Joe Scott: The Man behind the Mixed Tape Film Series

With one-dollar movie rentals at the Red Box, it's getting harder and harder to convince people to fork over ten times as much for the "theater" experience.

Outrageous concession prices in general and the recent removal of student pricing on the weekends by the Regal Cinema at Friendly Center certainly aren't doing anything to help motivate the masses to line up at the box offices of Greensboro. Glowing like a beacon of hope in this depressing downward trend is the Mixed Tape Film Series and its creator, Joe Scott. When Rob McCone, owner of the Carousel Luxury Cinemas, asked Scott what he could do to get people into his theatre, he responded, "I think people want to see old movies and drink beer." In that moment, and perhaps without even realizing just how right he was, Joe Scott had invented the Mixed Tape Film Series.

Scott traces his love for movies back to his childhood in West Virginia. As a kid, Scott would invite his friends over to see movies they might not otherwise see, providing snacks and the opportunity to socialize while watching the movies as a package deal. When he came to Greensboro to attend UNCG, Scott continued to notice the frustrating fact that going to the movies, while a popular social activity, was in fact, anything but social. Who really wants to pay exorbitant prices to sit in silence in a dark room eating painfully expensive popcorn when buying a twelve-pack and watching TV at home is less costly and more fun? Realizing this, Scott started a film series where tickets buy you entrance to the movie you'd probably never otherwise have the chance to see in theatres, the opportunity to compete in costume contests for legitimately cool prizes, and the all-important one free beer. The Series was an immediate success; it even earned the Carousel the Best-Movie-Theater award for the News & Record's 2009 Reader's Choice Awards.

Getting the movies the people want to see is one the hardest parts of organizing the Series for Scott. The films are chosen through a survey system in which audiences vote for movies they'd like to see. Scott and the other Series coordinators work to obtain prints of those films, which have included in the past gems like Ghostbusters and Labyrinth. The prints are heavy, old, and sometimes nonexistent, and Scott often finds that the owners of the prints are wary of loaning them out. Still, Scott has persevered in almost every instance, calling old archives and studios around the country to make the Mixed Tape Film Series a success. In addition to the cool movies you'll see and the one free beer, the Mixed Tape experience includes costume contests. The best costume in Scott's book was a full-size Mount Rushmore costume that took a month to build, and George Washington's face was cut out for the contestant's. Scott makes sure to offer cool prizes that will actually draw people in. In the past they have included tickets to a local haunted trail, gift certificates to Halloween and More, and even cash prizes.

During the month of October, the Mixed Tape Series partnered up with WUAG 103.1 FM to present a subseries of horror flicks called Midnight Madness: Friday Night Frights. The final midnight showing will be this Friday, Oct. 30. The movie is Dead Alive and the costume contest features a $100 cash prize. With Halloween, Scott's favorite holiday, right around the corner, it should prove to be one of the most exciting screenings of the Series.

For November, the Mixed Tape Film Series will celebrate James Cameron in preparation for Avatar's release on Dec. 18, showing Alien (1986) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)-a very cool experience indeed for the current undergraduate student populous of Greensboro, who would have been no older than four at the time of Terminator 2's theatrical release, and barely even conceived for Alien's. For the Christmas Season, Scott "tracked Santa down," to sign autographs and take photos at a screening in December, but he jokes, "Santa has tough agents."

It's obvious from all his effort to make the Mixed Tape Film Series the success that it is that Joe Scott truly believes in changing the movie-going experience. Scott's take on going to the movies is that it "should be more than just watching the film." Scott believes going to the movies should be "living the film," and that's exactly the attitude the Mixed Tape Film Series embodies, providing a unique and fun experience for an ever-growing crowd in Greensboro.