Hello Future Movie Mogul,

I opened the living-room-style Cape Ann Community Cinema in historic Gloucester, Massachusetts in 2008. I designed it to be a resource for the residents of Boston’s North Shore to not only have a comfortable and welcoming place in which to appreciate great films, but also as a means by which to offer access to filmmakers and their process. In the 7 years during which we as a community have built the place up to become the premiere arthouse cinema on the North Shore, we have shown over 1,500 films, hosted hundreds of filmmakers, launched a thoroughly modern performance stage, and given over 100,000 guests a filmgoing experience that serves as a high standard by which all other nights out at the movies are now judged.

I have been in the movie business for nearly 30 years. I started out in high school as a clerk in…