Patch Blog: I Should Have Stayed in La Crescenta

Last Saturday Poltergeist was set to screen at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery by Cinespia. I came equipped with only blankets, tasty treats and my loved one. As we walked towards the large wrought iron gates of the departed, we were put to a deadly stop.

“Please have your tickets ready,” the not so lovely woman bellowed.

Tickets, I thought?

“They’re $10 each,” she said.

“I thought the screening had an optional donation, I haven’t any money?” I said.

A male employee approaches, “there’s an ATM across the street.”

“No you don’t understand I don’t have any money!” I said.

Then cold as ice, he said… ”the donation is mandatory and we all have to work for our money.”

I walked off hands full of unused items and with a look of supreme displeasure on my once excited face.

What the heck is a mandatory donation? Why don’t they just call it a fee? If the proceeds of the event are indeed for a donation, then allowing a starving student like myself into a creative exploratory environment with a community is surely an aim. Nope! Is Cinespia even a nonprofit organization? Ok so, it raises money for the cemetery that charges $10,000 plus for a dead somebody’s tombstone, but I would like to know what is the tax-ID of this place, really?

According to Webster, a donation is “the making of a gift especially to charity.” Alas, a fee is “a fixed charge. A sum paid or charged for a service.” Filthy cheats, ploppity plop!

Thanks Cinespia for the lovely evening (with sarcasm).   

Here are a few free things to do in the Los Angeles area:

1. Star-gazing at Griffith Observatory
2. Sunday live chamber music at LACMA
5. Also, check out Cinefamily in WeHo for free screenings