Cyclopedia of motion-picture work, a general reference work (1911)

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44 THE MOTION PICTURE THE SALESMAN The salesman of the film manufacturing company, or the adver- tising manager, as his title usually reads, has as his task the disposi- tion of as many copies of the finished picture (as many photographic prints from the negative) as his opportunity and ability can effect. Branches of the Film Industry. The customer of the film manu- facturer is the film exchange manager, or renter, whose customer in turn is the film exhibitor. The film industry is definitely separated into three branches: manufacturer, renter, and exhibitor. The renter owns the picture films. He buys from the manufacturer for cash and rents the films to the owners of picture theaters for exhibition. The exhibitor owns no films, merely renting them for a day or a week from the renter; the manufacturer owns no positive picture films, merely printing from his film negatives as many copies of each picture as can be disposed of immediately to his customers, the film renters. Selling Methods. General publicity is obtained among the renters and exhibitors by'advertising in the motion-picture magazines. In the magazine advertisements, the general excellence of the manu- facturer's film pictures is told, and the current film pictures just produced or about to be produced are announced by title with a few descriptive words and illustrations. Lectures. The magazine advertising is supplemented by lec- tures or short stories of the film pictures. The lectures derive their name from the original purpose, which was to provide a talk to accompany the picture, explaining the story of the picture as the action progressed on the screen. While the original purpose of lec- tures is almost extinct, their advertising value remains and they are used by manufacturers in large quantities. Each film picture has its lecture and these are printed either separately or in a little pamphlet covering the manufacturer's output of film pictures for the week or for two weeks. The lectures are written by the salesman or his assistants, using the corrected synopsis or scrip of the story as a guide and keeping in mind at all times the film as actually produced. At least the motion scenes of the picture should be produced and reviewed by the critics before the film is advertised for release and before the 112