Film and TV Technician (1957)

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March 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 39 STEPHEN SWINGLER, M.P., A.C.T.T.'s GUEST OF HONOl R each year and also that the size of the Fund each year would be sufficient to ensure that the producer of all but the unfortunate flop will recover his production costs. The question of advance notice as to the size of the Fund for each ensuing year was also important if production was to be properly planned. The Quota Act We were unanimous in welcoming the provisions in the Bill for keeping the National Film Finance Corporation alive and providing for the Quota Act to run for a further ten years, but we were equally unanimous in condemning the intention of the Government to let the Quota Act continue unchanged in substance. All sections of the industry had numerous points to put forward for improving the Act and some of them were of vital importance if the protection of the next ten years is to do the job it is intended to do. " I am therefore glad that following pressure from the unions and producers we shall now have an opportunity to put forward amendments for consideration. But it is regrettable that it is the Government's intention that the Bill should go through unamended in substance and we have to wait till an unnamed future date for amending legislation to the Quota Act." There was developing, quite legally under the wording of the present Act, a position whereby pictures were made for British Quota which scarcely employed anybody from the United Kingdom. Films made under the stimulus of a United Kingdom Act of Parliament should employ predominantly United Kingdom labour and be processed in United Kingdom laboratories. Therefore a new definition of a British film was one of the main amendments we require. Whole Basis Wrong We also wanted an abolition of the position of our films being a junior partner to American films. The whole basis of the present Act was wrong whereby we were graciously permitted to have shown in British cinemas a relatively small number of films, the actual number of which rose or fell according to the number of American films shown. Let us start on the assumption of British films being the dominating factor in a British market, the foreign films shown being a stipulated quota based on our own product. We wanted, too, authority for the State to acquire a circuit of cinemas equal in size and booking power to the present main circuits. A third circuit would ensure the fair distribution and showing of independent productions. The President welcomed the initiative of Mr. John Davis in proposing the meetings now being held between the British Film Producers' Association and N.A.T.K.E., E.T.U. and A.C.T.T. In the past, efforts to discuss industry problems, other than salaries and work ing conditions, on such a joint basis had petered out in failure. This new effort started off by an appreciation that the interests of producers and employees were either identical on a number of key issues or at least so close to each other as to make co-operation possible. Some of the matters which the President touched on had been covered in these discussions and he was sure that if these talks continued in the spirit in which they have been started nothing but good could come from them. But at the same time neither side must expect that because there were these talks on common ground, one side or the other would be expected to soft-pedal on legitimate claims in other directions. International Federation One of the disappointments of the post-war world had been the failure to establish any international federation of film technicians. We had always maintained friendly relations with technicians of other countries and, indeed, there had been some extension in our contacts during the past year. But the split in the international Trade Union Movement had, if not entirely responsible, been a main obstacle in bringing technicians of all countries into close association. Since the Annual Report was prepared A.C.T.T. had received an invitation to attend a conference convened by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions to (Continued on page 40)