Brown Paper Tickets Fiasco Claims Its First Casualty

Today, the Pisgah Film House sadly announced that they were permanently shutting their doors. The non-profit community cinema in Brevard, NC announced on social media that they would be closing their location and liquidating their assets. While the film industry, even for small houses like Pisgah, faces a changing future with COVID-19, stated as a major reason for their closure is that they never received their funds that were raised using Brown Paper Tickets.

The executive director of Pisgah Film House, Phillip Henry, stated that funds from three weeks of screenings and memberships that were collected by Brown Paper Tickets were never paid out. It looks like they received the same messaging that other cheated customers have - that payments are delayed till a certain date and when that date comes, they’re delayed again.

For months, we’ve been reporting on the widespread and self-inflicted problems Brown Paper Tickets (BPT) has unleashed on their customers. Funds that were raised for specific events all of the sudden was unavailable and BPT hasn’t been consistent on when they plan on paying out those funds, if ever.

I’ve spoken to multiple officials with other third-party ticket vending companies who have all told me the same thing: While it’s officially unknown what exactly the problem at BPT is, this wouldn’t have happened if BPT’s financial system was organized.

“There is a reason why companies like BPT are in the situation they’re in, and others aren’t,” one official told me. “It comes down to how they’re using the funds coming in.”

And that’s the problem, BPT isn’t answering any questions, let alone whether or not they were taking more than their contracted processing fees? And what did they do with the funds that were coming in?

BPT isn’t answering my questions or any questions from any journalist pursuing the story. Thankfully, the Washington State Attorney’s office has gotten involved. Maybe BPT will talk to them.

But from the onset of hearing about this issue, I had a feeling that the disastrous ripple effect would be felt far and wide. Sadly, the Pisgah Film House closing resulted in large part due to BPT not paying owed funds that could have kept this business afloat, perhaps through to the end of this shutdown.

I am positive that due to BPT’s disorganization and actions, the Pisgah Film House won’t be the last casualty and that’s a damn shame. I can’t even imagine the horror stories of what’s happened to performers, theatres, non-profits, etc, all because of disorganized or perhaps, unethical bookkeeping.

My sincerest of apologies to everyone in the Brevard community for the loss of this film house and anyone else going through something similar due to Brown Paper Tickets.