Paramount Press Books (1919)

Questions We Are Often Asked Q. What is this press book for? A. To show you how to make a large profit on the picture it exploits, by means of publicity and advertising. Q. How can I get publicity for my theatre? A. By going to the editor of your paper and making arrangements with him to (a) give you space in his reading columns in proportion to your advertising space; (b) by convincing him that his people want to read news about motion pictures. Q. How can I convince him of that? A. Tell him that there are 40,000,000 motion picture “fans” in this country, and tell him what proportion of the 40,000,000 are yours. You can do this from your box office records. His judgment will tell him that these people want to know what’s what in moving pictures. Q. Will he want anything blit the publicity stories? A. Yes. He will want good cuts to illustrate them with. Show him pages 2-4-6-8 of this book, and allow him to select those that he believes he can use. Ask him whether he wants them in electro or mat. form. Q. Have you any cuts in which an illustration and a story are combined? A. Yes. See the “story mat.” shown in this book. These are made up by an expert newspaper man in such a way that they will be desirable for any publication that can use mats. You can get these mats from your Exchange free. They mean extra publicity for you, aside from the material you furnish on specific releases. Q. What is a mat? A. A mat. is a papier mache mould from which the plates used in printing newspapers are made. It needs a special machine to make these plates, and you should make sure that your paper has one before you order mats. Q. What is an electro? A. An electro is a metal plate from which programs, circulars and small newspapers are printed. Order electros for your newspaper when it is a small shop that cannot use mats. Q. Do you ever send publicity stories or mats, to newspapers? A. No. We used to, but we allow exhibitors to take care of their own publicity now, both for specific pictures and for general purposes. Q. What do you mean by “for specific pictures?” A. The advance stories and current stories that are in this book. They are to interest your people in your current attraction. Q. What do you mean by “for general purposes?” A. The publicity that does not specify a particular picture, but which gives news of the motion picture stars in general. This has a cumulative effect that is sure to heighten the interest in pictures in general and is bound to be profitable. Q. Why do you ask me to place this general publicity with the papers? A. Because you can select timely matter and tie it up with your current attraction. We cannot do this from a New York office. Q. Do editors want long or short stories? A. They want both. Take long stories to the editor when you order your advertising. Send “shorts” from the page headed “Publicity Notes for Live-Wire Exhibitors.” Keep him well supplied with the “shorts,” so that whenever he has a little room at the bottom of a column he can run one of them in. Q. Where can I get the accessories listed in this book? A. At your Exchange. Q. When do I get accessories at your New York office? A. Never. When you send to 11s we are compelled to re-forward your order to your Exchange, because we have no accessories in New York. Q. What do you charge for accessories? A. Some of them are furnished without charge. Others are furnished at the actual cost to us. Mats are always free. For list of prices, see another page of this book. (We intend to revise this list of questions frequently, keeping it up to date. Watch for it. It may answer the very question that is on your mind. If you have any questions to ask, send them along. We will answer you by mail and repeat the question and answer on this page.)