Interview with Dan Florio – Owner of RunPee.com
RunPee is a service set up by Dan Florio and his family. We’ve all been there. Sitting in the movie theatre and desperate to dash to the facilities but worried that we will miss some all important plot point. Well, Dan decided to save us all from our own bladders and came up with the RunPee app for smartphones. As soon as the movie starts to roll, you start the timer, and at times when there isn’t anything too important happening, your phone will vibrate letting you know that now is a good time to go. The app tells you how long you have and summarises the plot for you so you know what you’ve missed.
We decided to quiz Dan about the RunPee service and also took the opportunity to ask him about age certification.
INTERVIEW WITH DAN FLORIO – OWNER OF RUNPEE.COM
What gave you the idea to set up RunPee?
Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong. It was nearly 3 hours long. By the end of the movie I was desperate for it to be over because I had to pee so bad. It occurred to me that I should have run to pee during that long scene with the big insects because it was stupid and didn’t have anything to do with the rest of the movie. That idea evolved into RunPee.
The RunPee app has proved invaluable for ITMS on many occasions! Did the service snowball quickly or was it a more gradual affair?
Good question. For super long movies – over 150 minutes – I usually wait until about 30 minutes into the movie and then I go to the rest room myself. But I don’t have the luxury of knowing if I’m missing anything important. At least that way I know I’ll be able to make it through the
rest of the movie. But I never drink soda during a movie either.
When seeing a younger rated movie, what’s your experience of seeing children in the movie theatre? Do you find they often get scared by the cinema experience?
Do you think that sometimes parents try to get children in to see a movie that may be a little too old for them?
Absolutely. Sometimes it’s just a matter of not having a baby sitter available. The other night my sister saw Spring Breakers which is R-rated but the theater let anyone in. She said parents were insane to let young children in to see that movie because there was nudity, drugs, and violence throughout. Another RunPee user noted that her theater checked IDs at the theater door.
What’s the first movie you remember seeing that really scared you as a child? How old were you? Did you enjoy being scared?
I think I was probably 12 years old or so when I saw Salem’s Lot on TV. It scared my silly. I saw Event Horizon when I was in college. That is the most disturbing movie I’ve ever seen. Not so much scared as mentally ill. I almost vomited in the theater during the fast strobing scenes of violence. I wish I could “unsee” that movie.
How does it feel for your whole family to spend their time on Fridays watching new releases in order to save stranger’s bladders?
It has always been an honor to provide the service. I know it’s a trivial thing and it isn’t like we deeply improve someone’s life, but we do make their movie going experience just a little better and that’s rewarding in itself.
It has always been a big time drain for us. We usually leave an hour before the movie starts, then there’s about 2 hours or so of the actual movie, plus trailers, then the drive home and then at least an hour to read our notes and make the peetimes and then write a review. All told it’s a 5 hour process and not at all enjoyable. It really is work. Plus, even for movies that we like, we are distracted throughout the movie taking notes. That’s no fun.
If you could live as any movie character for a day who would it be?
Bill Murry in Groundhogs Day. :-)
If you want to read more about RunPee, then why not visit their website or Facebook page?
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