Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1963)

What They're Talking About □ □ □ In the Movie Business □ □ □ There has been a great deal of speculation about the true meaning — particularly in terms ;of relief from the product shortage — of jUniversal's recently announced project for 'searching out and developing new production 'talent. Edward Muhl, vice president in charge of Universal's production was asked by the Screen Producers Guild Journal to clarify the studio's intention. He responded in the following terms: Since announcing Universal's "new film , horizons" program recently, I have had dozens of inquiries as to the real purpose of this program. Many of the inquiries have been sincere, some have been derisive and some plainly crackpot. I will take this means of reiterating that we are serious about our program, which we feel can be very beneficial to Universal and to the whole industry. Never has there been a greater need for new talent, both creative and artistic, than now. And if we can play a part in unearthing such new talent, ,we will feel that we have performed a genuine ^service to the industry. As set forth in our original announcement, this program has a four-fold purpose: (1) To answer the mounting demand by theatres throughout the world for additional suitable product. (2) To reply to those critics contending that young American picture-makers have not kept pace with the recent "new wave" or neo-realism school of producers abroad. (3) To tackle in a concrete and practical manner the problems of developing major new picture-making talent behind the camera as well as performing artists. (4) To demonstrate anew Universal's deep conviction as to the future of picture-making in America. What we are doing is offering an opportunity to genuinely talented young people to carry through to a conclusion truly meritorious ideas. In other words, if a young man comes to us with a good original idea for a picture and can demonstrate his ability to put together a package to actually make the picture, we will finance the project, supply the facilities and generally be as helpful and constructive as we can. We have no preconceived limit on the amount for which the picture must be made. That will depend entirely on the scope of the project — whether it appears primarily suited to smaller, specialized theatres, the Radio City Music Hall and general release, or somewhere in between. One of the laments from prospective film makers, especially those with no previous professional credits, is that obtaining financing for their projects is virtually impossible. This is an area in which we feel much can be accomplished, both for the individual and the industry. We will try to make it possible for the individual to transform his idea into a finished motion picture. Again, however, I must qualify our position. We are not going to finance everyone who shows up with an idea for making a picture. These ideas will be carefully screened and only those that appear to us to have real merit will get our backing. From past experience I would guess that this would be a rather small percentage of the ideas submitted. However, it will be the idea that counts, not necessarily the past experience of the person submitting it. We don't care if he never has made a picture before if his project has artistic merit and salable qualities. Our position with respect to actors is quite similar. We are not going to sign a lot of players just for the sake of having a large contract list. We definitely are looking for potential big name box office stars. Again, we are not particularly concerned about their previous experience. They can be absolute newcomers, such as Rock Hudson and Sandra Dee were when we signed them, as long as they appear to possess that indefinable quality which we may as well call "appeal," that will carry them to the top. Or they can be established players, such as Angie Dickinson, whom we recently signed, as long as they have the potential of becoming genuine box office names through carefully planned casting coordinated with a strong publicity build-up. Naturally, the selection of such artistic talent requires a large measure of guess-work. I don't think we are going to guess right every time. But we're going to try.