Ask questions to Palisades Tartan insider Hugh K. David

[iceman]

This thread is dedicated to asking questions of industry insider Hugh K. David (Palisades Tartan) who has graciously taken the time to participate here. Hugh K. David and all our insiders do this out of their free time and to try to keep us informed to their best abilities, and therefore are to be treated with respect and courtesy.

Before asking a question, please skim at least the last weeks worth of posts in order to make sure that the question hasn't already been asked or answered. Using the search function is also always a good idea. Please conduct your inquiries in a professional manner and avoid asking "chicken little" questions or asking when unannounced titles will come out.

Hugh K. David - Palisades Tartan - Track posts

[Hugh K. David]

Hi everyone,

A little bit of an intro is needed here, as I work for a firm known in the UK home video business, but not so well known to the public. Lace Digital Media Sales are a sales & distribution firm who also run their own sports & general interest label. We currently represent 22 labels in the UK home video market, some of whom are moving into Blu-ray already, and are in negotiations to represent many more in 2009.

The three Blu-ray releases we've been involved with so far are:

Sophie Scholl (released by Drakes Avenue)
Tin Man (released by Brightspark)
Stephen Fry In America (released by West Park Pictures)

I work for LDMS as a marketing consultant, and also spend much of my time working specifically on titles from ADV Films, the US distributor of anime - I used to work at their now-sadly-defunct London office before joining LDMS. My specialist areas are anime, Asian & European cinema and a special emphasis on genre cinema worldwide, while being your all-around thirty-something South African-Indian geek otherwise.

I welcome any questions anyone has about any of the labels I work with or my specialist areas.

[gearyt]

Welcome to the Site !!!

[crackinhedz]

welcome!

one quick question, and maybe I'm just way off base here, but a question of your statement:

Lace Digital Media Sales are a sales & distribution firm who also run their own sports & general interest label.

when you say sports...are you talking like Football (soccer) in Europe? Just wondering if there are any plans to put any World Cup games onto Bluray, or maybe just some local UK games that many of us here in the USA do not get privilege to view. That would be extremely nice!

....but as I said, i might be way off base and your company has no connection to this off the wall idea.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Hugh K. David

Hi everyone,

A little bit of an intro is needed here, as I work for a firm known in the UK home video business, but not so well known to the public. Lace Digital Media Sales are a sales & distribution firm who also run their own sports & general interest label. We currently represent 22 labels in the UK home video market, some of whom are moving into Blu-ray already, and are in negotiations to represent many more in 2009.

The three Blu-ray releases we've been involved with so far are:

Sophie Scholl (released by Drakes Avenue)
Tin Man (released by Brightspark)
Stephen Fry In America (released by West Park Pictures)

I work for LDMS as a marketing consultant, and also spend much of my time working specifically on titles from ADV Films, the US distributor of anime - I used to work at their now-sadly-defunct London office before joining LDMS. My specialist areas are anime, Asian & European cinema and a special emphasis on genre cinema worldwide, while being your all-around thirty-something South African-Indian geek otherwise.

I welcome any questions anyone has about any of the labels I work with or my specialist areas.

Welcome Hugh.
And if you brought beer or wine please tell us what the label reads.

Ice is partial to beer and I'm partial to wine but, we both appreciate Blu-ray discs.

[BluDomain]

Originally Posted by Hugh K. David

...The three Blu-ray releases we've been involved with so far are:

Sophie Scholl (released by Drakes Avenue)
I welcome any questions anyone has about any of the labels I work with or my specialist areas.

Welcome. If you could please supply Amazon.uk with
more copies. I've had Sophie Scholl on backorder
for over a month, and still no ship date in sight.
Just temporarily out of stock. Good movie.

[aygie]

Welcome Hugh, good to have another Brit on board!

[djesteban]

Hi Hugh,

Since your working for ADV films, is it possible to tell us if they are planning to enter the Blu-Ray market any time soon? There has been rumor around last February about that, but since then it's total silence.
Thank you in advance, and maybe as a suggestion, I think great titles to push in Blu-Ray would be 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Place Promised In Our Early Days. Since ADV owns the license for both movie (hopefully they still do) and since the Japanese Blu-Ray version as already been released by CoMix Wave, I was just hoping that maybe it wouldn't be to hard to get a US release!

[Hugh K. David]

Suffered some appalling health issues in November, then barely recovered got salmonella poisoning! Have finally recovered from everything, and am back.

Before I start in on the replies, I just want to say that LDMS now represent a total of 40 labels, so there's a great deal more for me to be able to discuss. However, because of the usual issues (high mastering costs, licensing issues, etc.) a great deal of these specialist labels will be sticking to DVD for the next year. There are two labels we are in negotiation with who both have a decent roster of BD titles planned for the rest of 2009, so if we land those contracts I will be happy to discuss their titles here.

Ok, answers, apologies once more for how long they've been coming. First, sports: so far, it has been a very odd experience on the sports front. Despite the uptake in HD TVs due to Sky Sports HD, there still isn't massive evidence that the audience who buy sports on DVD have gone for BD players or PS3a - quite often they're Xbox users, if anything. Also, if memory serves Sky Sports HD is in 720p, which won't bother some but may bother others when it comes to BD releases. Finally, it becomes a matter of targeting - there may indeed be money to be made from releasing archive releases on BD, classic sporting events and moments that have already demonstrated replay value, but so far, there's not that much sales evidence to back that up. We shall see as move forward with the new tech.

[Hugh K. David]

By now, there should indeed be copies there. I'm sure you're aware that EUK, part of the Woolworths group, were the exclusive supplier for Amazon.co.uk, so with their collapse before Christmas, that created severe delays for product at Amazon. I ended up buying my French Connection 1&2 set from HMV in store, something I almost never do any more.

Just so you are aware, there is a new system behind the scenes at Amazon which will ensure less delays on restocks from smaller labels, but it is still being implemented and tested. We shall see how things go this month.

[Hugh K. David]

Oh boy, where to start with this?

Ok, first stop: ADV Films no longer own the license for 5 Cms Per Second. As part of their financial problems last year, the title was in that large group of licenses returned to the former Japanese investment group, who then sold the licenses to fellow Texan anime company FUNImation. I believe the current UK rights sit with them.

I also think it is fair to say that given the nature of ADV's tumultuous dealings with their original Japanese investors and a number of licensors, the willingness to go ahead with BD for older titles like The Place Promised might well be iffy.

However... I spent a great deal of time when I moved over to LDMS chasing down the UK license for 5 Cms, since I wanted to get LDMS to release a UK DVD. There are discussions still ongoing regarding this. BD rights, however, may well have ended up at Bandai for their Honneamise label, in which case we will all have to wait and see what happens.

[Hugh K. David]

If I bring anything these days its wine, but I gave up drinking three years ago when diagnosed Type-2 diabetic. As you can imagine, that can put a real dampener on one's ability to function professionally in the London media...!

I lived in Switzerland for twelve years, which is where I got bit by the multi-region bug back in the VHS days, and my dad got seriously into wine, so we used to drive most holidays to vineyards all over the place. One year we explored Swiss wine, a quick trip to Germany, then the next few we worked our way around France, then after that Spain. Glorious times!

I've always been partial to whiskies and whiskeys, especially American bourbons in the early evening. I really miss Maker's Mark.

[Penton-Man]

Nice to see you back Hugh.
I’m sure you know but, just for <reinforcement>, don’t be cavalier about routinely checking your blood sugar level because the consequences of poorly controlled Type 2 can be quite serious and unfortunately, irreversible.

My wife’s mother also had Type 2.

[Hugh K. David]

Thanks for that! I'm actually surprisingly good at measuring approximately where I am through how I actually feel - the first year+ I was checking constantly in order to chart daily levels for the medical practice I was with. However, it turns out I'm very good indeed at managing my levels, and now in my third year it is at the point where I can tell when I'm 30 mins to an hour away from seriously low levels.

I never go anywhere without my kit, just in case.

[MOONPHASE]

Welcome to the forums. I know ADV lost the license to Kanon(2006) version because i remember all of those delays to finish the series, but is there any chance the 2002 version plus the special will ever get licensed? also i know Clannad just got licensed under your company and hasnt even made it to dvd yet but is Clannad: After Story, and the movie going to be licensed soon? Steel Angel Kurumi Zero and Elfen Lied special any word on those?

[Hugh K. David]

Hi Moon-phase,

To the best of my knowledge, ADV in the US have no immediate plans to move into BD just yet - they remain more interested in downloadable HD content for the moment. I'm also not sure that any of the shows you mention were mastered in HD for Japanese TV transmission and/or DVD release. The first step has got to be - are the materials there to work with? After that, it's a matter of cutting the right deal.

I would hope that Elfen Lied would be amongst the first releases considered for the new format - certainly, the PQ on the DVD was superb, and it was a huge seller for us in the US, UK and Germany. I'd love to see it available on BD.

[dk3dknight]

Im curious were there any other plans to continue the gunsmith cats anime, I thought with the newer mangas getting released that we would maybe see another one eventually, but now im starting to lose my blind faith on the possibility.

*Tonight im going to figure out which animes ADV is responsible for so I can come up with additional questions*

[Hugh K. David]

I'm a HUGE fan of Gunsmith Cats. Bought the manga the first time around in monthly issues, then the trades, the region 4 DVD from Madman was the first anime I bought on DVD. Love love love it.

Despite the phenomenal success globally of the title, there appears to have been little interest in producing another animated version in Japan. Without any hard evidence, I can only surmise that (a) the first production was not a cheap one, so cost is a factor in producing a sequel of comparable quality - and per-episode budgets have dropped like a stone in Japan since the making of the original OVA; (b) the author himself is respected enough that if he has no interest in a further version, then producers are listening to him; (c) the last few years of productions targeted increasingly for the Japanese domestic market, particularly the hardcore fanboy market, have taken their toll on what producers are willing to try and make to ensure suitable returns. If you look at what's current out there, then there really isn't any obvious sign that anyone would take a punt on something like GSC, especially with the new series of the latter out.

If it were up to me, I would ask Geneon to put the creative team from the Black Lagoon anime to adapt further series from GSC as a 13-part tv series, as their work in the former was excellent. But, it's not up to me...

[MOONPHASE]

is there any chance those new series Clannad, Indian Summer, and i believe Proncess Ressurection or whatever that one is called going to get a dub sometime in the future when ADV starts doing well again? Like i know when Gurren Lagann was licensed under ADV then shortly after ADV lost that series before the dubbing was completed and so then Bandai snatched it and released as a sub-only dvd release and then eventually brought a dual-language release. So just wondering if thats what is going to happen to those 3 series or just be sub only? I would buy them regardless of a dub or not but there is just to many people who enjoy ADV's dubbing especially like the ones from Kanon and Air so most people assumed that Clannad would get a dub because of Kanon and Air and might upset a good amount of fans if a dub never happens. I know dubbing is expensive and like the U.S. ADV most of the actors moved on to Funimation and even Bandai. this is just a curiousity question i have had since i heard about those 3 new releases wont get a dub especially Clannad.

[Hugh K. David]

I'll need to ask Houston on Monday about the sub/dub issue on those titles. As you say, financial constraints will be very much part of the decision process, more so than ever before. It's a statistical fact that an animation with a local-language dub will sell more copies than one without, but sometimes your audience for a title are willing to stick with just subs - ask Right Stuf with their WONDERFUL Emma sets.