Columbia Pictures Corp.

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.