Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16: No. 1 15 Film Export Assn. Goes West: West Coast independent TV film producers will meet with TV Program Export Assn, consultant William H. Fineshriber this week (Jan. 6) in the latest membership move by the recently incorporated group. A total of 70 film production companies, including Blue Jay, Toreto, Pegasus, Hutton, Hal Roach, Don Sharpe, Wyatt Earp Enterprises, Louis Edelman & Danny Thomas, have expressed interest, Fineshriber told us. Ten East Coast film companies voted affirmatively to incorporate the Assn, at a Dec. 14 meeting in N.Y. Represented in person or by telegram or message were 17 companies which together account for 90% of American TV program distribution abroad. Those voting included ABC Films, CBS Films, Loew’s Inc., MCA-TV Ltd., Wm. Morris Agency (for Four Star Films), NBC, NTA, Bernard L. Schubert, Screen Gems & UA. There were no negative votes. Companies abstaining were “either unable to make final commitments or could not be counted in the vote because their messages of commitment had not covered the specific motion,” Fineshriber reported. These included Desilu, Flamingo Telefilm Sales, Ziv International, Official Films, United Artists, Fremantle International. Also at the mid-Dec. meeting an interim committee was appointed to serve until completion of the legal steps and election of directors & officers takes place. Members are Merle Jones, CBS-TV Stations, temporary chmn.; Harold J. Klein, ABC Films; Morris M. Schrier, MCA-TV Ltd.; Alfred R. Stem, NBC; Lloyd Burns, SG; Herbert L. Golden, UA. Fineshriber and George Muchnic, counsel, were commissioned to continue in their respective capacities for an additional 10-wk. period. Writers Guild of America West may next vote strike authorization against TV producers. (Vol. 15:50 pl2, 48 pl3). It is already striking against independent movie producers and its major-studios negotiations have collapsed. A special membership meeting of its TV-radio & screen writers branches has been called for Jan. 7, at which proposed contract demands on TV-film negotiations (with the networks, the Alliance of TV Film Producers and TV film operations of the major studios) will be discussed. Also to be discussed will be proposed demands for radio freelancers, live TV writers and staff continuity-&-news writers at CBS. The Guild may seek strike authorization against any or all of the employers involved, it told members in a communique. Strike authorization doesn’t necessarily mean a strike; it arms the Guild’s negotiators with a weapon. Such authorization was voted them for their talks with the major studios, but it hasn’t been exercised to date. First U.S.-Czech TV deal is claimed by Consolidated Marketing Agency’s Lester Wolff, producer of the NTAdistributed panel show Between the Lines. Returning from a business trip to Prague last month, he brought a tentative agreement with Czechslovakian TV officials for a 6-film swap in music, dance, travel and children’s categories. Arrangements for Wolff’s negotiations with asst. Czech TV dir. Dr. Walter Feldstein were started by Rep. Anfuso (D.-N.Y.), approved by U.S. Embassy in Prague. CBS-TV will spotlight N.Y. in six 60-min. programs titled Manhattan on various Fri. evenings, 9-10 p.m., beginning Feb. 26. The series will feature stories about life on the famous island, concentrating “more on the glamor, less on the grime.” Producer will be Albert McCleery, dir., Ethel Frank. Major portions of the productions will be live, but tape & film will also be used. 10 Years of Gunsmoke? Despite the preponderance of Westerns and the general trade sentiment that many current sagebrushers will be cancelled this season, CBS-TV is quietly proceeding with plans for 5 more years of its highly successful show, Gunsmoke. The network has already made a deal with star James Arness for the duration of the series; has re-signed Amanda Blake; needs not negotiate with Dennis Weaver for another year when his contract comes up for renewal. It is, however, encountering trouble trying to re-sign Milburn Stone (“Old Doc”) to a new 5-year deal. The actor has rejected 2 offers. Explained Stone’s agent, Meyer Mishkin: “We aren’t asking for a piece of the series. I don’t think there are many pieces left. We are asking for a change in Milburn’s residual situation, and for certain fringe benefits.” Arness, who once complained that he wanted to get out of the series, has been happy since last summer when CBS-TV handed him a new deal. He has a substantial piece of the show (“CBS asked me not to say how big it is”) ; he has formed his own company to produce the series; and CBS-TV has agreed to finance pilots to be made by Arness Productions. Republic’s Post-’48 Solution: Republic Pictures Pres. Victor Carter last week confirmed that his company will finance independent TV film producers, a plan first reported here (Vol. 15:33 pl2). When Herbert J. Yates was Republic’s pres., he sold the studio’s post-1948 movies to TV without paying Hollywood talent guilds. They placed Republic on their “unfair” lists, but, with the studio out of production, this was meaningless. When Carter bought the studio last July, he thoughtfully considered a means of getting into TV film — and around the displeasure of the guilds which provide the talent. His solution: to finance independents which have no involvements with the guilds. What worries the Hollywood guilds is that other studios may follow the same pattern — sell their post-1948s without payment of residuals, yet escape guild retaliation by the simple method of abandoning production and entering financing & distributing for independents. ;Pilot Month’ at MGM-TV: MGM-TV, with nary a series in production, heads into a big pilot splurge this month, with at least 7 to be done. Another, The Islanders, has already been produced, and is now being readied for presentation on Madison Ave. On the agenda are pilots of Dr. Kildare, starring Lew Ayres; National Velvet, The Paradise Kid, Diamond Jim Brady, Steven V, another version of Father of the Bride (a pilot of this was filmed last year, but didn’t sell) and (60-min.) Asphalt Jungle. MGM-TV executives said there is renewed interest in the pilot of You're Only Young Once, shot last year. 20th Century-Fox passed a major crisis last week. ABC-TV notified the movie firm it was renewing Adventures in Paradise, the Mon. 9:30-10:30 p.m. adventure series that’s been written off several times this season as a failure, for another 26-wk. stretch, beginning in March. This will put the show on a 52-wk. firm basis, and insure TCF-TV of a recoupment of its over-budget “Paradise” spending. In the final analysis, it was ratings, not critical comment, that swung ABC’s decision. The Dec. 28 Trendex reports gave the show a 19.3 rating against 17.5 for CBS-TV {Ann Sothem, Hennesey) and 16.3 for NBC-TV {Alcoa Theatre, first 30-min. of Steve Allen).