: ,. "Candim Feature Film Industry: Mmopoly 6 ~onrpetitim." rhu o mwr~rn~er u rdm- November 20th.197 DATWO*~~ , -___- *&/A Penda kur .' 3054 W. 42nd Avenue . .* Vancouver B'.C. V6N 32 I i b- . NOTICE The qadity of this microfiche is heavily dependent La qualite de cette microfiche &$end kandemeqt de upcm the quality of the original thesis submitted for la qualitb de la these sournis? au microfilrtqp. Nous micrqfilming. Every effort has beeo made to ensure avons tout fait pour assurer une quditd supdriewe the )right quality of ruproduction possible. de reproduction. -. If are missing, contact the univenity which S'il manque des pages, veuillez communiquer granted the dqpee. avec I'univenit4 qui a confdre le grade. 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THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED MICROFILM~E TELL€ OUE EXACTLY AS. R EC ElVED \ NOUS L'AVONS RECUE Otu#. c8d KIA ON4 . i . O . Manj unath Pendafir .' B.A., Univel'slty. of 'washington, 1973 ' M.A., University of Washington, 1975' . - A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT . : OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ' in the Department 1 of ' -. Cornmunlcat ion I Manjunath Pendakur 1979 ' SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY . November 1979. , .All rights reserved. This the.sls may not be' reproduced tn whole oi in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. '. I bereby &at to St- Fruer Ynive~attythe ;ifit to led 4 my theria or .disrertatlon (the title of which ir ahan, below) to urera of the Slum Qraser Unlverrlty Library, and to arke putlal or atn~le copter only fovuch users or ln res~onsem a requert from the ltbrary of any other unhersity, or other educatimal in8tttutia, on its - behalf or for oat of its usera. I further agree that perriamian for ultiple copying of this therir for scholarly purposm my be granted by r or the Dean of Graduate Studiea. 1t is understood that copyim or publication of this thtsia for flnaacial gain rhall not be all-d wlthdt my written - ptrrisrion. "CANADIAN FEATURE FILM rlwsRY: MHBOLY & C(EPETrr1ON." (rigdature). Manjmath Pedakur APPROVAL Name-: - Manj unat h Pendakur , Degree : Doctor of hil lo so^& Title of Thesis: Canadian Feature Film Industry: . 3lonopoly an4 Competition . Exami,ning Committee: Dallas W. Smythe professor Senior Supervisor William H. !4elod> Professor % €van Alderson Associate Professor arry Truax Assistant drofessor Thomas H. Guback External Examiner Research Professor Institute of Communications Research University of Illinois Date Approved: Novenber 20th. 19-79. 4 # --. i ABSTRACT Scholarly study of monopoly power of the modern co&ra- ' ,* tion is increasiigly ittractin% the'atten 1ion of researchers. This t-hesls, atlase study on the power of the American multi- national .cor~orationsinvobed in the production~distributionof . hf. feature films, contributes. to the theory monopoly , 1 .d . , ~anadatoday is the 1arqest importer of ~nierican+ma~s... ' ' media content in the world. 1n*the feature. film Industry, ~hericanfilms doxinate the Canadian screen3. ' The g13bal' pre- , '. emipence of fsuer than ten, large, i;tegrated, multinational media conglomerates based in t'he Unlted dtates has been studled before. But their invasion and occupation of the Canadian feature fil~aarkot has not been subjected to scholarly investi- gat ion. This thesis attempts to fill that qap. - The purpose ~f this thesis is to study historically, the political and econocic processes that have led to Canada's de- pendence on American feature films. The methodolow employed is historical, analytical, and 1 ~Aq~entative.Taped interviews conducted with some prominent spokespersons representing production, distribution and exhibition of feature films in Canada serve to corroborate the data found . .a I in traditional sources and also reveal new information. Two <- d Sets of hypotheses are proposed: 1 (1) The oligoponstic structure of the feature film in- dustry' in Canada an? the monopolisti~cmarket relations e among c P' the dominant Canadian and American .firms have precluded the free b ~arketforces from establishing an indigenous feature film in- \ 1 dustry in Canada. (2) The Canadian government has recognized the. need for a - national film indqstry as.. vehicle to exprCss *and pr&noce Canadiim.culture, *but its 'policies have not a1 t&cd g& - industiy and market domination by American oligopoly firms. , . e - thesis demonstrates that the domiq6"nt American \ companies and the -ant Canadian exhibirtors are integrated by either structural or monopolistic market relationships. The production sector is largely left to independent companies which have no effective access to the Canadian and international distribution'and'exhibition markets. IE is argued that government of Canada's policies have hi~~toricallyprotected the U. S. branch plant distribution/ exhibition sector in Canada due to successful lobbying by the American film industry cartel (the Motion Picture Export Association of America). The present tax write-off policy aimed at shoring up the capitalist production sector may result in a branch plant production sector over-laid on the already existing branch plant distribution/exhibition sector. , The thesis concludes that unless the industry structure is altered by legislation, and a reasonable access for indigenous Canadian films to the nation's screens is secured, the develop- ment of a viable Chadian feature film industry will remain uncertain. T ,,- ,- Two sets of policy measures are proposed to help set the Canadian feature film industry on a firm footing. They are: (1) measures that would assure profitability of Canadian films - / within the domestic market, and (2) measures' \ that would assure * r profitability of Canadian films in the international markets. friend and wife. I Many people helped me throughout! the' development of this thesis. I am partic&rly indebted t Drt Dallas W. Smythe? ' senior supervisor okf my thesis camit ee, kor his guidance, iI encouragement, and critical eval&tio of my research and IiI writing. He was -a source of strengthland inspiration. My heart- I - felt thanks go to the otqmembers 04 the thesis committee-- . Dr. ~illiamH. Melody, Dr..r Evan ~ldersbn-,and Dr. Thwas H. ~ - 3. Guback--for their patience in reading several drafts of the '' . , thesis. Their criticism and prodding helped me sharpen my .> argument. Any errors and omissions are, however, my responsibility. Research of this kind is almost impossible widhout the I, cooperation of individual; in the' industry- and in related . government agencies. The following persons exfended their -. support in my field work: Kirwan Cox of the. Council of Canadian Film Makers, Daniel Weinzweig of the Association of Independent and Canadian Owned Motion Picture .Distributors, C. R. B. Salmon, President of the Canadian Odeon Theatres Ltd., 0 rfillard S. Roth, Executive Director of the Canadian Motion Picture .Distributors Association, D. W. E. Partridge, Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada, and Dinah Hoyle, Arts & Culture Branch, the Secretary of State, govekment of ~anada. I gin: -rely appreciate their assistance. \ f I was financially assisted by the Social Sciences and l~umanitiesResearch Council of Canada, which awarded me a doctoral fellowship for 12 months and a travel grant. The %- x-. Vi L; \ * Dean of Graduaf e Studies and the Department. at Simon Fraser University provided addit ion.al travel .,funds * 3 to complqte the field work. - vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page . ACKNOWLEDPmNTS. ..................... 3 . , - vi Y. LIST OF TABLB ........: ............. ; . xi CHAPTER. I. 'IdTRODUCTIOiJ ............... 1 The Problem ............. .' ....... 9 I Concepts and Definitions ............. 10 Hypotheses .....................~.13 ENDNOTES ....................... 16 A Structural Model of the Americin Feature ~ilm Industry .. , ........... : ...>.. 17 . - The Model ....t ............. 18 Discussion o'f the Model .......... 19 Some Problems in. Data Collection .......... ' 20 Interviews .................... 23 ENDNODS . .................... 24 IV. AMERICAN FEATURE FILi IN~USTRY STRUCTURES AND POLICIES,1906-1978 . .j. ............ 2J 1 The Early Years ................. 2'5 The Motion Picture Patents Company, 1908-15 ... 27 Transition to Vertical Integration ........ 34 Vertical Integration of Production, Distribution, and Exhibition ................ 38 The Great Depression and Recovery ........ 50 The Hays Organization .............. 53 "Conrmunity of Interests" ............. 59 ran sit ion to Media Conglomerates ..; ..... 65 ENDNOTES ..................... 72 viii - - ,I - * 3. - . * r' '---. -\' Chapter . h page d - '& - - '..,