The film daily year book of motion pictures (1933)

MAJOR SECTIONS OF THE BUREAU The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce should be considered in its three major sections: (a) The Washington headquarters, from which the director (who reports to the Secretary of Commerce) and his assistants control the operations of the bureau staff in both the foreign and domestic fields. Here is to be found a completely coordinated group of service divisions, both commodity and technical, working under the direction of men of practical experience and intimate acquaintance with the industry or specialized branch which they serve. (b) The foreign service unit, which functions through the activities of its commercial attaches and trade commissioners, located in the capitals and leading commercial centers of the world. (c) The group of district and cooperative offices, which have been carefully placed in the more prominent industrial centers of the United States, in order that information gathered abroad and transmitted to the Washington headquarters may be more readily disseminated to American business men. THE MOTION PICTURE DIVISION The Motion Picture Division is one of the specialized commodity divisions operating in the bureau leadquarters at Washington and serves all branches of the motion picture industry. Since its inauguration in 1926 as a section in Specialties Division and elevated to a separate division in 1929, the vlotion Picture Division has been in charge of men with a good background of experience and is well informed on the domestic and foreign aspects of these basic industrial functions. C. J. North is chief of the Division and N. D. Golden is his assistant, functioning also as a specialist on motion picture equipment. E. I. Way, as research assistant, has charge of a special section devoted to canvassing the opportunities both in the United States and abroad for educational and industrial films. Furthermore, George R. Canty, as Motion Picture Trade Commissioner in Europe, has his headquarters in Paris and makes special surveys of the European motion picture market, these being later made available to the trade in published form. Canty is also at the disposal of all motion picture men on their trips to Europe and it is suggested that rhese make use of Canty's services whenever they go abroad by getting in touch with him at the Paris office of the Department. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FUNCTIONS OF DIVISION The chief purpose of the Motion Picture Division is to report to the trade on all phases of film conditions abroad, including markets for educational and industrial films and for motion picture equipment. The Division collects, coordinates and distributes all information received from the 53 foreign offices of the Department }f Commerce, from the Consuls and as mentioned above, from a special Trade Commissioner in Europe, responsible to the Division. The latter covers the European field by frequent trips through the major markets of Europe and makes special studies of market conditions and cooperates with American Distributors abroad on all phases of their problems. He gathers a large amount of information at first hand through the resident Commercial Attaches and staffs of the Department offices in Europe who cooperate in supplying him with data on motion picture developments. All this data is sent to the Motion Picture Division in Washington in the form of Reports, Trade Notes and so on. In other parts of the world the resident Commercial Attaches and Trade Commissioners gather similar material and send this in to Washington. The more than 500 consular offices of the State Department are also most active in supplying information on motion pictures and in aiding whenever possible the exporters of films and equipment. In addition the Motion Picture Division gets a considerable amount of information through reviewing foreign trade magazines. The various reports, trade notes and letters referred to above are carefully reviewed, edited and unless confidential, are then disseminated to the trade in one of four forms. These are as follows: (1.) Trade Information Bulletins: — Some 25 of these have been published since July 1, 1926, and together they provide a fairly complete picture of motion picture conditions the world over. Among them are included Bulletins on such specialized subjects as motion picture equipment and on educational and industrial films. A special feature of these is an annual survey on the motion picture situation in Europe, four of these having appeared, since 1926. The material for this is supplied by the European offices of the Bureau to the Motion Picture Trade Commissioner who sends it to Washington for compilation in the Division. All these bulletins are of great value to the trade according to its own estimate and they form an integral part of the standard data used in the export departments of the motion picture companies. (2.) Foreign Market Bulletins: — These are shorter and less formal pamphlets usually on more local subjects. The Division has issued over 200 of these in the past six years covering a number of subjects special as well as general. These bulletins go to a special mailing list but unless confidential are available to any one and many of them are widely copied in the trade press. As required by the Economy Law enacted by the last Congress, the distribution of Foreign