The "TV on DVD conference".... (1 Viewer)

[Casey Trowbridg]

I thought that Down the Shore was on for 2 seasons, but I did some checking and nope, just 1. Anyway the point is,

I would so buy that show on DVD.

Another benefit of TV on DVD, is it reminded me of just how cheesy Saved by the Bell was. I mean, I enjoy that show, but probably not for the reasons its creators intended.

Well, I'm going to try and submit down the shore to TVShowsOnDvd.com as I don't see it listed.

 

[Randy A Salas]

I don't think the Artisan exec wasn't getting the full picture when he insisted that the children's market is still a VHS one.

He noted that Artisan shipped many more copies of Barbie in Swan Lake on DVD than VHS, but that actual sales of the two formats were split 50/50.

 

[David Lambert]

Casey, the submission process has been broken for a while. Gord is working on fixing it. I just made sure Down The Shore was available at the site, though. Go vote for it!


Joe, I'm not surprised that you thought of the same type of idea as I did. It's not too hard to come up with, if you're a fan and you want the show. I think the idea might have escaped the studios, though, because crossovers aren't something that are on their mind too much.


Mike, way back when Gord invited me to help beta-test his site, he asked me to put that in my profile as my homepage to help spread word about the site. So it's Gord's fault that I misled you. :wink:


Randy, I think it's funny that Artisan's example was that DVDs sold as well as VHS on the title he brings up, yet he claims that VHS is still the way to go. Now that Best Buy has joined Circuit City in eliminating all VHS from their stores, and that Borders is joining them with other chains considering the move, I wonder how long he will hold to that position. Mmmmm, probably only until Lion's Gate buys them out later this year.

My own son is five, has his own personal CD boombox for a year now, and has been able to load up the DVD player (3 different ones in the house he can reach) and work the controls since he was 3. Whatever.

 

[Scott_J]

Randy, I think it's funny that Artisan's example was that DVDs sold as well as VHS on the title he brings up, yet he claims that VHS is still the way to go.

In actual numbers, they sold as well. But from Artisan's standpoint, VHS sold better. Throwing arbitrary numbers into the situation as an example: Say Artisan shipped 1 million DVD and 500,000 VHSs. They sold 250,000 of each format. That's 50% of the VHSs that they shipped, but only 25% of DVDs. Don't you think after seeing those imaginary numbers, the imaginary Artisan exec would say "Next kids video we sell, ship more VHSs and less DVDs"?

 

[David Lambert]

Agreed that in this case the Return on Investment was better for Artisan on VHS. But that's RoI, not raw sales. VHS in your example didn't "sell" better, it "performed" better.

So a studio decides that DVD is going to outperform VHS on a title, makes twice as many DVDs as they do VHSs on that title, and then both DVD and VHS sell equally well. Saying that the format to go with is still VHS is a vast oversimplification of the situation. There's more to it than Barbie, I'm sure.


In any case, it's not worth debating more than this; as long as the DVD version is still available then I personally have no worries. I'm sure Artisan is aware that there are households that have eliminated VHS entirely, and that the number of those are growing every day.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Agreed that in this case the Return on Investment was better for Artisan on VHS. But that's RoI, not raw sales. VHS in your example didn't "sell" better, it "performed" better.

Actually it may not even have performed better in terms of RoI. Since we don't know how much the initial investment was in either case we can't judge. We do know this, however - DVDs are much cheaper to replicate that VHS tapes. So unless the initial authoring/mastering costs on Barbie were outrageous, chances are a million DVDs would cost much less that what 500,000 tapes cost to manufacture, pack, warehouse and ship. If they sold 250,000 in each format for comparable wholesale prices (and thus "wasted" 250,000 of each) the loss they took on the VHS tapes is a lot higher. So even on the basis of RoI (if the above assumptions are correct) Artisan still did better on the DVDs than on the VHS tapes.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Mark Zimmer]

On the two-part story issue, we've already had a slew of these with Buffy and Angel, but I suppose fans who are buying one of these series are probably buying them both anyway. Wouldn't the same hold true for Law & Order and Law & Order:SVU? I've never seen either show so I don't know how similar they are.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, there other issues - the Buffy/Angel crossovers really stand apart very well; each episode is self-contained (or as much as they can be on such serialized shows), whereas the Law & Order/SVU/Homicide crossovers were very much the "starts on one show, finishes on the other type". Also, at the rate Universal is releasing L&O (heck, even if they move up to a box every four months), it'll be years before Law & Order catches up to the shows it crossed over with.

 

[Chuck L]

Any word on forthcoming releases from Columbia from the series that they have already begun at this?

Like:

Charlie's Angels seasons two through five
Good Times season two
The Jefferson's season three

Also would be nice for a classic show like "Bewitched" to get a season by season release...(hopefuly with the forthcoming movie, this will be happening...)

Warner: "Wonder Woman" (again, maybe if they ever get the movie off the ground this will happen in the states...), not even going to get started on the animated projects from them that I would love to see...

And Paramount:
If you can get music rights and such figured out for "Happy Days," the same should be done with it's sister show "Laverne and Shirley," there are no excuses.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Alright, I'm back in business!

The conference was great, not only because it brought me to LA, but because it gave me the opportunity to meet people I haven't met before, like Randy and some of the studio people.

It's been mentioned before, but I'll mention it again; this was an industry event so very few announcements were made. The studios don't want to tell each other what they're working on because those other people are their competition. I was surprised by Paramount's presentation. I spoke to Martin about it later and he said those are titles that could be released in 2004-2005. All the other companies showed products that they had already released, or they didn't show anything at all.

Music licensing was discussed a lot during the conference. No one had any solutions, but everyone knew it was the largest issue facing TV product coming to DVD.

My panel was a lot of fun. I was quite nervious to start, but quickly chilled out. Some of the studio people were taking jabs at each other, which was entertaining.

I think most of the news from the conference has already been reported by us, or by Randy, or possibly in one of the other articles on the conference. I found the kid titles session pretty interesting. I know in one of the other threads on HTF people were complaining about SpongeBob titles, figuring that the studio was double-dipping by releasing random episodes and then a season set. Martin explained that the random episode releases were aimed at children (one popular episode with other episodes thrown in) while the season set was geared towards adult fans. While nothing was said at the conference about other animated sets being released as seasons, I think it's safe to say that we'll see more titles being released this way, but it's still possible that random episode titles will also be released since the studios view them as different types of customers that will purchase them.

I didn't spend a lot of time asking questions, instead I focused my attention on making contacts so I could ask questions later. There was networking time, but it was 30 mins here, and 30 mins there so I had to maximize my time.

It was also cool to talk to Seth MacFarlane in person. He's a really nice, approachable guy. I think the sales of the DVDs have really helped him in the eyes of the studio.

On Thursday I took a tour of the Warner Bros studio. They offer 2 different tours; a 2 hour ($32) tour and a 5-6 hour ($95) tour. Guess which one I took It was REALLY interesting because we were able to see quite a lot of the studio and some behind-the-scenes areas. We saw them record foley for a TV show, saw the scoring stage, watched them mix down an episode of "The West Wing," saw the Drew Carey sets, another sitcom (I can't remember the name), Gilmore Girls sets, the backlots, the prop department, backdrops, a MASSIVE printer that does the huge banners for advertising movies and the costume department. I'd recommend the tour to anyone from the forum. I suspect the 2 hour tour would be done mainly from the carts, with a short trip in to see one of the sitcom sets, and that's about it. They have limited space, and there's only 1 tour a day, so you'll want to call ahead to make a reservation.

Any questions? Ask away....
Gord
P.S. Catching cabs in LA when the buses are on strike sucks!!!

 

[DeathStar1]

I would so buy Down the Shore on DVD.
>>

Almost forgot about this show. Although it would be much more effective if they revived it, and actually shot it AT the Jersey Shore itself....

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

season sets (or, at least, multidisc collections) of HR Pufnstuf and The Land of the Lost are planned for next year.

I do hope Rhino gets their shit together for these, and don't spend more time on the menus than a proper presentation of the shows themselves. Pufnstuf isn't that long to begin with, and both should be, if not in season sets, at least in chronolgical order.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

David, thanks for the info. It wasn't listed when I tried to vote last night, so I submitted it, but now based on what you said, I'm off to vote for it.

Gord, thanks for the update on the conference. That tour sounds interesting.

 

[Paul Drake]

Gord,

Thanks for the update (and for all you do with your endeavors). Was anything said about trying to obtain the right balance between "new" shows and "classic" shows or if older shows will be visited? I realize that no annoucements were made, but it seems that there is a huge potential market in "Classic TV on DVD".

Thanks.

 

[Gord Lacey]

I wouldn't say there's a huge market for classic shows, but there's a market for them. I don't think we'll ever see an older TV release in the top 10 bestselling TV releases, but hey...I'd love to be proven wrong.

I think a lot of people keep forgetting how new the TV on DVD thing is. 2003 saw a lot of newer shows, and some older ones. I think 2004 will have a lot more older stuff, more than in 2003. Just look at some of the stuff already mentioned:

Lost in Space
Gilligan's Island
Kung Fu

I found it interesting that Paramount really didn't have any newer stuff in their reel. Yes, Voyager and JKX were on there, but I didn't mention them because we know they are coming. The rest of the stuff was all older material.

Newer shows are easier to sell because the shows are fresh in people's minds, but the older ones can be forgotten by many.

Please read the lines below and think long and hard about it. It's one of the most important things I'll say:

If you see an older show you want, buy it. If these old shows don't sell well then the releases will stop.

I know some people want to wait and see if the studio will continue releasing the shows before they commit to purchasing them, but this action kills the chance of the series being continued. Were you one of the ones waiting for Larry Sanders Season 2 before you bought Season 1? Guess what, sales of Season 1 were low and Season 2 will never be released. What about Mary Tyler Moore Season 2? Nope...not gonna happen.

There will be shows that don't see releases past season 1. As consumers, or people that run websites, it's up to us to throw our support behind each and every release of classic TV shows so we can see the full run on DVD. If like the show and want to see it continue on DVD, buy season 1 when it's released, don't sit on the fence and thing about it.

So Paul, to answer your question, we'll see a lot more older shows in 2004.

Gord

 

[David Von Pein]

What about Mary Tyler Moore Season 2? Nope...not gonna happen.

Unbelievable. Absolutely ridiculous.
I know it didn't sell well, but it's still absolutely ridiculous to stop cold turkey after S.1 of one of the most popular, endearing, and highly-honored situation comedies of all time. Tsk, Tsk! :frowning:

I cannot fathom in a billion years HOW it's even semi-possible that some of these things coming out on the DVD format could possibly sell more than a smattering of copies ... i.e.: Xena: Warrior Princess (for one). Let alone MULTIPLE season sets of Xena!

But...there's (obviously) no accounting for taste.

:frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

 

[Matt_H]

anybody know if the'll ever relaese tales from the crypt on dvd? a far as i know the robert zemekis one is its only release

 

[David Von Pein]

What about Mary Tyler Moore Season 2? Nope...not gonna happen.

WHY can't FOX try another tack instead of just trashing the whole MTM franchise, such as re-releasing Season 1 in a "smaller dose" version (such as a 3-discer without the 4th disc of extras) and drop the MSRP accordingly?

Then, when that 3-disc set sells (and it will)...then we could see future boxes (in extra-less form). After a huge 87-minute documentary feature on the S.1 set, I can't really think of very much that FOX could put as extras on subsequent seasons anyway. (Except some Promos and Commentaries, which I'd gladly live without in order to get the episodes.)

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Gord, I agree with what you said regarding how we should aproach these older shows. For instance, Jan 13, Green Acres is mine, and I'm not waiting for an announcement of season 2 before I buy it. I bought MTM on or around release date, and even though they're not going to come out with season 2, I'm still glad to have S. 1. Although, I've got to say, I would gladly buy bare bones sets of MTM s. 2-7. This is why I have 2 seasons of the Jeffersons, 3 of Sanford and Son and 2 of All in the Family. Hey by the way, when can we expect All in the Family season 3? No...I'm just kidding, I've already had that question answered and put it there as a joke knowing how many times it gets asked.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I know it didn't sell well, but it's still absolutely ridiculous to stop cold turkey after S.1

Yeah, what the hell's the matter with Fox? What are they in the DVD business for anyway, to make money or something? They should continue to release MTM, even if they lose money on it because - well... because I want them to.

*sigh*

There's a reason it's called show business, kids. Like others have said, the flip side of "if you build it, they will come" is "if they don't come, stop building it. There's no point in making a damned fool of yourself" If a studio releases S1 of a series and not enough people buy it they will stop. They would be idiots not to. They would be wasting their shareholders money, and they owe a good deal more accountability to their shareholders then they do to people who happen to like - but refuse to buy - their shows.

Regards,

Joe