What an interesting morning. Over the weekend I finally found the paperwork from when I'd licensed Spaceship/Naked Space to Germany, and I'd allowed my print to be stored at a lab for ten years with the proviso that I have access to it whenever needed. So, now that we're thinking about issuing it here, I had the decision to either use the transfer on the German DVD, which is really good but non-anamorphic (although I can probably do it anamorphic, but it would result in slight quality loss from what I understand), or just do a new transfer from the print, which is pristine. So, I called the lab and after a little while they found the file. Well, it turns out these lovely people I'd done the deal with never paid their lab bill and then just disappeared, so I'm told the print was auctioned off in 2003. I told them since my name and signature was on the lab access letter, as well as my address, and that I was the licensor, that it would have been nice had they called me. They're now trying to track down who it was sold to (they seemed to know him), and so I may be able to buy it back. If not, I have a friend who can probably find a print for me. It's most annoying, but typical. I did get paid a fair amount of money, so it's not like I wasn't well-compensated for the print, but still, it's not right.
