A look at some of the numerous meetings that we undertook in order to issue 8mm films to our customers.
Contracts & Rights Chapter 16
Things were moving fast and business was even brisker, but every thing was beginning to feel the effect of VHS & Betamax video. We no longer took all the titles on the contract at any one time we found they were more than happy to issue contracts with just one or two titles. Rank were a very old fashioned British distributor, large offices, dark wooden paneling and glass faced bookcases and in all honesty the staff were near or passed their retirement age, so it wasn’t a suprise to discover our contact had passed away. Our new contact just flipped through a few papers and as we suggested smaller contracts he readily agreed ‘Carry on up the Jungle’, 1970 and ‘The Fast Lady, 1962 were to be the first two, after clearance and the contract under our belt we ordered the first two 16mm master prints, and set about contacting our regular label artist Marianne Frost and get on with the editing
Similar clearance was given and contracts drawn for ‘Carry on Matron’, 1977 and ‘The Uncanny’, 1977 and a few months later ‘Holocaust 2000’, 1977 and ‘Wombling Free’, 1978. By this time it had become morre difficult to sell 4×400′ as the video threat became fierce, so it was decided to issue all the titles, with the exception of ‘Carry on up the Jungle’ as 400′ editions. ‘Wombling Free’ received such scathing reviews and fared so badly at the box office, it was never issued… luckily the 16mm print was delayed and so we were able to cancel. We then took a gamble on ‘The Wild Geese’ and issued it as 3×400′. We really wern’t sure if we had done the right thing but in a short time it proved to be a popular title. All of the titles, again with the exception of ‘Carry on up the Jungle’ were packaged in the new plastic clamshell cases, which had been manufactured specifically for the United Artists deal.
You might think that this was the last of the Rank product but as you will see our dealings with them were far from over. [The artwork for most of the plastic clamshell packaging is not available, sorry]
…. to be continued.
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