Variety (March 1959)

Wednesday, March 4, 1959 TV-FILMS 23 f'fc'ttTE TY THE BIG PILOT GAMBLE IS ON Short-Buy Clients: Who Needs Them? Many national advertisers who use spot syndication as special support in one or more markets represent a special problem to syndicators. The advertisers in question, because of their particular market¬ ing problems, usually want a flexible setup, .allowing 1 them to come in and to get out of the» market quickly. They seek shortterm com¬ mitments, sometimes 13 alternate weeks over a 26-week period, or even shorter. In many cases, the syndicator shies away from such a deal, un¬ less he’s able to find the alternate sponsor to lock up at least a firm 26 weeks. Because of this situation, such advertisers turn to the stations. Latter, in most cases, with some properties on the shelf, accept such shortterm deals, selling off the remainder of the skein to local advertisers. With the station stepping in, prices in many cases for the program also is lowered. The consequences of this situation finds (1) the syndicator and station competing for the same national spot dollar, with the sta¬ tion undercutting the syndicator in price and duration of thb deal; (2) a temporary depressed price situation in the market, with the station offering the unsold portion of the „ show to local adver¬ tisers who otherwise might pay the going price of syndicators. From the syndicators viewpoint, the saving grace in the situa¬ tion ia that many a national advertiser who initially came in for quickie support in markets has stayed for a longer time, later be¬ coming a regular syndication customer. _ ABC-TV and Screen Gems as Latest ‘Going-Steady’; 7 Series on Tap Hollywood, March 3. < ABC-TV has already committed for four new series for next sea¬ son and is bankrolling a record 13 other pilots this spring. As of the first of March, this represents com¬ mitments of over $6,000,000. Newest “going steady” relation¬ ship set by the web is with Screen Gems, with no less than seven properties being bankrolled by ABC-TV, at least five of which will emerge as pilots this spring. Then there’s Warner Bros., of course, with four new pilots in addition to the already firm deals for a mini¬ mum of 13 shows each of “Chey¬ enne” (with Clint Walker) and “The Alaskans.” In other dfeals, “Real McCoys” producer Irving Pincus will pilot “The Haunted,” mystery anthology series in association with New York Times reviewer Anthony Boucher; Bing Crosby Productions, with Sy Gomberg, producing, Jack Smight directing and James Whit¬ more starring, is piloting “Lincoln Jones"; Desilu with Rod Amateau and Sid Dorfman helming, is film¬ ing “Where There’s Smokey,” with web’s Detroit personality, Soupy Sales, starring; and already filmed is a Frank Cooper comedy series produced by Mills-Park-Milford and scripted by Syd Zelinka and Walter Newman and directed by Paul Bogart, “Willie,” Latter stars Robert Morse. The Screen Gems roster includes “Cry Fraud.” series about an early insurance detective in the west, (Continued on page 42) NTA Reactivates Rerun Division The reactivation of National Telefilm Associates’ rerun division. Famous Films, its exec staffing, and its acquisition of fresh product, has been disclosed. Exec echelon, which comes un¬ der the aegis of Michael Siller- man’s program sales division, in¬ cludes a number of recently named v.p.’s of the division. Walt Plant has been assigned to Famous Films, headquartering in Los Angeles. Mel Schlank, another v.p. assigned to Famous, will headquarter in N. Y. Plant, until recently, was v.p. of the western division of Televi¬ sion Programs of America. Schlank formerly was v.p. in charge of sales of Gross-Krasne-Sillerman. Raymond Wild, formerly head of the G-K-S offices in Chicago and Detroit, has joined Famous Films- staff -and will work out of NTA offices in Dallas. Programs added to the Famous roster include “African Patrol,” “Official Detective,” and 23 addi¬ tional episodes of “Sheriff of Co¬ chise.” All told. Famous now has 11 half-hour series, plus short sub¬ jects and other product. WNEW-TV Telix’ Buy WNEW-TV reports its forked out approximately $500,000 for the N.Y. video rights , to a new series of 260 four-minute animated entries, “Felix the Cat,” being released starting next fall by Trans-Lux Television. 1 New animation house in NkY., Felix the Cat Productions, is work¬ ing on the new-for-tv product, and the Metropolitan Broadcasting sta¬ tion expects to schedule the first of them (in a moppet show still to be chosen) in 'September. That Jan.-Feb. Worse This Year Traditional lull period in syndi¬ cation biz appears to be more deep¬ ly felt this year by a number of major houses. Complicating the January-Febru- ary period when the sales curve usually is low is the emergency of ABC-TV as a daytime programmer and the. emergence of the web in the nighttime area. The 70 quar¬ ter-hours programmed weekly by the ABC-TV web in “Operation Daybreak” has filled the program¬ ming schedule of some 117 affili¬ ates. These affiliates in the past leaned heavily on rerun telefilm properties for daytime program¬ ming. In the rerun field, too, the back¬ log of telefilm properties, off the networks and from syndication, it¬ self, has been building. It’s esti- (Continued on pag^ 42) No Product, McCadden Trims Its Personnel Hollywood, March 3. George Burns’ McCadden Pro¬ ductions has pink-slipped nine of its personnel, including its entire publicity department, in a move dictated by* the fact that production is at a standstill. Given their notices were pub¬ licity director Stafford Clark, hisj assistant, Felice Greene, and a] publicity secretary; also, two. em¬ ployees in the production depart-; ment, one in accounting, two in mimeograph, and a secretary in Burns’ office. Filming has been completed on Burns’ 25 telepix; 34 of 39 “Flight” vidpix have been finished, and five j more won’t go into production for awhile; all but six of Bob Cum¬ mings’ vidfilms for the season have been finished, and the series is, presently on layoff from produc¬ tion, the rest to be completed later. j’JjpTA Moves on Variety of Fronts In Spreading Its Program Wings Television’s $5,000,000 seasonal pilot gamble is on, with telefilm toppers and sales execs riding the N.Y.-L.A. circuit in an anxious race to tailor the product to the market. This year’s estimate for the spring selling season, which gets underway next -month, is that the number of pilots will run to about 100. Putting an average cost of $50,000 for the initial episode in the projected telefilm series brings the total money effort to $5,000,000. Shooting for that national net¬ work sale is one of the biggest gambles in the trade. That phrase “tailor the product to the market” has about as many interpretations as there are pilots. It’s a grand guessing game comparable to the Las Vegas tables. For -the select winners, though, there’s that pay¬ off. For the $50,000 initial invest¬ ment— and that’s a conservative figure in many cases—there’s a $1,500,000 order. (Thirty-nine epi¬ sodes times program charges of about $40,000. an average figure which has many variations.) What will Madison Ave. buy ? What does the public want ? An¬ swers to those key questions trig¬ ger arguments, plans, talent deals, and open bank vaults. Telefilms oc¬ cupy a quantative status on the networks they never enjoyed in years past. Their quality, though, is another question. Overall, there’s much to be desired. Many people in the biz recog¬ nize the quantity-quality gap and the theme overriding the explana¬ tions about budgets, high talent costs, the production rush, etc., is: “Wait until next season. It’ll be dif¬ ferent.” (Shades of the Brooklyn Dodgers.) Because o? the high rating dust still being kicked up by the west¬ erns, telefilm producer-distributors seeking out new trends to follow are quite.baffled. Many in the biz have adopted a scatter-shot ap¬ proach, having entries in many categories, ranging from comedy to science fiction. In the tally of pilot plans (see accompanying story), probably the only discernible trend in pilot plans is a heavy representation of situation comedies and action shows. Of course, there will be a new flock of westerns. (Oater rat¬ ings command respect.) The next few will tell how well the producer - distributors have guessed Madison Ave. and network tastes. The public, in turn, will assay Madison Ave. and web judg¬ ments comes September-October. Pilot ‘Look Alikes* In the rundown of pilots for next season, there are more than one group of “look alikes.” There are three action ad¬ venture projected series, with Alaska, recently made the 49th State of the Union, as the back¬ drop. Warner Bros, has “The Alaskans”? Ziv, “Klondike Fever,” and 20lh Fox. “The Last Frontier.” In Science Fiction, Ziv has “Moon Probe” and CBS-TV “Moon Shot.” The house coming in “the firstest with the mostest” in the “look alike” field . fre¬ quently makes the sale. ” National Telefilm Associates newly-created program sales divi¬ sion, under Michael Sillerman, is moving rapidly on many fronts. 1. For the first time, NTA this selling season will make the big network and national sponsor pitches, coming in with some 22 possible projects. There will be “High Noon,” “Third Man,” et al. Bulk of the pilots will come from the “Fate” anthology series-now in production, under the Gross-Krasne banner. Series was conceived as a possible pilot vehicle. 2. Six shows already are set for tape syndication. 3. In film syndication, there will be from four to six shows yearly. , Sillerman, who moved out. of Gross-Krasne-Sillerman with the NTA takeover, said his division represented a “vertical" integra¬ tion. The division encompasses na¬ tional sales, regional and local syn¬ dication efforts, rerun telefilms and tape. Sillerman, as division prez, still hasn’t had time to fill out the com¬ plete organizational setup for the combined sales organization. (The G-K-S sales force was combined with NTA’s.) In numbers, the cur¬ rent sales force in N. Y. and the i field under Sillerman runs to 33. ! NTA’s feature operation is handled ! by NTA Internationa!, under Har¬ old Goldman, exec v.p. tion partially stems from the pro¬ gramming needs of its o&o’s WN.TA - TV. Newark - N. Y., and KMSP-TV, Minneapolis-St. Paul, but mainly the N. Y. iuc’i?. As to SG Buys Out Elliot, Unger Vidblurb House Columbia Pictures’ video subsid- iary. Screen Geras, after negotia- „ m UW1UUMU> tions that have been going on spo- NTA’s plunge in upe syndica- radically for the last six months, has bought out Elliot. Unger & Elliot Inc., one of the east’s larger commercial production houses. . Simultaneously, SG pactcd some ! the Question of the economic prac- forraer Un*er»l Studios -destined j to go out of the tv production biz) stations) equipped wT.i tine ma- execs to handle Coast blurb pro- ' cli'nery, representing 73' £ t • cov r. ' age of the country. It's feasible for the advertiser and syndicat&r at this stage. He acknowledged that there still are quite a number of problems to be worked out as to physical handling, etc., but the an¬ swers will come with time. Going locally. NjlA nas "Glen- cannon” and “William Tell,” with duction for the new subsidiary. EUE was one of the f~w blurb makers in N.Y. to own video tape equipment, and it has two facilities in Manhattan, one for film and the other for tape. EUE and the new exec additions on the Coast will base the Hollywood operation <EUE ! 10llr hasn’t had a real one until now) s ^ dlcatl0n route - at the Columbia lot. Shifting from TJ-I are Joseph ‘ Swavely, w'ho will be west coast • manager for EUE. and Richard : Kerns, to be Swaveiy’s production supervisor. (Al Mendelsohn left - U-I before the sale to join EUE in N.Y., which will function under the continued direction of the three former owners. Steve and Mike Elliott and Bill Unger). Tlie four prob¬ ably will come from the roster of shows to be pitched nationally (Coiit nie.. c.i ; _:;e C6> Rundown of pilot plans of many of the leading telefilmeries, and some of the minor ones, accounts for a majority of the expected 100 entries this season. Some of the entries may not reach completed pilot form for this spring-summer selling season: They may be replaced by other proper¬ ties. 11 Still other entries may take the form of presentations, with a quick greenlight given as soon as sponsor and/or network interest is showr. Many of the projects are co-production ventures, with the label in the tally referring to the distributor. Some are more than the usual half-hour length. Here are the highlights of the run¬ down. Screen Gems plans about 12 projects for the spring-selling sea¬ son. Properties include: “David Harim,” “Secret Life of James Thurber,” “Cissie,” “The Fat Man,” yet flntitled Writers Guild series; “Mr. Blandings Dream House.” (Al¬ ready sold for next season, is “Den¬ nis the Menace.”) 20th-Fox properties include “Ad¬ ventures in Paradise,” “The Peggy Lee Show,”. “Mark Sutherland,” “Gunfighter,” “Five Finger s,” “Whodunit,” “Mr. Belvedere,” “The Esther Williams Show,” “Do- bie Gillis,” “Helimarines,” “The Last Frontier,” “Festival,” and “Profile.” Warner Bros, roster includes “Cheyenne” (revived) “The Alas¬ kans,” “Doc Holliday,” “Public Epemy,” “Torrid Zone,” and “Bourbon Street Beat.” MGM-TV: “Father of the Bride,” “Jeopardy,” “The McGonigle,” “Johnny Eager,” “You’re Only Young Once,” “Amigo,”. and “Maisie." CBS Films: “The Diplomat,” “Bellevue,” “Man on K Street,” “Man from Antibes,” “Silent Sa¬ ber,” “Timberline,” “Jimmy Ed¬ wards Show.” and “Bushman.” Independent Television . Corp.: “Emergency,” “Four Just Men,” “Treasury Agent,” “Adventures of Tom Swift,” “Command,” “Guns West,” “Interpol” and “Whiplash.” National Telefilm Associates: “Fate,” (13 episodes in anthology series to be used as pilots); “High Noon,” “Third Man,” and “Monta- vani.” United Artists Television: “Den¬ nis O’Keefe Show,” “Hudson Bay," “International Airport,” and “Tales of the Vikings.” (Marlboro Cigaret bought “Troubleshooters.”) Ziv: “Moon Probe,” “Lock-up,” (Continued on page 42) O’Seas Gross on WB Pix UAA, which last year was known ! as Associated Artists Productions | (before merging with United Art¬ ists), grossed over $3,000,000 in 1958 from foreign television sale of its Warner Bros..feature film li¬ brary, according to Norman Katz, UAA foreign sales chief. UAA product, most of it from the pre-’49 Warner catalog, is be¬ ing televised in Australia, where all the available UAA product is sold, in the United Kingdom. Bel¬ gium, Japan, Switzerland, Finland. England is carrying all of UAA’s “Popeye” cartoons. ‘MacKenzie’s Raiders’ 30 % Food Sponsorship Companies in the food business accounted for “Mackenzie’s Raiders” sponsorship in 30 r c of the roster of markets where the series is aired. According to Ziv’s research de¬ partment, food processors and stores were the largest single cate¬ gory represented. Brewers formed :■ the second largest category and tobacco companies ranked third. Other sponsorship categories in¬ clude auto dealers, l c c\ fuel com¬ panies, 7%; utilities, 79r; home furnishings, 3% and miscellaneous, 5%. Included in the miscellaneous categories are Henry Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village Hotel, Honolulu, and the Villa Capri Motel, in 1 Austin, Tex.