Boxoffice (Jul-Sep 1938)

MOVE SPEEDED; DISTRIBUTORS ARE MEETING; INDUSTRY-WIDE CONFERENCE FOR SEPTEMRER What the Basis May Be New York — Regrouped to show the relationship of conciliation, the MPTOA proposals and complaints on which the distributor trade reform program undoubtedly will be based follow: 1. The establishment of local joint boards of conciliation to mediate complaints on: a — Competitive overbuying of pictures, b — Unreasonable clearance. (1) Ultimately clearance and zoning limits, c — Unfair cut-rate competition between theatres, d — Designated playdates on pictures unsuitable in fact, e — Unfair non-theatrical competition, f — The forcing of excess short subjects with features, g — Other complaints not involving film prices agreed upon. 2. An irrevocable option to cancel 20 per cent of the feature pictures bought in groups of 10 or more, printed in the contract and without conditions. 3. Abolition of the separate score charge on all contracts. 4. A simplified short form of exhibition contract for optional use, one the exhibitor can reasonably understand. Will Seek Exhibitor Views Alter Major Formulas Are Agreed Upon New York — Industry reformation is on the way and speed is the essence of the move. Last Saturday, industry executives visited the President in Washington where a so-called “temporary truce” was called under the terms of which the industry will be accorded every opportunity to regulate itself from within. On Tuesday, Sidney R. Kent, president of 20th Century-Fox, announced he had accepted the chairmanship of a committee “charged with developing a program for the solution of such trade problems in the industry as are still matters of contention.” That same day, the first meeting of the committee on which Nicholas M. Schenck, president of Loew’s, Inc., and Leo Spitz, president of RKO, are Kent’s alternates and other members of which are William F. Rodgers, general sales manager of M-G-M; Ned E. Depinet, vice-president of RKO, and Abe Montague, general sales manager of Columbia, held its first meeting. Plan General Conference Wednesday saw the second meeting on a plan where the key word is hurry in the effort to follow the lines of the secret White House conference and, further, to hold a general industry conference on trade reforms by the middle of September. Rodgers, Depinet and Montague will be the working committee as Kent, Schenck and Spitz serve as alternate chairmen. Behind the designation of a compact and numerically small group is the impression that, by holding the committee to a few, the results might come faster. All major companies, including Warners, who has been adamant in its official refusal to participate either in conciliation or the establishment of a more liberal set of trade practices, will be asked to participate. Time is an essential factor in the minds of those who have undertaken to formulate the plan ultimately to be presented to the nation’s exhibitors and to be based, by all the markings, on the MPTOA’s long-sought 10 points. Insofar as conciliation is concerned, Boxoffice’s exclusive last week pointing out several of the majors were to arrive first at their own formulas for deposit in an industry conference “hopper” and then for dissection and ultimate emergence as the organized industry’s self-regulation formula still goes. After distributors prepare their suggestions and their concessions, exhibitor organizations will be sounded out for their recommendations and, perhaps, demands. It is entirely probable that even individual exhibitors will be approached and brought to New York for an airing of their ideas. All of this will bear directly on conciliation and a plan which will prove acceptable to the majority elements in the field. In declaring his willingness to serve as chairman, Kent pointed out that when the committee evolves its program it “will be the basis of renewed cooperative effort with representatives both of all organized and individual exhibitor interests throughout the country for new steps in the self-regulation required for the future progress of the industry.” Directly within quotations, Kent, who is now vacationing in Maine, had this to say: “I have agreed to head the committee for the purposes outlined above with the understanding that I will give to it as much time as I can, but without undertaking a load that I cannot physically carry. The gentlemen who have been appointed with me know the problems as well as I do and are as determined as myself to make an honest effort to seek a solution of our trade problems. All branches of the industry recognize the necessity of an industry program, but finding a method to work it out is not easy. The committee has no arbitrary method or plan in mind. Whatever we do will be done in cooperation with all exhibitor groups. Our first task, naturally, is to canvass the situation and then determine with the exhibitors which steps can be taken best. “The work ahead will require patience and moderation. There are tremendous obstacles to be met and these cannot be adjudged overnight. The committee will ask the help and consideration of all. “I am conscious of the fact that many exhibitor organizations have been urging for some time that such a program be undertaken, but' there have been many Industry Gets " Breather " For Sell-Adjustment (Continued from preceding page) world distribution, is a particularly sensitive barometer of business conditions everywhere. “We were called to discuss with the President the general conditions and the steps of industrial activity by producers and distributors. “We were particularly struck with the President’s close knowledge of our industry’s problems, and I believe the President, in turn, received an encouraging picture of production activities and of the continued progress in self-regulation by the motion picture industry,” he added. “These are times that call for increased cooperative endeavor not only within industry but between industry and government.” It is reported the President expressed satisfaction over the cooperative spirit in the industry toward the recovery program; that he was pleased with the fine character of the entertainment provided by the industry; that he was gratified by the at least initial steps taken by the industry to apply self-rule to its operations. Also it is reported conciliation entered the brief conference and that the visitors explained what they had in mind along these lines. The executive aggregation is understood to have been deeply impressed by the President’s knowledge of the industry. difficulties in the way. However, we wish to assure the various exhibitor groups that the moment we are organized for action we will get in touch with them and arrange our program jointly with them from that point on.” BOXOFFICE :: July 2, 1938 5