WB ORDERS FILMING OF NEW DS PILOT

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, DCP doesn't own the pilot, so I doubt they could pursue any action. And it seems that the copyright has  switched from WB to MPI, at least for the version of the pilot that was uploaded to YouTube. So it would appear that IF anyone was going to pursue other action, it would be MPI...

[Uncle Roger]

As I said earlier, curiouser and curiouser.

[michael c]

as predicted earlier it's been taken down. apparently by MPI.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Yes - and the main implication of that is quite interesting and potentionally quite exciting...

[michael c]

there's been a lot of posting on FB that MPI has no "ownership" or any other "rights" to the 2004 property. that's it's owned by WB.

so i'm not sure under what authority they were able to have this removed? it's been my understanding they ONLY maintain rights to the OS. 91, 04 and 12 (and the 70/71 films) are not their properties. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I seriously doubt YouTube would have said the video was taken down due to MPI Media Group's copyright claim if it isn't the case that they own the copyright to at least the version of the pilot that was uploaded to YouTube. Once we realized the version on YouTube isn't the same version that's been shown at the Fests, it certainly begged questions that we've brought up in this topic. But as I posted the other day, at least two of those questions have quite possibly been answered, as in 1) where did the YouTube version of the pilot come from, and 2) who edited it?

"Copyright claim by MPI Media Group"?! Now that's fascinating and rather unexpected - and it changes everything!! It would certainly seem to lend credence to the possibility that the pilot really will be coming out as part of the new MPI DVD. It would also seem to imply that you know who is the one who edited it...

I mean, why/how else would MPI own the copyright to the YouTube version unless they have plans for it, and given the business they're in, those plans are quite probably to issue that version on DVD? And it's hardly a secret who puts together a great deal of the content for the MPI DVDs. So, what I said could be a plausible theory...

[Gothick]

I agree, MB.  I'm wondering if there is going to be any publicity around the new DVD release or if it will just appear on various online shopping outlets at some point.  I seem to recall really minimal advance pub for some of the recent issues.

G.

[michael c]

the market for a failed pilot has got to be pretty minimal. but i suppose DS has a fanatically devoted fanbase so it's a relatively small but captive audience.

and since it's just been sitting in a vault somewhere collecting dust for the last 13 years i guess taking in any revenue from it is better than none. and we're obviously past the point of there being any expectations for a "sequel" or "franchise" coming out of the Burton/Depp iteration so perhaps that's no longer an issue.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, I meant it would likely in some way be a part of the MPI DVD release that's been announced but seems to have been delayed for some reason (though it's hardly the first one to get delayed). But we haven't really gotten much info on that release other than it's coming, so who knows?

[The Doctor and K9]

the market for a failed pilot has got to be pretty minimal. but i suppose DS has a fanatically devoted fanbase so it's a relatively small but captive audience.

At the Festival there were a number of videos that were shown under the umbrella title "Dark Shadows-Lost and Found." This included the pilot and "The House" by Art Wallace. The last time something like this occured there was a DVD released called "Dark Shadows-Bloopers and Treasures." I suspect that there will be a video entitled "Dark Shadows-Lost and Found." I also recall Pierson mentioning a documentary in the works. I don't know if this was intended to be part of the same release. It all seems to point to a new DVD of odds and ends soon.

[Uncle Roger]

Indeed, it is a small market. But MPI has managed to milk that audience for numerous repackaging
Of the same episodes, first by VHS,  then DVD, with and without coffin. Sales will probably be respectable on this as well.

[Gerard]

If whomever decides to finally put this on a DVD and try to sell it, an uncompleted, chopped up pilot, how many are going to buy it?  Maybe a few thousands.  Okay, so that's money.  And it'll be bought out quickly and that's the end.  Put it out for free on youtube or elsewhere for free, and garnish hundreds-of-thousands, if not more hits and introduce hundreds-of-thousands, if not more to the franchise and expand it. 

What if that guy who invented the "snuggy" (that blanket with arm attachments) insisted that anyone who talked about his invention and spread the word either give him money for talking about it or being threatened into prison did that?  Where would he be?  Not a multi-millionaire in his mid-twenties who just sits back and doesn't have to work another day in his life. 

The whole DS franchise-holders, from DCP, to MPI, to you-know-wh...oh, let's just say it, JIM Pierson, needs to wake up.  The DS franchise is dying.  DCP, MPI and you-know-who-Jim Pierson better get off their narcissistic thrones and realize they're slitting their own throats.  You want money?  Fine.  No one is denying you trying to get that.  It won't happen while you lock up anything DS and won't let anyone watch it unless you get money right now.  Ain't gonna happen.  "Marketers" like Jim Pierson don't know diddly about marketing.  Time for DS to "clear the swamp." 

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If whomever decides to finally put this on a DVD and try to sell it, an uncompleted, chopped up pilot, how many are going to buy it?  Maybe a few thousands.  Okay, so that's money.  And it'll be bought out quickly and that's the end.  Put it out for free on youtube or elsewhere for free, and garnish hundreds-of-thousands, if not more hits and introduce hundreds-of-thousands, if not more to the franchise and expand it.

The thing is, though, that the version on YouTube was no longer uncompleted - it's much more completed than what fans have seen at the Fests and what the WB saw in '04 because someone (yes, in all probability Pierson) has made a point to add some stuff in and take some stuff out. And chances are if MPI is planning to sell that version, it will be packaged with other DS material and not sold on its own. Though you make a good point that while it's basically diehard DS fans such as ourselves who are buying the latest DVD releases, and thus not exactly expanding the fanbase, the edited version of the pilot might have gotten more attention had it been left up on YouTube - especially if the fans of, say, Jessica Chastain and/or Matt Czuchry got wind it had been uploaded. But sadly, quite obviously that's not the way things are going to play...

[Gerard]

Aaargh, MB!  Some stuff was added on the youtube and some stuff taken out from what was shown of the version at festivals?  What's going on?  And, possibly, Jim Pierson was somehow involved?  When is this going to end?  How many of us does he think are still around?  How long does he and other in the control tower going to think this is going to keep their lights on?  Let's face it.  Jim Pierson face it.  This isn't Star Trek.  It's not going to make more stuff to make more money unless the franchise expands into more people.  No one who's ever heard of DS is going to pay money to hear of it.  Mr. Pierson, you need someone to shake you into reality.  Stop kissing other people's patoots.  Kick their patoots.  I wish he'd see this and e-mail me.

Gerard

[michael c]

i really don't know how marketable the pilot is on it's own. didn't someone suggest it might be included in a larger package of DS "oddities" like The House and a few other odds and ends? to me that seems more plausible given how the company has marketed things in the past.