THE INTERACTIVE FILM MAGAZINE
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IT might be the under-25s who make up the biggest cinema audience but Derbyshire, at least, has proved that if you cater properly for an older age group they will come to the movies.
Ashley Franklin, who has only missed one of the 62 Cinema Days held to date, first started introducing films at the UCI multiplex whilst reviewing movies for BBC Radio Derby.
He noticed that the older radio audience was willing to come and see films, often several weeks after their initial run, on his personal recommendation. Later as a Saga Radio presenter, he joined forces with the newly-opened Belper Ritz cinema to run Silver Screen.
Every Thursday morning for the last three years Ashley has introduced a film he has personally selected for the over-50s – and the films play to packed houses.
Ashley says: “It’s one of the reasons the Ritz now gets such a healthy cross section of cinemagoers, because after coming to Silver Screen they have started going to other screenings … and some of them are people who have never set foot in a multiplex.”
It was such a good idea that in September 2008, when Derby’s £11.2 million arts centre Quad knocked on the door asking if the Derby Telegraph would like to get involved in any projects, I copied Ashley’s format.
My version is called Midweek Treat and takes place every Wednesday at 2pm. We offer free tea and coffee and biscuits and I do a five-minute introduction on the film. I also do some photo-copied film notes for the audience. We plug the upcoming movie every week in
the paper and on our website as well as in the Quad brochure.
It has been one of Quad’s biggest successes, attracting 200 people each week to films as diverse as It’s a Wonderful Life and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
The audiences seem to trust the films we pick and have come out in force to see movies such as the French drama I’ve Loved You So Long as well as more obvious choices like Bright Star and Young Victoria.
Ashley believes that the older audience isn’t easy to attract with normal cinema advertising techniques. They like going to the cinema but are put off to a certain extent by the multiplex experience.
He also believes that a lot of critics and film companies can be out of touch with an audience that still prefers films to be based on story and characters rather than special effects and who prefer films without
bad language. The World’s Fastest Indian, for example, was such a hit with Silver Screen cinema-goers that it played several times at the Ritz and won their Audience Choice Award at the cinema’s annual Ritzys.
“The producer was so pleased he flew in especially to collect it,” says Ashley.
Certainly Ashley has found that for this audience that (to quote Field of Dreams) “if you build it, they will come”.
“By creating the right environment, making older cinema goers feel comfortable and by programming the right kind of films, you can build a loyal audience,” he says.
“It’s that sense of belonging they get in coming to these screenings. I think we have brought back that sense of an occasion these people had when they went to the cinema in the 1960s. And once they come and like it, they get back into the cinema-going habit.”
GOLDEN OLDIE: The World’s Fastest Indian, starring Anthony Hopkins, proved a huge hit with the over-50s at the Ritz. . . and won its Audience Choice Award
The grey area
Nigel Powlson reports on how two cinemas in Derbyshire
 are pulling in packed houses of more mature moviegoers
Writing about
Robert . . .
Bookshelf By Ben Falk
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My biography of Robert Downey Jr. came out a few months ago. My publishers tell me printers vie to provide the most competitive price up until the last moment and as such my 300-odd page tome had to wend its merry way from Finland, so it’s had a bit of a journey.
It’s been a hell of a journey for me,too, albeit a relatively brief one. No languid Hilary Mantel 10-year research periods for me.  
No, it took just five months from being commissioned to me delivering the manuscript to the publishers, though inevitably there were last-minute corrections and addendums in a bid to keep it as up-to-date as possible. Seeing as the subject is a living human being, that can be tricky.
It is unauthorised and that’s something I’ve battled with the whole way through. Downey was commissioned to write his autobiography in 2006, but returned the advance in 2008 (interviewers who read brief early passages thought he was a bit reticent), inevitable really when Iron Man hit it so big.
Why would the great man want his new teen fans to know he was in prison, or an ex-heroin addict? Because his last indiscretions were around 2001, before tabloid blogs REALLY took off, the actor managed to avoid a lot of the trauma of modern celebrity addiction.
But being unauthorised meant I wouldn’t get to talk with him directly and also meant avenues would be blocked. I held off as long as I could when it came to contacting him, so I was able to accumulate as much independent information as I could, carrying out dozens of new interviews with friends and associates. I have tried to be objective and fair in my appraisal of his life. And while it is warts-and-all, he has never shied away from talking about his flaws.
One thing I have found of paramount importance is interaction with the fan communities. There are several vociferous Downey fan websites, which were crucial during my research and I am now finding vital when it comes to pushing for sales. I spent all yesterday on a forum, chatting, arguing and even being praised by the (mostly female) fans.
Apart from them all being very nice and enthusiastic,
I believe I have sold a few more books, at least that’s what they told me. It’s a market a lot of people don’t think about – preferring to try and grab headlines in the nationals.
But while it’s hard to please a jaded critic, especially with an unauthorised “celebrity” biography, there’s nothing better than impressing someone who follows and enjoys Downey’s every move. Believe me, they can be a tough crowd.
• Robert Downey Jr.: The Fall And Rise Of The  
Comeback Kid, by Ben Falk (Portico, £16.99)
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