Independent cinema manager (anonymous)
‘A lot of people in the cinema I work for are on zero-hours contracts and it’s rubbish, no one likes it. There’s no protection, no sick pay. Cinema staff have never been adequately protected, but it’s getting worse. A lot of staff don’t have unions anymore. There’s a massive gap between the floor staff and those who have made it into an office.
'Cinema itself seems to be doing okay, despite the fact that there’s a great depression and everybody’s broke. People are still coming to the movies. But jobs are still being cut back. Projectionists are getting laid off, marketing managers are being made redundant and front of house staff are expected to be projectionists, they’re expected to do marketing.
'People are trying to do too many things, and the quality suffers. But you have to be seen to do more than one job if you want to be kept on. It’s quite ruthless.’
