From TVShowsonDvd.com:


The New York Times, in an article "Three Stars of 'Seinfeld' Boycott a DVD Deal" by Sharon Waxman, is reporting today that Julia "Elaine" Louis-Dreyfus, Michael "Kramer" Richards, and Jason "George" Alexander have decided not to participate in the planned DVD release of Seinfeld, due to a disagreement over money. Here are some highlights of the article, which we encourage you to read in its entirety here to better understand the situation:

Three of the four leading cast members of the hit television comedy "Seinfeld" are declining to participate in the making of a DVD series of the show because they are unhappy with the related financial deals they have had over the years, people close to the actors and the show said on Monday.

...A spokeswoman for Jerry Seinfeld said he was disappointed that his three co-stars had decided to sit out the making of the DVD, which will feature extensive interviews with other cast members, writers and producers of the show...(she) said Mr. Seinfeld hoped to talk to them after the New Year and persuade them to change their minds.

...A complicating factor is that "Seinfeld" is now owned by a handful of corporate entities. After the original "Seinfeld" deal was negotiated, Castle Rock Television was bought by Turner Broadcasting, which was bought by Time Warner. This means that Time Warner, Columbia TriStar Television, Castle Rock, Mr. Seinfeld and Mr. David will all take profits from the DVD.

Without the participation of three of the main cast members, the DVD will be significantly less interesting, executives close to the project acknowledged.

"It's never been just about the episodes; it's really about the value added," said Fritz Friedman, a senior vice president at Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. "That's what takes so much time. That's why so much is up in the air - the concept, the taping, the schedules of people involved. Fans complain if we release bare-bones product. On something like `Seinfeld,' people won't be happy if we just put the episodes on there."

Castle Rock is working on the DVD of the first "Seinfeld" season, aiming to release it in December 2004. Plans call for the eventual release of all nine seasons...

TVShowsOnDVD agrees that this is one of the most (perhaps THE most) highly-anticipated television series being looked for on DVD. Fans want the episodes most of all, but there will definately be complaints from many of them if extras are left off the release. We will be keeping an eye on this story, so stay tuned.

That's horrible news. Hopefully Jerry can talk them out of this boycott.

Thanks for the info. I actually wouldnt be too interested in hearing what George Alexander and Julia Dreyfuss have to say in an interview anyway, so I would tell them to go fish. Richards I think would have some interesting insights on Kramer.

Three Stars of 'Seinfeld' Boycott a DVD Deal

Sharon Waxman, The New York Times

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22 — Three of the four leading cast members of the hit television comedy "Seinfeld" are declining to participate in the making of a DVD series of the show because they are unhappy with the related financial deals they have had over the years, people close to the actors and the show said on Monday.

These people said that the three actors — Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine; Michael Richards, who played Kramer; and Jason Alexander, who played George — made the joint decision not to give on-camera interviews for the DVD or otherwise participate in it.

Executives at Castle Rock Television, which produced the show for NBC, and Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, which will distribute the DVD, "were only willing to give a small recording fee to the three of them and not a piece of the action," said a representative for one of the actors, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "So they all said, `Why should we make other people richer?' "

Spokesmen for the three actors said they could not be reached for comment on Monday.

A spokeswoman for Jerry Seinfeld said he was disappointed that his three co-stars had decided to sit out the making of the DVD, which will feature extensive interviews with other cast members, writers and producers of the show.

"Jerry has enormous respect for Jason, Julia and Michael, and he had a great experience working with them on the show," said the spokeswoman, Elizabeth Clark. "He hopes they will participate in the DVD." Ms. Clark said Mr. Seinfeld hoped to talk to them after the New Year and persuade them to change their minds.

"Seinfeld," which ran from 1990 to 1998, remains one of the most successful comedy shows in television history and still plays in syndication across much of the country. The DVD of the show would seem destined to sell millions of copies.

The show continues to generate millions of dollars in revenue for its co-creators and executive producers, Mr. Seinfeld and Larry David, though the last original episode was broadcast five years ago. Mr. David did not return calls seeking comment.

The three boycotting actors earn residual payments from the show's reruns, a fee determined by the Screen Actors Guild. A representative for one of the actors estimated the fee at $100,000 a year.

Discontent over the sharing of the "Seinfeld" riches has arisen with Mr. Seinfeld's three co-stars before. In the last few years of the show the actors had sought to become part owners of the show, like Mr. Seinfeld.

They famously sought $1 million an episode for the last year of the show, 1998, in part because they said they thought they had been underpaid for many seasons. They ended up with about $600,000 a show, then a whopping sum for television.

A complicating factor is that "Seinfeld" is now owned by a handful of corporate entities. After the original "Seinfeld" deal was negotiated, Castle Rock Television was bought by Turner Broadcasting, which was bought by Time Warner. This means that Time Warner, Columbia TriStar Television, Castle Rock, Mr. Seinfeld and Mr. David will all take profits from the DVD.

Without the participation of three of the main cast members, the DVD will be significantly less interesting, executives close to the project acknowledged.

"It's never been just about the episodes; it's really about the value added," said Fritz Friedman, a senior vice president at Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. "That's what takes so much time. That's why so much is up in the air — the concept, the taping, the schedules of people involved. Fans complain if we release bare-bones product. On something like `Seinfeld,' people won't be happy if we just put the episodes on there."

Castle Rock is working on the DVD of the first "Seinfeld" season, aiming to release it in December 2004. Plans call for the eventual release of all nine seasons.

Though taped in Hollywood, "Seinfeld," set in Manhattan, was a quintessentially New York show that contributed a succession of signature phrases and oddball story lines to American popular culture. Everything from Kramer's manic body language to "Yada, yada, yada" to "master of your domain" became fodder for water cooler chat.

Others participating in the making of the DVD expressed disappointment that resentment over money had become a legacy of the show.

Peter Mehlman, a former "Seinfeld" writer, said: "There are so few people who get that chance to be on a show that has that kind of impact. They were so brilliant. We had so much fun while we were doing it. It's kind of sad that they have bad feelings about it."


12-23-03 08:49 EST

Copyright © 2003 The New York Times Company.

I had no idea they were such money grubbers. Leave 'em out, I say, and get the DVDs on shelves A.S.A.P!

It kills me that they are talking about the first season.

That is 5 episodes.

FIVE.

After all this time, that is all they are going to release as their first set?

And Season 2 is only 12 episodes.

I hope they are seriously considering releasing the first 2 seasons together- even then it would be short of a regular season at only 17 episodes!

Besides that, the first couple of eps aren't exactly their best.

That would be the place to put any special bells and whistles to justify buying those episodes.

Update on new thread

Originally posted by Dutabi84
I had no idea they were such money grubbers. Leave 'em out, I say, and get the DVDs on shelves A.S.A.P!

I agree, I'd want the episodes on dvd more than hearing them do commentary. Don't they all do enough talking on the show as it is already?

Originally posted by vashti1999
I agree, I'd want the episodes on dvd more than hearing them do commentary. Don't they all do enough talking on the show as it is already?

for a lot of tv shows and movies, commentary is very interesting. You learn a lot of things about movies and tv shows that you'd never have known if not for the commentary.

From what I heard, Michael Richards IS going to participate on the DVD now, him and Jerry met up and agreed to certain demands.

I just hope we get seasons 1 and 2. season 1 is way too short for a DVD. I know Three's Company's first season was that short too tho and was released, but there was some major circumstances (John Ritter's passing) that caused that season bumped up. Since season 1 and 2 combined make up about a regular tv season in length, I hope we get those 2 together.