One of my buddies is a big movies buff. She likes to watch every type of movie out there and could easily blow 100% of the take home from her 9-5 job on tickets.
But she doesn’t.
Why? Because when her neighborhood movie theater advertised that they needed ushers, she applied. The pay isn’t great, minimum wage to start, but that wasn’t why she took the gig. You see, the job comes with one big perk… free movies.
Any time that she’s not working, she can watch movies for free (with some restrictions, like not going to that Blockbuster movie the Friday night of its opening weekend). So by working a few nights a week at the theater (and getting paid which compensates for her perma-smelling like popcorn), she can watch movies the rest of the week for free.
She also volunteers to work during film fests and special events. As a result, she know just about every media person in town and has also met an impressive array of Directors, Producers, Actors and other movie folk (her autograph book is a movie lover’s dream).
BTW… she claims that usher is one of the cushiest jobs at the theater (working the concession stand is a bit stressful).