I have been doing standees for several years now. Anyone else doing these at the Theaters?

They are always a challenge to put together, but the pay is usually pretty good. ;-)

With a name like toolguy, I'd have no doubt you could put them together. I read a description once and I'm too chicken to attempt them.

What's 'pay is pretty good' mean, if you don't mind me asking.

It is piece rate work meaning that you make the money as fast as you can build it.

Lets say for example that a company pays you 30.00 to build one. If you are capable of building it in an hour, then you just made 30 an hour, ;-)

However, if you have lots of spare time (unlike most of us!) and it takes you three hours, then you made 10 an hour. ;-o

BTW, if you build one and you are filling out a form that asks how long it took you, make sure to double or triple the amount of time it took you to build it. That way, they won't lower the rates to make money off of your hard work. ;-o

lol...

yeah us none mechanically inclined dont take them...

i used to all the time because the theater had them set up before hand and all you had to do was take a pic and voila $10...

then i did one that was "moderatly hard" for $17... i would have left it there if one of the employees wasnt helping me... toke me and her 2 1/2 hours... bout an hour longer than it said it would...

after that i leave those things to others...

Ten dollars isn't bad for just taking a pic, especially if the theater hands you a sample of that overpriced popcorn! I do that also if the theater has already done my work which is usually the case if it is a banner to be installed. They usually don't waste time building my standees though!

One thing that I do that helps me is that I enlarge each step of the instruction guide when I print them so that I have a clear picture of what I am trying to build. I have noticed that some of the guides are really good and others seem to be missing steps!

I know the company that you are talking about CD that tells you how long it is going to take. Their estimates are way off! They let you look at the guide before you accept the assignment and from that point I am thinking that I can make money off of this or I am thinking "forget about it!" After looking at their guides I have even called them and negotiated the price with them. ;-o

I like the challenge of trying to put it together quickly while trying to make a profit from it. It is usually a good work out and I am sweating slightly when I am finished! If I can make at least $20 an hour, I am happy! ;-)

We've done two. hard. and my partner is a real techie guy. he said he would think twice about doing it again.

There are some out there that are really difficult. I have done them, ;-o

I have noticed that these also offer low pay as an incentive to try to do more of them, ;-o

Once you do a few and get the hang of it, you can make some decent money. ;-)

Since most people avoid them, you can even attempt to negotiate your own bonus!

I have looked at the instructions and have been called for a few. After the number of jobs they underestimated in the past and needing a partner for many of these I'm in the pass group.

This is the same company who wanted people to get up at 5 AM to restock toys for $8 an hour. This wouldn't be so bad but they wouldn't even just pay you for the full 5 hours. They expected you to take $2 for every quarter hour.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2011 02:02PM by kalfini.

I know the exact company that your are talking about. I have done them for them, but they have the hard ones for low pay!

And if you have to have a partner, what little pay you are getting just got cut in half! ;-o

I've built several standee's for a company that contracts with Disney. Luckily they pay you for the time it actually takes not some ridiculous predetermined amounts. They are usually quite tedious and require a lot of kneeling and literally hundreds of folds. My hands, knees, and lower back are in a mess the day after. I would think twice about this if you are A. Older B. Don't like to kneel on hard floors. C. Have any kind of joint issues D. Are overweight. I am A,B, C and D.
We had three experienced standee builders on a very difficult project earlier this year. It took us 6 hours to complete and the final product (3d of course) was 15ft wide, about 5ft deep and between 8 and 9 ft tall. We all got paid for the time it took including travel time. If It had been one of those flat rate 15-20 dollar deals I would have bailed after the 1st hour.

Not all standee builders are created equal. I was attacked by papa smurf while sitting next to a standee at the theater. LOL - he had outstretched arms and I couldn't get him off me. My daughter thought it was hilarious.

I once saw an MS for an unrelated MSP building a standee. We spoke about it and I asked what all was entailed. He told me that it was pretty tough but that he had done a number of them so he had a methodology worked out. After watching all the work he was doing I figured I would pass because it didn't seem all that cost-effective for the work and time involved. By the way, he also mentioned that the included instructions were very poor.

I'm glad I never got one of those assignments. I keep asking for trailer checks and poster exchanges and haven't gotten any. I thought that by taking a standee they would give me a TC. Sometimes luck is good luck.

trailer checks are auto assign. You need to be quick.

My son just completed 12 in 3 days at $40 a pop. Not bad....$480 in 3 days.

Some are very simple like the ones called "flat card" and go together in a 1/2 hour or less. Typically they would pay $5-10 each. Some look fairly simple (like the recent Muppet's) But have many interlocking parts that you don't see in the finished product. Something like that is usually a 3 hour job. Then there are the real bears like "The Transformers" and "Real Steel" which are very elaborate 3d displays that can take multiple installers 5-6 hours to complete. As I said the company I do these for pays me for the actual time spent. You could easily get burned on a flat rate especially if you aren't experienced.

It really does depend on the assigning company as far as pay is concerned.

I am lucky to have found smaller ones to complete that don't take to much longer than an hour to complete and have a good pay assigned to them.

If I can't complete the standee and make at least 20 an hour, I won't get near it.

Some of the recent standees I am talking about are This Means War, Abduction, Tower Heist, The Change Up, and Cowboys and Aliens.

My wife and I have done one, not bad. Good pay.

Sounds like you have the partner to work with, ;-)

Which standee did you guys do?

We did the SUPER8.

That was a pretty good sized standee to put together.

Did you guys install the secret viewing area?

I actually miss doing these since being deactivated from the MSC *cough* I once did several of the very large King Kong displays. My very last once was for Despicable Me and that one took forever and the flat fee wasn't worth it. I still miss doing them and the trailer checks. Not sure what other MSC's does these.

Anyone else assigned the Safe House standee?

This is a Jason Bourne type movie with Denzell Washington working with a younger actor the way he did in the Runaway Train movie.

Watch the purple standee shops

They are known to have the maker of the the standee ( the inventor so to speak) come in to various theaters across the country to evaluate the finished product.
If they find a fault you will be sent back.

Met one once, the inventor. No thanks. Told him they need to hire a permanent crew. Especially for the electrical ones.
What IF the display you put together caused a malfunction and damage?
I suspect the guilt could follow the trail down the line.

My first job was a standee attempt! I got it in like 45 mins!

I used to do the Standees,when I was with CFA...rarely did I get the simple ones...they were never correct with their time estimates for completion.If they estimated 3-4hrs,it usually took twice that amount of time even with a helper...I didn't like working with anyone else...unless they were experienced at it...this usually slowed me down, and the pay wasn't worth it to share, even when I negotiated up to more pay. Before I stopped doing shops with CFA...my last Standee was "Priest" at 3 locations and it was a Beast to erect...3D with electrical lighting...

A Manager at one of the AMC Theaters told me that someone who worked directly for the company that manufactures these things use to erect them and got paid $200-300 for doing so... when I told him how much I was being paid he couldn't believe...he stated now I understand why you don't have any gifts to give us like the other guy did...

I'ev been trying to find out how to contact them directly...I like doing them but not for the pay that CFA offers.They are quite time comsuming and do put you through a good workout...I have a Standee Kit...which includes items like knee & elbow pads,mini flash light just to name a few items...

I must say it's a good feeling to see people uging & awhing over something you created...

Toolguy...mind sharing the MSC you do these for?

OOPS...gotta go do trailer cks for NewYears Eve, Lobby Check and mystery shop at Tommy H.

I forgot to add this tip for anyone doing these for CFA or in general...particulary if the project is complex and time consuming...take pics of your progress...

I did this formthe jump start simply because I thought it might come in handy on future erections...well it came in handy alright...I had partially erected a standee for the movie "Hanna", spent 8hrs and discovered I had done something wrong in erecting the 1st tier and thus the 2nd tier wouldn't fit...was too tired to correct it then and it was 1am and the only people in the theater was me and the Janitorial staff...left a note for the staff that I would return at opening the following morning to complete the standee...placed it in a location out of the regular foot traffic...

I called the next morning to make sure someone was there and would let me in. Intially I was told to come on down.5min later the Manager calls back to tell me that he had destroyed it and thrown it away...because some Big Wigs were coming from back east and they wanted everything prestine...Mind you this was at 9am...which means this was his 1st order of business when he got there...

Had it not been for the photos I'd taken showing me constructing the thing, I wouldn't have gotten paid...This was a monster of a Standee...the Manager was complaining the whole time they had no place to put it(they did he just didn't want it there)

Moral of the story...take pics of your progress...

Theater managers can refuse a standee, I had Winnie the Pooh refused because there was no room for it and the movie was several months away. We were supposed to go back at a later date but never did and it was never displayed at that theater.

The "Hanna" standee did eventually get put up in this Theater...un-be-known to me...this particular standee came in 2 versions...the production company was not pleased that their several hundred dollar standee was destroyed and those Big Wigs from back east didn't like either once they found out about it. When I returned several weeks later to erect another standee,I saw the smaller version(I didn't install) and inquired about it and got the whole scoop...

For the record, I'd notfy the MSC when a Manager states there's no room...I was always instructed to go back and scout a location in the theater in which it coiuld be placed and try to get the Manager to cooperate...I was usually successful...

cooldude581 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> then i did one that was "moderatly hard" for
> $17... i would have left it there if one of the
> employees wasnt helping me... toke me and her 2
> 1/2 hours... bout an hour longer than it said it
> would...
>
> after that i leave those things to others...

That wasn't for Get Shorty, was it? I'm pretty sure that's the one that was a HUGE PITA. I used to do them here and there and they took me about an hour. Then I had the Get Shorty standee and WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT! One of the employees took pity and helped me out but it still took over two hours, partly because it was so tall and being 3D, it wasn't easy with me being 5'2".

I felt like I'd gotten suckered into that job as the MSC was known for not being high-paying. I wouldn't do any more after that.