SEAT SIZE IS AN ACCESS ISSUE 🍑

Fat audiences want to know the answer to a very simple question - will they fit?
We are asking venues to think about the audience experience of being in their space from a variety of perspectives and needs and take part in this FREE and EASY initiative!

Introducing Bums & Butts on Seats. We're working on making venues more accessible and we need your help

When we released YOUR FAT FRIEND in UK cinemas, we found no consistency in seat sizing! We might be asking audiences to sit in a seat made for a smaller body.

Director Jeanie Finlay met with UK venues, and asked them to take some simple steps to make audiences feel welcome, expected & more likely to return. It boils down to thoughtful and pro-active communication around seat size.

HOW TO TAKE PART

Contact your favourite venue, send them this page or tag them on social media and tell them that seat size is important to you, their audience.

FOR AUDIENCES

A promotional poster with a purple gradient background, featuring two round images at the top: one of a person measuring a theater seat with a tape measure, and the other of a theater interior with a large screen showing a face. The poster includes a title, 'Bums & on Buts Seats,' and text about publishing seating information and questions to consider for venue seating.

Here are some easy steps to take, that will make your venue more fat friendly and encourage repeat visits.

FOR VENUES

A colorful graphic promoting venues to publish photos of seating to attract neurodiverse audiences, with tips on confirming weight capacity.

Protest poster with a director's chair crossed out, advocating to end the use of director's chairs for Q&A screenings because they are not accessible.

Audience seated in a theater with red seats, watching a presentation. Overlay text highlights the importance of accessibility and empowering audiences to make choices.

The gold standard for access info from venues that we have seen is by Hyde Park Picturehouse in Leeds, UK - they clearly describe the space and provide contact details in case there are additional access needs that are not listed.

As a result of the Your Fat Friend release, Picturehouse cinemas now list seat size in their venues, across the whole chain. See Exeter as an example - it can be done, all you need is a tape measure, a little bit of time and consideration.

Tell us about your faves!

FUTURE PLANNING

Review any future plans to make sure seating is accommodating for all your audience, of the bodies they have right now, not just small, able bodies. Fat audiences are audiences and want to watch films in your venue.
Hire an accessibility consultant - Our director has a disability and is a member of FWD Doc supporting filmmakers with disabilities. Their website has lots of useful recommendations and resources, including the event accessibility scorecard.
It includes a link to this article by travel blogger Emma who details what that is like to visit the cinema if you are a wheelchair user.

Pink and purple gradient background with white and yellow text promoting inclusivity for plus-size individuals, with a message about body positivity and acceptance.

A person holding a black tape measure with a yellow tape. The tape measure's label reads "Your Fat Friend" in red and black. The background features a gradient purple to blue. There is text promoting a program supported by Chicken & Egg Films and Project Hatched, involving independent cinemas at Art House Convergence, with a gift tape measure for every venue.

Pink and purple gradient background with bold white and peach text, promoting 'Bums on Seats' initiative in the UK with over 150 venues signing up.

87%

Quote graphic with a purple and pink gradient background. The text reads 'Bums on Seats' at the top right corner, followed by 'What venues had to say' in the center. Below is a quote in yellow and pink text: 'Such a helpful prompt and we've had great feedback from people who were fed up of going into cinemas blind, hoping they would be OK'. At the bottom, in white text, it states: 'Access is everything. Without it, part of the audience is missing'. The name 'Luxe Cinema Wisbech' appears at the bottom.

A staggering 87% of audience members polled said that if seat info was listed clearly they would be more likely to return to the venue.

A movie poster for 'Your Fat Friend,' directed by Jeanie Finlay, featuring the tagline 'Taking care of bottoms. Not just the bottom line,' with three peach emojis at the top and the titles of the film and creator at the bottom.

Poster with purple and pink gradient background featuring quotes and a title, related to a film called 'Bums & on Butts Seats,' including audience comments and a promotional statement about fat spaces at screenings.

ADD YOUR VENUE TO OUR HALL OF FAME

Hall OF FAME - PARTICIPATING VENUES

ADD YOUR VENUE TO OUR HALL OF FAME

UNITED KINGDOM

BELFAST: QUEENS FILM THEATRE || BRADFORD: BRADFORD PICTUREVILLE || BRIGHTON: Picturehouse Duke of York's || BRIGHTON: Picturehouse Duke's At Komedia || BRISTOL: OLD VIC || BRISTOL: watershed ||Cambridge: Arts Picturehouse || Cardiff: CHAPTER || Chester: Chester Picturehouse || Chester: Storyhouse || COVENTRY: Warwick Arts Centre ||dundee: Dundee contemporary arts || Edinburgh : Cameo picturehouse || exeter : Phoenix || fort william: highland cinema || glasgow: glasgow film theatre || Gloucester: Gloucester Guildhall || henley: regal picturehouse || hexham: forum cinema || inverness: eden Court || leeds: hyde park picture house || lewes: Depot || liverpool: picturehouse at fact || london: picturehouse central || london: bertha dochouse || london: ica || london: ealing picturehouse || london: hackney picturehouse || london: lexi cinema || london: ritzy picturehouse || london: clapham picturehouse || london: crouch end picturehouse || london: ealing picturehouse || london: east dulwich picturehouse|| london: finsbury park picturehouse || london: fulham picturehouse || london: greenwich picturehouse || london: stratford east picturehouse || london: west norwood picturehouse|| ludlow: ludlow assembly rooms || manchester: home || newcastle upon tyne: tyneside cinema || norwich: picturehouse cinema city || Nottingham: broadway Cinema || oxford: phoenix picturehouse || sheffield: showroom || southampton: harbour lights picturehouse || Tywyn: magic lantern cinema || york: city screen picturehouse ||

USA

BOSTON: THE COOLIDGE || portland: Hollywood theatre || seattle: siff cinema egyptian ||

Australia

canberra: palace electric canberra || carlton: cinema nova carlton || perth: cinemas raine square || perth: luna palace cinema

Advocating for fat bodies is work that has been taken on by many people across the world. Support and amplify their work:

CAN WE ALL GO - Amazing US site and app reviewing and advocating for fat friendly seating and spaces

SOFIE HAGEN - Brilliant comedian Sofie has asked comedy venues that she tours, to permanently add seating info to their websites.

FRIENDLY LIKE ME - US site, exhaustive resource of access information for disability and fat bodies. Reviews of spaces, chair recommendations

FWD DOC - fighting the good fight for the disabled documentary community and audiences everywhere

If I Fits, I Sits is a private Facebook group that crowd sources seating information about entertainment venues. If this could be useful to you, ask to join.