My first research visit

Last week, I did my first ever research trip to Cinema City in Norwich!

This may or may not come as a surprise, but though I’ve written two books, I’ve never really done physical research for a work in progress. This is because I tend to only really write about things I have experience with - even making up settings makes me uncomfortable. I like to know what it looks, feels and smells like to be somewhere, to do something. I used to live in Washington, DC; I worked at a Baskin Robbins for years; I’ve been to a town just like Lennon, California. This is my comfort zone. The magic, I can dream up. But everything else, I want to have been there, if possible.

But for book three - without giving too much away - the narrative takes place in a movie theatre. And while I love movies and frequent movie theatres, I don’t know what it’s like to actually operate there: using the projectors, scheduling the films, managing a concession stand. For once, I couldn’t rely on personal experience, or light research conducted online or through books. I needed a behind the scenes peek at what working at a movie theatre was like.

Fortunately, a friend of mine works at Cinema City, an arthouse theatre in Norwich. This was perfect - the theatre in my book is small and independently run. My friend was able to put me in touch with the right people, and I scheduled a tour! Weirdly, I was incredibly nervous about the whole thing, and self-conscious too. I felt a weird compulsion to make sure they knew I was seriously writing this book, that I wasn’t just wasting their time. I think this comes from imposter syndrome, and the fact that they were doing me such an unbelievably big favour.

I had hoped the whole thing would be helpful, but really didn’t anticipate just how helpful it would be. I was able to not only see the places I was most interested in - the projector rooms, for instance - but have any questions I had answered, and then some. My tour guide pointed out some really fascinating things I never would have thought to consider, like the intricacies of scheduling films every week, how the popcorn and snacks arrive to them (and why they’re so expensive), the different types of projectors and the perils of operating them. All such useful tidbits that are both interesting and will be critical in helping me build the setting for book three.

I feel a little silly for never doing a visit like this before, but then, like I said, I usually write about places and situations with which I’m already familiar. And choosing to write about a movie theatre was initially a daunting task, but now that I’ve had that behind the scenes look (and have some cinema experts in my Rolodex - yeah, I just dated myself), I’m feeling much more confident about the whole thing.

Whether or not I pull it off, y’all can tell me when you read it ;)