Q14 - Theater managers will not rent

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Necessary Assumption

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: Producers tend to make films that theater managers consider attractive to younger audiences.
Evidence: Producers want their films to be shown as widely as possible and theater managers will only rent a film if they think the film will generate enough revenue to yield a profit.

Answer Anticipation:
There is symbol repetition with 'theater managers' and 'film producers', so this feels like it's searching for a missing link. There's a "new guy" in the conclusion: "films that would be considered attractive to younger audiences". What part of the premise was that supposed to connect up with? We're assuming that theater managers think "films considered attractive to younger audiences" would be more likely to "generate enough total revenue to turn a profit".

Correct Answer:
D

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) This helps to explain why theater managers might think that films with younger audiences might generate more revenue than films with older audiences. But this would be a Strengthen answer. It's not NECESSARY. It's possible that adults and younger audiences have the same behavior as it pertains to concession purchases. It could still be that younger audiences are more likely to generate more revenue, simply if younger audiences buy more tickets and attend the movies in bigger numbers.

(B) It's not necessary for younger and older audiences to be nearly mutually exclusive. All we're trying to analyze is why theater managers would care about a film being attractive to younger audiences. It doesn't matter to this reasoning whether the film is ALSO attractive to a sizeable older audience.

(C) This does nothing to talk about our "new guy": films considered attractive to younger audiences. There's no reason the author needs to think that concessions are more profitable than the movies themselves. All of that stuff is enfolded in "total revenue". The author doesn't need to assume any internal comparisons between the different slices of revenue.

(D) Here we go! This is close to our prephrase, supplying the missing link between "attractive to younger audiences" and "generate enough total revenue to yield a profit". If we negated this answer, then the argument has offered ZERO reasons why we should go after younger audiences.

(E) Too extreme: "almost never". The author only needs to believe that films that appeal to younger audiences are MORE LIKELY to be profitable. It doesn't have to be the case that films appealing to older crowds are usually unprofitable. Even if 60% of adult films and 75% of young films were profitable, theater managers (and film producers) would still have a compelling reason to go after young films.

Takeaway/Pattern: This was a fairly easy missing link to anticipate, since we needed to match up "attractive to younger audiences" in the conclusion with SOMETHING in the evidence, and the only logical option was "better chance of yielding enough total revenue to make a profit". (B) and (E) do the class "fake opposite" trap answer, in which they basically take something that was said and accuse the author of assuming the opposite. (f.e. If I say "rainy days are pretty", that doesn't mean I'm assuming that "dry days are usually ugly")

#officialexplanation

[chike_eze]

Correct = (D)
Question Type: Necessary Assumption

Argument:
Theater managers will not rent movies they don't believe will generate enough revenue to earn a profit. Film producers want to reach a wide audience, therefore they make films that theater managers will find attractive to younger audiences.

Assumption: How did we get from theater managers wanting to earn a profit to them catering to a younger demographic? Aha! the gap is -- if movies are attractive to the younger crowd, somehow that means theater managers believe those movies will be more profitable.

(D) Manager belief = Attractive to younger folk -> more likely to be profitable..
(Necessary assumption)

(A) "adults consume less concession food than younger folk" (tricky) Even if true, we are still left with the gap between younger demographic and profit. Younger folk buying more doesn't mean theater managers believe this will lead to more profit. And what if Adults generate higher revenue from movie fees?
(B) "Younger folk prefer movies that older folk don't." Hmm, what does that have to do with profit?
(C) "Food/beverage more profitable than movies." But why prefer younger folk to older folk? Do younger folk generate higher total revenue than older folk?
(E) "Older audiences almost never generate profit". We still don't know if choosing younger audiences leads to profit. For all we know, younger audiences are just as bad as old folk.

[maryadkins]

Nicely done! I'd add to (A) that we don't know what "younger audience" is. It could be younger adults. It isn't necessarily kids and teenagers.

[noah]

I've read a bunch of your explanations, and I have to say this is the best one I've ready yet. Great work. I have no edits, though I suggest in the future you make it clearer what is the conclusion and what is the premise when you outline the argument.

Bravo!

Correct = (D)
Question Type: Necessary Assumption

Argument:
Theater managers will not rent movies they don't believe will generate enough revenue to earn a profit. Film producers want to reach a wide audience, therefore they make films that theater managers will find attractive to younger audiences.

Assumption: How did we get from theater managers wanting to earn a profit to them catering to a younger demographic? Aha! the gap is -- if movies are attractive to the younger crowd, somehow that means theater managers believe those movies will be more profitable.

(D) Manager belief = Attractive to younger folk -> more likely to be profitable..
(Necessary assumption)

(A) "adults consume less concession food than younger folk" (tricky) Even if true, we are still left with the gap between younger demographic and profit. Younger folk buying more doesn't mean theater managers believe this will lead to more profit. And what if Adults generate higher revenue from movie fees?
(B) "Younger folk prefer movies that older folk don't." Hmm, what does that have to do with profit?
(C) "Food/beverage more profitable than movies." But why prefer younger folk to older folk? Do younger folk generate higher total revenue than older folk?
(E) "Older audiences almost never generate profit". We still don't know if choosing younger audiences leads to profit. For all we know, younger audiences are just as bad as old folk.

[shirando21]

I picked A at first. But according to the new term rule, as attractive to younger audiences is new in the conclusion, we should find an answer that has it. So D is the correct answer, as it is the only answer that includes it.

I found A tricky after the review.

[Joetrot88]

If you negate D this argument falls apart, thus proven correct via negation technique.

Conclusion: film producers...tend to make films that theater managers consider attractive to younger audiences.

This conclusion was drawn from the claim that the theater managers will not rent a film if they do not believe it will make a profit.
or
R=rent
BP=believe to make profit
~R->~BP
BP->R


D) (negated) Theater managers generally DO NOT believe that a film is attractive to younger audiences is more likely to be profitable than other films.

If this were true our conclusion would fall apart, therefore answer choice D is correctamundo!

The reason WHY it falls apart is because if theater managers DO NOT believe a film is attractive to younger audiences than that cuts the ties between the conclusion and premise and nuclear bombs the entire argument.

So the assumption that the managers DO believe a film is attractive is NECESSARY in this argument.

If you were unable to understand what where why and how this technique was used I advise you to read a Manhattan book, Powerscore LR bible or search Google for the necessary assumption technique... it's very simple and an LSAT savior.

[asafezrati]

This conclusion was drawn from the claim that the theater managers will not rent a film if they do not believe it will make a profit.
or
R=rent
BP=believe to make profit
~R->~BP
BP->R

It actually translates to
~BP -> ~R
And contra -
R -> BP

I think that formulating this one might actually be detrimental, even if it's workable. When I did it on timed conditions I started a little sketch but left it aside and just looked for an answer choice that speaks about the young audience and profit.

[jm.kahn]

I was left wondering if the following choice is the right assumption and not D.

"Theater managers generally believe that a profitable film is likely to be attractive to younger audience"

It's a reversal of sufficient/necessary condition of D.

In general if the stim is:
P-> Q (premise)
P-> Y (conclusion)

and we are asked to find the assumption, the assumption could be either of "Y->Q" or "Q->Y"

In this question, choice D is similar to Y->Q. But shouldn't the answer choice "Q->Y" be the assumption?

That is, isn't this the assumption and not D?

"Theater managers generally believe that a profitable film is likely to be attractive to younger audience"

[EmilyL849]

Hi, teachers

Would this also be a necessary assumption in this case?

"Theater managers do NOT believe that movies that attract older audiences are likely to generate a handsome profit."

I think this could be needed, but also could be too much for a necessary assumption question.

We just need film producers believe that theater managers think movies attractive to younger audiences will generate enough total revenue. We don't actually need managers to think other movies will NOT generate enough profit.

Would this be a correct understanding?

Thank you in advance!!

[ohthatpatrick]

Film producers are aiming at the goal of “theater manager believes this film will yield a profit”.

These producers are acting like “movies attractive to younger audiences” tend to be the safest route there.

So it’s easier to state the assumptions in comparative form than in absolute form.

Producers might still assume for some older-audience movies that theater managers will expect it to yield a profit. It just has to be that there aren’t as many older-audience movies as younger-audience movies that would be expected to yield a profit, or that theater managers have stronger beliefs in young-films being profitable.

I think your assumption works, though, if it’s phrased in a universal or probable style.

A) Theater managers generally do not believe that films attractive to older audiences are certain to yield a profit.

If most theater managers believed that older-films were certain to yield a profit, then the argument falls apart. There’s no longer a compelling reason to pick young-films.