The motion picture industry (1933)

CHAPTER VI PRICING The problem of pricing motion picture films raises a host of questions. Are the prices of motion picture films governed by the same principles as those which govern prices of other merchandise, or is a motion picture film so completely different from any other merchandise offered as to make it subject to price influences not applicable to any other merchandise or service sold for public consumption? What is the relationship of the cost of production and of selling to the price paid for those films by the exhibitor? Are the usual laws governing the determination of a monopoly price applicable in the case of the motion picture producer-distributor, who has exclusive title to a product which is not and cannot be duplicated by anyone else? Are pictures priced in the same manner as are commodities commonly designated as fashion goods, such as millinery? Is it possible or desirable to pursue a one-price policy with reference to the pricing of a film? Shall pictures be sold to exhibitors on a flat rental basis or shall a percentage scale be applied? It is not the purpose of this chapter to discuss in detail the theory of prices in relation to the picture business. It is rather the intention to indicate some of the problems involved and to comment briefly upon them, leaving for consideration elsewhere theoretical discussions of the sort suggested in some of the questions just raised. It may be well, however, at the outset to remind ourselves of some of the characteristics of motion pictures which have a bearing upon the problem of their pricing by distributors to exhibitors.1 1 The pricing questions considered in this section are primarily those related to the rental of feature pictures. "Shorts", although considered under 181