March 2017 | Business View Magazine

34 35 WE SALUTE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE for their excellence in presentation, creative programming and customer service. We are proud to be your partner in 4K presentation technology. © 2017 Sony Electronics Inc.All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.Sony, the Sony logo and Sony Digital Cinema are trademarks of Sony. and got into the exhibition business. It wasn’t until much later that it developed into a growth business – it was very much a mom-and-pop business.” League says he wasn’t really planning to open a sec- ond theater, either. “But there was this property owner who gave me a call and said, ‘We’ve got somebody who does your concept moving into town, but you guys are local and we love what you do. If you want to take this location, you can have it. But I have to know by the end of the week and you can’t change the lease, at all.’ So, thankfully, it was a kind lease and the moment that we opened up our second theater it set a lot of things in motion.We couldn’t be everywhere at once, so we devel- oped a team and growth opportunities presented them- selves to us. After opening our fourth theater, we realized The Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas that we could grow this to be even bigger and, if we grow to a certain size, we could actually make a significant impact on this industry–one that I dearly love. So, as we grow bigger, it allows us to further our mission– to re-imagine going to the movies and making it fun, again.” While having fun at an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is key, League stresses that for the true cinephile, watching film is a serious pursuit. And his theaters make sure that they can do it, undis- turbed. “We have a pretty legendary no-talking, no-texting policy.We like to keep the auditorium safe for true movie fans,” he says. “And it’s not just an older generation that appreciates the quiet, al- though it is generally the younger generation that are texting or talking. But we found that if you lay down the rules and the social contract in a seri- We have standards for customer service that everybody lives and breathes by. ... But the personality comes locally. So, we have a creative manager in each market. We want each the- ater that we build to be a community gathering point. And the only way you can do that is to be somewhat local.” tim league company founder and CEO