Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1962)

16mm Competition The April issue of Advertising ik Sales Promotion contains an article which makes interesting reading for movie people. Its subject is "Hollywood Films as a Sales Promotion Tool," and the subject matter is drawn very largely from information supplied by the 16mm division of Disney Productions. "Some motion picture production studios in and around Hollywood," the article reports, "have begun an active campaign of selling l6mm prints of some of their leading films to advertising and promotion people." Advertising & Sales Promotion is careful to point out that Disney and other 16mm entrepreneurs "design their releases so they don't compete with normal motion picture theater operations." A Disney spokesman is quoted as saying, "In fact, if anything, this type of program would tend to encourage more attendance at motion picture theatres rather than compete for their audiences." That's what he thinks. I think otherwise. There is no doubt that it is a fine thing for the company ledgers to sell 16mm prints of theatrical attractions to industrial companies to be shown by them as part of their public relations pitch; but unless they are hiring theaters for this type of exhibition, they aren't doing exhibitors any good and may even be doing harm. My purpose in bringing up the subject, however, is not to throw rocks at Disney or any other producer-distributor, but rather to point a moral for exhibitors. If Hollywood can get into the industrial show business, why can't theaters do likewise? If Hollywood can sell old films to industrial companies, why can't exhibitors sell showings of old films to industrial companies? And why can't exhibitors sell their own services and facilities to these same companies? If the glamor of the entertainment movie packs a special wallop as a sales lure, what about the glamor of the movie theater? O At this point I can see some of our exhibitor colleagues raising a cynical eyebrow and saying, "What's so glamorous about my run-of-the-mill theater?" In some instances, where a house is shockingly run down, the question may be in order. But any properly run theater — any theater that is run but not run down — does have a certain glamorous quality, particularly for people old enough to be targets for industrial p.r. The very idea of seeing a movie in a theater, rather than in a company auditorium or reception room, is more attractive to the average person. Furthermore, most theaters have display facilities which companies should be glad to use for their special events. In Hollywood companies like Disney have set up specialized departments to go after the industrial business. The average individual theater or small circuit can't hire a specialist just for this assignment. But the average theater manager in the average situation has advantages of his own. For example, he probably is personally acquainted with the managers of the important plants and industrial organizations in his community. If he isn't, he should be. He can approach them on the grassroots level. The big question is: Approach them with what? The man-| ager can't just go to the factory chief and say, "I want to rent my theater to you." He has to dream up concrete ideas — ways in which his theater can be valuable to the industrial concern. Obviously, these ways will differ in different situations. But certain generalities will always apply. I hark back to the article in Advertising & Sales Promotion. "Just about every major savings and loan association has, on its premises, a 'community room.' In many cases, the facility which serves as the community room at night is the employe lunchroom during the day. The idea is to build goodwill by providing a place where civic and fraternal groups can get together, meet and drink some coffee." (Incidentally, if this isn't competition with the local theater, what is!) So, okay, let's talk about savings and loan associations — or banks. Why can't these organizations be approached to rent the local theater for their goodwill endeavors? Why can't the local theater obtain either 35mm or 16mm prints of suitable films, handle all the projection, shipping and housekeeping chores and provide a professional evening for the money boys? If Hollywood can make it possible for its old films to be1 sold in competition with theater films, why can't these misnamed "non-theatrical" pictures be sold through the theaters? And why don't the theaters take steps to set themselves up in this business? There's no trick to buying — or even renting — 16mm projectors. There's no trick to maintaining display space on a quick change basis in the theater lobby. There's no trick to sitting down with the local business community and working out an arrangement that will probably save them money in the long run. It takes a certain concentration of effort and some salesmanship, but surely there is salesmanship left in the theater business today. I read constantly about the threat of 16mm competition. Hardly a day passes, it seems, without a complaint from some section of the nation about how non-theatrical narrow-gauge film programs are cutting into the boxoffice. The best answer to this situation is not to attempt the impossible by seeking to ban 16mm showings unless they conform to a code of noncompetition. The best answer is to get into the competition and take the business away from your competitors. I have heard it said that in these days of product shortages exhibitors are too dependent on the distributors to do much in the way of curbing 16mm rentals by these same distributors. My suggestion is the classic strategy of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest (at least I think it was his; if not, some of our Tennessee correspondents will undoubtedly correct me), namely, "if you can't lick 'em, join 'em." If you can't lick 16mm, join it. O Not too many years ago, many restaurants became seriously concerned because more and more factories were setting up their own company dining facilities. This was competition with a vengeance. Then somebody got the bright idea of contract feeding. One restaurant kitchen cooked food and trucked it to half a dozen different factories. The factories could cut down on their own cooking facilities and kitchen help, save money and have more room for their own operations. Same thing happened with the good old American coffee break. The people who make automatic vending machines and the hot water cookers started supplying these to offices and the lunchroom nearby found it was losing mid-morning customers. Then what happened? Well, in New York City, one of the biggest of the restaurant chains, Schrafft's, put together a fleet of coffee carts and hit the road. The carts are stocked with cakes and pastries in far more variety than the average office would have around on its own; the coffee is always hot and uniformly good; nobody has to wash the cup afterwards. Schrafft's didn't lose business; it found more business than ever. If it's good enough for coffee and cake, it ought to be good enough for the theater business. Page 8 Film BULLETIN April 2, l?42