Exhibitor's Trade Review (May-Aug 1925)

May 30, 1925 Page 29 UNIFORM CONTRACT FLAYED SEIDER REPORT HITS FORM NOW USED AS UNFAIR TO OWNERS One of the most vital matters to every exhibitor is the so-called uniform contract. This is discussed at length in the following report to the M. P. T. O. A. convention at Milwaukee by Joseph M. Seider, president of the M. P. T. O. of New Jersey : "At the outset of this report, permit me to advise you that there has been no definite agreement as to the proposed changes in tlje contract. Negotiations have not been completed and this convention has the opportunity of voicing its views and directing definite procedure. 'It will be recalled that this organization has persistently refused to ratify or endorse the present so-called Uniform Contract. It is a one-way street, favoring the distributor, the party of the first part. The party of the second part is lost entirely. This organization has never been opposed to the principle of arbitration, but it. could not approve or take part in arbitration predicated on an inequitable contract. "With the appointment by the Hays organization of Messrs. Biecrile, O'Reilly and O'Toole to conferences with a view to rewriting the contract, although we had not approved or accepted the contract or had a voice in appointing these gentlemen, this organization hastened to co-operate. "At the request of our President, Sydney, Cohen, Pete Woodhull and myself sat in. The sessions were long and many. We all made every effort to arrive at a set of articles of agreement that would he mutually fair, protective and. workable. We urged earnestly the use of an order blank and an arbitration clause. It was natiy turned down. . "We will try to touch upon the high lights and only discuss the clauses in the contract on which an agreement has not been reached. Approved Standard Exhibition Contract. It has been agreed that Clause First shall be changed to provide for the year commencing with the playing of the first picture under the contract instead of a specific date as heretofore. A sentence has been added to specify the season by year. On the balance of this Clause there has been no agreement. "The contract now provides that in the event any pictures are released by the distributor during the next succeeding season, the Distributor shall be obliged to deliver and the Exhibitor shall accept, pay for and exhibit them at such later period. "This is obviously unfair. The Exhibitor purchases a picture or pictures expecting them to be released within a specific period. He relies upon having them available. If the film is not released, he is put to hardship and perhaps expense. We contend that in the event the photoplay is released during the succeeding season the Exhibitor shall have the OPTION of accepting the picture at such later period. And we contend that the Distributor shall be BOUND to deliver such picture or pictures during the next succeeding period and not leave the option with the Distributor as now provided. How simple it is for a Distributor, upon finding a production above the average, to withhold release and then resell this production, perhaps under a different title, for any multiple of the original price. "Clause Third will be changed to provide that in the event of loss or destruction of film, the Exhibitor shall pay at the rate of 4c per foot for the first reel and the actual laboratory cost for the balance, instead of 6c per foot as now provided. The Distributor wants to add that the Laboratory Bill shall be accepted as the cost. This is purely a question of fact and should be decided by the Arbitration Board. Reports on Contract Joseph M. Seider. President M. P. T. O. of New Jersey, Whose Findings Started Debate at Convention. "In Clause Fifth the failure of the Producer to make or deliver to the Distributor (in most cases himself) should not relieve the Distributor from delivering the contracted picture to the Exhibitor. "It is our contention, but the Distributors do -not coincide, that the word 'intention' shall be eliminated in both places in Clause Seventh where it appears. Where the Distributor is entitled to relief he has the right to it forthwith, but the provision is made in this Clause that the Exhibitor must first prove intent upon the Distributor's part before he can receive relief. We also request the Exhibitor be relieved of giving immediate notice in writing of his exercising his. option to terminate the contract during the continuation of the Distributor's defaults specified as provided in this Clause. The Distributor has no such obligation. "Clause Eighth is the all important one " of the contract. It provides for selection and designation of play dates. "The proposed changes that have not been disputed in this Clause are: "Notice of Availability has been changed from three weeks to two weeks. The giving of new notice of Availability in cases where the picture is not available on the dates asked for by the Exhibitor, has been eliminated and in its place substituted the provision that the picture must be open to the Exhibitor at the first available dates, not earlier than two weeks or later than six weeks after the exhibition dates first selected by the Exhibitor. "Here is the rub. Experience has shown that the majority of claims for the Arbitration Boards to decide arise from the Exhibitor's failure to book the pictures he purchases. This is not the Exhibitor's fault. The fault can truly be charged to this Clause Eighth of the Contract. "A second or subsequent run theatre invariably must buy his pictures in groups. When he calls for play dates, they are not available because of the failure of the first run theatre to book his dates or because the first run had not been sold or the Distributor withholding release in the particular territory. The Exhibitor is forced to scramble for pictures immediately available and he has to buy more blocks. He has been forced into an overbought condition. Before he could play off the pictures he has been compelled to add, the first groups become available and the Distributor clamors for play dates which the Exhibitor has not to give. The result is heartaches, overbuying and arbitration cases. "We forcefully urge that in such cases, where the theatre is forced in order to remain open to buy these additional pictures because the product he had first contracted for is not available, that he -be relieved at his option from the first contract. PRESENT METHODS OF ARBITRATION BOARDS FLAYED AT CONCLAVE "Upon our request it has been agreed, to add a clause, providing that the photoplays shall not contain any advertising that the Producer thereof is compensated for directly or indirectly. "We object to Clause Twelfth which provides that we must advertise each photoplay as a Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn or whoever the Producer may be and that we must adhere to the form of announcement contained in the Producer's advertising "Also Clause Thirteenth, which provides for our paying a government tax which may sometime be imposed. And Clause Fifteenth which tells us the minimum we are permitted to charge even though we do not play percentage. And also the Sixteenth C'ause which says we must lease all advertising matter from them. It has been agreed that the Percentage Clause Fourteenth be written so that it provides that payment shall Oe made the day following the close of the engagement and that in the event it is for more than seven days, payment shall be made at the end of each week or fraction thereof. "Clause Seventeenth is the Deposit Clause. Ot course, we want it out. As a compromise we offered that a receipt be given upon the payment of a deposit, that 6% interest be paid thereon and that such payment be subject to the laws in the respective States wherein the deposit's or advance payments are paid, which provide for the segregating and trusteeing for safety The payment should apply to the last "picture played. The Distributor consents to issuing" the receipt but not the other conditions "Clause Eighteenth — the procedure under this Clause at present, is that an application tor a contract oecomes a contract only after it had been accepted by the home office of the Distributor within a specified period "We suggested that this be reversed that a contract be a contract subject to' disaffirmance by the home office of the Distributor within the specified period This the Distributors' attorneys at first consented to, but later qualiried their acceptance by providing that the contract be considered a contract if signed by the branch manager and in addition be subject to disaffirmance by the home office within the specified period. "We are better off, in preference to this addition, -with the present procedure We now have the right to recall or withdraw our application any time before its acceptance. "The proposed schedule of Distributors is as follows: Albany ....10 New Haven ' io Charleston 15 Oklahoma City 20 Chicago 15 Philadelphia 10 Dallas ..• ,...\20 St. Louis 15 Detroit 15 Seattle oq Kansas City 15 Jacksonville 15 Milwaukee 15 Boston ... 10 Butte: 30 Charlotte .. '"15 N. T. City 7 Cleveland 15 Peoria 15 Des Moines 15 Portland ......... 30 Indianapolis ... 15 San Francisco ....20 Los Angeles 25 Little Rock 20 Minneapolis . 20 Atlanta 15 New Orleans ... 15 Buffalo 10 Omaha 15 Cincinnati 15 Pittsburgh 10 Denver 20 Salt Lake City .. 20 El Paso 25 Washington "... 10 Louisville 15 Memphis ... 15 N. New Jersey . . \ "We urge that the number of days in the schedule just read be reduced. "Clause Nineteenth, the Arbitration Clause, has virtually not been touched The only changes are that both parties mav mutually agree to have their dispute heard in another city, and the very important change: that of eliminating the minimum amount the Board can assess against in Exhibitor in the event of his failure to" submit to arbitration or comply with the decision of the Board of Arbitration. This means the Board of Arbitration and not the Film Club or Board of Trade mu< fix the maximum amount that the Distributor may request as a deposit and it gives the Board of Arbitration the power to waive any additional deposit if the case, in their judgment warrants such exception. "In addition, there are a number of ethical provisions which "n-ill be printed on the (Continued on page 32)