Film and TV Technician (1957)

38 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN March 1957 THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING President's Speech THE growth of Television and the shift in emphasis that this would entail in the future work of A.C.T.T. were stressed by the President in his address opening the Twenty-fourth Annual General Meeting, which was held at the Beaver Hall, Garlick Hill, on March 9th and 10th. Until now the production of films for showing in cinemas had been our main preoccupation, the President said. The recent figures of over 6i million television licence-holders in the United Kingdom showed the rapid growth of what the film diehards still called a competitor but which we, with members operating in both fields, should and must call an ally. " I hope," the President continued, " that instead of continuing to snarl at each other cinema and television will get together and see how they can be complementary. I realise many headaches will have to be endured meanwhile. " Our friends the musicians will recall how it was said the radio would kill the demand for the live orchestra. But the result has in l':irt been a stimulus. I believe that with wisdom on both sides the same beneficial results can be achieved in the effect of the growth of television on cinema going." Referring to the responsibilities which Television entailed, the President said : " Many of us, and indeed our Union officially, whilst welcoming the employment which independent television provides, were highly critical of the Government policy which established alternative programmes to the B.B.C. in their present form. " Experience to date has obliged us to pinpoint the almost complete failure of the Programme Contractors to fulfil their obligations to put out a balanced programme, and we are alarmed at the generally low standard and trivial content of independent television. Money has been spent mainly on those types of programme calculated to attract a majority audience, which we foresaw was bound to happen if advertisers had to be relied upon to pay for the programmes. Ever-decreasing Quality " As a statement recently issued by the General Council said, wo, representing the creative workers in this field, are of the strong opinion that immediate steps should be taken to stem the tendency towards an ever decreasing quality and its consequent effect on public taste, and that the enormous power of commercial television should not merely be used for frivolous entertainment." Turning from Television to the Government's Cinematograph Films Bill now before Parliament, the President said : " Let me say right away that we welcome the Bill because it will preserve and strengthen British film production. But it has a number of shortcomings." Shortcomings of Bill Whilst it was good that the British Film Production Fund had been put on a compulsory basis, the method of deciding each year's amount would hamper and not encourage production. The annual levy might be anywhere between £2 million and £5 million. There was no indication as to where between these two extremes the actual figure each year would fall. The low figure was clearly inadequate and the top figure, although an improvement on the present level, was only somewhere near the mark of the industry's needs if production remained at its present level and cost. One of the shortcomings of the present voluntary scheme, which was repeated in the new Bill, was that it tended to restrict rather than increase production because the Fund was a fixed figure and therefore the greater the number of films produced, the less was the levy available to the producer of each film. The President hoped that during the passage of the Bill through Parliament there would be clarification as to how the amount of the Fund was to be ascertained