https://theatrical.dev/essays/ Research essays on cinema technology, developer ecosystems, and the $3.3B cinema API economy. en Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +1200 https://theatrical.dev/essays/cinema-platform-thesis Why cinema technology needs a developer ecosystem — and what it looks like when it gets one. https://theatrical.dev/essays/cinema-platform-thesis Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +1200 https://theatrical.dev/essays/what-stripe-did-for-payments Draw the parallel: Stripe → payments :: Theatrical → cinema. A technical comparison with code examples. https://theatrical.dev/essays/what-stripe-did-for-payments Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +1200 https://theatrical.dev/essays/cinema-as-protocol Cinema-going as cultural infrastructure — why the ritual matters more than the technology. https://theatrical.dev/essays/cinema-as-protocol Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +1200 https://theatrical.dev/essays/the-3.3-billion-api Vista Group processes $3.3B in annual GTV. The developer ecosystem around it is effectively zero. https://theatrical.dev/essays/the-3.3-billion-api Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +1200 https://theatrical.dev/essays/event-driven-cinema Why real-time events change everything for cinema operations — and how to build an event bridge when the platform API is request-response. https://theatrical.dev/essays/event-driven-cinema Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +1200