So Many Films, So Little Time

(My Adventures at TIFF)

Lisa Eckler, Lisa Eckler Consulting

So Many Films, So Little Time •  The Toronto International Film

Festival (“TIFF”) •  Annual event, 11 days in September •  In 2012, there were over 300 films,

with multiple screenings of each

à Too many choices!  

Wide ranging choices

A sample day of offerings TIFF.NET/FESTIVAL 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM 9:00 PM 10:00 PM 11:00 PM 12:00 AM

extended Q&A which may run up to 40 minutes past the end-time of the film FREE PREMIUMfirst-come, first-served ticketed free screening red carpet premiere

RoyThomson

Hall

Princessof Wales

VISAScreening Room

(Elgin Theatre)

WinterGardenTheatre

BloorHot Docs

Cinema

JackmanHall

(AGO)

TIFFBell

Lightbox1

TIFFBell

Lightbox2

TIFFBell

Lightbox3

TIFFBell

Lightbox4

IsabelBader

Theatre

Ryerson Theatre

54SATU

RDAY SEPT. 8

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Where do we begin?

There are ticket packages available: more tickets à lower cost per ticket

•  How many films per day can you see? •  How many films per day can you enjoy?

We made some basic assumptions in order to make the festival enjoyable AND keep things simple

 

The Festival’s (2012) ticket acquisition process: •  Determine total number of tickets required;

purchase (online) a block of vouchers for tickets

•  Wait (weeks)

•  Receive notification of earliest randomly-assigned time for the magic HOUR to convert vouchers into tickets for specific screenings

•  Wait again (days) •  Log in to TIFF system to convert vouchers into

ticket orders for specific screenings; need alternate scenarios in case some of our preferences are Off Sale

•  Wait some more until ticket pick-up begins

•  Stand in line-up; wait while tickets are printed

 

Some Decision Rules for our group: •  See 10 films in 11 days •  Everyone in the group would see the

same films at the same time

•  We wouldn’t see more than two films per day and we’d take some days off

•  We’d break the day into rough sessions (morning, afternoon, evening) and not plan for more than one film in each

 

Some Sample Data

 

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Why use SAS? •  Excel spreadsheet of all screenings

(from data on website)

•  Data needed to be scrubbed •  Survey of who wanted to see which films •  Assemble the results; weight the

responses and rank priorities •  Develop possible scenarios based on

priorities •  Have the ability to adjust (data) and

rerun quickly

So Many Films, So Little Time

 SCHEDULE Morning Afternoon Evening

September 6

September 7 September 8

September9

September 10 September 11

September 12

September 13 September 14

September 15

September 16 !!

The imperative slide of SAS code

Lessons Learned To get the most out of the TIFF experience: •  Be flexible •  Be prepared

•  With some decision support for ordering •  For comfort during TIFF •  For serendipitous opportunities

à Very simple SAS code provided a huge advantage in selecting screenings

So Many Films, So Little Time

For more details, check out the related conference paper: h#p://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings13/247-­‐2013.pdf  

… and now, for your own adventures:

tiff.net