National Box Office Digest (Feb-July 1941)

*7 lie O+tJhjAbupL ^iAiUtctuie 'WeeJzly ^ke feo#, Qjjjjice DIGEST PRODUCER-DIRECTORS An Editorial by ROBERT E. WELSH Box Office Digest has long been an advocate — maybe we could call ourselves a pioneer — of producer-director deals as the solution for the worries of many major companies. We do not say ALL of the companies, because where organization has been built and executive direction is right, the companies have not been in such dire need. And we do not exactly mean ' producer-director” in the limited sense that it applies only to directors who do the two jobs, because there is a closely parallel situation with its good points where a writer teams with a director, or a capable associate producer with a director, having discovered that they have the ability to work in a team. But the time seems to be ripe to talk about some of the aspects of this situation that will soon be making trouble. 5jC ifc And the condition that prompts this thought can be stated very briefly: Not all of the directors ambitious enough, and possessed of sufficient self-confidence, to accept producer-director-partnership deals are going to come out at the right end of the horn. Which brings us back to a problem that must be twenty years old in this industry. At least our memory tells us of the days in the 20’s when more than one enterprising individual tried to put together combinations of top flight directors willing to invest their own money on their own ability. But always, there came the stumbling block: "We can’t trust those fellows handling the distribution. We can’t believe their figures. We can’t out-talk their lawyers.” * * * We believe that attitude — and there was always evidence to be produced to prove that it was not entirely mistaken — cost the picture industry many years of progress, and quite a few dividends. Because the creators said: "Oh, shucks, it’s better to push the SALARY up, since I know what the check reads each week, than to grapple with the accountants who can’t even tell me what it was six months ago. There would have been fewer million dollar flops made by directors who had half a heart in the job — because of executive interferences — in the last decade if the 1920 desire and willingness of creators to share the worries had been given a chance. And we know of a couple of companies that would have saved themselves belly-ache pains in recent years if it had not been for some of those million dollar flops. But in the past year or so the producer-director idea gained more solid ground. We like to feel that Box Office Digest had something to do with its progress. However, we will be compelled to start apologizing if some current trends are not curbed. We can sum up the reasons for those possible apologies: In the first place, if a top executive makes a producer-director deal, after okaying the story basis — possibly also giving some mutual thought to the star values — on a picture HE SHOULD THEN TAKE HIS HANDS OFF. If he hasn’t the confidence to let the producer-director go through after fundamentals have been agreed upon, he should never have given that individual a producer-director deal in the first place. Secondly: Do not let the distribution department horn in so close to the deal that the producer-director finds himself needing a battery of lawyers, a couple of FBI men, and a crystal gazer to find out when he is going to make some money. Don’t scare those creators — or you will be right back where you started. ^ ^ The top pictures of today are being made by such a variety of talents that it would be foolish to pin any particular label on the word "Success.” We have our top studio executives who give a great share by their willingness to get behind an IDEA, and the ability to assemble the right talent to place that idea on the screen. We have able associate producers who combine some of this knack with the ability to team up with writers and directors. We have the producer-director set-up. We have our stars with a definite Fort Knox value at box offices. But all tendencies of the picture business should be aiming at letting those contributing factors work freely, share in profits, be willing to take losses from errors — BUT NOT BE FORCED TO FIGHT WITH EACH OTHER. DISTRIBUTORS’ BATTING AVERAGE FOR 1940 % l. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ... 46 Releases 100 2. United Artists __ 21 Releases 99 3. Twentieth Century-Fox ... 48 Releases .... 93 4. Warners-First National ... 46 Releases ... 90 5. Paramount 42 Releases .... 87 6. Universal 50 Releases 78 7. RKO-Radio 48 Releases .... 78 8. Columbia 41 Releases 75 9. Republic .... 25 Releases .... 70 10. Monogram 26 Releases 65 *Does not include "Gone With the Wind," 388%, sold under special contract, and produced by David Selznick.