Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Samantha Glasser. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Samantha , appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a story that illustrates an important or relevant lesson you learned in school

One of the things I learned in school that motivated me to start the Picture Show was if you don’t step up, sometimes no one else will. In school if you wanted to do an extracurricular activity that wasn’t already offered at the school, you had to find a teacher who was willing to run it. That wasn’t always easy. It offered very little extra pay for them and promised a lot of additional work and time. But occasionally programs like Power of the Pen or astronomy club would pop up because enough passionate students and one special teacher decided it was worth it.

That’s how the Picture Show came to be. The organizers of Cinevent wanted to end the convention but saw my passion for it and asked if I would be willing to step up to keep it going in spirit. They put in the time to train me and gave me the resources I needed to be successful. I believe that the world would be a better place if we all stepped up and contributed a little for the greater good and mentored the next generation to keep the good things going.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been watching black and white movies all my life, especially enjoying short comedies like Our Gang AKA The Little Rascals and The Three Stooges. In high school I became obsessed with the fashions of the 1930s, became curious about the music of the era, and started watching every old movie I could get my hands on. I couldn’t get enough of them and every new movie introduced a new actor whose career I could obsessively follow. I never would have considered myself businesswoman material; I was a creative, but my passion led me to starting a small business to keep a convention that celebrated old movies alive. The nice thing about these movies is that they’re made for a general audience so you never grow out of them and they’re tame enough that I can show them to my kids.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am habitually making plans and attempting to accomplish goals well ahead of deadlines. I hate to wait until the last minute. This anti-procrastination approach has served me well for the most part, but there are always times with a small business where something pops up and changes the established plan. It has been difficult for me to accept this, but in some cases last minute changes have worked in our favor. Last year a digital print of a rare film called Lights Out from 1923 became available. We don’t show digital films as a rule, but the rarity of this film and the restored print made it irresistible. The provider also planned his Kickstarter campaign to release the film on DVD around our show to give us exclusive access. We appreciated the opportunity and took advantage.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Since the Picture Show caters to a niche hobby, positive word of mouth has been our best advertising. We consider attendees and dealers to be part of the family and treat them as such. We try our best to remember names and faces and to be able to chat about families and interests in addition to just being polite. Each new person is made to feel like a long-standing member of the club,

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.columbusmovingpictureshow.com/
• Instagram: Https://www.instagram.com/columbusmovingpictureshow
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ColumbusMovingPictureShow
• Twitter: Https://Twitter.com/moving_show

Image Credits
Samantha Glasser