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Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Arts Podcast, where we explore the local arts culture in the Lehigh Valley. We’ll be doing this through conversations with individual artists, administrators, and organizations. We’ll explore all types of mediums with the goal of enriching local culture.
Welcome back
Speaker 2:to the Lehigh Valley Arts Podcast, where we will explore the local art, culture, and community in the Lehigh Valley. We'll be doing this through conversations with individual artists, administrators, and organizations. We'll discuss all types of mediums with the goal of enriching local arts culture.
Speaker 3:Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Lehigh Valley Arts podcast. My name is Ben. And today, I will be joined by Matthew McClanahan and Lauren McChesney, the 2 owners of Schenk Wyler's Drive In and the Moving Picture Cinema. Matt has always known he wanted to work in the movie industry. He has a filmmaking degree from Temple University and has produced numerous independent short and feature films.
Speaker 3:After completing an internship in Los Angeles, Matt became enamored with independent art house theaters and shifted his focus toward the presentation side of films rather than their production. In 2014, Matt helped to revive and run a drive in theater in Carbon County, PA where he found his niche. Matt teamed up with his friend and fellow theater operator, Brendan Joyce, in 2019 to found the Moving Picture Cinema, presenting professional grade outdoor cinema to unique non theatrical spaces in the Greater Philadelphia area. The Moving Picture Cinema kicked off operations with a handful of smart, intimate screenings found at local breweries and taprooms. In 2020, Matt decided to decided to take on the moving picture cinema full time in order to assist communities in desperate need of safe, socially distanced entertainment during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Speaker 3:The Moving Picture Cinema also became an outdoor exhibitor for regional theaters whose auditoriums were closed to the public. During the spring of 2022, Matt met with the owners of Schenk Drive In in Orfield, BA. The theater had been for sale for several years and its future was uncertain. Matt and his business partner, Lauren, made the decision to purchase the theater and continue its operations. The drive in reopened in November of 2022 and is now open year round.
Speaker 3:The Moving Picture Cinema continues to innovate and evolve new events and partnerships to offer the drive in experience to communities across Eastern PA, allowing Matt to combine his love of vintage cinema with his borderline obsessive DIY spirit. Lauren spent the majority of her adult life as a medical social worker and health care marketer. She met Matt in 2018 when she was a customer at his first drive in theater. After traveling around the country together, visiting drive in movie theaters and unique cinematic displays, Lauren found herself gravitating more toward the cinema business. In May of 2022, Lauren took a leap out of health care and joined the Moving Picture Cinema full time to oversee the company's marketing and business development activities, helping to expand the mobile cinema into new markets.
Speaker 3:This played an integral role in facilitating the Shanquiler Drive In Theater. In her new role, Lauren strives to engage with the community, building partnerships and expanding the theater's usage beyond traditional programming. Lauren and Matt both have a vision for the future of theatrical exhibition and are using their complementary skills to make this the listeners would love to hear about it.
Speaker 4:Well, our our tagline is, you know, the oldest drive in in America, and and there's a little caveat to that where we are the oldest operating drive in in America. The first one opened in in Camden, New Jersey, but only lasted about 5 years. Shank Wowers opened the following year in 1934 and has been continuous run ever since. We are the 4th set of owners to take over the theater, and, we plan to to keep it going well into the future. But, yeah, Shank Waters has been around forever.
Speaker 4:Everyone everyone has mem everyone local has memories going to it. It's it's it's even including myself, I went there growing up. So, you know, it's that's kind of where we are and the the brief explanation of it.
Speaker 1:So, we're not just America's oldest drive in. We're the world's oldest driving. We actually found out on a Google search that we have a Guinness World Record.
Speaker 4:Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's super cool. I saw on the Wikipedia page, and correct me if I'm wrong, but that you guys also were the 1st theater to implement FM radio transmission
Speaker 4:for
Speaker 3:That is incredible. I mean, for something that is so standard across the industry today, to to be the first ones that did that is just so cool.
Speaker 4:Now radio broadcast wasn't wasn't a new thing at the time. Sure. But but FM was. That that's the big so a lot of drive ins were using AM transmitters, or they were still using speaker poles. Yeah.
Speaker 4:So, you know, Schenck Wyler's kind of kind of took took drive ins into that next generation of sound delivery with the stereo FM. And that's the system that we use to this day. There hasn't been an advancement that that really works for, you know, distributing sound across that lot quite as well as FM broadcast does.
Speaker 3:You are obviously no stranger to the film industry, and especially projection, having been at Mahoning Drive In and then the Moving Picture Van and now Schenk Wyler's. So what I see in common with all three of those are unique environments for watching movies. Tell me a little bit about your draw for those unique environments.
Speaker 4:It kinda stems back. I did a study away program in Los Angeles towards the end of my, time at Temple, and I I I kind of fell out of love with the movie industry, but fell in love with movie theaters and the exhibition side. And when I came back to Pennsylvania, I, I wanted to kind of bring that experience of going to all these unique art house theaters and these unique venues, because there was something fun about going to an unusual space and because there was something fun about going to an unusual space and watching a movie. And I wanted to take that experience and bring it here, because because kinda like you, there wasn't a lot here in the valley or in in at my at the time in the Philly suburbs where I was living at the time to experience that. So, you know, my time at the Mahoning was really a a great opportunity for me to explore not only, you know, unique presentation in an interesting setting, but also the technology behind it, because developing the digital system for that drive in is ultimately what led to, you know, me being able to go on the road with a van Yeah.
Speaker 4:And bring that theatrical experience to non theatrical spaces.
Speaker 3:Very cool. Yeah. For for those listening, I first was put on the map to these guys because I was living in New York City, I moved back, and I was spoiled by the projection houses that were showing older movies in a in a public or group setting. And so when I moved back, I was really missing that, and I found the Moving Picture Van, which was playing psycho at the Weierbacher Brewing Company. And so our our whole team of of hosts and producers went, and we had a really awesome time.
Speaker 3:Loved the experience, and then we went back shortly after that to see Night of the Living Dead. So, yeah, that's, that was that was super fun. I loved loved going to those those showings at Weierbacher.
Speaker 4:Night of living dead was particularly fun with that cemetery backdrop. Oh, yeah. Intentionally positioned the screen so that would be behind it.
Speaker 3:I love that so much. And, Lauren, when I was looking at at your history, it seems like there's quite a bit of a marketing and social media background.
Speaker 1:My background is predominantly social work. I worked at a hospital for a long time, and I got tired of working in such a stressful environment. So I I found a job at a nursing home that I had been working with, through the hospital and they were looking for a marketer. So it was a little bit of social work still and, you know, a little bit of hospital and medical and then also started introducing me to marketing and sales.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:So I started gaining experience with that. Shortly after I started there, you know, COVID happened, and everything got a little bit different. So that's when I really started working with Matt and kinda on the back end, trying to figure out how to help with the marketing, and business development, you know, specialty, I guess. So helping with the moving picture cinema, and then as we started kinda dreaming about owning a a drive in, then I started learning more about the business side of that.
Speaker 3:The first time that you guys came across each other was when he sold you a ticket to the drive in.
Speaker 4:And I believe
Speaker 3:you said that was your first time going to a drive in?
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:And that was to see Suspiria.
Speaker 1:Suspiria, the original one. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That is so cool. So so fill me in on how you got from him selling you a ticket for your first time ever going to a drive in to now being a co owner of a drive in? Like, where did where did that love and and passion to wanna become an owner of a drive in take place?
Speaker 1:I don't know. It's the most bizarre thing because I always thought I mean, I just sort of expected I would always be a social worker. Like, that's just sort of how the career tends to go. Sure. And I never really thought about like, I would never ever in a 1000000 years have thought that I would be here.
Speaker 1:It's just bizarre. I loved going to the drive in. I I always loved going to, like, the older movies. Like, I went to the Emmaus Theater all the time, and and I liked to go see, like, new or, like, rereleases of older movies. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:So Mahoning was on my radar for a little while. I finally made it out to go see Suspiria, and I was like, this is incredible. Like, being able to watch in that different environment Yeah. Sitting outside under the stars watching the movie. And then I just sorta kept going.
Speaker 3:Where did each of your love for movies stem from?
Speaker 4:I joke with people, at least as I exist now. I I am a I am a a drive in movie nerd, but I'm not a movie nerd. I Interesting. I am I'm not a film nerd, I should say. I I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of of film and filmography.
Speaker 4:I don't have a I don't have a library in my brain. There are a lot of people in this industry that could definitely out trivia me. But I love drive ins. I am an, I, I just got fixated on that. And, and a lot of it is because a lot of my core childhood memories involve drive ins.
Speaker 4:I grew up going to Shank Wyler's. I grew up going to Becky's, and a lot of the movies that came out in my childhood, we went and saw the drive in. So I, like, I remember seeing the, you know, Tobey Maguire Spider Man movie on Becky's drive in screen. I remember watching that that silly Van Helsing movie from the 2000 in a thunderstorm at a drive in, which for a movie about a guy hunting vampires worked out kinda perfectly. And so these weird experiences kinda stuck in the back of my brain.
Speaker 4:And when I started exploring these art house theaters, that kinda came back to the back to the the front. Definitely. So, yeah, movies I mean, I went to film school. I guess that's important, but I went to film school. I made dozens of movies.
Speaker 4:I I've I've worked on a few features, but, like, all on the independent side. Nothing nothing with, like, a theatrical distribution. I have one, feature that I directed and produced myself. It only sees a theatrical play when I choose to play it at whatever theater I happen to be working in at the time. So that's kinda my background with that.
Speaker 3:Very cool. And how about you, Lauren?
Speaker 1:I just grew up going to movies. I am just like Matt. People love to try to, like, name drop these obscure movies to me as though I have an appreciation for it, but I regularly tell people my favorite movies are Jurassic Park and Titanic, and those have been my favorite movies for decades. And I don't you know, I I always tell Matt, like, when we're coming up with programming
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I represent the normal person who maybe doesn't have this, like, in-depth understanding of film and, you know, independent films and artistic things. I'm just the one who likes the blockbusters.
Speaker 3:Well, that's that that's a really good jumping point to, to go into programming. 1 of 1 of my favorite things, just in general when it comes to movies, is this idea of a double feature. Something that the drive in is so synonymous with. So tell me a little bit about your choices when it comes to programming 2 movies that go back to back.
Speaker 4:So there there's there's kinda 2 approaches we have, and it all depends on on what we're doing.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 4:If it is a first run movie, obviously, we're up against a lot of studio Hollywood restrictions with what we can play. So it's a little bit of a dance when we're programming first run material, but we do our very best to try to make sure that whatever co feature we have with our with our headliner either ties into it, complements it, or somehow, you know, kinda rips off it. Sure. You know? It it's it's always it's always kind of a balance to strike.
Speaker 4:And and and you wanna you wanna make sure you're programming a co feature that, you you know, your first audience might be cool with staying with, but there might also be a completely separate audience that comes just for that movie. Yeah, definitely. And then when you're going on the, repertory route with classic movies, that's where you get to have a lot of fun. Oh yeah. And, and that's where, you know, you see, you see us kind of get creative with with screenings like twister and the shining, which I won't spoil the tie in for anyone who hasn't seen those movies, but there is one, and it's awesome.
Speaker 4:That's super cool. I forgot I forgot how much the shining tied in the twister until finally rewatching it on the drive in screen, and that was perfect.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4:So and being able to do fun, nerdy stuff like that just satisfies me for sure.
Speaker 3:For sure.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we just pick things that we wanna watch. So we we had one weekend, a few weeks ago that there weren't any new releases that we wanted to show. There wasn't really, like, a huge audience that we were anticipating, so we played Superbad and Step Brothers, which are just movies I really like that I thought were funny, and we enjoyed watching them and people actually came, which was surprising. So sometimes that's how we choose as well.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. For each of you, what in in a perfect world, regardless of studio restrictions or cost, what would be your perfect double feature?
Speaker 1:Titanic is the whole feature probably.
Speaker 4:I've always wanted to put wizard of Oz return to Oz back to back. That is such a a weird journey to go on. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I've never even seen that.
Speaker 4:It is it is
Speaker 1:The sequel?
Speaker 4:It is a sequel. It is a sequel. It's it's by Disney.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 4:So where what is the last is Warner Brothers, but it's based on the sequel book. But, it it it delves into a lot of, darker sort of psychological elements, particularly with Dorothy in in the in the first act. There's also some very disturbing imagery throughout involving, some, villainous characters. So it it's it's one of those it's one of those famous, like, traumatize me as a kid. This movie is meant for kids, but kids probably shouldn't watch it.
Speaker 4:It's a great second feature for a
Speaker 3:drive in. Oh, yeah. Along with this idea of programming comes the business side of things, the things that I'm sure most of our listeners are very unfamiliar with. Could you could you key our audience in a little bit on that behind the scenes, what that looks like to go from concept, we have a double feature idea, to getting those those digital assets to to project? Tell tell me a little bit about that whole process from beginning to end.
Speaker 1:It is so complicated, and people never believe me when I tell them that, but that was the biggest thing that I had to learn, because I came at this, like, let's play this movie and let's play this movie. And Matt was always like, no. Like, we can't do that because of certain restrictions. There's certain studios that are much easier to work with than others and a little more flexible. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Do you wanna explain about, like, the double feature part of it?
Speaker 4:It's so hard. So with with drive ins, like you said, drive ins are synonymous with double features, and and that's kind of an edge that we have, versus our indoor counterparts is we have a lot of flexibility to bundle movies together. That's kind of a uniquely drive in thing. Yeah. And, so most of the time, we kinda have a lot of wiggle room in the 1st run sphere to to play with our co feature.
Speaker 4:Sure. Particularly if we stay in house with whatever studio is putting out the first the first feature. If we stay within that studio, generally, we can kinda get what we want. But there's other studios that have mandated co features. They won't let us program.
Speaker 4:So a lot of a lot of, like, first run movies we choose to bring in hinges on what we can pick as the co feature. Mhmm. So if there's a movie coming in that might have a strong start, but they want us to put a a real turkey in for the for the co feature.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 4:We might have to skip it because we have to think about like, you know, our audience wants a, wants that value. They want, they wanna get 2 movies for that price and they wanna make sure that that whatever is playing next is something that they might wanna stay for, even if they don't. So we have to kinda be cognizant of, like, is that co feature gonna draw? So so there's a lot of there's a lot of weird that helps us navigate. Most most theaters will have a a a film booker that represents numerous theaters so that they can get good deals.
Speaker 4:Because that's the that's the other kind of odd thing with Hollywood is that you you kinda have to, like, haggle the studios and Sure. And negotiate terms with them. So working with a book that represents multiple theaters helps with that bargaining power. Yeah. So our booker represents a lot of drive ins.
Speaker 4:So it's helpful for us to kinda
Speaker 3:That makes sense.
Speaker 1:Another thing that's become kind of a new consideration is, streaming windows. And that's something that theater owners, associations, like all of really all of them have been talking about regularly, releasing into theater and releasing onto streaming platform at the same time.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And so there's been a lot of studying about whether that hurts their bottom line, you know, and how much money they end up making, which it significantly does. But it also affects whether we choose to show those movies. Because if we're showing a movie that we're locked in the show for 3 weeks, and they are gonna be releasing it on the streaming after 2 weeks, that's gonna hurt us. That's gonna affect the audience that's coming to us. So Totally.
Speaker 1:We're constantly paying attention to things like that as well.
Speaker 3:Theaters and drive ins come in all shapes and sizes, many, many different screen counts. One of the things about Schenck Wyler is that it's a single screen. Tell me a little bit about the pros and the cons to being a a single screen drive in.
Speaker 4:I think the biggest pro to a single screen drive in is that there isn't there's less noise. Other parts of the field that are playing different movies. Yeah. If, if one side's playing a drama and the other side's playing an action movie, you're gonna hear explosions during a, a sure a pivotal scene, which is a little bit and and, you know, so that's always kind of something that I I've I've looked on, single screen drive ins favorably because there's everyone's watching the same thing. Everyone's there together to experience one movie.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Together. And and I like the idea of of not having anything interfere with that. I'm a stickler about, like, the presentation side of it and Yeah. And making sure that everything anybody who has their headlights on can tell you.
Speaker 4:I like to, I like to make sure
Speaker 2:that that, you know, everyone is is able to be engrossed in the movie if they
Speaker 4:want to be. And, so having multiple screens, I think, makes that a little bit muddy. The downside is obviously the on the programming side, it's very challenging. There are there have been so many instances even in our short time this spring, that we wished we had 2 screens just so we could play all the movies that are coming out. Sure.
Speaker 4:You know, especially this summer, now that we're finally kind of, well, the brighter strike might change that next year. But this summer Summer. This summer, we have a lot of moves to play with. So it might not be too bad being a single screener next year. But this summer, you know, there's there's so much stuff coming out.
Speaker 4:A lot of stuff overlaps. If we get a movie that has a 2, 3 week commitment, we might not be able to bring another big blockbuster in. So we have, it's a little more of a juggle when you, when you only have one screen in the program. But if you have 2, I think the ideal number is 2, because it's it's not you're not inundating customers with with, you know, a variety, but at the same time, you're able to kinda, like, get the movies you wanna get. But with one screen, it's it's nice because there's that just just that central focus.
Speaker 3:Saw on social media for Schenk Wyler is that you're doing a some kind of a van get together. Vanadu. Vanadu. That's it.
Speaker 1:We've been joking about that for years.
Speaker 4:Vanadu, I think, started as a joke. In fact, it was something that I just kind of made mention of when we were doing our shows. It's a product. It it it's something that kinda purely we fell into by accident. When we started doing the moving picture stuff, I just happened to have that old van.
Speaker 4:I bought that van back when I was running Mahoning to help me with restocking because I would always buy tons and tons of food and haul it up to the theater. So I got that purely for a utility need of of transportation and moving goods. And then when I went into moving picture full time, it came with me to to haul all the AV equipment. So I just, you know, I rebranded it and just started doing that. But it's it turns out that it is a highly sought after classic van that that a lot of people love.
Speaker 4:And and purely by accident, I kinda found myself in the midst of this weird underground van community of people who who drive and and restore and and hang out with their old weird vans. And so Vanadu kind of was just born out of that, out of this, like, you know, accidental integration into this subculture. And then, you know, when we expanded and got 2 vans, of course, I got a matching van. And so now we have, like, these 2 old Chevy vans that are kind of our our flagship carriers for moving picture.
Speaker 3:Very cool. Tell me tell me a little bit more about moving picture. Where did that where did that concept come from? What, what really made you wanna jump into that in the first place?
Speaker 4:The work we were doing at the Mahoning was really cool, but for a lot of people, it was inaccessible.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 4:You know? The Mahoning is is up in the mountains. It's it's out of, it's way out of the reach of a lot of major cities and a way out of the reach for a lot of people that can't necessarily travel to it. And the idea with the moving picture was to be able to take that that sort of retro driving experience and plop it in the middle of a of a urban or suburban area. You know?
Speaker 4:Go to a non theatrical space and turn it into a theater overnight. And so we ended up really, really, hitting it off with a a couple, museums to start doing special curations. Some of my favorite programming we do is for the Mutter Museum in Philly. We do a lot of weird stuff for them, and and that that's a lot of fun. And the ability to kinda turn those spaces be in a museum or a park or a brewery or winery and and make that a theatrical space in a couple hours and have everybody experience a movie in a unique venue was just, it was enticing to me.
Speaker 4:And and after building that digital rig at Mahoning and making that work on a massive drive in screen, being able to take that same system and then implement it in people's backyards, literally. Yeah. It was just kind of just a fun fun concept for me, and and it makes that experience accessible for everybody and and brings that experience to communities that don't have drive ins anymore.
Speaker 1:Because there used to be a ton.
Speaker 4:There used to be
Speaker 1:a ton
Speaker 4:of drive ins.
Speaker 1:Yeah. The things Matt and I like to do is go find the places with abandoned drive ins. So because there are so many. So we found all the ones around, like, the Lehigh Valley and Philly. And so there are a lot of people who grew up going to drive ins, and they just don't exist anymore.
Speaker 1:They're like a CVS or a grocery store or a warehouse. So bringing the drive in back to those areas
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Has been fun.
Speaker 3:That's that's awesome. Now you said that you had left the social work field. And when you first started, was it with Moving Picture?
Speaker 1:Yes. Tell
Speaker 3:me tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 1:Well, I very abruptly quit my job. So so there wasn't a a ton of thought that went into it. It was there was a unfortunate job situation that I immediately was just like, I can't do this anymore. Mhmm. And then I we talked about, should I get another, like, quote, unquote, real job with benefits and and everything, and I begged Matt to just let me join his company.
Speaker 1:So I came up with a position for myself and then told him that I was working with him. And then we made that work. So initially, I started just continuing with the marketing aspect of it.
Speaker 4:Sure.
Speaker 1:Going to network, get the word out about the company, and and get some more, you know, jobs and new connections. And I think that worked out really well, and it also created a really good foundation in the community where people got to know us and know what we were doing before we bought Schenk Wyler's. Yeah. So then once we got Schenk Wyler's, it looked like a natural growth and a natural progression of something we had already been working on.
Speaker 4:Well, it was.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, it was. But to Yeah. To everyone, like, it's not like we just, like, burst onto the scene of, like and now we've got Shane Wiley. With the drive. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's it's we had built, like, we had spent time building up this idea of what we were doing, getting people invested in in on a small scale so that when we graduated on to having our own drive in, people were already really excited and really invested in it.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Establishing the moving picture cinema as a brand was was kind of an important step in in our networking endeavors with with Schenk Wyler's. And that's all Lauren. She she she hustles all the events and is is always the the public face of the company. I I work in the shadows.
Speaker 1:Essentially, I get the business and then Matt makes it actually happen.
Speaker 3:You're talking about making these connections with the community. What draws you to wanna be driving owners in the Lehigh Valley specifically?
Speaker 4:Well, I don't think we always were looking to be driving owners in Lehigh Valley. No. Originally so Lauren and I developed an entire plan to open a drive in theater in Bucks County. Okay. We're we had our sights set on the Philadelphia suburbs because we had Shank, Wyler's, and Becky's here.
Speaker 4:We had Mahoning to the north. We have 2 more drive ins above that. 3 more, actually. And and so there's drive ins all around us,
Speaker 1:but
Speaker 4:no drive ins down there.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And we were seeing such success with our programming down there that we knew there was a need for it. Like, there was a market there for it. Mhmm. But one of the things that killed the drive in in the, in the eighties nineties was the was land value. Mhmm.
Speaker 4:Land was land was basically becoming more valuable in the businesses that existed on it. And so a lot of drive ins sold off to developers. And so we were up against that, you know, in this real estate explosion where prices are insane. And then when you go on the commercial side, it's it's unworkable, especially if you're, you know, a 3 year old company with not a huge cash flow. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Definitely. So, you know, really, Shankweilers happened out of pure curiosity. It was for sale for years. It was for sale since, like, 2014, and I was aware of it. But we had always kinda dismissed it because of the price tag.
Speaker 4:But on a whim, one night in February, I went over and met the owners and met the realtor toward the theater. It was, like, the first time I was at Shank Weilers since growing up.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 4:And at the end of that meeting, I just said, let's make it work. Let's make it happen. So, you know, Lauren and I spent the next 9 months securing a loan and and going over to the business, revising our plan. And actually, ultimately, it worked out for us because Shankly Island is is an established entity. It is it is a a theater that has endured.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It was born out of the depression. It is it it has survived all kinds of things and Yeah. Both both global and local events. So it is a it is a a resilient business, and being able to to to show that, improve that, and have our own model that complements that was really our key to success in in financing that project and making that happen.
Speaker 3:Very cool. Yeah. I can't for for someone that is a self proclaimed, drive in aficionado, I think owning the oldest operating drive in in the United States is a is a pretty good feat.
Speaker 4:That's definitely a flex, and I just I am aware of that.
Speaker 3:Well, drive ins during the pandemic really exploded, and they were being used for so many more things than just movies. Mhmm. And I saw on both Schenk Wyler's website and the Moving Picture website that you guys have ideas and desires and dreams for alternative uses for these spaces. Yes. I'd love to hear a little bit about anything you're willing to share publicly about that right now.
Speaker 1:So so, historically, drive in owners had other jobs. You know, that was, like, sometimes they were teachers, and so they had off during during the summer or, did something else during the day and then ran the drive in at night. And we saw this as an something that we wanted to make full time for ourselves. So in order to do that, we had to adapt a business model so that it would be able to succeed and so that it would bring in other sources of revenue besides just showing the movies. So the easiest thing, not really the easiest, but a very clear opportunity came out of the fact that we have 3 three and a half acres.
Speaker 1:I don't even know. 3 to 4?
Speaker 4:It's it's 4 to 5. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay. So we have some acres of land.
Speaker 4:We have land.
Speaker 1:And it's just empty during the day. Mhmm. It it just sits there and waits for the audience to come later at night. So what could we be doing during the day, and how could we be making use of that? So, we've talked to some people about doing car shows.
Speaker 1:We're doing a a car cruise in this weekend, actually, on Saturday. It's a classic car club that's just gonna come drive in and hang out, and it should be pretty fun. We've talked about doing, like, cars and coffee. We've talked to some people who wanna host a food truck festival. A lot of drive ins do things like flea markets, and that's not really a direction we're leaning toward at the moment.
Speaker 1:But things like craft fairs, we've definitely been open to. So it I tell people all the time that when they if they have an idea of something that we could do, they should just tell us, and we'll see if we can make it work because, it's it's still kind of a new idea and a new territory, and we're open to so many different ideas that people might have that we couldn't even think of.
Speaker 3:When you guys were running the moving picture cinema during the pandemic, What kind of an impact did you guys see firsthand from when that was going on and operating that business?
Speaker 4:The company grew 8,000% in the pandemic. Moving picture was kind of back burnered for a while. It was something that that was started, but then I got busy busy running the Mahoning. My other cofounder at the time got busy because he operates theaters down south of us. He got really busy.
Speaker 4:We just, you know, kind of fell out of it. It was just sort of something that, you know, we just didn't have a time for. But the company existed. We did a few gigs, and and then the season started up, and I worked at the drive in. Then pandemic hit, and suddenly there was this explosion of need for outdoor programming.
Speaker 4:So I very quickly grew it. You know, we upgraded our screen. We upgraded projection. We we immediately started marketing ourselves out to to to shutter theaters and museums, and that's really where where a lot of our lasting partnerships came from was those initial jobs that we worked, during lockdowns. And, you know, being able to provide entertainment for for a population that's starved of things to do Yeah.
Speaker 4:Was really kind of inspiring. And it was it was, it was so it was like it was like an honor because we were working with well established beloved theaters that couldn't open. And and now we're we're we're making it happen. We're making a presentation happen safely outside for for an institution that this community loves. And being able to facilitate that and be a part of it was just very exciting.
Speaker 4:And and so yeah. And that ultimately is what led to to years years of of of, you know, long term partnerships with these with these theaters. So
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:From a purely selfish point of view, I was working in a nursing home all through COVID, and that was it was really rough. So having opportunities to go and watch movies outside and be doing something, was I don't know. I it was just so needed. It was so necessary, and I kinda feel like that's what helped me survive through it. And I know that there are a lot of other people who looked to these sort of outdoor events as, you know, a way to make it through a really hard time.
Speaker 3:I wanna hear a little bit more about marketing and what you guys do marketing wise and, some of the the pros, cons, and challenges that you face when it comes to to marketing a drive in?
Speaker 1:I think historically, drive ins don't do a ton of marketing. A lot of them, they just sort of rely on the fact that they are a drive in in a town and everyone has grown up with it and knows about it. So word-of-mouth carries it on, which I think Schenk Wyler's largely has done. It just kind of was a drive in that was there. We know it's something special.
Speaker 1:We know it has the historic value. People in this area, for some reason, don't know that. They don't know that it has a Guinness world record. They don't know how old it is. So we saw a lot of opportunity to really bring that to people's attention and look at different venues and ways of advertising that that that maybe a traditional drive in wouldn't pursue.
Speaker 1:So I went out into the community. I've done presentations at, like, we presented an entrepreneur group. I I've done a few speaking engagements, which is not my forte, but that's that's fine. You know, just meeting connections and and spreading it in that way. But also we have a really strong social media presence.
Speaker 1:And Matt has a lot of experience doing that from Mahoning. That's how he managed to grow that business. And we thankfully inherited a pretty solid following when we when we bought the theater. So we we've used that to reach a lot of different audiences that weren't aware of the theater before. Right after we bought it, we went viral on TikTok, which was a frightening experience, honestly.
Speaker 1:Like, we had 38 followers when we when we got the account.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And now we're at 16,000, I think. And it happened, like, overnight where we posted I I posted a dumb video of Matt turning on the neon sign, and it got, like, 2 and a half 1000000 views. And we were like, oh my god. So all winter, we were getting people from Philly and New York and, out of state, just people driving out, which was really exciting. And that's something that wouldn't have happened if we weren't marketing in in that way and marketing on social media.
Speaker 3:You mentioned something really interesting there which is winter time.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Something that not many drive ins do is stay open year round. Tell me a little bit about the decision to stay open year round and, some of the benefits and drawbacks that that has.
Speaker 4:It's actually kind of a well, with Cheyenne QUILERS is the exception. Cheyenne QUILERS has always been seasonal. But drive ins as a whole, historically, were year round, including those up here in the northeast. It's actually kind of a recent phenomenon that they are seasonal, and a lot of that has to do with owner operators getting older. Drive ins being viewed as kind of a part time job and not a full time job, because they used to be a full time thing that you had, you know, a staff that worked there to make a living.
Speaker 4:And so we're kind of going back to that model where this drive in is our full time job. We're we're gonna be open all year because this is this is what we do. Yeah. But, yeah, it is interesting. It it's kind of this expected thing that drive ins are seasonal, but in in reality, it's it's actually kind of a new a new phenomenon.
Speaker 4:And when you get out to, like, kind of the Midwest and, and further west, even even up north where it gets colder than it does here, there's a lot of drive ins that are still open year round. Wow. So it's it's actually pretty interesting to see how common it still is. And so I think it's been a little bit of a learning curve for us, but also kind of a retraining of our audience
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 4:To sort of, reintroduce them to the winter drive in experience.
Speaker 3:That's that's fascinating. What what other kind of common misconceptions are there when it comes to drive ins?
Speaker 4:I don't know.
Speaker 1:We have we have a lot of people ask us why we can't start the movie earlier, and we have to explain that Yeah. Unfortunately, we must go by the sun, because it shows in the dark. So that is a surprisingly large misconception.
Speaker 4:We have a lot of people also that that that struggle with, the sound delivery of the FM radio. A lot of first timers, they have the picture in their mind of the speakers on the poles, which very few drive ins do that anymore. And most of the ones that still have them, only have, like, 1 or 2 rows for decoration. Okay. They're barely functional.
Speaker 4:Speaker poles are for parking. Yeah. Our speaker poles are are speakers are are for organizing cars, but but so a lot of we have we have a lot of customers that come in with this expectation. Like, I'm gonna hang this poem on my this little speaker on my window. That's how I'm gonna hear the movie.
Speaker 4:Then they get here and then go, oh, I need a radio. If they drive a newer car, it might not even have an FM receiver in it. So there's a little bit of a, a learning curve for people. A lot of people don't know how to put their car in accessory mode, or run their car without their headlights turning on. Yeah.
Speaker 4:So there's a there's there's a lot of there's a lot of kind of retraining people for the driving experience. Yeah. But but for the most part, you know, they get there, they learn, and then they have a great time. And next time they come back, they know exactly what they're doing. And it's it's worked out.
Speaker 4:So we, we ended up did, we ended up bringing a, a small, a small stash of radios in as rentals, just, just as that kind of emergency stop gap. If if someone absolutely cannot hear the movie with whatever equipment they brought Sure. We do have the means of of making sure they
Speaker 2:have a have a fun night.
Speaker 1:We have a lot of people who listen to radios, you know, like, listen to radio programs on their phone. And so then they're surprised when we tell them you can't use that for this because we I don't and you can explain this a little bit better that we have a short range radio that kind of overlays over an existing radio station.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:So if you're picking something up over, you know, your phone, you're gonna completely miss that, and you're just gonna get the, like, Christian music station.
Speaker 4:Got it. Yeah. It's it's we are a microvicinity transmitter, which means pretty much the the boundaries of our lot is is, as far as our single goes. So, you know, you're not gonna find us on on a cell phone app. You're not gonna find us in a registry because, you know, the station really doesn't exist.
Speaker 4:It it's it's only for that small vicinity.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Which is a uniquely, that that that's a whole thing regulated by the FCC. That's like a drive in, like, little legal thing that drive ins are able to do. It's it's it's very bizarre, but we're limited on how powerful our transmitter can be. So that means that those apps that you get on your phone aren't gonna recognize that we are a radio station. Sure.
Speaker 4:And surprisingly, while we are seeing a lot of advancements in projection with laser technology, We are seeing a lot of, forward momentum with sound delivery. Mhmm. You know, we have customers ask us about, you know, Bluetooth capability or or various, like, you know, transmitting over a over a Wi Fi band. And there isn't really a way to do that yet that doesn't involve some kind of signal delay that puts your audio out of sync with the picture. There's something about the, the old school FM broadcast that is an immediate delivery to your device that allows us to play the soundtrack with the movie where, our the digital counterparts haven't quite gotten that dialed in yet.
Speaker 3:I had a funny experience right in line with what you were saying before about people needing to learn their vehicles and to get the best experience. I have a 2019 Hyundai, and it took me, the first time we went to the drive in, probably a good hour and a half to figure out how to turn my interior, like, accessory lights from full brightness down to, like, 1%. And it was so distracting until I could do it. But now that I figured out how to do it, I could do it every time. And it's the kind of thing, until you're in that exact circumstance, you have no idea how to make it work.
Speaker 4:I've gotten pretty good at, like, just reaching into people's windows and turning their lights off. Like like, it's it's such an it's such it's like a puzzle box for me. It's like, how how does this how does this work? There's all kinds of weird combination. Did you put your parking brake on?
Speaker 4:Is it did you did you did you press the start button really quick once or did you hold it in? It is all these weird little and every automaker's different. So you you just kind of trial and her until eventually the lights turn off. Yeah. If it doesn't work, worst case scenario,
Speaker 2:I throw I throw plastic bags over the lights to to towels them. But
Speaker 1:but This was so much a problem during the winter because people were sitting in their cars and running their heat.
Speaker 4:Yeah. That makes sense.
Speaker 1:That's kinda where Matt became this expert because everyone was always in their car. As we get into the summer, people really will be sitting outside Oh, gosh. But there won't be so much Sure. So much of an issue. But
Speaker 4:It's funny. It's like in the winter, it's more headlight control, but you're not jumping any cars because people are running their cars intermittently to keep them warm.
Speaker 1:But when
Speaker 4:you get into the summer season, now people running their car batteries down. So you're not having as many headlights, but you're jumping more cars. It's a weird the seasons.
Speaker 3:Yeah. There's a lot of things that you wouldn't think about unless you're in in that exact situation. Well, as we bring this episode to a close, what is one thing that you guys are really excited about for this upcoming summer season?
Speaker 1:Barbie.
Speaker 3:Barbie?
Speaker 4:Hopefully, selling out. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's something
Speaker 4:that we necessity. Hey. Because that's driving does that a lot. It's it's it's not a huge drive in, so it it's known for selling out. And and so I'm very excited to to be there that night that it hits capacity.
Speaker 4:That's gonna be
Speaker 3:com and the moving picture cinema.com, or check them out on Instagram atschenkweilers or the moving picture cinema respectively. Schenck Wyler's drive in theater is located at 4540 Schenck Wyler Road, Orfield, PA. And starting this Thursday, May 25th, they will be showing movies 7 days a week through the fall. As always, movies start at sunset. This summer, they will also continue the mobile cinema with upcoming shows including North White Hall Township's Movies in the Park series as well as their ongoing Movies at the Mercer series with the Mercer Museum and County Theatre in Doylestown.
Speaker 3:Thanks for tuning in. We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 2:Thanks for tuning in to the Lehigh Valley Arts podcast, a Steel Pixel original series. Don't forget to like the podcast. Leave us a review and follow us on both social media and streaming services at Lehigh Valley Arts podcast.