The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Jan-Feb 1923)

34 THE FILM RENTER &!MOVING PICTURE. NEWS. February 10, 1923. LIVING UP. .TO. PROMISES. ' By PERCY PHILLIPSON (Sales Manager, Associated First; National Pictures, Lid. ) N every walk of life it pemaiecine that. many “men: (and firms, for that. matter) take the line of least resistance, which chiefly consists of glibly making promises which-are- as easily forgotten. The giving of these promises has temporarily overcome the difficulties..of. the moment, the. giver saying to. himself, ‘* sufficient. unto the’ day is the ‘evil thereot, oe and giving. no thought : to the morrow “when ‘the | ; conditions of the promise are expected ie to be fulfilled. There: are others, how: ever, to whom this easy-going: method ” of dealing appears to be’if not actually dishonourableé, at least: an’ unbusiness-: "| like one. Amongst’ these latter, 1° think, with all modesty, that Associated First National Pictures, . Ltd.; can claim a place. Just a year ago, at our inaugural’ ‘dinner, & pro| mise was made: “for better pictures and a square deal:’’. These few words were not merely. a phrase uttered after the ‘* walnuts and the. wine,” ‘but a very definite and. pronounced statement of a‘gfeat ‘and sincere intention. In eking it, we ‘earnestly: intended = ' to live up to ‘every letter of it, and by: our acts convince:the minds ‘of: British’ exhibitors that-here ‘at least: was a: . firm which believed in straight dealing—which meant what it. said, and intended to fulfil ite every. promiee.. Time alone could prove whether the hopes then raised would ever reach fruition. Time has-proved that these hopes have reached fruition. Twelve months have passed since our .statement was made. During that time we z have striven to live up to the letter of our promise in. its widest sense. -'' Better pictures.and a square deal,’’ we said, and a mass of congratulatory. letters’ telling ‘of capacity: houses,: astounding receipts, and absolute. satisfaction have come from our exhibitors. * Smilin’ “Through, pense ‘Mon—Woman—Marriage, ” « Bast is West,’’ ‘+ Oliver: Twist,” ‘all these have ‘fulfilled our promise’ of better pictures. We have satisfied the showman—he has satisfied hig patrons, and thus in the fullest sense haye we lived up to the first: part-of our promise. But in ‘order to see that ‘every one of our’customers is‘asatisfied eustomer, it has been’ essential to live up to the second part of our promise and give each and every one’ of’ them 4 square deal. Since the inception ‘of ‘the kinematograph industry many malpractices: hava sprung-up.and have had the effect of antagonising the two great sections of the trade, namely, exhibitors and renters. With the present-day state of commerce it is: surely essential that: the industry should stand united as .a whole. .. Harmonious: co-operation between every cection’ is essential, ‘if every section ‘of that industry, collectively and particularly, : is ‘to’ prospér. . One of ‘the’ worst evils which have urisen is the malicious practice of hawking contracts. The representatives of houses whose glib promises PERcy ee _Were never meant. fo be kept, ‘squeezed the buyers far beyona their power to pay. haggling, The ‘buyer naturally retaliated in long bartering and arguing, with the result that the salesman not satisfied with the ‘price eventually arrived at—naturally lower than -his: original demand, would endeayour, to ‘obtain a better deal the ultimate , discredit’ of the house he represented ‘and the biiter resentment of the exhibitor in question. The one method ‘of ‘eliminating this iniquitous system was to. provide ‘the fullest’: data . capacity, ruling, -elsewhere, -to the salesrnan with concerning seating size of the and ‘other information which would enable us to make a just and equitable price, allowing a fair profit for tha man who was to picture. town, pricas sereen the Every one of our salesmen is provided with this information before ‘he approaches tlie customer. We can* not impress too strongly upon showmen the fact that the price we ask hae already been carefully worked out, with his interests: :nore than ours in view. We do not want to barter with exhibitors; we quote them a price that will show a profit. We do so for one reason. | With the vast series of pictures we have to offer, it is essential, for the continuance of this house, that every one of our customers is truly ‘ satisfied with every one of our pictures. This could not be sold our commodity. the ease if we overOur great aim is to obtain the confidence of the great mass ’ otexhibitors. Only by so doing can we -yemain. an effective selling organigation, giving satisfaction both to our customers and ourselves. ‘As every thinking man will appreciate, we look to them, for our existence as they look to their cations for theirs. eventually go out of business. If we demand impossible, prices from them, they must Tf they go out of business, we have no one to whom we can sell our goods, and must also close down, So much so, that we state frankly that we are prepared in the event..of a picture not.up to expectation, to grant a customer a reduction on his hiring fee, provided we are satisfied that everything that could be doné was done to exploit it to the full. Rather than allow him feel that we have sold him an unprofitable commodity, we will forego our profit. Let the exhibitor be frank with us ag we are frank with him. Should he have with a First National Picture, let him tell us so, even as he does when a’picture has not been quite so successful. We have done everything in our power to play the game with him. Our travellers are fully empowered to close a deal without reference to head office, thus giving effect to his oft-repeated demand tor ‘the simultaneous. signing of contracts.'' As stated before, unity is not:only strength, but is essential to progress in every industry. We, for our part, have lived up to our promises, a big success