Film Buying Manager
Vue Cinemas
Rob M
0:00:04 My name’s Rob M. I’m the Film Buying Manager at Vue Entertainment. My job is to run the film buying team and my team essentially watch a video and decide whether or not our cinema chain is going to show it and if they’re going to show it, where they’re going to show it. We also have to look at how much money we’re going to spend on the film.
00:00:29 I did find at school, I wasn’t brilliant at anything. I enjoyed most of the lessons. I enjoyed more of the creative stuff than the maths and the physics but I was just average. My only problem really was that I didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career and it took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do. But I was tried to be pressured when I was at school as to picking a subject or a career and sticking with it but I couldn’t make my mind up. And it wasn’t until I was in my mid 20s I think before I actually realised what I wanted to do.
00:01:00 I was doing computers and my heart wasn’t in it. I was enjoying being at university but not necessarily at the subject. But learning lots of skills while I was there, I started to figure out what I wanted to do in my life.
00:01:16 When I was university, I worked part time at the local cinema. I think the thing that really got me hooked was on my first shift, so Saturday night, eight o’clock, we had the first Pierce Brosnan Bond movie. I went in and watched the first couple of minutes of the movie and the excitement and the buzz from 300 people sat expecting a great moving to appear before them was brilliant and that’s what got me hooked.
00:01:42 I’d been looking to get into the film buying department head office for a good few years but it’s, as you can imagine, it’s quite a popular role so people don’t leave very often and it’s very rare that a position’ll come up. But I kept looking and I kept showing my interest to the guy who ran the team at the time and I came and spent a day or two with the department just to show how interested I was and learn about their job and how they do it.
00:02:07 And then as soon as the opportunity arose, I applied for it and they knew I was going to apply because I’d showed that much interest in it and so I went to an interview and managed to get the job. So yeah, just a lucky break that somebody decided to leave the department. I was over the moon. It’d been a job I’d been after for a long time. I couldn’t quite believe it when they said you’re the one that we need but it was brilliant, I was so happy about it.
00:02:37 I’ve had a few obstacles in my career I’ve had to get over. I had some difficult times running cinemas that have been very busy and I did have a couple of people that I reported to who felt I should stay working in cinemas rather than come into film buying but I managed to persuade them that I was doing the right thing and that I wasn’t giving up a career in cinema management for something I really wanted to do.
00:03:03 I think the person who’s perhaps most inspired me at work is my boss when I first worked at the cinema on my first ten hour shift and then he actually came and worked in the film buying department before me. So in a way, I’ve almost followed his career path and he’s now working for a major film distributor. So he works on the other side of the table to me and he sells films and I buy films from him now. So yeah, I guess I’ve kind of followed his inspiration on a number of career choices.
00:03:36 I’d love to say I will be able to be a film director. I’m not sure I’ve got quite the creative skills you need for that but perhaps one day. I’ve made short movies in my past and when I was at university, we did some short films so may be one day, I’d like to follow that as a dream but my job is quite close to the film so I’m kind of almost there really.
ENDS
Rob M is in charge of the film buying team at Vue cinemas. He started working in cinemas as a casual job while he was at university studying computers. He enjoyed the work so much he stayed in that sector and became a cinema manager. He had to wait a few years for the coveted position of film buyer to come up.
More information about Buyers and procurement officers
The UK average salary is £29,813
There are 37.5 hours in the average working week
The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male
Future employment
- Attends trade fairs, shows and demonstrations to research new product lines and suppliers, checks catalogues;
- Keeps up with market trends and chooses products/services;
- Assesses budgetary limitations and customer requirements and decides on quantity, type, range and quality of goods or services to be bought;
- Assesses bids from suppliers, finds suppliers and negotiates prices;
- Helps negotiate contract with supplier and specifies details of goods or services required;
- Looks at ways to improve supply networks, presents new ideas to senior management team;
- Ensures that delivered items comply with order, monitors quality of incoming goods and returns unsatisfactory or faulty items, monitors performance and makes sure targets are met;
- Supervises clerical, administrative and warehouse distribution staff, deals with recruitment and training;
- Works closely with merchandisers who allocate stock and develop sales forecasts;
- Maintains records and prepares reports as necessary.
