History of the Macon Film Guild

(For a list of past screenings, please see this page.)

In 1997 a marketing study had concluded, given its size and configuration, that showing films was the best market for the Douglass Theatre.

Dr. Bob Burnham, chair of the Friends of the Douglass Theatre Board, was concerned that many award winning films were not being shown in Macon, presumably because the megaplex theatres required large, primarily young audiences. Such films were typically by foreign or independent directors and appealed to older audiences with an interest in dramatic performances. Larger metropolitan areas or smaller cosmopolitan “college towns” were required to furnish audiences of sufficient size to support the exhibition costs of these films.

Dr. Burnham enlisted several college faculty members and their students to sponsor such films at the Douglass Theatre, anticipating that regularly available films would find, or develop, an audience. Two or three attempts to promote such recurring films floundered over as many years.

Early in the fall of 2000, Dr. Burnham and Camp Bacon, a member of the last organization attempt, discussed why the attempts kept dying. The greatest impediment was finding distributors willing to furnish the films to an unknown theatre with expectedly small audiences. The struggle to find distributors eventually stalled the organizing efforts, interest waned, and the programs died.

Camp thought that the Sarasota (FL) Film Society (SFS) might be willing to “sponsor” the Douglass Theatre, as they had twenty-five other theatres such as those in Austin, Chattanooga, and Charlotte. Also, to avoid the problems with keeping a core group engaged, Camp agree that he would, for one year, make the arrangements for film, advertising, etc.  If the “guild” could grow a loyal audience in a year then the guild would organize to expand the program and support the workload.

Dr. Burnham agreed this could work and enlisted the Douglass Theatre board’s support. Camp negotiated with the SFS to furnish films for the next 6-months.  Even with generous (free) advertising help from the Macon Telegraph, the first film (THE COLOR OF PARADISE) experienced only a modest audience-size success, but those who came were enthusiastic, swept away by the film’s storyline, the glimpse of another culture, and the skill of actors and a director totally unknown to them.

Over the next several films (some pretty challenging) the audience size grew, mainly through the word of mouth of those early audiences. The tastes of our “market” were beginning to form and Dick Morris of SFS became astute at picking the films most likely to attract an audience from our area.

In November 2001, Dr. Burnham agreed it was time to organize a volunteer crew from our audience. As busy as they all were, this eclectic mix of college professors, engineers, artist, and a realtor turned to the task of growing the guild. This early organization was called the Douglass Theatre Film Guild.

The initial results were great; the audience grew from an average of 120 a day to 220 to 230 in 2003.  Late in 2003, to allow a greater degree of independence, the guild was separated from the Douglass Theatre and incorporated as The Macon Film Guild.  The guild’s close association with the Douglass continues however as the Macon Film Guild enters its eighth year.