Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

410 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIX, No. 9. Economy Urged as Patriotic Move WASTAGE OF FILM BY DIRECTORS DECLARED WITHOUT EXCUSE BY SAMUEL S. HUTCHINSON President of the American Film Company. REDUCTION OF OUTPUT seems to be occupying manufacturers to some extent just now. Levelheaded manufacturers have seen this crisis coming for more than a year and have prepared for it. Every producer who has taken the precaution to look ahead and figure out the situation for himself has known that reduction was bound to come. No company can afford to work without profit and as the motion picture film is not usually an article which increases in value with the holding, it cannot pay to make too many just to shelve for a possible market. Waste of Film Deplorable For one thing, conservation in the use of the film proper is important. When you hear a director solemnly assuring you that he must waste thousands of feet of film to produce one picture, you may safely assume that he does not know how to make a picture and is putting up a bluff to conceal his ignorance. You might as well expect your architect in figuring on lumber for a new house to tell you that while only 50,000 feet of lumber will be used in the finished product you must order 100,000 to allow for artistic temperament in the wastage. Abuse Could Be Remedied If the producers charged up the wastage of film to the director as they charge up the expense of an overset in a newspaper office the abuse would soon be remedied. A wastage of film is a tacit admission of incompetency on the part of the director — he admits that he has not once had a clear outline of his picture in his mind — he has been fishing for ideas all the time. If we had a little more sense in the picture business to offset the artistic temperament that we seem to think is essential, perhaps we would not find it necessary to hold so many useless conferences in large hotels to discuss the situation. We know what the situation is — any level-headed business man knows enough to retrench when retrenching is necessary. Film Material Needed for War The materials used in the manufacture of films are necessary just now as a war product. Cotton and nitric acid are too valuable to be wasted at the artistic whim of a vague director who has to try out thousands of feet of film before he knows what he is doing. Such criminal waste of valuable material should not be allowed in any studio at this time. The industry should voluntarily reduce production from a patriotic standpoint, if nothing else, and thereby release necessary war products. The policy of the American Film Company has always been along the line of fewer, but better pictures. We have marched steadily along — making the type of wholesome comedy with a dramatic appeal that the public wants to see. For that reason the present situation has not found us unprepared or with a lot of film that we cannot sell. Will Make Money Count We shall continue to share no expense where expense is necessary to produce evenly balanced pictures that appeal. But the money we put into a picture goes into its merit and not waste and we intend to adhere to this policy rigidly. There is no necessity for a waste at any time. If manufacturers would employ less time in arguing over non-essential details of the situation and put a business head to work ferreting out the leaks in the industry and cementing them up, there would not only be a decided gain in finances, but a higher standard for pictures. Don Barclay is nearing the completion of his second Essanay comedy, "All Stuck Up," in which the famous "Ziegfeld Follies" comedien plays the role of a paper hanger's assistant. His' first comedy, released on February 16, is called "Check Your Hatv Sir?" and the scenes are for the most part laid in a cafe. Norma Talmadgc in the Select picture, "By Right of Purchase," which follows "Ghosts of Yesterday."