Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1957)

AGENCY-STATION RELATIONSHIP: PART III THE SITUATION: Robert D. Murphy of KOA-TV Denver [B»T March 4] | criticized those agencies which draw a I 15% commission yet rely on the station | to do much of the commercial preparation. In the March 11 issue Don Amsden | of Allen & Reynolds agency, Omaha, I Neb., answered him, principally to the | effect that while the situation does exist, I it is the station's fault for putting up with it. | Now comes another agencyman's viewpoint. The writer, radio-tv director | of a southwestern office of a major naI tional agency, prefers to remain anony| mous. I BELIEVE I can speak with authority | on this particular subject, having been | on both sides of the fence. For five years I was a producer-director-writer for [a | well-established vhf station in a major southwestern market], and believe me, what the article [Murphy's] has to say is I true beyond words. The woods are full of agency tv "experts" who do not know the difference between an 8-inch lens and a title card. These gentlemen confuse and confound the life of station production people with their garbled instructions which often arrive some two and one-third minutes before air time | and with which the agency expects a | "production" type commercial. Forgetting, or more likely, not being aware in their blissful ignorance, of problems in| volved in lighting, make-up, location of | props, unloading and reloading slide and | film projectors, setting up cameras, etc., | they generally tear to pieces an already | well rehearsed program or commercial. What's Your Shoe Size? | But there is another shoe about, and | there are feet available which it will fit. | No one works harder or more "ulcer| ously" for his dollar than the agency's | tv director. His hours are long and | lonely. Many's the time I and my fellow | agency men work far into the night. All | of us work six, many of us, seven days | a week ... 10, 12, 14 hours a day. You | station people might laugh, but brother, | it's true! Then, when we do bring our | hard-earned commercials to the station, | we meet with an indifference and lack | of interest that's appalling! These boobs | take the finished work from you with a | snarl, "Late again, eh?" (the spot runs | the next day) and then proceed to make | hash of it on the air, simply because | they have no personal interest in it. "So II it don't look so hot ... so what? Why, we got 15 live spots to handle tonight \ ... they can't all be perfect!" So they run through it once, quickly, to get the || thing out of the way. "Hey, camera one, you're out of focus on that pan shot . . . remember when we get on the air . . . and II Page 118 • March 18, 1957 say, Joe, if you get time before you go for coffee, change the backlight and move the fill more to the left." That's it! One rehearsal, maybe. A few suggestions to the crew ... if they follow them, OK ... if they don't, OK. I mean after all, "We got 15 live commercials tonight, they can't all be perfect! Just good enough so the sponsor or the agency can't ask for a make good." So you sit in the control room or at home, watching, and the energy and ambition sink right out of you when you see your finished product on the air . . . and you begin to wonder whether it's all worth it or not! Most production people are unable or unwilling to think for themselves. There are exceptions, of course. But thinking for oneself implies the assumption of a certain responsibility. And when you assume responsibility and something goes wrong, BANG, you're it! Example? Slide and copy do not agree! Well, obviously, something is wrong. Sure, chances are the agency goofed. But whatever the error, instead of double checking the copy and slides to get the right one, the production people run it the wrong way. After all, that's what the copy says! It's wrong, everyone concerned knows it's wrong, but nobody will assume any responsibility to change it, even if the correct slide is readily available and right in front of the projectionist's or the director's nose . . . he will not change it! Now it's true that a great number of agency tv men do not have any technical knowledge of the medium whatsoever. And some of the shots or effects they call for are not only impossible but tremendously funny. For example : A long commercial, obviously written for radio with but one video instruction . . . "PAN PRODUCT" — the product in question being a can of peas. Or a piece of agency copy calling for "CLOSE UP OF ROSE BUSH, FULL LENGTH." Regardless of the lack of knowledge with which an agency tv man begins his venture into the realm of electronic communication, he will learn all he can in the shortest possible time, // someone will take the time and trouble to teach him. It cannot be learned by reading a book! If you call "X" agency and say, "Buster, we can't super this price slide you sent us over the product," tell him why! He'll understand, or at least, he'll try to understand. Better still, bring him out to the station and give him a run down on your facilities so he won't make the same mistake more than two or three times. Tell him what a "super" slide is, tell him you have two film chains, or one film chain, tell him the difference M between a balop and a 2 x 2 slide and a title card. Show him what these things will do for him. Have your art director || show him how much of his slide or balop or title card is usable for copy area. Show || him what your camera lens compliment i| will do, explain to him the difference between a 35, 50, 90, 135 and 8-inch !§ lens. If you have a Zoomar, show him what it will do for him and for his cli || ent. Do the same thing if you have a special effects amplifier. Above all, take him into your con || fidence. Explain to him exactly what iff you can do with your equipment and |§ what you can't Show him how to indi cate the use of various pieces of equip || ment or how to call for different visual || effects in his video instructions. Explain !| to him a long shot, a medium close up, || a close up, an extreme close up. Tell him why you can't or won't shoot down §| key . . . tell him what down key is! Treat him like a baby unable to walk as yet |§ . . . lead him around. In the end, it will pay off like a slot machine. He'll earn |i| that 15% and then some! Respect for Clients, Please Now there s one other thing of vital importance for all station people dealing || with agency people. Whether you rec || ognize the situation or not, the agency is your client. It is usually at the behest fl of the agency that his client uses your || facility. The agency pays the bill, in turn || the client pays the agency. It has been known for an agency client not to pay his bill. This does not relieve the agency |§ of the responsibility. The agency still pays the station's bill, whether the client || does or not. In many larger markets, nearly all business is placed through agencies. Most stations in these markets do not even || maintain staffs to handle direct business. || So any way you look at it, the agency |§ is a pretty important cog in your ma || chine, and the agency tv man works || from 50 to 70 hours a week to keep that || cog going. There's no such thing as a 40 |§ hour week with time and a half for over || time or double time on holidays for him. || His interest is in one thing. Getting the || most circulation for his sponsor s adver || Using message at the lowest cost in the || most professional manner, to obtain in || creased sales. If he succeeds, through your facility, then you get more business, || the agency gets more business, the client gets more business and everyone is happy ||| with the big shower of dollar bills. And, if it takes the agency tv man 24 hours a day seven days a week to achieve this i| end, then he works 24 hours a day, seven days a week. i| r:/7:7"v::7..:r^ Broadcasting • Telecasting