Once Upon A Time

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It used to be so nice and easy to see movies at Park City's Eccles theatre during past Sundance Film Festivals. A volunteer would hand out 50 tickets to press, so all you had to do was show up a half-hour before and things would usually work out. The Eccles was a fairly easy groove in those days -- the one place in Park City where you knew you'd probably get into a public screening without much hassle.

But last year (or was it the year before?) the Sundance press office junked the 50-ticket-handout deal in favor of a tiresome system in which journalists had to shlep over to festival headquarters at the Park City Marriott and request public screening ducats a day in advance. In writing yet. And then shlep back there the next morning to see if any had been made available. Thus forcing some of us (i.e., those who can't spare the time to go through the ticket-request ritual) to become subservient beggars, cajolers, grovellers and suck-ups in the Eccles lobby. What a pleasant ritual to look forward to!

I can see most everything via press screenings at the Yarrow, but you know how it is -- you try to see films whenever and however, depending on your always-tight schedule. On top of which it's cooler to see Premiere selections at the Eccles -- there's a feeling of crackling excitement during some of those screenings that you just can't get sitting with a bunch of critics.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 13, 2009 at 7:05 AM

comment #1

shawn says ...

They seem to have a need to 'fix' something each year, and by 'fix', of course, I mean 'screw up what was working just fine.' It was last year that the New Eccles System was implimented, and it sucked. You used to be able to count the Eccles as, effectively, a fourth press venue. Now not. It's not catastrophic, but it's damned annoying -- like taking off your shoes and belt at the airport.

Posted by shawn at January 13, 2009 8:17 AM

comment #2

erniesouchak says ...

The excuse given for the change in press-ticket handling 2 years ago was that there had been some kind of glitch in the online ticket sales, and most screenings had been oversold. But, as you noted, the change was never undone. Last year, they began allowing press to request a ticket a day in advance and to find out pretty quickly whether they'd gotten it. Bottom line: I think Sundance aspires to be like Cannes in terms of making press access as difficult as possible. Given the overall quality of what's on show in Park City, there comes a point where you have to question whether it's worth the trouble.

Posted by erniesouchak at January 13, 2009 8:24 AM

comment #3

Devin Faraci says ...

This year's wrinkle of making you request tickets even for some press screenings is a major pain in the ass. Why do they make this so much harder?

Posted by Devin Faraci at January 13, 2009 10:07 AM

comment #4

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Faraci: " Request tickets for some press screenings"...what? Are these the ones that Ed Douglas wrote about? The ones that are part public, part press? Good God.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at January 13, 2009 10:24 AM

comment #5

Jeffrey Wells says ...

You know what? If this gets too gnarly, if it starts turning into a major hassle to see certain films, fuck 'em. Fuck the hard-to-see films, I mean. I don't need this shit. I'll see something else or write about somebody's fireplace or whatever.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at January 13, 2009 10:26 AM

comment #6