Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

64 Motion Picture News November 8 , 19 3 0 MANACEIU' KCUND TACLE CLLD WHAT IS EXPLOITATION? AS ANALYZED BY A SPECIALIST By GEORGE LANDY According to my Webster's Dictionary, "exploit" has twin meanings : as a transitive verb, "to get the value out of something," as a noun, "a noble achievement." Certainly, proper exploitation of an attraction, getting the value out of it ( Webster should have said, as far as showmanship is concerned, "getting the MOST value out of it") is a noble achievement — in spades, which means double. Like every other business in this age of modern complexity, exploitation includes a flock of fundamentals, which the thorough showman must never neglect. They form a groundwork that he supplies to his every exploitation campaign. They are the basic forces that he must line up, as best he can with the resources he can command, before he sits down and plans out the distinguishing highlight of his battle for box-office business. In this groundwork, I classify: (1) Marquee Here is a theatre property which few exploiteers value aright. It is virtually an illuminated 24 sheet (or bigger) in the heart of the territory which the theatre serves, close to competitors and seen by thousands daily. Marquee messages should be pithy, striking and unconventional, with plenty of changes of style and content. (2) Lobby A good lobby won't sell tickets, of itself ; but it will certainly act as a clincher, if your ads, exploitation, and word-of-mouth have paved the way. Again, the lobby is situated in the heart of your "main stem" (whether first run or neighborhood house). Use plenty of originality and don't begrudge money to a good artist. Be a good customer for the color manufacturers ; use distinctively variant color combinations, so passers-by will sense the change of attraction ; use combinations that fit in with the type of picture you are playing and make that lobby conform to the centralized idea of your newspaper advertising campaign. Use plenty of pictures; the customers love 'em. And don't be too modest about covering space. A gojjd display will sell lots more tickets than an unimpaired view of the theatre's marble walls. (3) Window-displays Here is a feature that most of us dismiss by getting a flock of exchange window-cards and letting a relief usher take them around, either with or without passes for the receptive merchants. Forget that system ; it belongs back in the days of homespun underwear. Don't accept a window except where it has plenty of passersby; go after the crowds. Get the merchant whose windows command public attention regularly because he puts attractive displays into them. Give him display material on your attraction that is really based on a tie-up thought and also meritorious as an attraction-getter on its own. Give him a card, etc., that fits in with his sales campaign and also with the color scheme of his own displays. Figure out a tie-up that will help the merchant sell his wares as well as your theatretickets. Then you are putting over real exploitation and you won't have to shell out a lot of passes to get into windows. Sure, it means lots more work — but you wouldn't be a member of the Round Table and you wouldn't have read this far, unless you were the kind of man to whom the mention of that four-letter word doesn't cause worry. It also means more expense for your art department and it's worth it. His many years and varied experiences in the show game have fitted George handy to make emphatic comments on exploitation. He speaks from actual experience. Followers of the Club pages will recall the marvelous work that this high • salaried publicity man turned out when handling A r kayo's Pacific Coast Theatres, an affiliation recently severed. This article is one that was received after the original series had started. String along with George and read what he has to say. Its interesting and helpful. The Real Meat Now for the real meat : Newspaper advertising and the central-exploitation idea. Please note the singular use of that word. It reveals this particular writer's whole thought on the subject of exploitation. You get all the milk from a cow when you use one good-sized bucket ; you're bound to waste some of it and spill it, if you milk the one bossy into half-adozen shallow pans. The great snare for the exploitation man, the deceptive delusion, the fatal temptation, is to fiddle away his appropriation on a lot of minor stunts that may look good in a pressbook, or fill out an impressive report, or help you kid yourself — if you're your own boss — but which don't really mean anything. Start thinking about your picture a couple of weeks beforehand and lay nut the groundwork with your artist — that will give him time to get a start, so you'll be able to have other things made at the last moment and thus also he can give you something worthwhile. "Write down every exploitation thought that occurs to vou — use the exchange pressbnok. your own clipping file (if you have one), and your Round Table file. Then start the process of elimination: throw out stunts the other fellow has just pulled, those that are too expensive or need too much fixing at political headquarters, He. In fact, keep askim1 yourself about each one: "Will it really sell more tickets than it costs? Is it really necessary'" you'll find that you've thrown most of them away when you've gone over the list a couple of times. You'll have just a couple or three real IDEAS in front of you. If you've been living right, it will be just ONE IDEA. Now, take a fresh sheet of paper — get a big one. Put down everything you can concoct that will sell THE ONE IDEA. Again go through the process of elimination and what you'll have left is PURE GOLD, according to your own particular lights, experience, GodgiVen talents, and local conditions. Clamp down on this one idea and the few ways you have decided to put it over and go into high gear. Plan Ahead That's all exploitation is — it's a cinch ! Newspaper advertising (like everything else in theatre-operation ) also really comes under the heading of EXPLOITATION— and most importantly. Don't be stingy with the papers; they give you circulation, reader support, other co-operation — they are your one best bet. Give your picture some advance aid ; shoot the works the day before your opening, opening day and good support second day. If you're not over by this time, take the picture out as fast as you can. As your advertising is so important, give it a real chance. Don't put it off until 30 minutes before presstime and then grab any old mat and shoot it in. As soon as you've decided on your central exploitation idea and how you're going to sell this particular picture, differentiated from all others, go into a huddle with your ad artist and try to lay out — tentatively, if necessary, and concretely, if possible — your exact space schedule for the whole run of that picture, your advance and at least the first week's ads, if it's a long run house. If it's a one-week or split-week house, you must lay out the whole campaign at the same time. The one centralized thought should dominate your entire campaign ; but you can have as many different ads as possible. A daily change is ideal. Mix art and type, adapt the weight of the ad to local conditions, remember women still are the best picture customers, and stick to your decision. Outdoor advertising is so local a problem that I won't treat it here. Make Up Your Mind It's easier to do a lot of little things than to do one or two well. Don't fiddle away your energies or your appropriation. Make up your mind how you want to sell this particular picture (or other attraction), clear the groundwork away ahead of time, set your ads in work and hew to the line. Always leave yourself a litle leeway so you can grab at an emergency stunt that may arise at the last minute. Timeliness is a great asset. In short, Noah Webster was right: Get the value out of the attraction, then you're exploiting it. And "noble achievements" win their reward not only in Heaven, but also at the hank. NEXT WEEK "Debunk The Ballyhoo," by Jack O'Connell of the VitaTemple Theatre, in Toledo, Ohio. He will make you aasp with astonishment at the frank and free-spoken opinions expressed. "Chick."