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M
EWS LEHER
CO
)L 1 No 4 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY FILM CENTRE 34 SOHO SQUARE LONDON W1 THREEPENCE
NOTES OF THE MONTH
BROADCAST TO CANADA
bv John Grierson
FILM, 1923-40
A discussion of Nazi methods
13 CORRESPONDENCE THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE IN WARTIME ,3 FRANCO-BRITISH ALLIANCE
NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMS
10 THE GERMAN CULTURAL AND PROPAGANDA 16 CANADIAN GOVERNMENT FILMS IN PRODUCTION
The aims of the Service d' Information de Londres
STORY FILM OF THE MONTH
FILM OF THE MONTH FOR CHILDREN
15 FILM SOCIETY NEWS
16 FOREIGN FILMS
16 NEWS FROM STAFFORDSHIRE
Secondary Schools' Film Association
17 BOOK REVIEWS
The Cinema Today, America at the Movies, and others
17 PEOPLE AND PLANS
18 NON-THEATRICAL FILM LIBRARIES
divided
•R ONE short period in 1939 the whole of Wardour Street
as united in a determined drive to get the tax on raw film
lock removed. Wardour Street does not seem to have learnt
ly lesson from the success which its united forces achieved.
[oday we have dropped back into the old jockeying by sec
inal interests, and this is as true of the producers of short
Ims as of any other section of the trade. At present the
|uota, by which a certain proportion of British films must be
istributed alongside the American, is under review by the
[card of Trade. All sections of the film business are being con
ilted, and if the experience of the Board of Trade' with the
reducers of short films is anything to go on, the task of our
sgislators will be a difficult one. Two groups of short film pro
iucers are opposing each other, and giving contrary advice for
|ie solution of their problems. One section wishes the pro
icers of films eligible for quota to spend not less than a
;rtain fixed cost per foot on labour. An opposing section
maintains that such a cost clause would be fatal to the prosperity of the short film business.
In any circumstances, we believe that the short film can only be made to pay by ensuring a proper price for shorts from the cinemas. At present, no matter how popular the subject and treatment, or how wide the distribution, virtually no British quality short costing £1,000 a reel or more can hope to make a profit. Thus, most good shorts today are subsidised by one interest or another.
1/6 for three days' showing is a not unheard of earning for a one reel short; 3/6 is a relatively common price; and the average appears to range from 5/ to 15/ in ordinary theatres outside London.
When one remembers that the renter takes at least 30 per cent of this, and that the cost of copies, advertising and tradeshow are deducted from the remaining 70 per cent, it is not surprising that short film producers look elsewhere than to the box office for money to make films.
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