A FOND FAREWELL

Saying Goodbye to Scot Hoard

Scot Hoard has had the longest tenure of any staff member at Tropic Cinema but that time has now come to an end.  With a move to St. Pete Scot is departing Key West and Tropic Cinema to move on to the next chapter in his life.  We want to thank Scot for his many years of service and his deep commitment to the mission of Tropic Cinema.  We wish him all the best in whatever comes next.

To borrow a term from the Navy, Scot is a “plank owner” — someone who’s been around since the beginning.  He has served in many roles at the Tropic, most recently as our Director of Programming and Webmaster, among other things.  Scot’s been the person who worked most closely with our film buyer in choosing films. He’s been programming our Wednesday night Cinematheque series.  His encyclopedic knowledge of film has been invaluable and has had a direct bearing on the Tropic’s reputation as a place to catch the very best films.

We asked Lori Reid, Tropic Cinema’s long-time Theater Manager, to say a few things about Scot:

Scot, or “T” as many of you know him, has been a part of the Tropic story for about thirteen years.  He has been many things to the Tropic throughout his years here, and when he started, he did it all!  But for nearly eleven of those years, he has been my supervisor, my mentor, and most importantly, my friend.

He set the customer service bar very high from the beginning, and his commitment and dedication to building and fostering long-lasting relationships with our members and personal experiences for visitors were a major influence on who I became as a manager.  Those values are part of his legacy here at the Tropic, as we pass them on to each manager who comes in.

He never took the volunteers for granted, and his appreciation for their service and recognition of their talents drew volunteers to the Tropic who have been here for as many years as our doors have been open.  I am grateful for their continued help and years of experience every day.

After he became our Programmer, we didn’t always agree on movie choices, but we had some very “animated” discussions over the years about what would do well here.  I looked forward to his annual trip to Toronto each year because when he came back and told me about the great movies (and not so great ones, too) that he had seen, I would have an “in” to the movies that would make up part of our programming.  I always felt like I knew a secret about the upcoming year, and I looked forward to seeing each and every movie that we had discussed, and hearing our customers’ views on them.  

Scot is my friend.  He has held my hand through tough times, laughed with me, cried with me, made me strive to do better, and never hesitated to praise me when I did a good job.  I will miss him dearly.  The Tropic – and I – are so much better for having had him with us these many years.  I wish him nothing but the best, with so much love, for the future.