Advance Screenings

Unfortunately, we usually don't get enough seats for everyone who wants to see an advance screening, so we have to decide who gets them.

We have three aims in mind when distributing the seats:

• Provide a perk for members who come out with the club regularly.
• Fill our allotment of seats so the studio reps keep giving them to us.
• Choose members who are good about following our Civil Citizens Guide.

In short, we prioritize members who are engaged with the group, show up reliably, and behave themselves.

This is how we accomplish our three aims above:

1. We set up the Meetup event such that everyone who RSVPs is placed on the waitlist.
2. As members join the waitlist, we look at when they last attended a regular event and how often they've been a no-show. If they've been out with us recently, are good at showing up, and haven't caused problems, we move them to the "going" list.
3. If there's still room, we add members who are less active but still reliable.
4. If there's still room, we add new members.
5. If there's still room, we add members who attend only (or mostly) free screenings.
6. We leave habitual no-shows and people who have caused problems on the waitlist.

The studio reps usually ask for our guest list the day before the screening. We send them the event's "going" list. The list we submit is final, and everyone on it is expected at the screening. If you change your RSVP after we submit the guest list, we consider you a no-show.

We have a great relationship with the studio reps, and we try hard to maintain that relationship. When you attend an advance screening, here's how to help:

• Arrive a half-hour before the screening. Usually that means arriving by 6:30 for a 7:00 show. The studio reps love it when everyone arrives early. They remind us every time.
• Be sure to check in with the studio reps, or you could be marked a no-show.
• If they seat our club together--and they usually do--sit in our section, not another group's.
• Follow our usual rules: no talking, no phones, no throwing gum at Leo DiCaprio, etc.
• Following the screening, if the studio reps ask for feedback, stop for a minute and chat with them. They're nice!

Keep in mind that the reps need to process a couple hundred people from numerous groups, all in a half-hour or so. Make their job easier, and they'll continue to be good to us, too.

Three last things:

• If you told the event organizer you would go out with the group after the screening, keep your commitment. Empty seats at the restaurant aren't cool, either.
• The day after the screening, we ask the studio reps who the no-shows were, and if anyone was a problem. As you would expect, we treat no-shows and misbehavior at free screenings as double-black marks for future free screenings.
• Feedback on the movie is appreciated! If you have feedback, leave a comment on the Meetup event, and we'll forward it to the studio reps.

If you can't get into a screening with DCC, you might be able to get a seat from a different place. Other Meetup groups sometimes get seats, and so do AdvanceScreenings.com and gofobo.