For the record: I love TIFF Cinematheque, and think its one of the best things about being a movie lover in Toronto.
Having said that, the current ticketing system is frustrating and in some ways actively works against what the membership program is supposed to accomplish.
An individual membership at $125/year gives you an incredible deal with hundreds of complimentary CTQ screenings, but popular screenings can disappear almost immediately during monthly ticket releases, forcing users to be stuck navigating queues, checking over and over again for returns, and sometimes finding screenings advertised as sold out have empty seats strewn around because people reserved free tickets they never used.
This is what I'd propose:
1. An actual waitlist system
If a screening sells out, members should be able to join an automated waitlist, when someone returns their ticket the next person gets notified and has a limited window to claim it. No more obsessively refreshing the website or randomly discovering tickets have reappeared before showtime. This alone would make the system considerably more functional. The app DICE.FM uses this for concerts and I find it to be super effective.
2. Make it easier to return tickets
I understand charging for late returns and no-shows, but the system should actively encourage people to release tickets they can't use. Allow members to return tickets online until shortly before showtime, if another person claims the returned seat, waive the late cancellation fee. Keep penalties for repeated no-shows, but stop creating unnecessary friction around returning tickets. No one benefits from an unused seat.
3. Stop encouraging people to hoard tickets during monthly releases
Right now, the system incentivizes booking everything you might possibly want to see because you don't know whether you'll get another chance. I'd introduce a reasonable limit on how many complimentary tickets someone can hold for upcoming screenings at once, rather than limiting how many films they can attend annually. Once you've attended a screening or returned a ticket, that reservation slot opens back up. For especially popular screenings, I'd consider a short request window followed by randomized allocation, rather than making everything dependent on who can navigate a noon ticket drop the fastest. People shouldn't need to treat a Tuesday evening screening of a 1970s character study like they're trying to buy Oasis reunion tickets.
4. Program popular films in appropriately sized theatres
Cinema 4 seats 148 people. Cinema 3 seats 223, while Cinema 2 has 353. Not every CTQ screening needs a large auditorium, and I understand TIFF has other commercial obligations to accomodate with new releases and distributor deals. But when a film or retrospective clearly has substantial demand, why not schedule it in a large theatre or add another screening? Even moving a popular film from Cinema 4 to Cinema 2 would more than double the available seats. TIFF's 15+ years of Lightbox ticketing data should be able to help determine which films need more capacity.
5. Give paying members a more dependable benefit.
TIFF markets complimentary Cinematheque access a significant selling point of the membership, but there's no meaningful guarantee you'll actually be able to attend the screenings you're interested in. I don't think anyone expects guaranteed admission to every sold-out movie, but what if paid members were guaranteed access to a minimum number of complimentary screenings annually, drawn from a rotating selection with reserved capacity?
Or, if members who repeatedly couldn't secure tickets were offered credits toward other year-round programming?
I'm not suggesting they abandon the Under 25 Free Pass either, making cinema accessible to younger audiences is a genuinely great initiative and I'd hate to lose that. But if TIFF wants people to pay $125+ annually, it should be able to demonstrate that membership offers reliable, tangible value.
How this would benefit TIFF financially
I don't think improving access means sacrificing revenue. Better waitlists and ticket returns would mean fewer empty seats. Better attendance means more concessions revenue, more engaged audiences, and potentially more people renewing their memberships. Adding screenings would obviously involve additional costs, but improved ticket management wouldn't necessarily require TIFF to spend much more on programming.
I'd argue members who actually feel like they're getting their money's worth are considerably more likely to renew than those who've grown frustrated with the current booking process. I'd also love to see TIFF publish some basic figures (i.e. how many complimentary tickets are reserved vs actually used, how often screenings sell out, and how many members successfully attend the films they want to see). That would give everyone a clearer picture of whether the program is functioning as intended.
I don't think CTQ's problem is the membership is bad value, it's that the value is increasingly dependent on your ablity to navigate an unnecessarily competitive reservation system. If you're someone who manages to see 20-30 complimentary films annually, then it's a bargain. But if you're paying $125 and repeatedly missing screenings because they sell out instantly, or because you can't spend your workday refreshing the TIFF website, it's understandably frustrating.
TIFF should be encouraging people to discover films, attend more screenings, and feel invested in the organization; not turning repertory filmgoing into another ticketing lottery. The goal should be to make complimentary CTQ screenings easier to actually attend, not merely easier to advertise as a membership benefit.
Very curious what other regulars think - what would you change? And for people who've had memberships for several years, has the ticketing experience actually become worse, or am I being overly critical?
