Bitcoin Forum

Good Day folks...

Trying to raise money to help recondition the Hub Theater located in Rochelle, IL.
Now that I'm working, I'll be putting 1/2 of my paycheck towards this. I've already started selling stuff on ebay for this(look up ebay id 84fordfan). The amount in total to get the theater reconditioned and ready for a grand opening is $350,000 USD. It's alot of money but alot of things needed to be taken into consideration like the purchase of the building itself and new concession equipment.

Why come here, to this board? One of the forms of donations are bitcoins(among other forms), as once the theater is open, bitcoins will be accepted there as a form of payment along side the dollar, check and credit card. As an incentive, those that donate a substantial amount will receive movie tickets for life(once the theater opens). There is an area of the theater that could be set aside as a VIP type deal, where those that donate substantially have access to this room where they have access to every movie made(I dunno, still working on it). Those that donate any amount will also be named as a donater on the rochelle hub website(http://rochellehub.co.cc).

This should be an interesting turn out.

This is a great! Who bought the theater? http://theatrehistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/buy-the-hub-theatre-rochelle-illinois/

Do they know you're collect money to help renovate it? I live in Sandwich, Illinoins, and have a friend in Rochelle. Can I set up an appointment to see the theater while I'm in town visited my friend? Also, I have a crew deconstructing a barn in Chana so, while I'm up that way, I can easily swing by also. I look forward to meeting you.

Bruno

EDIT: Just reread your post. I see that you're planning on buying it. I'll tell you right now, it'll cost you more than $125,000 to renovate it. It's considered a historical property, therefore you just can't go in and remodel it like you would a 30 year old home.

I do like your idea of having an area of the theater set aside as a VIP type deal. In fact, you could call it such: The Hub's VIP Type Deal.

Oh sweet..  I was living in Rochelle right when they closed it(not sure why it closed since the last movie it showed was iron man 2). The add stated that all concession and cinema equipment are included but have no idea if the cinema equipment is digital or still using analog reels or what. I know from looking at the concession stand and equipment, that will need to be replaced. I put this project at $350,000 for new concession equipment and new digital equipment including speakers and projectors and the like, but it'll be significantly more if walls need replacing and wiring need to be redone. If you want to make an appointment with the realtor to look at it, that'd be great. The realtor is Roger Blomgren and can be emailed at rblomgren264@aol.com. If you do go, do you think you could take pictures or make a video for me?

In regards to VIP. My idea was to close off the balcony and set that up as the VIP area where patrons could sit and enjoy any movie they wanted, leaving the main theater at 2 rooms instead of 3. Those that help me get this $350,000 would have a VIP pass that'd be good for free movies for life. Although, thinking about it now, if only one or two people got me to this $350k mark, that'd be pretty lonly up there so I'd have to open up VIP to anyone who wanted it(which would be cool too).

OK, logansryche, you did your best to circumnavigate a response around by satirical post, but here's the rub. Although your quest is admirable, unfortunately you don't have the life experience to see this project through. I'm 51 years old and have been in the construction business going on three decades, and if I lived in Rochelle and wanted to invested my own $100,000, for starters, in said building, and then ask others to donate to the project, I would have a difficult time procuring funds.

That said, this is how I see this played out. After collecting a few donations, your interest in this will wane. Even if by happenstance you were able to have $10,000 donated, the money may disappear, because a person of your caliper never had 10K at their disposal before. See my drift?

You may be asking yourself why I would assume such a thing. Well, lets pretend you didn't have a track record on this forum, and all I had to go on was your two posts on this thread and your website. It looks like you didn't even take the time to proofread your posts prior to pressing post button. If you did proofread your two posts, then your problem is more serious than I thought. Reread your posts, then ask yourself if you would donate to such a person if someone else had written it. Then revisit your website. Most anyone is able to see that the writer doesn't have a command of the English language, ergo probably unable to purchase, let alone, remodel a historical building.

Wow, talk about your complete 360, and here I thought you were serious about my endeavor. So much promise. You've clearly overlooked my intentions ans that's ok, I was expecting it.

Like I said, your intentions are admirable. I have added more to my original post, so please read those, too. PM me if you want my phone number. I'm not trying to be a jerk here.

Bruno

Oh I know, I was expecting to be shot down in some form, just not that way.
You do bring up good points though, why donate to my cause. Sure, I could run away with the donation money, but I wouldn't.
I know of too many people that would kick my ass if I did. On that note, the largest ammount I've ever handled at any one time is $3,000.
The pictures I saw show that the building is in good shape except for a few things, so reconditioning it won't be hard to do.
I've got a supplier for film distribution and other distributors for sound and materials.. it's just a matter of bringing it all together.
I've gotten myself wrapped up in IMVU as of late and will be creating objects for both IMVU and SL so donating linden and credits will be easier.
I know folks in SL would donate if I got the word out, just a matter of doing it obviously.
I'm in no rush to get all of this done as I need to wait 6mos before I can transfer out of Wal-Mart(manager says i'm the best hardest worker he's got that know's what I'm doing).

Here's a little more advice. Don't ever post, "I was expecting to be shot down...," or the like. It's OK to have that idea in your head, but never give others ammunition. If anybody shots down any of your ideas, stand your ground and express your opinion, like you did in the rest of the post I quoted above. Also, always have an open mind. Listen to what others say. Even at my age, I listen to others, and am amazed daily the shit I learn, even from the local doofus.

Logan, the idea of a theater accepting bitcoins is great. you running the project is not, an individual running the project is not, this is something that if there was enough intrest in the idea a small group of people needs to be tasked with, people with some construction knowledge

There's nothing wrong with me running a project that came from my brain(that's why it's my idea). Of course, it wouldn't be just me running the show, as I will eventually need employees to run the concession stand and run the projection booths plus a clean up crew. Trying to balance everything by myself or even myself and fiance would drive us both insane I think.

You can't, you're not licensed to. In any way.

Espescially if it's a landmark flagged building.

people with some construction knowledge

Logansryche has the best building constructors Second Life can muster.

But seriously Logansryche, your card business was a failure, and you even created drama when someone dared to ask for a refund (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=44939.0). You do not have the skills, experience or funding to commence a project like this.

Please come back down to earth.

How long do you think it would take you to raise $350,000?  Have you looked into what kind of legal entity you need to set up in order to solicit public donations for this venture?  Do you have any project management experience?

(even if I really have to raise the money myself).

I'll be putting 1/2 of my paycheck towards this

another thing I distaste is people who hold others for their past(and it's only this forum that does it)

Aren't you a part-time Walmart worker? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it would take you literally 100 years to save that much.

You might think that $350k is only 10% of your annual salary, but you should really use a calculator on this one to be sure.

I am indeed, however i'm making about $500 a check after taxes based on a 54hr work week(bi-weekly). $350k would be my startup costs before the price of the film from the distributor. If you go to the site I've listed, it lists the complete bill of materials including all new concession equipment, counter tops, carpet, chairs, sound, etc...

1.How much is insurance, heating and electricity?
2.When was the last safety check performed?
3.How is the structural integrity of the building?
4.Are you going to commission a structural survey?
5.What are the business taxes on the property?
6.Have you factored in employee costs?
7.What is the size of the theatre?
8.Have you checked to see if your $2000 projector can fill the space?
9.What sound system are you going to use?
10.Have you considered how you will be able to legally show movies?
11.Have you considered the work involved regarding licensing?
12.Have you factored anything towards advertising?
13.How will the theatre business be set up for tax purposes?
14.Why did the theatre go out of business? If it was a loss making concern, what are you going to do different to cover those losses?

1500 sqft(66x124')

1500 sqft(66x124')

According to that listing, the 66'x124' you claimed as the size of the theater is actually the size of the parking lot.

I really don't think you're cut out for this.

No, parking is not part of the lot. Parking is behind the building and is shared between 2 other business' on that corner.

Hang me for my past and get it over with.. another thing I distaste is people who hold others for their past(and it's only this forum that does it). I only come here because there's only one main bitcoin forum.

On the downside, the initial costs for converting theaters to digital are high: $150,000 per screen on average. Theaters have been reluctant to switch without a cost-sharing arrangement with film distributors. A solution is a temporary Virtual Print Fee system, where the distributor (who saves the money of producing and transporting a physical copy) pays a fee per copy to help finance the digital systems of the theaters.[13]
While a theater can purchase a film projector for US$50,000 and expect an average life of 30–40 years, a digital cinema playback system including server/media block/and projector can cost 3–4 times as much, and is at higher risk for component failures and technological obsolescence.

Just as the listing says, a common parking lot.

66'x123.75' is 8167 sq. feet. It would be really hard to fit a 15,000 sq. foot business on that.

I'm not hanging you for your past.  The questions that I asked are relevant to how viable your project will be.  Have you even checked whether you can legally solicit donations for this project.  In some places you can't do that for a private, for profit venture but a community group which registered as a legal entity would be able to do it.

People thinking something is a good idea doesn't necessarily make a project viable and sustainable.  People might want a local theatre but would they attend it often enough for operating it to be viable?  Have you checked into whether the cost for you to show films will be based on the seating capacity of the theatre, a flat licence fee for a set period of time, a set number of sessions, or some other method?

Before you even start raising money for this project, you need to go and have a look at the building.  You have no idea at this point what condition it's actually in and trying to gauge that from photos is a bad idea.

If you're saving $500 every two weeks, that will only give you about $13,000 in twelve months.  That leaves a hell of a lot more money which you need to raise and you're basically asking people to give you money in order for you -personally - to buy and own the theatre. 

Have you thought about the level of donation for which you're going to give "free movie tickets for life"?  You need to because every free ticket is income you're foregoing and you're going to need the majority of your patrons to be paying customers in order to meet your overheads, let alone to provide you and your fiance with any income.

If this was my project, these and the various building related issues (you're seriously not going to get any kind of inspection report done on the building before you buy it?) would all be part of my feasibility study.  If the previous owners didn't have the money to tart the place up then there's every chance that the building and/or the equipment has been neglected in other ways and if there are safety compliance issues or structural integrity issues you need to know about them before you even consider buying the property.  You don't want to scrounge together the money to buy the property only to find that it needs a lot more than just a cosmetic face lift and not have the funds to bring it up to scratch.

Are you sure that the $2000 Epson projector is digital cinema quality and that the screen at the theatre is compatible with that format?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema#Costs

The ad says that the theatre equipment is included in the $175,000 purchase price but it also says that everything is for sale AS-IS.  You'd need to establish the condition of the equipment and whether it needs any money spent on it - if there's something wrong with some of the equipment you could be up for serious money to repair or replace it.

If I had the additional cash,

Ah shit, you're right. My bad. Still, I'm reasonably sure that none of this is ever going to happen for the reasons mentioned by basically everyone in this thread. Most notably the fact that you're settingaside $500 a month for a $350,000 purchase that will probably end up costing even more than that.

I think your responses have been the best ones and comments weren't aimed at you. In responding to your quesitons, the epson projector will throw a picture at 50 feet(which isn't far) but the christie projector i was looking at casted the same after buying an additional lense. If I had the additional cash, I'd buy christie projectors just for name sake. I got an email back from my friend and she said she's going to go shoot pictures for me so I'll get a better understanding of everything. The ones on that coldwellbanker site were taken by the realtor.

One thing you really, really need to find out from the real estate agent is what type of screens the theatre has.  Once you have that information, then you can find out whether the existing screens will be compatible with the Epson projectors.  Don't assume that they will be - this is information about which you need to be absolutely certain.  And if the real estate agent doesn't have that information then you need to either run very fast, demand that they obtain it, or be willing to pay someone who knows about this stuff to go to the theatre and check out the existing equipment and advise you of any limitations it may impose.

Are you planning on actually going to inspect the property yourself before you put in an offer (don't pay $175,000 - it was listed for $215,000 earlier this year and they'll probably drop the price further if they're not overwhelmed with potential buyers)?  If you buy it, will you be physically present to oversee the renovations or will you have to hire someone to do that?

Yeah I hope the price goes lower, but then again as I've said, i'm in no rush to get it giving pleanty of time to gather funds. As for the second part, I would be physically there to oversee the renovations.

Something bothers me far more than any of the factual and spot-on criticisms regarding a total lack of due diligence to financial or construction planning-- why would anyone post this shit on Bitcointalk if they were serious about it?

If the price drops someone else may buy the building, gut it and use it for a totally different purpose unless there's some zoning regulation which says that it can only be used as a theatre (if there is, it should have been mentioned in the ad).

Welcome to the present, logansryche.

Nobody tries to get $250,000 to "help out" anymore. In the eyes of the hive-mind you're either a scammer or incompetent. If you're just incompetent, then this thread will be your free education. Try not to argue with it.

Uhm... crowdfunding? Uhm... actual proof of intent? Uhm... life is not a free spirited adventure and you have to play the game if you expect to win anything?

Uhm...

Something bothers me far more than any of the factual and spot-on criticisms regarding a total lack of due diligence to financial or construction planning-- why would anyone post this shit on Bitcointalk if they were serious about it?

This probably isn't the best forum on the board for soliciting donations but I doubt it would be seen as a "Bitcoin project" in the projects forum so at least he's got some sound business advice here even if no donations are forthcoming.

But then again, if I had a good graphics card to mine coins, I wouldn't have to post my donation requests here and sound like an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing.

Trust me, I'm 100% all for restoring theatres. I am a classic film buff. The majority of films I have watched are pre-1960. The problem is that you have no idea what you're doing and it's painfully obvious. Here are some opinions of your idea posted by various individuals on another forum.

• Renovations list consists mostly of surface/sale items
• Majority of 'classic'/'retro' movie theatre goers would want a restored, not renovated theatre.
• You don't buy a fountain machine, you get one as part of you Coke/Pepsi contract.
• Buy an ice machine.
• Soda bag prices are ridiculously inaccurate.
• Deep fryer and corndog fryer, just get one large two basket fryer, allows for more fried food items.
• Electric potato shredder is a waste, given everything you sell will probably be premade and or frozen.
• Don't see a freezer in the budget.
• If you want fresh fries, use a manual one, also pizza oven display combos are a waste given you will probably be selling frozen personal pizzas.
• Might as well have a hot-pocket oven and display.
• Convection oven, are you running a restaurant or a theater?
• Best bet is to make it a theatre/bar with decent food (actual best bet is not to do it at all), because a three screen theater is doomed.
• Even multiscreen "art" theaters need booze to stay afloat.
• You stated in your write up it died due to cost of films, and yet you're going to do the same thing if not worse than the last owners.
• Your items list reads like a poorly done elementary school "start a business" project. Not to mention most of these things can be bought used.
• You don't even know the price of film ($50,000+ a week for new feature films), which is paramount to knowing if you can have a profitable go. Were you planning on playing TailSpin 24/7?
• Odds are the size of theatres makes it impossible to have profitable showings, not to mention the fans for AC.
• The VIP "access to every film every made" idea is downright laughable. That's not how films are licensed to theatres. Distributors don't provide you with a copy of every film ever made and let you keep them to show them to your customers on demand. Any attempt to avert this could be seen as piracy.
• The building hasn't had a safety inspection since 2000 and you're not going to commission a structural integrity report?
• Rochelle, IL has a population of 9,574, I don't think there is room there for niche anything. much less a fully functional profit-making theatre. Also one of the big perks you're planning is that the theater will accept bitcoins. How many people know what a bitcoin is in rural Illinois?
• There is a 10 screen cinema, an independent one screen theatre, and a historical, limited events theatre that barely functions, all in the next town over, Dekalb. It's barely a half hour away. How can you have a business plan so wonderful that it can be completely destroyed with 5 mins of very modest effort on google maps?

Yea. A good graphics card is all you need. Why with a brand new 6990 you could be making like $50 a month in profit, all while your girlfriend pays $300 a month for the electric bill!

EDIT: But then again, if I had a good graphics card to mine coins, I wouldn't have to post my donation requests here and sound like an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing.

No it wouldn't because you'd be charging them for VIP access, but even if it was totally free, you still couldn't do it. Haven't you ever read the FBI warning at the beginning of every movie you've ever rented?

My small hometown has almost exactly the population of Rochelle. We have a single old theater with one screen that plays second-run movies. The owners are a couple who made their money in other businesses and run the theater solely as a hobby and actually lose money on the deal.

Logansryche probably also thinks that radiostations don't need permission to play music and that they just 'download the mp3' whenever they want to play a song.

Cinemas don't buy copies of movies from distributors.  They're only leased and must be returned to the distributor at the end of the contracted period unless an extension is negotiated (and it probably won't be granted if the box office sales aren't good - they'd rather give that copy to another cinema which might get more box office sales).

Under The Copyright Act any viewing or exhibition of a video in a public place (theatres are considered public places) must have Public Performance Rights. P.P.R. rights can be added into the cost of the video at the time of purchase. Written confirmation of permission must be obtained from the copyright holder and kept on file.

What is a Public Performance?
Suppose you invite a few friends over to watch a movie or a TV show that’s no longer available on TV. You buy or rent a DVD or Blue-ray disc from the corner store or a digital video file from an online store and show the film or TV episode in your home that night. Have you violated copyright law by illegally "publicly performing" the movie or show? Of course not.

But suppose you took the same movie or TV episode and showed it to patrons at a club or bar that you happen to manage. In that case, you have infringed the copyright in the video work. Simply put, movies or TV shows obtained through a brick-and-mortar or online store are licensed for your private use; they are not licensed for exhibition to the public.

Why is the Creative Community Concerned About Such Performances?
The concept of "public performance" is central to copyright. If filmmakers, authors, playwrights, musicians and game designers do not retain ownership of their works, then there is little incentive for them to continue creating high-quality works in the future and there is little incentive for others to finance the creation of those works.

The Law
The Federal Copyright Act (Title 17 of the U.S. Code) governs how copyrighted materials, such as movies, may be used. Neither the rental nor the purchase of a copy of a copyrighted work carries with it the right to publicly exhibit the work. No additional license is required to privately view a movie or other copyrighted work with a few friends and family or in certain narrowly defined face-to-face teaching activities. However, bars, restaurants, private clubs, prisons, lodges, factories, summer camps, public libraries, daycare facilities, parks and recreation departments, churches and non-classroom use at schools and universities are all examples of situations where a public performance license must be obtained. This legal requirement applies regardless of whether an admission fee is charged, whether the institution or organization is commercial or non-profit, or whether a federal or state agency is involved.

Legal Sanctions
"Willful" infringement of these rules concerning public performances for commercial or financial gain is a federal crime carrying a maximum sentence of up to five years in jail and/or a $250,000 fine. Even inadvertent infringement is subject to substantial civil damages.

It's Easy to Obtain a Public Performance License
Obtaining a public performance license is easy and usually requires no more than a phone call. Fees are determined by such factors as the number of times a particular movie is going to be shown, how large the audience will be and so forth. While fees vary, they are generally inexpensive for smaller audiences. Most licensing fees are based on a particular performance or set of performances for specified films. The major firms that handle these licenses include:

Criterion Pictures
www.criterionpicusa.com
(800) 890-9494

Motion Picture Licensing Corporation
www.mplc.com
(800) 462-8855

Swank Motion Pictures, Inc.
www.swank.com
(800) 876-5577

In other specialized markets, such as hotels and motels, many studios choose to handle licensing arrangements directly.

Thats rented movies lol. There's a license you can get that allows you to display movie publicly.

Actualy, if I went out and bought every film on dvd and showed it to anyone who has VIP acess, it would be technically a free showing.

I stand by my previous statements.

Fees are determined by such factors as the number of times a particular movie is going to be shown, how large the audience will be and so forth. While fees vary, they are generally inexpensive for smaller audiences. Most licensing fees are based on a particular performance or set of performances for specified films.

What this means is that your public performance license defines the number or times and/or the time period for which you can publicly show the movie.  It doesn't give you the right to show it as often as you want indefinitely.

Regardless of what I think about the merits of this proposal, it's been an interesting thought exercise just pondering all the information that I'd want to know before even planning it as a project.  They're only the things which occurred to me in a couple of hours - I'm sure I'd think of a great many more over time.

Curious: I wonder if the $25,000 (1930--before inflation) organ is still in there. http://books.google.com/books?id=K2XGCqGu4-0C&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=%22hub+theatre%22+rochelle&source=bl&ots=mCGQy1rFn3&sig=Uw5buF_v2IFjMcryNWX1Kggjn2o&hl=en&ei=nFupToz6KcmFsgLWj42lDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAjge#v=onepage&q=%22hub%20theatre%22%20rochelle&f=false

I may be interested in investing, what's your experience in business/management, or do you have a portfolio outlining who you are and your previous accomplishments?  Do you have a business plan, income projections, or a market analysis of the town the theatre is in?

I would like a third of a million dollars, a portion of which can be pretend internet money mailed to an untraceable wallet link.  This is to restart a failed business in a field I have no experience and have done no research on save looking at a website.  But before you criticize, please know that I have a friend in the area who has agreed to take photos of the location through the shutters, so obviously it shows I'm a go-getter and champion.  You're correct that I cannot be bothered to even pick up a telephone or do the simplest fact check because, let's face it, I have no skin in this game.  Can I even accept donations legally?  Fuck if I know. 

You're a terrible person if you bring up my recent past of having to take out a loan from my girlfriend to refund someone $4 due to my incompetence or failed scam.  Obviously when I'm in the position to handle a hundred thousand times more money, I will do a hundred thousand times better.

I'm sorry, SL?  Is that a corporation I'm not familiar with?  And yes, I would like to see your business plan and the results of the market analysis.  

SL stands for SecondLife, which is a game

Are you sure?  ??? I was under the impression it was a meeting place for people who want to fuck animals.

Could you please post your business plan?

No investor would consider sending a single BTC/$ without seeing a business plan first.

Nope, not even worth it. Y'll are a bunch of ass holes.

Because people told you the truth? I mean, did you really, honestly think that a 30-minute brainstorm session was enough to solicit donations for a project that usually takes experienced developers and business owners months to put together?

Quit being a big baby, and either thank everyone for taking the time to identify the challenges you're not prepared to invest in solving, or use this thread as a resource to start heading down the right path for this project (and thank people for their advice). Have a little humility, bud.

You might actually be the least qualified person on the planet to do something like this.  And yes, I'm including Atlas.  Let's see:

1.  You tried to start a business selling gift cards for more than their face value, and couldn't even float the money to maintain ANY inventory:  people had to wait for you to get their payment, have the gift card shipped to you, and then ship it to them.

2.  You think 10% of $5 is $2.

3.  You tried to bill another forum member for seven hours of work on top of their original payment to upload a 125 meg file onto their server.  You took this job despite not having the tech expertise to type in your gift card business name into the prebuilt web page template you used.

4.  You had to take out a loan to repay a debt of like four bucks, yet proposed starting an ONLINE CASINO.

You have the business sense of a traffic cone.  I'd sooner drop money into a sewer grate than give it to you.

Don't bother. Furry penis art is so niche.

Don't bother. Furry penis art is so niche.

It takes a long time to raise funds for a worthwhile project, even when it's done correctly: http://www.townofchase.org/

http://www.wisconsincentral.net/Culture/Culture/ChaseBarn_files/barn.jpg

I wonder which web forum they did their begging on to pay for that thing?? 

Nope, not even worth it. Y'll are a bunch of ass holes.

This forum is such an incredibly weird place. Reading Atlas and Logansryche posts has almost stopped me from watching late night TV.

This forum is such an incredibly weird place. Reading Atlas and Logansryche posts has almost stopped me from watching late night TV.

This forum is such an incredibly weird place. Reading Atlas and Logansryche posts has almost stopped me from watching late night TV.

Y'know what I miss? Sleep.

In the days before BTCtalk I could go to sleep in my nice warm bed and dream wonderful dreams of nice redhaired voluptous girls.

Now I sit in a dark room illuminated by a TFT monitor staring at the forums and F5ing my way through the night, all night, every night.

I looked up the dollfucker saga, the retard DDoSing religeous nut AND the various legal threats against SA and all I got from it was that I've been wasting the past 10 years not reading the forums. I'm ashamed I was on ebaumsworld all that time. -_-;

I was on ebaumsworld

That sound you don't hear is the sound of nobody being surprised.

I guess I don't want to know what ebaumsworld is, do I?

Is this theater up yet? Wanna see some cool flicks w/ my bros. Maybe I can go to the Dark Knight premiere here, hmmm?

Life is what you make of it, sorry it was too hard for you. If I were a scammer, I'd be gone by now.