I have heard a few grumbling through the grapevine and wanted to address a couple of things.... Please read this entire post - I know it is long, but this is for the grumblers out there. I recently uncovered some boxes of old VHS in my storage unit. I have been doing my best to help people out when it comes to getting my old films. Also, found some pretty rare VHS stuff laying around. But I have heard that some people think I am bootlegging my own old movies. I guess they assume since they get a clamshell that it is a bootleg. Let me take a second to explain the way things were in the golden age of VHS when we were scrambling to get product on shelves. When I signed a distribution deal with Cinema Home Video or Video Outlaw or anyone else, it was in the contract that we would get copies of the films - sometimes it was 25, sometimes 50... and sometimes we would get multiple shipments of tapes... some of them would be in clamshell, some in slip cases. In some cases I think the clamshells came first, and distributors would sell those at cons and mail order and use the profit from them to make the slip covers. The deal was, we had companies called Rentrak in the day who would sub-distribute the tapes to stores all over the USA. Rentrak required slips so they could fit more tapes into the store racks, including racks in Grocery stores and such. The would not take Big Boxes or clams - that is why a film would be released in a Big Box and then re-released a few months later in a slip. So in some cases I never got any slip versions at all. Every version I had of Witching, Dominion, Bimbos In Time, Sorority Babes, ZB3, Splatter Theater, Whispers In The Gloom and a few others were all clams. Never had the other versions. In most cases the clamshells came first and thus were considered the ORIGINAL or first release. Some of the CHV stuff we had made a batch ourselves to sell at conventions and around the area we live to video stores and such. That is the Original Artwork versions that I posted about. In some cases I would get a mix - some clams and some slips. I also had an issue in the day with some CHV titles where we got the tapes and they had gotten wet in shipping so the slips were ruined and we just went and made our own cases based on the original artwork we had done. Actually, in many cases, the artwork could change from one run to to the next... some I dont even have and never did. The original Dominion cover was different from batch 2. So... there are various covers and even the tapes used were different stock and the labels would change depending on the time it was duplicated and by what duplicator. All of us early SOV guys all used the same place to duplicate - Dave Decoteau gave is the info - when he sold CHV, he basically passed on all of his info to JR and I and others. The collectors who buy these films, my films, are awesome to me. I cherish them (you) and I am so thankful and appreciative that you all want these old films. I sign them for free... hell, Id sign anything for free - LOL. I am still making movies. Antwoine Steele has worked with me for 20 years. Ask him about working with me. Ask anyone. I do conventions and film festivals. People know me and many have worked with me for years and years. Why would I ruin that for a few bucks? Why would I burn the people who will buy my new movies? It is illogical!!! Use some common sense and look at the situation with an open mind, please. I am not some unknown guy who can rip you off and then disappear. I have several websites, I have a radio show in several markets syndicated to over 400 stations. I have an entire studio here, I do conventions and festivals all over the US and I also am on Facebook every day working, promoting, doing films. Why would I risk hurting the very people who support these films - think about it - it is YOU who make it possible for guys like ME to keep making movies. It is YOU who I respect and admire. It is YOU who I am thankful for all the support and love of the films. Even if I was an asshole, and I am not in most cases, it would be professional suicide to do something like that. What good would it do me to harm the people that are buying my films? I understand that people have been burned - we all have. Dishonest people who lie, bootleg and do anything to get a dollar. I get it. I know why people get nervous, scared and frustrated. But I am not one of those people. I am not some unknown slob whos a money grubber. I do legitimate business every day with people. I dont have some huge duplication center here - and in the case of those older films that I disowned, I didnt even WANT to sell them - I hated those films, I wanted to throw them in a dumpster. But many of YOU changed my mind - people like Brandon and Thomas who started the fan club page while I was laying in the hospital and having quadruple bypass surgery from the heart attack - they convinced me. The outpouring of people wanting the films, Rob Hauschild from Wild Eye pushing me to sell the old films (He has the only few masters I had of those old, very early movies by the way, so there is no way I could be duping them since he has the only elements so he can do some DVD and VHS stuff later this year), I would see people paying 200 bucks for a copy of Goblin. It tore me up. Finally I was convinced. I had seen a few copies when I was forced to move, so I asked if anyone wanted them. They sold out quick as many of you will recall who wrote me asking about them and I would tell you that they are gone. I went to my storage unit where pretty much ,my whole life is stored right now looking for some DVDs I wanted to watch. I ended up finding some more tapes. Then I started thinking about conventions we attended and had tapes at and what I thought I had left and where those tapes could be. Some I found in storage. I went to my Moms house and started digging in my old room, now used for storage, and I started finding more tapes!!! One time I found a whole case of various tapes from a con we did in Chicago. I was stoked. I could actually get them to the people who would love them. I did not ask 50 or 75 dollars, I did not ask 200 dollars. I sold them for what I was asking in the old days at the conventions. If I was a money hungry asshole, I would have milked it for a hundred bucks. I would not be losing money on shipping - I had never done mail order myself... always had distributors to handle it. So when I was looking into selling, I used Amazon as a guide and also checked online for average shipping rates. It was all wrong! I would ask 4 bucks to ship a package and it would run 13. In addition, when I took a large bundle of packages, I was told I am inconsiderate and that I need to break it down since they have only one teller for mail and one for Passports. So I had to start taking smaller amounts every day to the post office. I know many talk about Media Mail, my post office said I would have to be there from 10 AM to 3 PM and nothing but the actual media. I was going to give away Bimbos In Time comic books to anyone who bought the tapes, they said no comics. I guess anything considered an ad is a no no. Comics had ads. ON top of that, my schedule prohibits me from going every day at that time, I am usually open in evenings. Now I am being told some people think I am making illegal dupes of my own films. That is ridiculous. All of this I did to help people - I have not been getting rich over here. And as far as tapes that arent mine, I am selling them as I bought them. I take good care of my tapes but they are 30 plus years old - be realistic. And I have not sold a single bootleg either. I have bought films at conventions over the years, like you, trying to complete my collections... like my Darkness tapes - I had 3 versions, some I got directly from the director, a couple I got from friends who also knew the director and got rid of their copies knowing I loved the film, and one I bought at a convention. I was told when I bought it that it was a different version than I already had... I got it home, put it on and it was the exact same version. It happens. That is how it was in the wild days of VHS. I am an honorable person, ask anyone who works with me, ask the guys who started the Todd Sheets fan page - I never even knew about it.... I was told about it while in recovery from surgery and went and was so happy and shocked... so I became a part of the page.... it was such an honor. I work with integrity. If there is a dispute, bring it to me, send me a message, call me, anything - I will be happy to work it out. Do not accuse me of bootlegging, do not accuse me of ripping anyone off. It did not and has not happened. I am beginning to regret ever trying to help people get these damned movies, many of them I disown. I hope this helps clear things up. Those few grumblers... Please do not talk behind my back anymore or spread bullshit. Thank you. Seriously thinking about find a dumpster and tossing the few I have into it. Too much heartache. And in my case, I could end up back in the hospital. Who needs the stress? Sorry if I rambled a bit - but I am kinda pissed and my feelings have been stomped on a bit. BTW - check the picture - the many different versions of just a couple titles laying around the studio.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 23:49:45 +0000
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