The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

November 14, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 127 Columbia Pictures Corporation Officials Point Out Causes of Unrest in Industry JOE BRANDT, president of Columbia Pictures Corporation, and Jack Cohn, treasurer of this independent producing company, last week issued a joint statement in which they point out the existence of unrest in the industry due to "machine made products" and "broken promises by producers" and demanding "fewer and better pictures." The joint statement follows : "The present chaotic conditions in the motion picture industry are due to the broken promises of producers. Never in the history of motion pictures has such a situation confronted the exhibitors as at the close of the 1925-1926 season, and the producers are, in a large measure, entirely to blame for a situation which has forced many exhibitors into a position where they feel unable to depend on, and have an entire lack of confidence in, the promises of producers to deliver the number of pictures they promised to produce at the beginning of the current year. "The overzealoiis and avaricious attitude on the part of some of the producing organizations at the beginning of the season in announcing a formidable production program has been responsible for lulling a great many exhibitors into a sense of confidence and false security which has been ruthlessly destroyed in many cases before half the season was over by the retrenchment on the part of producers. Announcements of big production programs which have later been cut down by as much as SO per cent, in some instances, has wrought havoc among the exhibitors dependent upon these companies for their play dates. "The officials of the Columbia Pictures Corporation, are in the unique and secure position of being one of the few producing companies to have kept absolute faith with JOE BRANDT President of Columbia Pictures Corporation, reports this week on the completed programme of Columbia's eighteen proiuctions for the 1925-26 season, and comments, somewhat caustically, on the contions prevailing throughout the industry. the exhibitors in producing our full quota of eighteen pictures, as announced at the beginning of the preserit season, and this organization is prepared to back up the statement by the fact that they now have in their possession the negatives of the eighteen pictures scheduled for release. And these pictures were made in spite of the fact that exhibitors, who at the beginning of the season, promised their whole-hearted cooperation, had in a sense withheld some of their support and given the business that they had promised Columbia to other organizations, "It must not be gathered from this statement that the officials of the Columbia Pictures Corporation, desire any erroneous impression formed that they did not get their share of the bookings from the exhibitors this year. Every exhibitor who knew his business realized the box office value of Columbia Pictures with the result that they included the entire Columbia program in their list of bookings, realizing that the support of worthwhile independent producers was a means to safeguard their interests no matter what political or business move the non-independent organizations made. "That the producers have learned the error of their ways is evidenced by the fact that announcements have already been made by many of the companies that they will not announce as many pictures for production for the coming year as they did at the beginning of the present season. They have come to realize that promising to throw on the market more pictures than can possibly be consumed has brought about a condition whereby not only the producers' income has considerably suffered but the returns of the exhibitors have also been materially curtailed, by reason of forcing the exhibitor to sign up for more pictures than he needed in order to get a few leaders among exhibitors to create a demand for production that they only hope to make. In this is the crux of the whole situation. Instead of offering fair competition among all the large motion picture producing concerns, they adopted this method of securing an outlet for product than common sense should have told them would mean flooding the market with surplus product. "Supply and demand must govern every business and the picture industry is no different from any other industry and this is the time for producers to ponder over the conditions as they were this year and realize that they must be conservative in their estimate of productions to be made in future. Once they have announced the number of pictures they should go through. The time to retrench is at the beginning of, not in the middle of, or at the end of the season. "The spirit of fair play must be more evident next year than ever before as the unnatural and unhealthy competition which was prevalent this year has forced upon many producers the conclusion that less picture of a better calibre will bring in more revenue to the exhibitor and more revenue to the producer — the public demand for better pictures has been blazoned forth in the newspapers, and it behooves the producer to read the handwriting on the wall and get out of the system of machine-made pictures and produce fewer pictures but of better quality. "While speaking of fair play, it is not amiss to refer to the developments in the last few weeks. The big producers have realized what the exhibitors failed to realize when independent productions were offered them at the beginning of the year. The general merit of independent productions prove beyond doubt that the brains of the motion picture industry were well distributed among independent producers, and that they were as capable of making better productions consistently than at any other time. "As proof of this statement, comes the negotiations by the large companies for the men who have put the independent market on its feet this year. However, independent producers have come to realize that with the kind of competition they are offering the larger producing concerns, the exhibitors will, without doubt, eagerly look forward to independent pictures to release them from the conditions heretofore mentioned in which they were to a large extent responsible themselves." Tyler's Next for F. B. O. "The Wyoming Wildcat" has been selected for the permanent title on Tom Tyler's next F. B. O. production, according to announcement made at the lot. Work has just been begun on the picture under the direction of Robert De Lacey. Virginia Southern, Tom Delmar, Billy Bennett and others support the star. The picture was formerly called "The Rolling Stone." The story is an original by Percy Heath. Arthur Statter did the adaptation and continuity. JACK CO J IN Vice-President of Columbia Pictures Corporation, joins Mr. Brandt in a statement setting forth the views of these independent producers regarding the conditions existing today throughout the motion picture industry.