Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

TDA-ALLIED COMPACT *W/ie Arc Our Worst Enemy9 (Continued from Page 15) be sold in a competitive market. Therefore, we have to look to whatever source we can to bring about additional pictures. Gentlemen, I predict that if we do not find that source we shall be faced with an ever decreasing number of playable pictures. The result will be that we will end up in a road show business similar, in some respect, to the legitimate theatres. Many of you people will lose the investment you have made in your theatres if this comes about. Keep in mind that there is nobody in the entertainment field, other than the motion picture industry, that cannot develop its own entertainment, and exhibit it. We all know that television is a potent competitor of our theatres. Yet, do you believe that if it weren't for NBC, CBS and ABC that individual stations could produce their own shows? This is true of baseball. Every big league has to have farm teams in order to develop its players for the big shows. If we are to compete in the field of entertainment, the people that have theatres must be able to produce in order to keep the public coming to our theatres. 'We Are Slowly Losing Our Customers' Last year Mr. Sindlinger showed statistically that if there were twelve more good pictures on the market the national dollar gross of theatres would have increased over $150,000,000 that year. We are slowly but surely losing our customers. Picture-going is a habit, and we are dependent upon the regular movie goers. Fewer and fewer pictures mean that you will lose this audience faster and faster. Another thing is happening to the theatre. The present producers in Hollywood realize that more and more of their revenue is coming from the foreign market. Last year approximately fifty percent of the film rentals came to the American producers through the foreign market. Therefore, instead of slanting pictures toward our market, as we want and need them, pictures are being slanted toward the foreign markets. The shortage of pictures has created another problem: not only are we losing our customers and being forced to pay higher film rentals, because of higher cost in Hollywood, but exhibitor has been set against exhibitor. When we had an adequate supply of pictures, we could live peaceably with our competitors, but when the shortage came about we tried to take pictures away from our competitors in order to fill our needs. This has created a competition in buying and, in many situations, has encouraged bidding. Gentlemen, we are our worst enemy. We come to these meetings, and malign the distributors. Then we go home and help create competitive conditions that bring about higher film rental. This practice, even though it represents the smaller percentage of situations, forces higher film rentals on other exhibitors because the distributors never know when they have squeezed the last film dollar. We encourage them, through bidding, to move film rental upward. I believe you have all seen, in the trade papers, that Allied and TOA have joined together for the purpose of overcoming these two major problems. As exhibitors we have to be united to overcome the fundamental ills of our industry. We have presented a unified platform on these two important points. No. 1 — More Production. No. 2 — Equitable Film Rental, not based on a national sales policy, but based on the ability of a theatre to pay, arrived at through arbitration. We have to look to people who are financially able to and have the incentive to make pictures. Therefore, we requested from the Department of Justice that anybody, including the divorced circuits, be allowed to make pictures, with pre-emptive rights for their own theatres which they now own, and any legal replacement thereof. If this comes about it will not be a panacea, but I feel it will definitely change the attitude of the present producers and distributors, who now feel that they can forever maintain an unfair seller's market. We ask, too, that anything that can be litigated should be arbitrable. That includes film rental. Many people say that this is impractical and unfair because arbitration is an unilateral action than can only be brought by the exhibitors. However, the laws of supply and demand do not work fairly in a limited market. All exhibitors are united to overcome the unfair economic position of the theatres. Do not misunderstand me. This does not mean that you have the right to remain in show business just because you own a theatre. A fair price has to be paid for pictures and no arbitrator will judge otherwise. Gentlemen, we have a perishable item. A picture that we buy today night be a proved success. Yet if we play it two or three months later, it might not be the same product we originally contracted for. Subsequent Run Exhibitors Forced Out There is another serious difficulty that has come about because of the shortage of product. In subsequent runs the market is even shorter than it is for first run situations. Therefore, subsequent run exhibitors have no choice of pictures. They are subject to the whims and demands of the film companies. In some instances the distributors have demanded the same percentage for second, third and fourth run as they did for first run, all because of the short market. This results in the subsequent run going out of business or reaching for a "better" run. This, of course, has the approval of the distributor because the result is bidding higher film rental. As I said earlier, 75% of the success of a theatre depends upon proper buying and booking, 25% of the results on showmanship. Only showmen who love this business and who are willing to work seven days a week, and long hours, are going to be successful exhibitors. Let us not be so blind that we can't see the forest because of the trees. A successful exhibitor is a good showman, at all times. Page 16 Film BULLETIN February t, 1 956