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Tim League

Founder, Metro Private Cinema · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveoperator@timalamo ↗metrocinema.com ↗Wikipedia ↗

Tim League co-founded Alamo Drafthouse Cinema with his wife Karrie in Austin in 1997, turning it into a national dine-in cinema chain before selling to Sony Pictures in 2024. He also co-founded film festival Fantastic Fest, distributor Neon, and launched Metro Private Cinema.

11statements → 4claims → 2claims resolved → 3.91/5average certainty → 1.45/5average debate potential → 3said about them ↓

1 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 2 not checkable as stated how the 4 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

4 assertions · 1 insight · 6 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 4 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Tim argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
League: Second-run art house licensing standard is $200 minimum vs 35%
“The way it generally works, there's a minimum of, like, a couple hundred dollars versus 35% of the box office. That's kind of like the standard for second-run art house films”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 17:42 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Tim League on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Tim League said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Partly supported
Tim League controversially offered a remote job to an accused employee
“I made the decision at the board meeting to offer him a copy editing position that he could do from home.”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 1:06:18 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Insight
Tim League: Streaming will not replace consumer demand for cinema experiences
“No matter how much streaming content you watch at home, you want to get out, you want to be a part of an event, you want to have experiences. So I think there's legit pressure to up the game to make sure that our industry, cinema industry, delivers, you know, …”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 1:13:02 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Disclosure
League: Alamo Drafthouse had two payroll cycles left in December 2020
“We probably had about two payroll cycles left before we were done. And so in December, we took on some basically distressed asset financing, right? So that money's not cheap, but turns out not a lot of people waiting in line to invest in movie theaters at in D…”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 1:10:16 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Disclosure
Tim League: Used $50,000 Shell savings to open first theater
“And I had accumulated 50,000 dollars in two years at Shell, and so that's what I used to open up the first one, that, that nest egg.”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 13:50 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Assertion Supported
League: Second-run art house licensing standard is $200 minimum vs 35%
“The way it generally works, there's a minimum of, like, a couple hundred dollars versus 35% of the box office. That's kind of like the standard for second-run art house films”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 17:42 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Disclosure
League: Alamo Drafthouse trains servers to crouch and know movie timings
“It's a huge part of our training to, you know wear black and crouch down and know the movie. Don't disrupt during you know a key pivotal moment”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 42:57 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Disclosure
Tim League: Alamo Drafthouse funded second theater with $300,000 in profits
“That one was 300,000 dollars and we just financed it out of profits.”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 50:14 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Disclosure
Alamo Drafthouse launched anonymous feedback and public monthly staff reviews
“So what we did in the wake of it is we established a really robust Anonymous engine where I would start my day every day and just read comments from teammates across the country, and we had a monthly all staff meeting where the ones that were the hardest, we w…”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 1:08:01 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tim League: Signed Tejon Theater lease about eight days after seeing sign
“Yeah, I think the amount of time we're talking about from turning left on Baker Street and seeing that for a lease sign to signing the lease, I think, was about eight days.”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 11:10 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tim League: Karrie League reupholstered 90% of first theater's 500 seats
“Carrie reupholstered 90% of the 500 seats of the first theater, and I would spray paint the bases and backs, and then Carrie would take the raw materials and watch movies through the week and then meet me the next weekend.”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 12:29 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Disclosure
League: Alamo Drafthouse opened with only three payroll cycles of cash
“We had enough money for about three payroll cycles, and then we're done.”
Tim League May 22, 2023 ▶ 39:36 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League

The other half of the tape: Tim League's own voice is left out of every number here. 3 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Statements about Tim League, by other people (3)

Disclosure
Alamo Drafthouse founders refused to see cinema advertising revenue estimates
“There were several times when we had the opportunity to find out how much of an income stream that it would be, and we both said, no, we don't want to know. We don't want to know. We don't want to have any regrets at all or any inkling of temptation, so don't …”
Karrie League May 22, 2023 ▶ 47:24 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Disclosure
Tim and Karrie League ran Tejon Theater living behind the screen
“We had no employees. We lived in a little room that we had carved out behind the screen.”
Karrie League May 22, 2023 ▶ 18:53 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alamo Drafthouse co-founders worked 77-hour weeks for five years
“We worked 11 hours a day for seven days a week for probably five years”
Karrie League May 22, 2023 ▶ 1:14:42 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League May 22, 2023 31m
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