Jurisdictional disputes in the motion-picture Industry : hearings before a special subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first-session, pursuant to H. Res. 111 (1948)

MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES 149 Mr. Hopkins. Yes, that is correct ; Mr. Casey's office. Mr. McCann. Now, then, when this first issue arose back there in 1945, will you tell us what effect it had on your work and give your observations as to what took place. Mr. Hopkins. On ]\farch 12, 1945, the beginning of the first major strike, we, of course, had a very serious problem in that we lacked for a number of days sufficient men to build the sets and to paint the sets and other work which was vital to the production of motion pictures. It was quite serious for a number of days until we began to employ replacements to take over that work in order to keep our sets and production rolling. Mr. McCann. Wliat sort of quality were your replacements? Mr. Hopkins. In the first strike I would say the quality of the replacements for the first several weeks was not very good. However, it was a matter of degree. In some cases they came in from war jobs where they had been released. At that time the war-production requirement was gradually dropping off on the west coast, and a substantial number of men had qualifications, but the majority of the men were not experienced and were not highly satisfactory because they hadn't had sufficient training. Mr. McCann. Now, will you explain what this meant to you in the construction line ? I believe you said that the facts were that you have three or four stages and that by reason of the stoppage of these men, or the jurisdictional struggle, whichever it was, it would sometimes cost you as much as $10,000 a day. Take up that problem and describe it to the committee in your own way. Mr? Hopkins. I was asked as to what costs were involved in this type of problem, and while this statement is not necessarily factual nor entirely accurate, it is a personal opinion from observation as to the approximate costs that might be involved with an average picture. Somebody may disagree with this, but this is an average. We have some pictures that cost much less and others that cost a great deal more. I would say for an average picture, where you have a cast of some importance and a sizable crew, that it would cost you, with overhead and all expenses, approximately $10,000 a day. Now, to explore that further, in certain studios, particularly the one in which I am employed — Columbia — we haven't the large number of stages which some of the large companies have. However, we make a great many pictures at our studio, in number, with the result all of our stages are busy at all times. For the most part that means that when we are shooting on one stage today, on Wednesday — tomorrow — that same company has to be moved to a stage next door or on the lot some place which is being constructed today, in order to accommodate them tomorrow. So that the third day they can take down the set they are now shooting on and rebiiild another set to use the fourth day or the eighth day, meaning we need tln^ee or four stages oftentimes to complete one motion picture, with the result that with the set built on the second stage, if it is not ready for occupancy by the shooting company the following morning and cannot be used, we are obligated to maintain the salaries and all the expenses of the company, involving around $10,000 a day.