Introducing Inter-Society 2009 Ken Mason Award Recipent Mark Christiansen
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Before I was 5 years old, my dad was a drive-in theatre manager for Syufy Theatres. I lived under the screen at the 49’er Drive In in Sacramento, then spent a couple of years living on top of the snack bar at the Moffett Drive In (now the Century 16) in Mountain View, CA. Literallly, that’s where my family lived: The manager’s apartment was IN the drive-in.
There is not a better place for a kid to grow up than a drive in theatre. We had a playground, there were acres of mounded blacktop to ride bikes on, and new kids showed up to play every night. I had a chance to learn the basics of film projection when other kids were climbing trees and building forts. We even had a car speaker in our living room.
My dad went on to become a film buyer, first at Syufy, then at a local circuit in Monterey, CA, then at Moyer Theatres in Portland, OR. We didn’t live on a theatre property again, but, during my teen years, I did summer work cutting weeds and fixing speakers at some of Moyer’s drive ins. I helped install sound fold (basically folded burlap) at the Tanasbourne Tri-plex when it was constructed in the mid seventies. So, ‘The Biz” was in my blood as far back as I can remember.
I received a BS in Finance from the University of Oregon in 1980. I fully intended to enter the finance industry as a stock broker or banker. Then, like today, jobs in the finance area were very scarce. My dad kept after me to send resumes to the studios. The rest is history. I got a call from Columbia Pictures and was offered a job as a student booker in the Denver office, where I started in the business in July, 1980. I moved from Denver to Dallas for a sales job. The branch manager was Jack Foley (President, Focus Distribution) and the division manager was John Lundin (Head Film Buyer, Cinemark). In 1986 I moved to Des Moines to manage my first branch. Columbia closed the Des Moines office later that year and I was moved to Chicago. I took a liking to computers and taught myself quite a bit about spreadsheets, databases, and programming languages between releasing pictures
In 1987, MGM/UA offered me a Division Manager position. I made the switch and ended up spending 8 years with MGM/UA, later moving to Los Angeles as Western Division Manager, then SVP Operations. In 1995, I got a call from Jim Tharp, former Head Film Buyer for General Cinema, who had recently been named Head of Distribution at DreamWorks (DW did not have titles). He was assembling a distribution group and asked me to join him and Don Harris, former Head Film Buyer at AMC. We all started at Dreamworks within a week of each other and have been a solid team ever since.
Paramount acquired DreamWorks Studios and I moved with the deal. I have been Executive Vice President, Operations, for Paramount Pictures Domestic Theatrical Distribution since January, 2006. My responsibilities include digital cinema, anti-piracy, gross analysis, accounts receivable, print control, screenings, international versioning, and administration.
I first attended an Inter Society meeting in 1994 when I moved from sales to operations. The hot topic then was Extended Length Reels. Although ELRs never caught on, I was happy to be part of an organization whose function is to help improve the manufacture, distribution and exhibition of motion pictures.
While at DreamWorks, we became the first major studio to support the cyan dye track initiative. The movie was Woody Allen’s “Anything Else”, and the analog tracks were to be rendered in cyan. In a “hold your breath” moment, the lab was confused and printed all the tracks, including Dolby Digital and SDDS, in cyan. Fortunately, the digital tracks played back fine, and the physical prints are visually striking with all that cyan on them! The work converting to the cyan dye track was a seminal project of the Inter-Society. It renewed my interest and I subsequently increased my activity within the organization.
DreamWorks was also one of the first studios to commit to satellite distribution of its digital titles. The Inter-Society has been actively involved in vetting d-cinema issues, including satellite distribution, through its ISDCF subcommittee.
Paramount has been at the forefront of the effort to promote the conversion to digital projection in theatres. We recently presented a direct-to-exhibition payment agreement which is unique in the industry. Having worked very closely with exhibition throughout my career, launching digital cinema and making it available to each and every theatre owner remains a high priority for me.
I am a member of the DCI MRC (Management Representative Committee) and a past chairman, and a founding member of the joint MPAA/NATO Movie Theft Task Force.
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