Hello Folks,

Before I tell you the latest, I'd like to mention something else. I'm sure you recall the controversy that erupted when I first started posting here. Mainly it was when Jack 77 publicly doubted my legitimacy. A short while ago, Jack e-mailed me privately to say that he now knew who I was and that I was indeed in the Schwartz camp. I did ask if he might post this but I see that he has not posted anywhere for nearly a month. Hope all's well Mr. 77.

Anyway, I was hoping a long time ago to tell you that we had made a deal to release all three Gilligan movies as a set on DVD. Unfortunately, I still can't officially tell you that and here's why.

The good news is that the rights to the movies themselves are all straightened out and also that a very good distributor (I can't say which one) is ready to make a deal with both the Schwartzes and Universal, owner of the third movie 'Globetrotters'.

What's holding it all up is, sadly, the thing that is the bane of all DVD production..................music clearance.

In order for a set of the three movies to come out, the following songs have to be cleared with EMI Music Publishing and Warner/Chappell Music Publishing:

1. The Ballad Of Gilligan's Island
2. Gilligan's Theme (instrumental by John Williams, you all know it)
3. Sweet Georgia Brown (The Harlem Globetrotters theme)
4. Lazybones (sung by Tom Bosley in 'Castaways')
5. I Wanna Be Loved By You (sung by Ginger#3 in 'Globetrotters')
6. Anchors Aweigh (plays in Skipper's seamanship test machine in 'Globetrotters')

One of the biggest problems in this end of the business is that music publishers charge more money for inclusion of songs in movies and TV Shows (called 'Sync Licensing') than most DVD budgets can handle. This is why certain movies and shows end up having the music replaced or the title just doesn't get released. And it can take forever to work this out, if you're even able to. The music publishing companies are outdatd business models and charge rates that are not commensurate with other realities because they are operating out of fear.

Bonsai astutely pointed out that 'projects don't happen unless you can meet a demand, cover expenses and make enough profit to be worth your while'. There is indeed a demand but if a music publisher wants more money for a sync license than there is in the whole budget of a project, the project can't go forward unless the music publisher goes down on the price, something they aren't known for.

The sad fact here is that if the distributors and the publishers can't work this out..............then this project can't happen. And I have no idea when we will know the answer to that.

For now, if you're so inclined, pray that this snag gets taken care of so I can come back here and announce some exciting news.

HH

If a couple of songs need to be replaced or eliminated, so be it, as long as it's documented on the package. Let's not stop the project because of it..it's just reality these days.

Here's the problem with that:

A) It's possible that Universal, for reasons too complicated to go into, can't allow the music in their movie to be replaced.

B) It's also possibe that even if we got rid of perhaps the last three songs on that list that even the three that we can't do without (The two Gilligan themes and Sweet Georgia Brown) might STILL cost more than is workable.

It's a crazy business. But we're trying!

Well.. thanks for the update HH!!!
I'm glad things were resolved between you and Jack somewhat.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for this to pull through but, who knows how long it could take!

Thanks for the update - any chance they could use replacement muic?

I don't think we could get away with discarding 'The Ballad Of Gilligan's Island' or 'Sweet Georgia Brown', the Globetrotters Theme. They are just too integral.

The irony of course is that some of the bootlegs of 'Rescue' contain the EMI owned theme and no one paid for that and EMI didn't come after them.
But to do this lawfully, you gotta pay!

Glad to see it still in the works HH.

Happy New Year Everyone!

It's true, "Harold" is legit and really trying hard to make this project happen. At this time, I will not reveal his identity. However, I can confirm that he has met with Sherwood at his home and everything that he has reported so far on this message board regarding the delay on a legit DVD release for the three reunion movies is the truth.
Lets hope everyone involved can come to some kind of agreement!
Cross your fingers & stay tuned. Aloha...:wave:

Thanks Jack.

At press time, we have little ray of sunshine about this matter. It is possible that the existing agreement between Harlem Globetrotters Inc. and Warner Chappell, publisher of Sweet Georgia Brown, will cover the song's use in the movie. If that's the case then that's half the problem eliminated and we can take it from there.
My goal is to have something formal to announce about this when Mr.Schwartz gets his star. Keep your fingers crossed.

Good luck. Can't wait to hear more!

Glad all the hostility's been worked out. That was a pretty confusing couple of days for me--- I didn't know who to trust! Anyway, I hope this thing really does see the light of day. After all 98 episodes are already out there, I'm sure Gilligan fans everywhere are thirsting for more! I know I am!

I hope so too...............but at press time we've been at this for a year and it's more stuck than ever. I'm reminded of the fact that the 'Gilligan' theatrical movie has been in development for 20 years and THAT'S still stuck too.

My advice at this point, to quote Mr.Schwartz in the original edition of his book is 'don't bet on it but don't bet against it either'.

The one thing that concerns me Mr. Harold Hecuba is continuity. You say that the Ballad of Gilligan's Isle, Gilligan's Theme, and Sweet Georgia Brown themselves may cost more than it is worth to include, but have we forgotten that these same songs (with the exception of the last) were all included on the individual season releases? How could Warner Brothers afford to include this music?

Now I admittedly do not know all that goes into this process, but it just seems to me that if a song were included a a previous "legal" release of another form (such as the complete season releases), then it can be included in a new release. And who owns the rights to these songs anyway? If Warner Brothers does, which I suspect, then why can't they produce these DVD movies? Why does it have to be an individual release, which would imply complicated music licensing?

Thanks.

Interesting questions. There is an existing agreement between Warner Brothers, owner of the episodes (it was actually an agreement with United Artists which Warner now owns) and EMI, who owns the Gilligan themes, that covered the use of these songs for the series and any repurposing of the series. The agreement however does NOT cover the three movies which are owned by Sherwood Schwartz and Universal, respectively.

It was actually discussed to have Warner Home Video release this movie set themselves but for several reasons, Warner decided against it and Universal probably wouldn't have licensed their movies to them anyway. The distributor we have in line is actually much more suited to marketing something like this than Warner Home Video would be.

At press time, the project is contingent on Harlem Globetrotters Inc. and Warner/Chappel music finalizing an agreement for use of 'Sweet Georgia Brown' which will hopefully cover the Gilligan movie.

On a funny note, it was Lloyd who hired me and then once I was hired I was introduced to Sherwood. Then I told him exactly what I was doing and he said, 'Well you're a brave young man'. I didn't know what he meant back then. NOW I DO!

Oh and even if that agreement between Warner and EMI did not exist, you asked how Warner could afford to clear the songs.

Two answers:

1. Warner's pockets are WAAAAAAAAAAYYYY deeper than either the distributor we are dealing with or the Schwartz family.

2. While we on this board hold the series and all spinoffs and reunions in equally high regard, the fact is that this set of movies is a much more boutique item in terms of the general marketplace and is not poised to sell anywhere near the amount of units that the series DVDs did.........which was quite a lot.

Well folks this isn't really much of an update but I wanted to let you know that I think by the middle of this summer we will know whether or not we're going to be able to pull this off...........and I will let you know one way or the other.
The storm that this project has been through has made the storm that wrecked the Minnow look like a warm bath. But we aren't sunk yet!

Hello Folks,

Still nothing definite yet but it's inching along. We have a final figure for clearing the music and it's better than we thought. Now the main challenge is finalizing a deal with Universal to include 'Globetrotters' (they own it).

Here's what has to happen for this set to become a reality:

1. Pay the publishers for the music
2. Pay a trademark fee to Harlem Globetrotters Inc.
3. Pay Universal for use of 'Globetrotters'
4. Pay residuals to the actors, writers and directors or their estates.
5. Transfer the first two films to video and possibly make a new transfer of the third.
6. Get a distributor to pay us enough money to cover all of this
7. Don't shoot myself

And that's for a basic version of this set folks. Things like including the cartoons, the Late Show and new interviews with Dawn and Russell become less likely as the cost grows and the advance shrinks, although Lloyd and his dad would certainly provide interviews.

But we will take this all the way to the end one way or another and let you know the final result.

HH

That's a lot of steps, but it will be well worth it in the end.

Hello Folks,

Still nothing definite yet but it's inching along. We have a final figure for clearing the music and it's better than we thought. Now the main challenge is finalizing a deal with Universal to include 'Globetrotters' (they own it).

Here's what has to happen for this set to become a reality:

1. Pay the publishers for the music
2. Pay a trademark fee to Harlem Globetrotters Inc.
3. Pay Universal for use of 'Globetrotters'
4. Pay residuals to the actors, writers and directors or their estates.
5. Transfer the first two films to video and possibly make a new transfer of the third.
6. Get a distributor to pay us enough money to cover all of this
7. Don't shoot myself

And that's for a basic version of this set folks. Things like including the cartoons, the Late Show and new interviews with Dawn and Russell become less likely as the cost grows and the advance shrinks, although Lloyd and his dad would certainly provide interviews.

But we will take this all the way to the end one way or another and let you know the final result.

HH

I tremendously respect what you are trying to accomplish, but as usual everyone has their hand out......the globetrotters wanting a trademark fee, etc, etc..GIVE ME A BREAK!..you should tell them you know what we will do, we will release a hacked up cheap version and voice over everytime the globetrotters are mentioned and call them worldtrotters, then maybe their egos will get in check and you'll see how fast they won't mind lending their name.....they shoud be honored they were asked to participate in a legendary series related film nearly 30 years ago and be done with it....no wonder people buy bootlegs, the film used to be on the black starz channel every month...as for the first reunion film, its in the public domain and yet although minor scenes are missing, we can all get it for about a buck and that suits me rather fine than to give into the suits that think they are sitting on gold and give you all these demands to release what is really embarrasing reunion films that are historical but lets admit it subpar at best.......let them rot on some shelf somewhere or maybe burn in the next universal fire and then maybe the studios will learn. I'm really not trying to be bitter here, I again tremendously support your endevors but I am so sick of the redtape and studio greed. This whole music license thing is out of control...example....the entire original "Dick Van Dyke" series was released with all the little songs intact that were a staple in the series, today if it was released especially by cbs/paramount all the little rob and laura songs would be cut! CBS/paramount cut single lines out of "the odd couple" sung by felix & oscar in episodes, just as gomer pyle was all cut up for 12 seconds at a time....there is a law called fair use which usually means if it is under 20 seconds or so, let it go......How do some get away with it while others don't?....if most studios just released these things as is, it would never go to court because the accounting and the profits just aren't there... Again good luck but you know if and when this is ever released it will never make a profit.....have you thought of a limited release of numbered editions of about 1000, create a website, let the first 1000 people sign up, don't have copyguard on the discs and then all these people possibily won't have all their hands out because your admitting already that the discs won't make a profit. As for residuals, (money made on copies sold) can't that be handled on "the backend" once the accounting actually begins...how can you pay an actor in advance for something you don't know will even make money? Again good luck....

I appreciate your solidarity TVC and your post made me laugh. But yeah, there really isn't anyway around this being what it is. Studios, Publishers and other corporations can charge what they do and that's that. And distributors want to do things above board, not try to get away with anything.
Projects like this languish in the can all the time because it doesn't prove to be economically viable given all the factors. We just hope that's not the case here. And yes, you're right, it is quite possible that even if we make a deal, sell some copies and do everything right that we won't make a profit. That's an unfortunate risk for anything of this nature. Still, that doesn't mean it's not worth trying and there are other things to be gained from the set being released. I would have a good credit, fans would dig it and the Schwartz family will keep the buzz of their brand going. But yes, it's becoming more of a 'labor of love' all the time.
BTW, the fair use law does not apply in this case...........for a variety of reasons.

We're getting closer gang,

We have basically ironed things out with Universal, The Globetrotters and the music publishers, although we are still dotting I's and crossing T's.

Now the main thing left is make a deal with a distributor now that we know the budget. This is the final step. Fingers crossed people.

In the meantime, If you're in a city where it's playing, go see Ross Schwartz's 'Bottle Shock'. And if you're in L.A. be sure to check out 'A Very Brady Musical' written and produced by Lloyd Schwartz, Hope and Laurence Juber(Sherwood's daughter and her husband) and starring Lloyd's wife Barbara and son Elliot.