TCMFF Survival Guide Part 1 – How TCMFF Works

Updated 02/21/2024, Venues, highlighted in Red below

This will be my ninth year attending the TCM Classic Film Festival (TCMFF), held April 18 to 21, 2024. In addition, I have been going to Comic-Con and other fan conventions for decades, so I know what it’s like to spend four or five days in a strange city living out of a hotel room and running around from the time you get up in the morning until the time you collapse in your room late at night. 

This is the eighth version of this guide I've done and have decided to split this post up into three parts:

• Part 1 (this part) covers the nuts and bolts of how TCMFF works. 
• Part 2 covers making the most of your experience. 
• Part 3 covers trying to preserve your sanity in the craziness of TCMFF.

I think we're far enough past the pandemic to not have to worry about COVID-19, but it is still around. A friend of mine got it last month. Rest assured that if the situation changes, TCM will take whatever steps are necessary to keep those attending safe. 

That said, last year, I tested positive for COVID on Sunday morning and had to miss the entire day. Near as I can tell, none the of the people I interacted with at the Festival got it. The one possible exception is a woman from Chicago I had dinner with on Saturday night. Like me, she tested positive on Sunday morning, but none of the other people we had dinner with got it. I'm guessing we just both got it at about the same time, but not from one another. Still, I plan on getting a booster vaccine before April and will probably wear a mask in screenings, maybe in lines too. That's where you're exposed to the most people. Also, I'll probably bring a test kit, just so if I'm feeling off, I don't have to run out and find a 24-hour drugstore like last year.

With that out of the way, let's move on.

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Most of the following is kind of a dumbed-down version of what's on the official TCM Classic Film Festival page, the definitive source of all of this information. In other words, don't take anything I say as Gospel unless you've confirmed it on the TCM site.

Date announcement

Pre-COVID, the dates of the next year festival were announced in the Summer. This year as well as 2022 and 2023, the dates of TCMFF were announced in October. I'm guessing that this is just the way it works now. Bear in mind that TCM, along with their parent company Warner Brothers, has been bought out a couple of times since 2019. They are now part of Warner Brothers Discovery, and I don't think they the same level of autonomy they did back when.

Passes

Festival passes/badges will be exclusively available for Will Call pickup at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel beginning Wednesday, April 17 2024. No passes will be mailed for the 2024 TCMFF. While this may be an inconvenient, TCM has their act together, and I found the process fairly painless even in 2022 when it included COVID test/vaccine verification. Your mileage may vary. At this point, I'm guessing that this is a cost-saving measure. It probably costs somewhere between five and ten dollars a piece to send passes, once you figure in the cost of postage, packaging material, the labor to ensure that each package has the correct number of passes, passholders, and lanyards, etc.

I know what you're thinking, say it's $7. That's not very much, but multiply it by however many passes TCM has sold, and it's a nontrivial amount of money. Bear in mind that TCMFF is a business, and as such, it needs to turn a profit. We want it to turn a profit, because if it does not, it won't be happening in the future.

Passes went on sale in December with an early bird discount through early January. At the time of this writing, Spotlight and Essential pass levels are sold out, and Classic and Palace passes are still available. Currently, there is a waitlist for Spotlight and Essential passes. See the TCMFF web site for details.

The following graphic shows the benefits of each type of pass:

From top to bottom, the pass levels break down as follows:

• Spotlight Pass ($2549)
• Essential Pass ($1099)
• Classic Pass ($849) 
• Palace Pass ($399)

Note: The Palace pass does not grant access to any Festival venue or event prior to Friday, April 19 nor to any of the TCM 6 Multiplex or Club TCM events.

Note also that the cost of passes did not go up from last year, nor if I'm not mistaken, did they go up from the 2022 prices. I can guarantee that the costs of running the Festival have risen substantially in that time, especially big ticket items like theater rentals, hotel meeting space, catering, etc. Keep that in mind, and then decide whether it's worth complaining about whatever thing that they used to do that they no longer do, just a thought.

Individual Tickets. After all passholders have been seated, any open seats will be sold on a first come, first served, standby basis. Last year, I think, individual tickets were $20 for most screenings and events. Students with valid student ID could receive a 50% discount off all individual tickets. I seem to remember that they only took cash, but I can't say that for sure. I do remember seeing a tweet a couple of years ago saying that sometimes individual ticket holders got in late and often missed the film introductions. Again, your mileage may vary. See the TCMFF web site for more details on Individual Tickets. The info there now is fairly sparse, so check as we get closer for better details.

I do want to stress that I make no claim that the above information is definitive. You should always consult the TCM Classic Film Festival web site for details on passes.

Line numbers

No, not those...

These. By the way, these are the lowest line number we ever got at TCMFF.

If memory serves me, and nothing has changed, line numbers are given out an hour before the screening starts. If you get there early, you can wait in line until they give them out. Most of the time, when you get in line for a screening, you will be given a number as you enter the line, in the order you enter the line, this means you can leave the line and go do something if need be, use the rest room, grab a snack, or whatever. I would check to see when they're going to move the line. Usually the people giving out the numbers have a good idea. That way, you know how much time you have. You need to make sure you get back in line before your number moves in. They will not hold a seat for you just because you have a number. Take advantage of it when you can. It could be the difference between a sandwich for dinner and Red Vines.

It's really simple if the line doesn't get messed up, which does happen sometimes, especially on Thursday night. Say you and the person you're with get line numbers and want to leave to get popcorn. You get back to the line and figure out where your number should be. Most people put the numbers in the pocket of their badge, so you can usually see where you need to go. If you need to ask someone what number they are, go ahead. People are really good about helping you out. Say you and the person you're with have numbers 75 and 76. You find the people with numbers closest to yours. It might be 72 and 77. So you get in line in front of 77 and behind 72, knowing that 73 and 74 have to get back in line in front of you.

If you get in line and decide to just stay in line, it's better not squish the line forward. There's are always going to be people who will need to get back in ahead of you. Sometimes the line will be really full, and you don't want to make it worse. Just figure out where you need to be and find out who has the numbers around yours. Then when the line starts to move you can get back in at the proper spot.

Venues

Chinese IMAX

The important thing to keep in mind about the venues is where they are and how big they are.  The schedule for TCMFF can be very tight. You generally want to get in line by about a half hour before a screening, earlier if it's something you'd be devastated if you missed it. Generally speaking, one of the theaters in the TCL Chinese 6 is relatively small. You probably need to get there even earlier for those, because they are the most likely to have to turn people away. 

I’ve arranged the venues by how close they are to the Roosevelt Hotel, since that is the host hotel:

• Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel – Home to Club TCM and the Poolside screenings. Club TCM is where a most of the guest interviews and special programs will be. It's the same room where the first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929. In years past, there was a fairly low stage, rows of chairs and a standing area behind the chairs. If you’re at the back of the standing area, you might not be able to see very well. If there is an event that is really important to you, make sure you get there extra early. The pool is just that, a swimming pool with a screen at the one end.  Everybody says get there extra early if you want one of the lounge chairs. I've only been to a coupled of the poolside screenings. I sat in the the rows of chairs in the back. It was fine, and you can have a drink while watching.
• Chinese Theatre IMAX (920 seats) – This is the old Grauman’s Chinese theater. If you cross Hollywood Blvd. from The Roosevelt, you’re there. Okay, it's down a little bit, but it is very close. For lines, they usually run some Disneyland-style switchbacks in front of the theater and then break the line and start up again up the stairs in the Ovation Hollywood mall. Don’t panic if the line goes back a long way. It’s a huge theater. In the past, I've seen the line wind through the mall, out the side of the mall and almost all the way back to the front of the theater, and I still got in.
• TCL Chinese 6 Theatres – Located inside the Ovation Hollywood mall. Currently, the TCMFF site only says that the TCL Chinese 6 is being used, but not how many screens nor the size of the theaters. Last year, the following screens were used:
• House 1 (448 Seats)
• House 4 (177 Seats)
• House 6 (266 Seats)
• Egyptian Theatre. Just announced February 20, TCMFF will be returning to the Egyptian Theatre, and I could not be more happy. The Egyptian Theatre is an absolutely gorgeous venue, and the renovations have modernized while retaining the character of the original. Kudos to both Netflix (owner of the theater) and Warner Brothers Discovery (owner of TCM) for coming together on this, despite being in direct competition on the streaming front. Seating capacity is down somewhat with the renovation. The new capacity is 516, down from 616. The balcony is no more, which would account for most of the seating loss. I will miss it. I loved the balcony. Still, 516 seats is more than the Legion Theater from last year, so I'm going to call it win all around. The Egyptian has the ability to show films in digital, 35 mm and 70 mm film, as well as nitrate prints. Ben Mankiewicz announced that they will be showing films in nitrate. 
  

Regarding the TCL Chinese 6, a word of warning about the Ovation Hollywood mall. It was designed to be explored. There are multiple levels, and it's not always easy to know what level you are on and how to get up or down, and more importantly where you are in relationship to the TCL Chinese 6 and/or the Chinese IMAX/Roosevelt. There are a few tricks to getting around which I will cover in Part 2 of this post. The abridged version is that if you have any time before TCMFF starts, go to the Ovation Hollywood mall and at the very least figure out where the TCL Chinese 6 is. It is very easy to get lost, and the time you get lost is bound to be the time you only have a very short window to get to the next screening.

Schedule

The full schedule is posted online about three weeks before TCMFF (with the smartphone apps being released about a week before the Festival). For the most part, films are scheduled in blocks, with all  theater venues running films at the same time, not counting Club TCM events, etc. For example, on Friday and Saturday, there is usually a morning block, a mid-day block, an afternoon block, an early evening block, a late evening block, and one midnight movie each, on Friday and Saturday nights only.

There's roughly an hour between blocks, and you would think that leaves you plenty of time to get from one screening to the next, but it doesn't always work out that way. Let's say, one person goes to a screening of a 90-minute movie that starts at 9 am, and another person goes to 2-hour movie that also starts at 9 am. The 90-minute movie person has an extra half hour between blocks and probably won't have much trouble getting to a second screening at 12, whereas the 2-hour movie person might be scrambling. All films have someone introducing them. Sometimes, it's a simple 5-minute intro like we're used to seeing on the network. Other times, it may be a 20 minute presentation or interview with one the film's stars or director. You really need to pay close attention to start and end times.

Epics, like Gone with the Wind or Lawrence of Arabia will take up two blocks. Sometimes blocks will pair a longer movie, say a 2 1/2-hour movie opposite a pair of short movies, like a 70-minute pre-code and an 80-minute film noir.  It can get pretty complicated, and the time windows between blocks of movies do not always align perfectly well.

The TCMFF program schedule is normally broken into a number of categories:

• Essentials – Classics that pretty much every one knows, The Maltese Falcon, Twelve Angry Men, Singing in the Rain
• Discoveries – Lesser known classic and sometimes foreign films, Larceny, Inc., Blood on the Moon, Bicycle Thieves
• Special Presentations – Films with more in-depth discussions/celebrity interviews, collections of short films, silent films with live accompaniment, and so on
• Often, there are films grouped around themes. The only one I have seen so far for 2024 is Most Wanted: Crime and Justice in Film, but I assume there will be others.

Finally, on Sunday, there are four or five To Be Announced (TBA) screenings. These are almost always repeat screenings of particularly popular films that had to turn people away, so if you do get locked out on something, there's still a chance you can see it on Sunday. The TBA films are announced by early evening on Saturday. A list will be posted at the Info Desk at the Roosevelt, on the Apps, Twitter, etc., and the film intros late Saturday will usually announce them as they become available.

I know what you're thinking. How do you choose and when do you eat? Both are good questions. The answers are a bit complicated, but I'll do my best to answer in subsequent parts of this Guide.

Shameless Plug

A couple years ago, I broke down and ordered some enamel pins (to sell). They came out really nice, but I still haven't broken even on them.

I will be selling them in-person at TCMFF, $10 cash.