AU and the bonuses - am I missing something?

moviezzz · Post by **moviezzz** » Oct 20th 2002, 2:45 pm

Totally agree. The communication from AU has been terrible. We had Jason here to tell us what was going on for most of it, but since he broke from them and this board has become so hostile that I doubt Ross will be back we are just hearing rumors and one sided stories now. The least they could do is send out an Email to everyone with an order. To tell us at least their side of the story.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Oct 20th 2002, 4:07 pm

moviezzz wrote:About the bonus discs, DVD production takes time. I heard for another project that the audio commentary for a disc was recorded a couple weeks ago for a disc that isn't going to be released until next year. They take a lot of time to put together. So, for all the bonus materials and interviews that were shot over the summer, it is rather impossible to see all that cleared, edited together, and manufactured by some of the early dates that were given to us.

My point is that AU originally claimed that the DVDs and the bonus stuff (lunchbox and disc) would all be shipped together. Now if they intended to send out the set in June, it is nearly impossible to understand why now in OCTOBER they still don't have the bonus disc finished. And just to clarify, you seem to think that there was a lot of stuff filmed over the summer. There wasn't. Winnie & Co. were interviewed. Period. And they couldn't even do that right - AU never got a release from Bedford Falls AND they never paid the people who filmed the interviews. How freaking ridiculous is THAT?

As for the other stuff that will be included on the bonus disc, such as the MTR material, well that stuff was already edited together by MTR so all AU has to do is slap it on the disc now that they have paid for it (or have they?).

Fedup · Post by **Fedup** » Oct 20th 2002, 5:41 pm

Hi Cate! As for claims that OLS is on the same level as AU in terms of customer service and delivery (or lack thereof) please provide proof. I ordered for OLS way back when had no problems.

moviezzz · Post by **moviezzz** » Oct 20th 2002, 7:45 pm

About Operation Life Support, the last item they offered was a book on the series. It was to include episode synopsis, interviews and a whole lot more. They kept sending out email updates on the progress of it, but the emails just stopped and OLS disappeared. The book was never published. A lot of people paid for it and they never did anything with it. They made a lot of promises, gave different dates of when to expect it, but they never went through with it.

moviezzz · Post by **moviezzz** » Oct 20th 2002, 7:58 pm

candygirl wrote:
moviezzz wrote:About the bonus discs, DVD production takes time. I heard for another project that the audio commentary for a disc was recorded a couple weeks ago for a disc that isn't going to be released until next year. They take a lot of time to put together. So, for all the bonus materials and interviews that were shot over the summer, it is rather impossible to see all that cleared, edited together, and manufactured by some of the early dates that were given to us.
My point is that AU originally claimed that the DVDs and the bonus stuff (lunchbox and disc) would all be shipped together. Now if they intended to send out the set in June, it is nearly impossible to understand why now in OCTOBER they still don't have the bonus disc finished. And just to clarify, you seem to think that there was a lot of stuff filmed over the summer. There wasn't. Winnie & Co. were interviewed. Period. And they couldn't even do that right - AU never got a release from Bedford Falls AND they never paid the people who filmed the interviews. How freaking ridiculous is THAT?

As for the other stuff that will be included on the bonus disc, such as the MTR material, well that stuff was already edited together by MTR so all AU has to do is slap it on the disc now that they have paid for it (or have they?).

First, BMG didn't even have the check discs done until September, so the summer release would have been impossible and not AU's fault.

When they heard this, they probably went looking to try to get the MTV spots and try to get the rights for those (which from what I've heard is the hold up now). This can be a very tricky issue. In fact, the recent DVD of Beavis and Butthead actually hit some stores and had to be recalled when it turned out MTV didn't have the necessary rights for some of the stuff on the discs. (The disc is now going for several hundred dollars on Ebay). And, this disc was put out by a major label, Paramount and MTV. These things do take time.

Once the disc is finalized it takes several weeks to manufacture them.

As far as not paying cameramen and not signing press releases, again this is an issue where we haven't heard AU's side of this one. Could be simple mistakes.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Oct 20th 2002, 8:23 pm

Yeah, a simple mistake like NOT PAYING A VENDOR. Gee, it's starting to sound so familiar.

Again, as far as the bonus discs are concerned, AU knew what material existed out there and they could have been inquiring about acquiring the rights MONTHS ago. It's not like the MTV stuff was unearthed out of nowhere. Oh wait, I get it - getting the rights to all this stuff would require money, something that AU doesn't like to give up.

Jason R · Post by **Jason R** » Oct 20th 2002, 9:03 pm

Moviezzz,

If AU had paid for this DVD when the money was due, you would have had a DVD, lunchbox and bonus disc in your hands right now.

I will believe that GWhiz has been paid when they confirm receipt and the check doesn't bounce.

The company that filmed the bonus material should not hold its breath.

In any case, it looks like people buying the DVDs elsewhere will get them at about the same time.

moviezzz · Post by **moviezzz** » Oct 20th 2002, 9:20 pm

Jason Rosenfeld wrote:Moviezzz,

If AU had paid for this DVD when the money was due, you would have had a DVD, lunchbox and bonus disc in your hands right now.

But we would have just gotten them. No matter what AU did, we wouldn't have had them on any of the other AU announce dates since BMG didn't have them ready by then.

As screwed up as AU is, BMG isn't perfect here either. Allowing a company to sell a set without them having the proper music rights? That caused more of a delay than anything AU did.

so-called customer · Post by **so-called customer** » Oct 20th 2002, 11:31 pm

Not necessarily true. Had AU paid for these a long time ago, and had they communicated with BMG about the packaging, they could very well have had them months ago. I agree that it was lame of BMG to be selling a show whose music wasn't licenced, but it was AU who took our money before that was secured, not BMG.

moviezzz · Post by **moviezzz** » Oct 21st 2002, 10:18 am

so-called customer wrote:Not necessarily true. Had AU paid for these a long time ago, and had they communicated with BMG about the packaging, they could very well have had them months ago. I agree that it was lame of BMG to be selling a show whose music wasn't licenced, but it was AU who took our money before that was secured, not BMG.

Even if AU paid it all upfront, the check discs weren't done until September. Meaning, the earliest we would have seen them is October. That is seven months of delay caused by BMG. AU only caused a few weeks, nothing compared to BMG.

Hardware · Post by **Hardware** » Oct 21st 2002, 10:21 am

But do we know that BMG weren't only waiting on AU to pay them before they got on with printing the discs? Also, did BMG commit to a June date and delay it or did AU guestimate a June date?

Questions we're probably never going to know the answer to.

Jason R · Post by **Jason R** » Oct 21st 2002, 10:26 am

If BMG was paid, I would have had the check discs in August or sooner.

GordLacey · Post by **GordLacey** » Oct 21st 2002, 11:42 am

moviezzz wrote:Even if AU paid it all upfront, the check discs weren't done until September. Meaning, the earliest we would have seen them is October. That is seven months of delay caused by BMG. AU only caused a few weeks, nothing compared to BMG.

When Jason and I were at AIX Media in June they had received info from BMG about authoring the discs.

I believe the holdup was on AU to pay, but once Ventura entered into the picture BMG knew they had a retailer for the sets and started production.

Gord

special_k · Post by **special_k** » Oct 21st 2002, 12:03 pm

"cate" - your back! and here we thought you'd departed our cheery group.

nothing like having the voice of rojek so early in the day. why don't you forward your posts, including future ones, to the fbi link jason posted. i'm sure your words will hold much credence with the feds.

-kassandra

moviezzz wrote: As far as not paying cameramen and not signing press releases, again this is an issue where we haven't heard AU's side of this one. Could be simple mistakes.

moviezzz · Post by **moviezzz** » Oct 21st 2002, 12:39 pm

special_k wrote:"cate" - your back! and here we thought you'd departed our cheery group. nothing like having the voice of rojek so early in the day. why don't you forward your posts, including future ones, to the fbi link jason posted. i'm sure your words will hold much credence with the feds.

-kassandra

moviezzz wrote: As far as not paying cameramen and not signing press releases, again this is an issue where we haven't heard AU's side of this one. Could be simple mistakes.

Sorry, I'm not Cate. I've been around since the beginning. Mainly lurking, but I'm not an alter.

Forum

AU and the bonuses - am I missing something?

Who is online