Mark Edward Heuck
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2000
- Messages
- 1,187
I have found myself very frustrated in trying to determine who owns the U.S. DVD rights to Waris Hussein's charming youth drama MELODY, starring Jack Wild and Mark Lester. I am hoping that someone will step forward and clear up the matter.
MELODY was a three-way production of Hemdale, Sagittarius, and Goodtimes Enterprises, released in the U.S. by a small defunct company called Levitt-Pickman. It's last appearance in the U.S. was as a videocassette and CED disc release from Embassy Video. I do not know who was responsible for licensing the title to Embassy, however. I had long believed that MGM owned the movie via their acquisition of the Hemdale library, but they have insisted that they do not have it. Therefore, that leaves two more companies to investigate.
Sagittarius was a short-lived and sporadic producer of films (their last was oddly enough another Hemdale co-production in the '80's - A BREED APART). The bulk of their important films were released by Paramount: CHARLOTTE'S WEB, SEARCH FOR BRIDEY MURPHY, THE OPTIMISTS.
Goodtimes was a company based in the UK run by David Puttnam, and partially financed by the former EMI. They backed PERFORMANCE, LISZTOMANIA, THAT'LL BE THE DAY and STARDUST.
So my hunches are that
A) StudioCanal owns the title via Goodtimes. Now that their deal with Anchor Bay is over, and their current deal with Fox only covers DEG titles, I don't know who would take it on;
B) A few independently made Sagittarius productions were sold off to Viacom in the '70's for television and other non-theatrical exploitation. This could explain the Embassy pickup, as they handled both some Viacom (HIGH RISK, THE WASHINGTON AFFAIR) and Hemdale (SPECIAL EFFECTS) catalog product. Which means that Paramount would have the rights.
Can some kind intrepid sould speak up and say who to pester? Normally I do that sort of thing, and I'm at a loss.
MELODY was a three-way production of Hemdale, Sagittarius, and Goodtimes Enterprises, released in the U.S. by a small defunct company called Levitt-Pickman. It's last appearance in the U.S. was as a videocassette and CED disc release from Embassy Video. I do not know who was responsible for licensing the title to Embassy, however. I had long believed that MGM owned the movie via their acquisition of the Hemdale library, but they have insisted that they do not have it. Therefore, that leaves two more companies to investigate.
Sagittarius was a short-lived and sporadic producer of films (their last was oddly enough another Hemdale co-production in the '80's - A BREED APART). The bulk of their important films were released by Paramount: CHARLOTTE'S WEB, SEARCH FOR BRIDEY MURPHY, THE OPTIMISTS.
Goodtimes was a company based in the UK run by David Puttnam, and partially financed by the former EMI. They backed PERFORMANCE, LISZTOMANIA, THAT'LL BE THE DAY and STARDUST.
So my hunches are that
A) StudioCanal owns the title via Goodtimes. Now that their deal with Anchor Bay is over, and their current deal with Fox only covers DEG titles, I don't know who would take it on;
B) A few independently made Sagittarius productions were sold off to Viacom in the '70's for television and other non-theatrical exploitation. This could explain the Embassy pickup, as they handled both some Viacom (HIGH RISK, THE WASHINGTON AFFAIR) and Hemdale (SPECIAL EFFECTS) catalog product. Which means that Paramount would have the rights.
Can some kind intrepid sould speak up and say who to pester? Normally I do that sort of thing, and I'm at a loss.
