Distributor
/ Theater collection calculation and accounting
No
matter how the agreement and deals are put in order, accounting of collection
lies on statistics of no of tickets in the theater, show-wise price of tickets,
etc. To track, collect, record and verify this data, the distributor would send
an agent from his side to every theater along with the print. This agent is
called ‘Representative’ of the distributor. Representatives are paid salary of
Rs.100.00 per day. He also stays in the theater till the movie run ends there.
Some big names in distribution arrange the stay for them at nearby lodges too.
Representative’s job is to note down
the ticket’s starting serial number for each denomination when the ticket sale
starts at the box office. Once the sales booth is closes, he would also note
down the closing serial number of ticket book. Immediately he would inform the
number of tickets sold, with their rate, to the distributor over telephone.
Beside this, the theater manager publishes the collection data through the
‘Daily Collection Report’, also called DCR every week. The DCR and the
representative’s report must match up with each other. 99% they do. Based on the
DCR, daily gross collection and net collection post tax deduction, etc are
worked out.
At
times, these representatives and theater employees join hands and counterfeit
the ticket sales data. At times like these, when in doubt, the distributors
would do surprise audits and cross checks and the alliance would be caught red
handed too. So, how the trickery happens here? Cheating is possible to replace
tickets with coupons or even permitting entry in to theater without ticket. A
coupon is a entry token without any tariff or entry fee printed on it. In
theaters issuing coupons in the place of tickets facilitates tax cheating.
Thought these theaters cheat the government by evading tax, distributors have
great respect for these theaters as long as they are trustworthy with them.
Ticket
rules and guidelines
Imagine
a theater has a total of 1000 seats on Rs.10.00, 40.00 and 50.00 values. After
the ticket book is printed, every week, all the ticket books would be taken to
District Commercial Tax Office (DCTO). At DCTO, a seal would be imprinted at
the backside of every ticket. At counter, these are the tickets, which are
issued at the box office of theaters when you produce the reservation coupon or
buy ticket directly. These are, in short, taxed tickets. Taxed tickets have to
be converted with the number of tickets sold at the box office on regular
basis. In other words, each ticket sold at the box office has to be taxed
ticket. According to the serial number of the taxed tickets sold, the theater
must pay the tax to the government. This is one of the key reasons for
releasing the movies on rental basis from distributors. This phenomenon again,
more often witnessed in the cities like Chennai and other big cities. As usual
in this process also, people have developed clever tactics for deceit.
These
kind of deceit practices take place in theaters not only in metros but also
across the state. However, Chennai city status is relatively strict due to
tight vigil and higher viewer ship resulting in greater transparency. In other
areas DCTOs are paid weekly bribes and special raid squad is paid monthly
bribe. The bribe is usually paid in the weekends, where the DCTO and raid
squads collect directly from theaters!
It
is natural to wonder even if the theater owners make any profit out of the
theaters. You bet they do! Consider this scenario. In a business day, a theatre
shows the ticket sales as five Rs. 10 and twenty Rs.40 and fifteen Rs.50
tickets. The tax payable is flat 15% of all these shown account ticket rates
calculated. In reality, on the same day, the theater would have enjoyed full
house with all shows. For a theater with 800 seats, which has run full house in
all 4 shows, it tax pays tax only for 45 tickets they have shown in accounts.
Excluding this, the tickets of denominations Rs.10,40 and 50 are sold at a flat
rate in the release time of big films. Distributors too, welcome this as this
promises additional income for them. This is also the main reason why expert
theater owners prefer sharing the collection in net, whereas veteran distributors choose to go with gross
route.
Cable Sankar - Translation Of My Book In Tamil "CINEMA VYABARAM" Done By Rangs. Published in Behindwoods.com.
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