street Polytechnic's Cinema
in 1936
 It is one of only three such instruments in London
remaining in its original location.
 The organ chamber is located at the rear of the
stage (behind the screen)
 It is playable today thanks to the efforts of Peter
Hammond of HWS Associates who repaired it after
the organ fell into disrepair - http://www.hws.org.uk/
 It is intended to play the organ to silent films on a
regular basis – Silent Sundays

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Operational Plan
Summary
 Not-for-profit
– Surpluses ploughed back into cinema/events
 Links with industry, facilitated by:
– Regular events – e.g. Silent Sundays, magic lantern shows
– Festivals
 Bringing students closer to industry and providing them with much needed exhibition
– Students shorts and trailers with the commercial trailers
 Bar/Concession area
– Partnership for daytime offering – e.g. Hummus Bros
– Evening unique offers – e.g. Coffee Menu
 Partnerships for commercial private rentals
– e.g. Hotels, local media industry

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Current Partners in Conversation
 Westminster Film School
 UK Film Council/Film London
 The Cinema Theatre Association
 Tony Jones (Founder – City Screen)
 Joost Hunnigher (ex UOW department head and chair of the
CILECT research project into the future of digital cinema)
 City Screen (Largest Independent Cinema Operator)
 Peter Hammond (HWS Associates – Arts Heritage Consultancy)
 Film distributors: Pathé, New Wave & others
Other potential partners
 The Heritage Lottery Fund
 Prominent British Film Producers and Distributors
 Private equity specialising in film/cinema
 BFI
 Regent Street Organisation – Crown Estate
 Major Production and effects houses
 The Magic Lantern Society

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Next Steps
To achieve Our Goals
 It is imperative that the
cinema has ties to
industry, for this vision to
be fully realised
 We aim to have between
1 and 3 producers /
directors / distributors as
ongoing partners
 Consolidate University
support
External
Partners/Investors
Costed Business
Plan
 To demonstrate our vision
to investors, we need to
have a costed capital
works schedule
 We have engaged the
leading architects in this
field (3 firms have
tendered)
 The cost for this will be
£5,000 + VAT
 Operational advice has
been sought from many
current and previous
cinema operators
 Costs have been over-
estimated and revenues
under-estimated
 We are seeking an
investor to underwrite the
operation of the cinema
Architectural
Feasibility

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Regent Street Cinema
Project Summary
 Birthplace of British Cinema
 Home for future student and experimental film
makers
 300+ seat theatre fully refurbished
 Digital projection – with two supplemental 35mm
projectors
 Regular events programme
 Silent Sundays (with organ accompaniment) and
magic lantern shows
 Interactive Frontage – nobody should be able to walk
past without wanting to look in
 Future proof ticketing and seasonal passes
 Student shorts and trailers before the main feature
 Not for profit

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The Regent Street Cinema Project

The Regent Street Cinema Project

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