Well, dear readers, heavenly shades of night are falling, it’s Twilight Time – that was one of my favorite songs when I was a wee sprig of a twig of a tad of a lad of a youth. And now, not only is it a classic song, it’s the name of a brand spanking new DVD label that will be issuing some pretty terrific films from the Fox catalog. The brainchild of our very own Mr. Nick Redman and his pal Brian Jamieson, Twilight Time’s first release has just come out – John Huston’s The Kremlin Letter. Most studios have completely given up on DVD, which is indeed in the twilight time of its lifespan. Studios like Warners are doing a lot of catalog titles but not as pressed DVDs, but as DVDRs, basically video on demand, where they print up copies only to fill whatever orders they have. But Twilight Time has taken a leaf from what has become a lucrative business model – limited edition CDs – and that’s what they’re doing with their releases, each of which will be limited to 3000 copies only. It’s a risky venture this late in the game, but they are banking on the hope that there are enough passionate collectors of catalog titles who will appreciate and buy these pressed DVDs – for those kinds of film lovers, this will be manna from heaven, as the releases include a lot of really desirable titles, all making their DVD debut. Most will have some extras – for example, The Kremlin Letter has an isolated score track (many of these will), which is a lot more than you get from those video on demand titles. Since I know that we have many dear readers and many dear lurkers who are the perfect audience for this venture, I wanted to get the word out loud and clear and also clear and loud. So, I’ll be talking about the specific releases as I see them, and I can only tell you that since I know what many of the upcoming releases are, I am very excited to see some of these. The DVDs will be available exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment (SAE for short – www.screenarchives.com), a very friendly company (who is Kritzerland’s biggest dealer and one of the reasons we’re still around). So, if you’re a fan of classic cinema or the obscure or the wild and the wonderful, I think Twilight Time will be the label for you. I will keep you all up to date about new releases and believe me when I tell you that some of you are going to be very happy campers with certain titles.
And now – the notes. And now – Dino at the piano. And now we return you to those thrilling days of yesteryear or, to be more specific, yesterday, a day that was a little better than the previous day, although the previous day’s problems are still problems and yesterday brought its own new problems, but ones that I dealt with swiftly and calmly without losing my cool or my temper and I was very proud of myself. I did manage to get a little over nine hours of sleep, and if I can do that over the course of a couple more nights I’ll probably be feeling my oats and I do hope my oats will reciprocate by feeling me. Once I was up, I made sure the helper was shipping the rest of the CDs out, as well as a few bigger orders. I think we’re almost finally through the fallout from the interim helpers, so that is a very good thing. I then had to go to the tape transfer place, where I listened to various and sundried tapes. One set of tapes turned out to be just what I was hoping for and that was thrilling – music to one of the best horror films ever made, and a personal favorite of mine. Some of the music has been available before, but sounding quite bad and certainly not complete – that release was taken from a substandard 7½-inch tape. The tapes I found are 15ips and are first generation and sound absolutely spectacular in clean, crisp monophonic sound. They’re being transferred in a day or two and then I’ll know if we have everything or if we have to go hunting through the other reels. Two reels seemed to contain everything that we need, but it’s impossible to tell until I’ve heard them. If we have to go searching, I think I know the tape we’ll need to check. I then grabbed a sandwich and onion rings, picked up one package and no mail, and finally came home. I then had the e-mail volley with the folks I license most of our material from – they’ve recently gotten completely new management, and said new management is now making things very difficult for its licensees. Up until now, I was able to license something but not have to pay for it until it was just going into production. I had a bunch of stuff in a queue and it’s always worked perfectly, since I get things out faster than anyone. But now we’re being asked to pay as soon as the license is sent to us and because I had ten titles in my queue that wasn’t going to be happening. Things got a little tense and I simply said, forget it, remove those ten titles and I’ll simply pay for the three that are coming up and I’ll be current (presuming I CAN pay for three at one time – I’m hoping we’ll be okay to do so, but I don’t know yet). Those three titles (plus one I’ve already paid for) will all do well. And then I’ll just go on a title by title basis – if the other stuff that was being held for me is still available, which I think it will be, then I’ll just license then and pay as we go. It will ultimately result in less money for them with longer wait times, which is, of course, the irony. I suggested to the lady I deal with that she tell her new bosses that they should play nice with us – especially as in our case we’ve paid them over 120 thousand dollars in licensing fees – that’s not exactly chopped liver. She heard me loud and clear and we’re fine for now. Then I did some prep work on the cast album release being announced next Monday (Friday night at midnight here), and then it was time for rehearsal.
That went very well. I still stopped and started things for some of the important stuff, mostly for finessing arrangements and the intros and outros, but also for some patter. But mostly it flowed very well and The Singer really has a beautiful voice. This kind of act, if you’ve never done this sort of thing before, can be somewhat difficult until you get used to the lay of the land. I think by Friday night (our dress rehearsal) it will all be there. After that, Juliana came by and got her music, so now all the singers have everything they need to learn their stuff. Then I went to Gelson’s and got some almonds and dried CRANBERRIES, which I snacked on whilst catching up on Internet things.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must try and get another good night’s sleep, and it is, after all, Twilight Time.
Today, I shall hopefully not get up before nine, then I shall do some stuff around the home environment, after which I’ll join some film score friends for a little lunch at Mo’s. After that, I have errands and whatnot to do, hopefully some packages to pick up, and then another rehearsal – this will be our first non-stop run-through.
Tomorrow will be more of the same, as will Friday, and I pray to have some good news about our dealer paying off at least one full invoice next week. If not, then I must assess our situation carefully, although I can tell you if they don’t do what we need I will be assessing the situation in a way that they probably ultimately won’t like. So, send all your most excellent vibes and xylophones for them to do the right thing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, try to find time to do a jog, I must have lunch at Mo’s, I must to errands and whatnot and hopefully pick up a package or three, I must rehearse, and I must try to relax at some point. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, dreaming of loads of lovely classic films on DVD from Twilight Time. Check ’em out – you’ll be glad you did, and tell them Bruce-O sent you.