Film and TV Technician (1957)

68 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 Tj^OCUS this month is on the Tele-* vision side. At the time of going to press our Television members have endorsed the Television Agreement proposals and they have been sent to the Programme Contractors. It is a worthwhile question to ask whether the Association of Broadcasting Staffs has put its negotiating proposals before its membership in commercial television. In the meantime, local representations from A.C.T.T. in Granada and A.R.T.V. have won high premium payments for the staffs over Easter. Our policy of local achievement as well as the struggle for a proper national agreement is winning increasing membership in such companies as Alpha Television in Birmingham and A.T.V. in London. It is perhaps symbolic of the situation in commercial Television and the difficulties of obtaining just rates and conditions for technicians that a contract reputed to be worth over £100,000 per year has recently been signed for the purpose of supplying " audience data ". For the purpose of supplying top technical ability the resources seem to be a little more reluctant. Under Fire! Typical— but not too typical, I hope — of the hazards of working in Television is the experience suffered by Herbert Wise, director of Granada's Under Fire programme. The programme has two M.P.s in London questioned by an audience in the Manchester studio on some burning issue of the day. On this occasion the M.P.s were under fire from the local doctors concerning the B.M.A.'s pay claim ^"i their behalf. Herbert was busy in the last hour before the programme went on the air organising the main spokesmen — reassuring the doctors on their first TV i|" 'arance. The last points had boon cleared up, everyone was keyed up ready to go on the air when in walks a technician and anxiously announces that the Government has awarded a pay increase to the doctors! For several horrible minutes it seemed that not only was the programme " under fire " but rapidly going down in flames. Luckily it turned out that the news announcement had been misinterpreted and the doctors were able to go forward with their interrogation. Herbert Wise seemed to take the situation calmly enough — one can only suppose that experiences like this in TV are added to the ulcer bill. For Herbert the evening had only started with this incident. Midnight found him in the outer reaches of Manchester helping to change the tyre on his taxi! Quote . . . The " Daily Express" — certainly no lover of commercial Television, but like our members, very concerned about the amount of filmeo* American material that is appearing on TV recently, had this to say, " The B.B.C.'s leaning towards American TV this week adds up to a solid 8 hours 20 minutes of States-side imported stuff. . . . Even commercial TV, notorious customer for the American stockpile of canned film, could not compete . . . we are being bulldozed by noise, dubbed applause, and slickness, into a state of hypnotism ... if the B.B.C. sets its mind to paying, nurturing, and giving the same professional treatment to British script writers as The TV Quiz Show is, by American standards, I suppose, still much in its infancy. The whole operation would seem to be a pretty innocent one. From an article in Time magazine this would seem to be far from the case with the myriad quiz programmes on the U.S. Television Networks. Time asks the question " Are the quiz shows rigged? " and answers it by saying that the producers of many quiz shows control the outcome as closely as they dare — without the actual collusion of the contestants. So little is apparently left to chance that a new group of craftsmen calling themselves " audience participation comedy writers " has arisen. On some shows they even write the ad-lib banter between contestant and questionmaster. One of the biggest problems seems to be how to get rid of the contestant who does not make To get rid of the contestant " good entertainment and how to encourage the dramatic personality who might fall down on the tough question. On one show candidates cannot qualify for the show without taking a four-hour, 363-question test. Said one professor, " The questioning was comparable to an oral exam, for a Ph.D." Veteran Honoured Veteran Producer Director, Adrian Brunei, father of Chris Brunei, Executive Committee member, was recently in Italy and was honoured by the Mayor of Rome. He was presented with a silver medal in recognition of his writings on that city. Adrian Brunei's writings have not been confined to travel. Younger members should find " Nice Work ", Adrian's autobiography, a witty and instructive story of the early struggles of the industry. ". . . into a state of hynotism " the Americans give to theirs, we might have a better product, and less dollar buying." JtfCJ^