Business screen magazine (1957)

— •0**^ '^^--^v^ •i And there's drama in your business . . . if your story is researched thoroughly, seen freshly, and coiuiuunicated effectively witli professional impact. Our films have captured the drama inherent in the individual product, firm and industry.* May we do the same for you? * Recently for: Chas. Pfizer & Co. Esso Standard Oil Co. Commercial Solvents Corp, Enjay Company, Inc. Southern Railway System Rail Steel Bar Association Campus Fii^ Sponsored Films Need a Sponsor by Theodore P. Desloge 14 EAST 53rd STREET, V -^ NEW YORK 22, N. Y. PLaza 3-3280 letlcf/ilwn^, ^ MORE IMPORTANT THAN his cameras and equipment, or his technical and creative staff, or even his own experience and ability, the greatest asset a producer of sponsored films can have is a sponsor. That is not being funny, nor stating the obvious. It is a serious matter that is all-too-often overlooked in the client-producer relationship that creates sponsored films. For while it may be obvious lluit the sponsor is essential to producing a motion picture, it is usually overlooked or ignored that the client is essential to producing a good motion picture. Overlooked or ignored by both the client and the producer. Now this is perfectly understandable in the case of the buyer of a sponsored film. While he may have some background and experience in the motion picture field, it cannot be expected of him. The responsibility lies with the producer to thoroughly understand the client's role in the complex, techni-creative task of turning ideas into sounds and pictures, and recording them on film. The producer who really knows what to expect of his client can lead the client to fulfill this responsibility, and so improve the quality and effectiveness of his pictures. Is the Client Interested? What should a motion picture producer expect of a client — an industrialist, a banker, an educator, an advertising man. anything in the world but a motion picture expert — who wants a film'.' Should he e.xpect only that the client buy the film, not scrimp too much on the budget, and remit his progress payments promptly? Too often that's all he does expect — that his client meet the minimum contractual responsibiUties — and that's all he gets. The result is stereotyped pictures, just-slightly-off-the-point pictures, ineffective pictures . . . and clients dissatisfied not only with his work, but with motion pictures as a medium. How often have you heard. "Oh, we made a movie once. Cost a lot of money, but it didn't do the job!"? One of the causes for that sad situation is a client-producer relationship that never got out of the accounting department. Of course, this is not to say that the client should tell the producer how to make a film. If this were the sponsor's responsibility, he wouldn't need a producer at all. He does need one because moviemaking is a challenging, specialized, technical, creative business. And every speciahst, technician and artist connected with a production knows it doesn't help a bit to have the client looking over his shoulder, telling him how to do his job. Cooperation Is the Word But if a sponsor is not to leave the producer alone on the one hand, nor tell him what to do on the other, what is the client's responsibiUty in motion picture production? The Romans had a word for it. and we use it all the time, hardly ever stopping to think what it means: cooperation. For that is the cUent's responsibility. If he wants a picture he should cooperate — work with a qualified producer to get the results he wants. He should pool his knowledge of the subject with the producer's knowledge of the medium. This kind of cooperation can be applied to every step in a production and will improve a picture at each step where it is applied. In the first conception of the film idea, this subject-knowledge is as important as the producer's technical skill and creative imagination. For a client to say, "Make me a movie" is falling down on his responsibihty. For him to say, "Make me this kind of a movie to do this particular job" is a little better. But when he calls a producer into his office, summarizes an idea he wants to get across or a story he wants to tell, describes the obstacles that have prevented people from getting this idea or knowing this story, and then says, "Use any technical or (continued on page 86) Thete's $ GOOD temn! TV TITLES BY KTS Air Power .... Stage Seven Our Hero Fireside Theatre . . . Mama . . .The Hunter Man Against Crime... San Francisco Beat Crunch Adams. ..The Goldbergs...! Spy Hopalong Cassidy Follow That Man Star Theatre . . .Willy . . . Hour of Mystery and many others not yet released. KNIGHT TITLE SERVICE 115 W. 23rd SI. New York, N.Y. 80 BUSINESS SCREEN MAGAZINE