insideKENT Magazine Issue 40 - July 2015 | Page 149

LOCALBUSINESS

bringing communities together
insideKENT TALKS TO

Zachary Cooke of The Open Air Cinema

How did The Open Air Cinema come about?
In 2007, a group of friends thought it would be
a nice idea to hold a free open air screening of
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We were surprised at
the uptake and since then we have held numer us
o
open air and drive-in screenings.
Tell us a bit about the team behind it.
The Open Air Cinema is run purely for the love
of film, so there's me, with a full time job in
probation (I don’t take a salary); a handful of
technicians; stewards; and front-of-house staff
who work for us on the days we have scr
eenings.
This year we have commissioned an engagement
manager who will help us with our crowd funding
campaign and afterwards help manage general
enquiries.
The business's ethos is 'making great things
happen by screening any film, anywhere'.
What services do you offer to enable this?
We're available for hire for private screenings in
virtually any location and have access to licenses
for virtually any film produced. Dream it and we
can make it happen.
From these events, we are able to offer local
communities all over the country free open air
cinema screenings. Just a phone call or email is
all it takes to bring an idea alive.

What do you think makes The Open Air
Cinema stand out from its competitors?
There are some great companies out there at
the moment, but we're more focussed on a
personal feel; we liken it to one big family in a
large sitting room. We're aiming to be as
accessible to the general public as possible, and
because of how we are structured, literally anyone
can hire us to screen any film, anywhere.
What events do you have coming up this
summer?
Our listings in Kent and further afield are getting
longer each day, so we advise those interested
in upcoming screenings to visit our website. We
have a campaign to give away over 2,000 tickets
this month, so readers will have to act quickly
and be prepared to sing, dance, dress up and
be entertained.

Our subscribers snap up most of our tickets at
discounted rates; the remainder are left for the
general public, who can expect to pay around
£10-£12 per ticket. So my advice is to back our
campaign before it's too late or subscribe today
and save money.
You work with schools, charities and more.
What support do you offer these good
causes?
Our crowd funding campaign and private
screenings will allow us to waive hire charges for
good causes that would like to use The Open
Air Cinema to help raise funds. We are not in the
business to make maximum profits – we just
want to keep on making great things happen by
screening any film, anywhere. As long as we can
keep doing that and meeting some great people
along the way, we will keep going.

Where can we purchase tickets to a screening
and how much can we expect to pay?
Access to all events is via our website. Some of
our events are admission free; however, our
chargeable events are always great value too.
For example, we're currently running a crowd
funding campaign, and those that back our
campaign get priority seating at all of our public
screenings throughout the UK. Backers also
benefit from buy one get one free on all future
ticket purchases for life.

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To support The Open Air Cinema, visit
www.theopenaircinema.com.