Sponsor (Sept-Dec 1957)

FILM-SCOPE continued . When FILM-SCOPE asked a group of its Station Spotters recently how their relationships with s\ndicators were shaping up, the broadcasters in the main said that they would like less of the fast-buck technique (31 August, page 77 l. This week FILM-SCOPE asked syndicators for their version. The Spotters: Bernie Crost, sales v. p., Walter Schwimmer; Don L. Kearney, sales v. p., ABC Film Syndication; Jake Keever, NBC TV Films, v.p.; Tom Moore, general salesmanager, CBS rV Film Sales; Boh Rich, general sales manager, AAP; and Bob Seidelman, manager syndicated sales, Screen Gems. In general, the film people think they are getting along pretty well with their customers considering this major handicap: The use of film has spread so rapidly that many stations can't seem to keep up with the latest concepts. Specifically: 1 ) Rigid programing notions still prevail, sometimes blinding stations to a more flexible use of film. 2) Similarly, the "fixed-top" price idea keeps cropping up. With better quality film, say the syndicators, stations often could boost local rates. In fact, too many stations buy film "by the pound." 3) "Red tape" screening leads to hard feelings. Thus Station A will ask for a preliminary showing for its film buyer and program director, followed by a subsequent screening for its top brass. Meantime competing Station B quickly makes up its mind and takes the deal. Station A now burns. 4) Although stations are prone to complain about lack of merchandising aids, the shoe is apt to fit the other foot. Film has a point-of-sale value for sponsors — an important angle that stations tend to overlook. 5) In the same vein, stations usually could get higher ratings (especially on feature film) if they were as energetic in their hoopla as theatre exhibitors. 6) Looking down his nose at a film salesman may help a broadcasters ego, but it also shuts off some of the know-how the salesman could give him. "I wish they would stop calling us peddlers," says one film man. "Where else do they think they could get film — from Sears, Roebuck?" Every business has a certain amount of convenient statistical rubber. This week the s\ ndication business is discussing how you gauge sales. • Do you count by markets, or • Do you count by stations? To get a real idea, the trade feels, you should have a station list. That will show up any duplications within markets. Horror films again were in the news this week. Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum — which exhibits characters whose contributions to infamy earned them a place in its Chamber of Horrors — will be filmed for tv. Robert Siodmak and Jules Buck, together with British film producer Charles Reynolds, have tv rights to the files and name of the fantastic museum, and will produce the series of 39 on the continent for distribution in 1958. FLASHES FROM THE FILM FIELD: Caribe Films, Inc., a Puerto Rican Co.. has been set up to service U.S. accounts and shoot for financial savings through tax exemptions and government cooperation in that country . . . Buster Crabbe stars in the new half-hour tv series, Davy Jones, which is deep in under-water sequences — a new fad with the kids . . . TPA says its initial 1957-58 budget is set at $6 million with five new shows upcoming . . . The object of ZIV's latest expansion move is to provide more complete -ales coverage because of the ever-increasing rise in syndicated sales. 54 SPONSOR 21 SEPTEMBER 1957