Nothing brings people together quite like a movie night—it’s a classic community builder for a reason. And when the event includes some of the year’s best climbing films and takes place at a rock gym, it’s a surefire way to get people stoked about coming back to the gym to get strong for their own climbing objectives.
Reel Rock has been specializing in exactly that concept since 2005, when Josh Lowell, Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen—the names behind smash hit climbing documentaries like Valley Uprising, The Dawn Wall and The Alpinist—founded the now-iconic film tour. Every year, climbers across the country gather at their local gyms and theaters to celebrate, as Reel Rock puts it, “the human side behind the sport’s greatest adventures and achievements.”
Why host a screening?
Hosting a Reel Rock screening offers your facility the chance to build a tradition, and it helps that the film tour is part of the national climbing scene, thereby connecting your customers to the greater community. And while any rad climbing film will likely draw an audience, there are advantages to using an established series: once you’ve signed a contract to host a screening, Reel Rock is ready with marketing materials to help you get the word out, including an electronic press kit and access to their poster files, logo, film descriptions, and high-resolution images.
Showings are typically hosted by climbing gyms, student groups, nonprofits and retail shops, and the event can be anything from a low-key movie night to a fundraiser for conservation or improvements at the local crag. Hosts can also enlist local sponsors to help promote the event and cover licensing fees. There’s tons of room for creativity to hold an event that suits your community.
“It’s turned into a beloved community event,” says Bend Endurance Academy’s Ann Leitheiser. Her facility isn’t alone—hundreds of gyms around the U.S. hosted a screening in 2022, whether at their own facilities or at another local venue. Jason Henrie of Flagstaff Climbing echoes that sentiment: “It’s a holiday everyone looks forward to,” he says, adding that they eventually sought out a larger venue to accommodate the growing number of climbers who wanted to attend.
What makes a great screening?
Like any event that gets climbers excited, you’ll need a few key elements: a comfortable venue, snacks or drinks, and a way to keep folks entertained before and after the showing. If you’re comfortable with your ability to draw a bigger crowd than can easily fit in your gym space, it’s likely worth partnering with a local theater, brewery, or other large event space—the more tickets you sell, the bigger those margins get. On the other hand, plenty of gyms host Reel Rock screenings in their own facilities with borrowed screens, projectors and speakers. The key is to make sure there’s plenty of seating, which can be accomplished in a number of ways: “We always have ‘BYOS,’ or ‘bring your own seat,’ and the filmgoers set up their camping chairs, blankets, crash pads, etc., on the mat,” says Lisa Hill of Knoxville, Tennessee’s Onsight Rock Gym. “Some people sling their hammocks on the wall for the films, too!”
And while the movies themselves get folks in the door, you’ll need a way to keep them engaged throughout the show. “This year, we’re planning a ‘bat hang’ competition and a sort-of flash comp where you buy your right to send and win raffle tickets,” Hill adds. “It also doesn’t hurt that Reel Rock tends to bring in members of the community that have not been to the gym before, so it gets us some exposure, as well.”
Climbing comps are popular additions to Reel Rock screenings, but less logistics-heavy offerings can entice folks, too: consider securing a handful of donations from local outdoor shops and running a raffle to benefit your local Access Fund chapter, asking some climbing trivia questions in exchange for punch cards or day passes to your facility, or bringing in your local route developers to talk about what’s going on at the crag and how folks can get involved.
A happy hour before or after the show is also a great way to get attendees to mingle and meet new climbing partners. Local breweries and kombucha makers are often willing to pitch in or offer discounts for community events, particularly if there’s a nonprofit element. Again, the food and drink don’t need to be anything fancy; the idea is to encourage folks to stick around, talk about the films, and maybe find someone to meet up and swap belays with at your facility.
While teaming up with other local businesses and nonprofits in your community is a great way to incentivize the screening and draw in different kinds of audience members, it’s not imperative. Not every gym has the bandwidth for coordinating a large event; simple screenings can also be a blast, build community and attract new members—as long as everyone is sharing the stoke!
What should I know before I get started?
First of all, you’re far from alone, even if you’ve never hosted any kind of film screening before. “The folks at Reel Rock are very helpful, and they want your event to succeed,” says Flagstaff Climbing’s Henrie. Hill of Onsight Rock Gym agrees: “They even sent some killer Reel Rock swag to include in our raffle!”
Once you’ve committed to a screening, gyms who’ve hosted Reel Rock before recommend identifying your goals for hosting. “Consider putting profit lower down on that list,” says Jacob Yufa of Teton Rock Gym, a small nonprofit facility in Driggs, Idaho. In locations that don’t yet have large climbing communities or that haven’t screened the films before, it takes time to build a large turnout—but “we think it’s a valuable part of building community and well worth the effort,” Yufa says, adding that Reel Rock has been “willing to work with us since the beginning to make sure we were able to bring the festival despite our small size.”
Put aside a budget for your screening, and know that the licensing fee to host a screening is an investment; this idea is something each of the five facilities we talked to for this article noted as a factor to consider when deciding whether to host the festival. But as Yufa points out, it’s not prohibitive, even for a small facility with a correspondingly small budget.
“Start promoting early, and try to screen it during the national tour,” says Kellina Breakfield at The Commons in Boise, Idaho. After the national tour, she says, many of your potential guests may have already seen the films; this way, you’ll catch them while everyone’s talking about Reel Rock. Breakfield adds that their screening is one of their biggest events of the year.
Once you have promotion underway, you’ll want to think about logistics. If you’re hosting the event at your facility and don’t already have A/V equipment, consider checking with a local community college or university, who can often rent their gear and a student tech for a reasonable fee. Most importantly, do a test run of the equipment and the film files before you’ve got a gym full of people excited to see the year’s biggest climbing stories.
On the night of the big event, don’t forget to have someone capture candid photos throughout the screening. Not only will your guests be excited to catch a glimpse of their favorite moments on your social media channels or through a follow-up email campaign, but it’ll also make it that much easier to promote your new Reel Rock screening tradition next year.
Important Information and Dates
This year’s Reel Rock tour kicks off February 16, 2024 in the film company’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado—the main window for the global tour will run for approximately 6 weeks, until the virtual screening in late March. Many gyms and event producers elect to host their screenings outside this initial tour window depending on their specific goals. If profit is a top priority, we suggest hosting your screening during this window. However, if community building, member appreciation or new member acquisition is your primary objective, then there’s no rush to complete your screening—anytime throughout the spring, summer or fall months is a possibility.
Interested in bringing Reel Rock to your community? Click here to learn more and book your Reel Rock 18 screening!
This story was paid for by the sponsor and does not necessarily represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.
For two decades, Reel Rock has been sharing the biggest stories from the world of climbing, celebrating the human side behind the sport’s greatest adventures and achievements. Every year, Reel Rock brings a new selection of the best climbing films on tour worldwide, bringing communities together at local climbing facilities and indoor and outdoor venues around the world. Reach out here to host a Reel Rock film screening at your location!
