A LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN by Peter M. Bracke

If there is one question asked more often than any other about DVD sites in general, it is how title announcements and news is obtained and why studios chose the titles they do. Though not often talked about within the industry, there is often an invisible barrier between the consumer and the content suppliers' decision-making policies in regards to DVD, and how title information is distributed to web sites, retailers, print publications and other members of the press.

So, DVDFILE.COM would like to take a brief moment to illuminate a bit how such information is disseminated, and how we here approach delivering it to you. So gather around the fire, kiddies, we've got a story to tell.

"Scouring The Vaults"

"Hello, this is the assistant to the assistant to the second junior vice-president of Marketing. I know nobody wants a fifth disc in the ALIEN box, but we have to get the set out in time to cross-promote for Star Wars, or it'll be your head, not mine!"

- Anonymous Studio Marketing Person                

Though all studios are different, generally a person or group of people decide on what titles to release when based on a number of factors. Box office receipts, sales versus rental potential, cross-promotion opportunities, talent involvement, the current state of the DVD market, installed player base demographics and many more such issues all come into play (and though we don't often understand or agree with the decisions that are eventually made, this is what studio executives get paid to do.)

Once titles are considered and agreed upon, and a time frame proposed, there are still a number of factors involved in getting a title produced, and a host of issues that can prevent such title from ever seeing the light of day. Once a title is put into production, usually the film elements are pulled, and the archives checked for any additional materials that are available. There can be a multitude of problems with these elements that can delay, postpone or even cancel a hoped-for release. Bad prints, missing soundtracks, or licensing issues are often the main culprits, but certainly not the only ones.

Further, especially on older titles, there are often rights issues regarding song rights, advertising materials and talent contracts, to name a few, that can affect a DVD release (especially since many contracts did not include DVD when originally signed.) For example, pre-1980's, it was not uncommon for studios to forego rights clearances to use songs in a home video or DVD release, simply because home video and DVD didn't exist! A good example of this is the film Heavy Metal, which had its home video release tied up for years due to song clearances. This is also why on some older home video releases you will see "Home Video Version - Some Music Rescored" or a similar disclaimer. In those cases, because song clearances could not be obtained, different selections were used as replacements. Whether songs have to be renegotiated or replaced, or there is some other snafu in licensing, it takes time and costs a lot of money...

"Signing Off On The Deal"

"I know you already replicated the disc, but I don't think you photographed me on my best side on submenu #142. Could you please airbrush that pimple off my face? Thanks."

- Anonymous Mega-Star                

Also of note is the fact that often talent or other production companies have control or "sign-off" on a title or titles. A well-known example would be the Star Wars films (perhaps you've heard of them). Though many complain about "that damn Fox' not releasing them on DVD, it is really up to Lucasfilm, who owns those titles. Fox is merely the distributor, and let's face it, who do you think wears the pants in that relationship? Such problems also happens when two major studios co-produce a film, and one may have domestic (US) distribution rights, while another has overseas rights. Titanic is a good example of this, whereas Paramount has US release rights and Fox the International. So, not only do you have one studio to deal with as far as a DVD, but two. And would you be surprised to learn that such big corporations don't always see eye to eye?

Another major factor in producing a DVD is talent. Especially with the "big names," they often have very, very strict contracts in regards to how their likenesses are portrayed on box art and, now with newfangled DVD technology, menu screens. And don't think directors and producers also don't have input into this. Titles such as 1941 and ALIENS have all had elements of their discs repeatedly sent out for approval and sent back as unacceptable. Often, directions on what to change and not to change are vague at best. Worst case scenarios are discs completed and pressed that subsequently have to be recalled. The Little Shop Of Horrors disc is a good example, where the rights to the alternate ending included turned out not to belong to Warner, who released the disc, and thus it had to be pulled.

"Modes Of Dissemination"

"Don't worry, all new title information goes out at the same time...no one will get it before anyone else."

- Anonymous PR Person                             

As a title is successfully navigating the waters of DVD production, marketing departments are often busy preparing for its subsequent release. It is the job of these folks to sell the products to all the retailers and wholesalers across the country, ensuring the discs actually gets into consumers' hands.

This is where some of the confusion about title announcements comes in. Converse to marketing departments, which deal with the sales end, PR (Public or Press Relations) departments are set up to handle the release of new title news to the media. But, why have two separate departments to handle title announcements? Good question, and one, quite frankly, we don't have a full answer for. (Though, of course, PR departments certainly handle far more than just DVD press releases.)

The way it works is that the studio marketing departments draft up their always-evolving release plans many months in advance (don't think for a minute the studios don't have a preliminary Christmas 1999 schedule already mapped out). Then they issue "solicitation reports" (i.e, this is our stuff, please buy lots of 'em) to retailers and wholesalers. Usually, these can come out anywhere from mere hours to a month or more before the press releases come out via the PR department. Of course, most PR folks assure the press that all this information is released simultaneously or very close together. Well, quite frankly, it isn't. In fact, hardly ever.

"Peeling Back The Onion"

"Hey, no fair! That other site got it first!"

                          - Anonymous Webmaster

So, now I'd like to peel back a layer or two of the onion that makes all us webmasters and journalists cry. The fact of the matter is, if you are related to a retailer or wholesaler, or can get a line in to the marketing departments and solicitation reports, you can get information ahead of the press releases. There is no big secret to much of the early title news you read, and more often than not, "scoops" don't always come from hours and hours of hard sleuthing, just contacts within the retailer or wholesaler world.

Of course, this all begs the question, is this fair to non-retail connected web sites? Well, probably not. It should be noted that this system of information distribution was set up before the advent of the Internet as a major informational resource. Print publications generally have deadlines and don't distribute news "24/7." Rival publications receiving press materials hours or days apart generally is not as problematic due to the fact nothing can be printed before the deadline anyway (not to say there still isn't release problems even in the print world).

In the web sector, there is no such thing as a deadline (just when you have to sleep). And quite frankly, none of the studios, or anyone else for that matter, has quite yet understood nor even often confronted the important distinctions between print and web news sources. But, they probably should. Because like it or not, especially with DVD, more and more consumers everyday are turning to the Internet over traditional print delivery methods.

Let's face it, we've all seen retailer sites that list titles well before the press release ever appears, due to the fact they received marketing solicitations for their business, not PR materials. And woe be any site that attempts to track changes in releases or upkeep a database (gulp)...sorry, but PR releases are rarely released for street date changes or alterations, if at all. And as much as PR departments say "the information is not confirmed," in our experience (and from extensive notetaking over the past year) solicitation information is 90% to 95% accurate. If it was so "unconfirmed," would they really entrust it to sell their products to retailers who also have to plan their buys months in advance?

The defense of the old paradigm of separate marketing and PR releases is that marketing information is not meant for consumers. However, on the web, these retail outlets are also consumer-accessible. Often, these retailers also support or run their own consumer news sites, and non-retailer owned sites (including this one) are often sponsored by retailers exclusively. Indeed, the line between consumer and industry-accessible is blurred, even nonexistent, on the web.

"I'll Take A Happy Meal To Go, But I Want The Darth Maul Action Figure, Not Jar Jar"

"What do you mean, Braveheart isn't coming out? What happened!?"

                                                   - Anonymous Reader

The solution to all this? In our eyes, save some trees and finally dispense with the old-fashioned snail-mail press release (or at least get with modern technology and email it, geesh.) Or, better yet, the studios should simply create their own password-protected press sites with marketing/press information that everyone, retailer, print and web sources alike, can gather their title lists from. Then, it would be up to individual web sites and print media to disseminate the information for their readers in whatever form they want, whether it be periodic updates, a monthly magazine or a database. No more need for phone calls, paper trails or complaints. And, instead of spending our time chasing rumors or attempting to "one up" other sites for news because the press releases are dated and ultimately worthless, we could concentrate on the real and credible news studios and readers would like us to print, with "scoops" that result from hard work and real reporting, not simply who has the biggest retailer behind them. So, everyone gets their Happy Meal with the Darth Maul figure, and no one gets stuck with Jar Jar.

Of course, since this seems to make sense to us, it will probably never happen. In the meantime, many of the problems with web sites and "rumors" will continue, which in turn PR departments complain about having to deal with after they are printed on web sites. To be fair, though web sites (this one included) have propagated rumors in the past, and some of it is crap, much does comes from marketing reports and sources, which the PR departments won't confirm, even though it is usually true. And, of course, PR departments often purposely lie and say something "isn't real" only to announce it the next day, if only because if they didn't, they'd probably have to admit there would be no purpose for them to exist in the first place. (This is not to say PR departments don't work hard and are not invaluable. Just that, surprise, big corporations often have many levels of overlapping duties that could be streamlined or eliminated.)

So, in the end, the Internet news community continues to fight for credibility while the studios, manufacturers and DVD industry as a whole struggles to understand and adapt to the changing face of information delivery. The question that hangs in the balance is just how far will the we go to unearth the latest "scoop," and if the important issue of what is fact and what is fiction. Hopefully, the valuable resources of online DVD and general news sites won't cross so far over those boundaries that we can't pull ourselves back.

If you would like to know more about how the DVD industry works, visit our Special Reports section for more behind-the-scenes stories. If you would like more information on DVDFILE.COM's policies and how we handle title news and rumors, visit our Site Stuff folder.