Columbia Pictures Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 23, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 486 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION; LOEW'S, INCOR-
PORATED; PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC.; R. K. O. RADIO PICTURES,
INC.; REPUBLIC PRODUCTIONS, INC.; SAMUEL GOLDWYN PRODUCTIONS,
INC.; TWENTIETH CENTURY-Fox FILMS CORPORATION; UNIVERSAL
PICTURES COIIPANY, INC.; WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES, INC.; HAL
ROACH STUDIOS, INC., EMPLOYERS and SCREEN DIALOGUE ASSISTANTS
GUILD, PETITIONER
Case No. 01-R-3687.-Decided April 23, 1947
O'Melrveny c6 Myers, by Messrs. Homer I. Mitchell and William W.
Alsup, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Employers.
Katz, Gallagher d Margolis, by Mr. Milton S. Tyre, of Los Angeles,
Calif., for the Petitioner.
Miss Eleanor Schwartzbach, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held
at Los Angeles, California, on January 9, 10, 13, 14 and 16, 1947, be-
fore Eugene M. Purver, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. At the hearing the Employers moved to dismiss the petition
on the ground that the unit sought was inappropriate. For reasons
stated in Section IV, infra, the motion is hereby granted.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. TIIE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYERS
Columbia Pictures Corporation, hereinafter called Columbia, a
New York corporation having its principal office and place of busi-
ness in New York City, is engaged in the manufacture of motion pic-
tures at Los Angeles, California. These pictures are distributed, in
part, by Columbia, and in part by distributing companies and li-
censees. During 1943 Columbia purchased approximately 106,000,000
feet of film from dealers in Los Angeles, and spent approximately
$13,600,000 in the production of motion pictures. For the 1942-1943
season, Columbia produced 37 feature length motion pictures and
73 N L. R. B., No. 97
486
COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION 487
made about 6,300 prints of these pictures , of which approximately
5,810 were shipped to points outside the State of California. Columbia
also produced 28 short subjects and made approximately 2,900 prints
of these pictures , of which approximately 2,744 were shipped to points
outside the State of California. The prints and pictures hereinabove
described were distributed by Columbia through its office in New York
City. Columbia holds the stock of various foreign distributing com-
panies and of the following subsidiary corporations : Screen Gems,
Inc., a California corporation, and Columbia Pictures Corporation of
Louisiana, Inc., a Louisiana corporation.
Loew's, Incorporated, hereinafter called Loew's, a Delaware cor-
poration, engaged in the business of producing and distributing
motion pictures, whose principal office is in New York City, oper-
ates studios located in Culver City, California. Loew's produces
more than 30 feature length motion pictures, and a number of car-
toons and short subjects, each year. The prints of these pictures
are distributed throughout the United States and various foreign
countries. Loew's employs many thousands of employees, both in
California and in the State of New York.
Paramount Pictures, Inc., hereinafter called Paramount, is a
corporation engaged in the production, distribution, and exhibi-
tion of motion pictures, having its principal office aiid place of busi-
ness in New York City, and production facilities in Los Angeles,
California. Paramount is a parent company with which are asso-
ciated over 100 subsidiary and affiliated corporations, located both
within and without the United States, which are primarily engaged
in the exhibition of motion pictures. Paramount purchased more
than 40,000,000 feet of film for use in the production of motion pic-
tures during the year 1943, from vendors in Los Angeles. During
the same period, it spent approximately $16,500,000 in the production
bf motion pictures. It produced 29 feature length pictures, of
which approximately 4,500 prints were made, 13 short subjects, of
which about 1,000 prints were made, and 104 issues of news reel, of
which approximately 450 prints were made of each issue. These
prints were distributed by Paramount through a series of exchanges
maintained by it in this country and abroad.
R. K. 0. Radio Pictures, Inc., herein referred to as R. K. 0., a
Delaware corporation, having its principal office in New York City,
operates a studio for the production of motion pictures in Los An-
geles, California. It manufactures in excess of 30 feature length
motion pictures each year. These pictures are distributed through-
out the United States and foreign countries.
Republic Productions, Inc., hereinafter called Republic, a New
York corporation whose principal office is located in New York City,
operates studios for the production of motion pictures in Los Angeles,
488 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
California . It manufactures approximately 26 feature length mo-
tion pictures per year. The pictures are distributed throughout the
United States and foreign countries.
Samuel Goldwyn Productions , Inc., is a corporation engaged in
the business of producing motion pictures at Los Angeles, California.
During the year 1946 , it produced two motion pictures . It pur-
chases substantial amounts of raw materials , equipment and supplies,
and large quantities of such purchases are made outside the State of
California.
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation , hereinafter called
Twentieth Century, is a New York corporation engaged in the pro-
duction and distribution of motion pictures , having its principal
place of business in New York City, and also maintaining a place of
business in Los Angeles , California . During the year 1943, Twen-
tieth Century purchased several million feet of positive and negative
film, the greater proportion of which was purchased within the State
of California from suppliers who obtained the film from sources out-
side the State of California . During the same period , it spent more
than $20,000 ,000 in the production of motion pictures ; produced ap-
proximately 40 feature length pictures, and had over 10,000 prints
made of all its pictures. Only a small proportion of these prints
were shipped from its place of business in the State of California
to points outside the State, inasmuch as most of such prints were
made in the State of New York and distributed from there. It em-
ploys approximately 3,500 production employees in its studios at
Los Angeles.
Universal Pictures Company, Inc., hereinafter called Universal,
a Delaware corporation, whose principal office is in New York City,
and whose studio is located at Universal City, Los Angeles County,
California, is engaged in the production of motion pictures, which are
distributed principally by Universal Film Exchanges, Inc. The raw
film used by Universal in the production of motion pictures is shipped
from New York to Universal City, where motion picture negatives are
made. The majority of such negatives are then shipped to Fort Lee,
New Jersey , where positive prints are made. The prints are dis-
tributed from the laboratory in New York to various points through-,
out the United States for the purpose of exhibition in motion picture
theatres . Universal produces more than 30 feature length motion
pictures and a number of short subjects during each calendar year.
There is a constant flow in interstate commerce of the prints made of
such pictures.
Warner Brothers Pictures , Inc., hereinafter called Warner, is a
Delaware corporation whose principal office and place of business is
in New York City. Its principal studio is located at Burbank, Cali-
fornia, where it employs more than 3,000 employees , not including
COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION 489
those employed on a daily basis. It distributes its motion pictures
through Vitagraph, Inc., a subsidiary corporation, which maintains
,exchanges in 31 cities throughout the United States. Warner usually
produces over 30 feature length pictures each year at its Burbank
studio. During the year ending August 27, 1943, it spent in excess
of $19,000,000 on the production of motion pictures., Some of its pic-
tures are printed in California, and others are printed in New York
from master negatives shipped from California for the purpose of
printing and distribution. The pictures are distributed throughout
the United States and foreign countries.
Hal Roach Studios, Inc., herein referred to as Roach, is a California
corporation engaged in the production, sale, and distribution of
motion pictures. During the year 1946 it produced four motion
pictures.
Only the studios of the Employers 1 which are located in California
are involved in this proceeding.
The Employers admit and we find that they are engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a single unit of all persons employed by the
Employers to assist the director in dialogue direction, excluding, how-
ever, any person who does so only as an incident of his employment
in another classification. The Employers contend that the unit sought
by Petitioner is inappropriate because not ail the Employers use
dialogue directors,' there is great variance in the duties and working
conditions of dialogue directors, and in many cases the functions of
dialogue directors overlap the functions of employees employed in
other job classifications.
All of the Employers herein, except Loew's and Roach, utilize the
services of dialogue directors in approximately half of the pictures
produced by them. Dialogue directors are generally hired at the re-
quest of the director, the star of the picture, or the producer. Some
directors, as a matter of personal preference, will not use dialogue
directors in their pictures. In cases where dialogue directors are not
employed, their functions are performed by persons as incident to their
employment in other job classifications.
The duties and functions of dialogue directors vary not only among
the different Employers, but also among dialogue directors employed
1 The Employers herein are commonly known as the major studios.
8 In the record dialogue directors are also referred to as dialogue assistants.
490 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
by any one Employer. The dialogue directors employed by Colum-
bia, Warner, and Twentieth Century, are in fact apprentices being
trained to become directors, and the various duties required of them
relate to the purpose of their employment. If it appears that they will
not make satisfactory directors, their services are terminated and they
are not reemployed as dialogue directors. The other Employers do
not hire dialogue directors for such training. In all cases where
dialogue directors are employed, their actual functions and duties de-
pend on the director of the picture on which they are working. Conse-
quently there is little consistency in the work done by dialogue direc-
tors, or in their working conditions. The primary function of a dia-
logue director is to see that the actors and actresses know their lines
before the film is made. This function, however, may be, and often is,
performed by other employees from the director and assistant director
down to and including the script clerk. Duties given to dialogue
directors depend on the requirements and wishes of the individual
directors. The scope of this assistance may vary from seeing that
the actors and actresses know their lines to teaching them how to act.
The basis upon which dialogue directors are employed also differs
both with a particular Employer and from Employer to Employer.
They may be hired on a contract basis, on a week-to-week basis, or on
a free-lance basis for a particular picture. The salary range of dia-
logue directors is from approximately $75 to $500 a week, depending
on many factors.
In view of all the evidence presented in this case, we are of the
opinion that dialogue directors employed by the Employers do not
constitute such a homogeneous, identifiable, and functionally coherent
group as to justify their inclusion for bargaining purposes in one bar-
gaining unit.3
We, therefore, conclude and find that dialogue directors employed
by the Employers do not constitute an appropriate unit for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of the Act.
ORDER
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives of employees of Columbia Pictures Corpora-
tion, Loew's Incorporated, Paramount Pictures, Inc., and R. K. O.
Radio Pictures, Inc., Los Angeles, California ; Republic Productions,
Tile., North Hollywood, California; Samuel Goldwyn Productions,
Inc., and Twentieth Century-Fox Films Corporation, Los Angeles,
California; Universal Pictures Company, Inc., Universal City, Cali-
fornia; Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., Burbank, California ; and Hal
Roach Studios, Inc., Culver City, California, filed by Screen Dialogue
Assistants Guild, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
3 Matter of Triangle Publications , Inc., 40 N. L. R. B. 1330.