Leading UK industry figures have paid tribute to Stan Fishman, the well-known former chief booker at Odeon Cinemas, who died last week at the age of 96.
“Stan was a great friend, a man whose sense of fair play many of us relied upon at difficult times,” said David Puttnam, the Oscar-winning producer of films including Chariots Of Fire.
Fishman is credited as one of the figures who kept the UK exhibition sector going during the challenging mid-1980s, when annual cinema admissions fell below 55 million. (Only during the Covid year of 2020 have figures ever been lower.)
UK cinemagoing numbers rose sharply in the decade from 1985 until 1995, when he was the chief booker for Odeon.
“In addition to being one of the nicest, most universally respected people I ever met in the film industry, Stan Fishman also played a crucial role in the ’70s and ’80s as ‘chief booker’ at Rank,” said Puttnam. “[He served] as an important moderating influence at a time when the all-powerful EMI/Rank duopoly was exerting its influence in ways that were less than helpful to the ambitions of UK independent producers.”
As an Odeon board member, Fishman fought for added investment in exhibition. According to one source, he was also able to talk Odeon’s owners, the Rank Organisation, out of offloading its flagship West End venue, the Odeon Leicester Square, to a prominent fast food business.
The veteran executive was also widely respected by distributors who regarded him as tough but fair. He was working in a period when there was still “alignment”, where distributors worked exclusively with certain exhibitors, but Fishman was far more flexible and open-minded than many of his peers. He was ready to support independent distributors and producers as well as to work closely with the majors.
“Advice, support and guidance”
Fishman was born in London in 1930. He came into the industry as a teenager, just after the Second World War, working in 1946-47 as a “rewind boy” at the Super Cinema in Clapton Common, and then as an assistant engineer at the Astoria, Finsbury Park.
Employed by Rank’s live show department in the 1960s, Fishman was responsible for booking acts, including the Beatles and Judy Garland, to perform at Odeon and Gaumont venues. Following the 1981 retirement of the controversial George Pinches (notorious for his dislike of films such as Annie Hall and Raging Bull), Fishman was made booking controller at Odeon. He later became the company’s film booking and marketing director, a position he held from 1985 until his own retirement in 1995.
Fishman was president of the Cinema Exhibitions’ Association (now known as the UK Cinema Association) from 1994 to 1999. In 1995, he received the Cinema Expo International Achievement award. Two years later, he was given a CBE for services to the film industry.
“Stan was a hugely important figure in the story of UK cinema, both in terms of his direct actions but also through the advice, support and guidance he gave to so many others,” said Phil Clapp, current chief executive of the UK Cinema Association.
“His lasting legacy is seen throughout our business, from his role as a founder member of the All Industry Marketing Committee – the forerunner of today’s Cinema First – to his role from 1994-1999 as president of the then Cinema Exhibitors’ Association and his later work as president of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (now the Film and Television Charity).
“I was hugely grateful to Stan for his kindness and support when I started at the Association in 2007, a complete newcomer to the intricacies of exhibition but someone who benefited hugely from Stan’s wisdom and guidance in my early years.”
Paul Brett, co-founder of the Studio Group and one of the financiers of the Oscar-winning The King’s Speech, was also fulsome in his praise of Fishman. Early in his career, Brett worked as marketing and publicity manager at Guild Film Distribution, overseeing the release of films including Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves.
“Stan oversaw a period where every year, almost without exception, audiences grew,” Brett said. “He welcomed innovation in marketing. Despite the conservative nature of the Rank Organisation, he was one to embrace the youth audience, and, above all, he was completely passionate about the growth of cinemagoing in the United Kingdom and beyond.”
On social media, Andrew Cripps, head of global distribution at the Walt Disney Company, called Fishman “a wonderful gentleman who knew so much about the business and was not afraid to share his knowledge. A tough but fair negotiator who genuinely loved the film business”.
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