Stuttsy Posted November 14, 2013 Report Share Posted November 14, 2013 Hey guys, I'm talking to a former associate producer at Coliseum Video hoping to secure an interview for http://www.WrestlingWithOptimism.com Anyone here on the board have questions to ask? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted November 14, 2013 Report Share Posted November 14, 2013 Watch this space I have about twenty million. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuttsy Posted November 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Bring 'em on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Apologies if your man is not a in a position to answer all of these, but here goes: - How much of an eye did Vince keep on content for the VHS releases? Watching them, I always had the impression they were "under the radar". - What were the revenues on the tapes like? How important a revenue stream were they for the WWF? - Why were Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes entrusted to front the VHS coverage? How much autonomy were they given? - Did you personally work with Mooney / Hayes / Monsoon / Pettingall? - Did the workers get any bonuses for appearing on the tapes? For example, did Bret get any extras for the bonus feature on Smack Em Whack Em? - Did Vince go back and dub over footage on some of the early releases? For example, the commentary on the Bruno vs. Larry match on Best of WWF Vol. 1 seems to be mid-80s Vince. Is this the case and any ideas on why? - What was the exact relationship between the WWF and Coliseum? Who were Evart Enterprises? What did your contract say on it? Who did you answer to? What was the chain of command? - What were the circumstances of Coliseum closing in 97? - Out of all the non-PPV non-wrestler-centric (e.g. Hogan VHSs) releases, for example, Brains Behind the Brawns, Hottest Matches, Supertape 2, and so on, what was the best selling release? UK centric: - Why was the "Best of" series and "Macho Madness" never released in the UK? - What was the name of the absolutely awesome music at the start of the UK Silver Vision releases? Who wrote it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFgj7gFtqZw - Why oh why was Summerslam 88 a 15-certificate in the UK? Purely because of Liz's dress? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Here's one. Why were they so expensive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 I'd also like to see some clarification on Evart and A & H Video Sales Representatives and who was responsible for what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnival Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Here's one. Why were they so expensive? A lot of VHS tapes were really expensive in the 80s. I think the movie studios priced them out of the market intentionally so they could make their money through the video rental stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Here's one. Why were they so expensive? A lot of VHS tapes were really expensive in the 80s. I think the movie studios priced them out of the market intentionally so they could make their money through the video rental stores. Correct; most VHS releases were "priced for rental." At $59.95 and later $39.95 they were actually pretty cheap, Hollywood movies were closer to $89.95. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Now I have about a million questions about VHS tapes in the 80s in general... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuttsy Posted November 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 - What was the exact relationship between the WWF and Coliseum? Who were Evart Enterprises? What did your contract say on it? Who did you answer to? What was the chain of command? I am going to feel him out some more but from what I gathered in our pre-interview conducted today this is the only one he'll really be able to shed light on. He mentioned both Evart and A&H today in a ten minute conversation and what I gathered from our chat is that both (or at least A&H) were pretty much just contracted by WWF for production purposes. I don't get the impression that he'll have much information on royalties and indiosycricities involved in deciding who gets a tape and what matches to use and things like that. I do want to get into what if any specific instructions were given to him or his people by WWF officials and how hands on they were about the actual production aspect. I gather from him that the arrangement was more like "Ok we're shooting with the Hart Foundation on Thursday," and most of it was on the fly. That's just my initial impression though, I definitely want to dig deeper. He mentioned several times being involved in shooting the wraparounds and named Okerlund, Heenan, Monsoon and Ventura as people he worked closely with on many occasions. It was also his office that the Hart Foundation run amuck in on their tape. I'm really excited for this interview, we are shooting for Thanksgiving week if schedules line up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 - Did the workers get any bonuses for appearing on the tapes? For example, did Bret get any extras for the bonus feature on Smack Em Whack Em? I don't think this is the sort of thing a producer would really know. But, I doubt that they did at that time. Jesse Ventura sued Vince in the 1990's over royalties for his participation in videos. Now then, a couple that I have in mind: How long a process was it, typically, from when they started working on one until it was actually released? An advertisement was shown for a Junkyard Dog themed video, but was replaced by the Hart Foundation. It seems like the JYD video would have gotten pretty far into production if it was being advertised, does he know why it might have been cancelled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Here's one. Why were they so expensive? A lot of VHS tapes were really expensive in the 80s. I think the movie studios priced them out of the market intentionally so they could make their money through the video rental stores. Correct; most VHS releases were "priced for rental." At $59.95 and later $39.95 they were actually pretty cheap, Hollywood movies were closer to $89.95. yep I can remember my cousin getting Back to the Future on VHS in I guess 86 or 87 and it cost like 90 dollars. Unreal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuttsy Posted November 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 How long a process was it, typically, from when they started working on one until it was actually released? An advertisement was shown for a Junkyard Dog themed video, but was replaced by the Hart Foundation. It seems like the JYD video would have gotten pretty far into production if it was being advertised, does he know why it might have been cancelled? Definitely going to ask both of these - thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Will you be my new best friend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 I remember asking Blockbuster if I could order Uncensored 1998, because the store didn't have it for some reason. They told me it would be 98 dollars, Canadian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Going to give Stuttsy some props here. He mentioned on their latest pod about checking old VHS credits and tracking down some of these guys on social media and dude made it happen in about 48 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayfabe1984 Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 See if he can provide some insight about when the switchover happened from Coliseum Video to WWF Home Video. That's something I've always been interested in knowing about. Also, see if he can provide a brief history of the company. If this interview comes to pass, it's going to be amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Something something Hillbilly Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Here's one. Why were they so expensive? A lot of VHS tapes were really expensive in the 80s. I think the movie studios priced them out of the market intentionally so they could make their money through the video rental stores. The difference is that most high priced movies sold to video stores weren't marketed to the general public at all. Occasionally, you'd get a big title at a reasonable price available for sale at the moment it was released on video. But what doesn't jive here for me is that there were ads in WWF Magazine for these $59.95 videos. I understand marketing to video stores at those prices. I don't understand marketing to the general public with those prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 I'm sure there's a lot of reasons for that. Video was a lot more expensive to produce at the time, and with new tech the public always gets milked for as much profit as can be made. VHS and video rental bit into existing revenue streams. Even blank VHS tapes were ridiculously expensive in the 80's And of course you always hear the stories about how in the 70's tape was so expensive that territories would just record over footage It's always like that with new media technology. I'm sure some people here older than me can talk about how expensive it was to buy cassette tapes back in the day, or CDs when that was the new medium. I don't even want to know how much I paid for my first Walkman or my first Discman. The first CD burners cost like $500 bucks, they were shitty and slow, and the blank CDs cost an arm and a leg as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Wasn't a lot of it hedging against Video rental places just buying the cheaper home version and using it to rent out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 When did the WWF VHS releases come down in price in the states? They were always priced to own here, £9.99 for the hour long releases and £14.99 for the longer ones, PPVs etc, from 1990 or so when WWF videos first came out here. I remember seeing them advertised in the WWF magazine at $60 or whatever and wondering what the hell was going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuttsy Posted November 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 See if he can provide some insight about when the switchover happened from Coliseum Video to WWF Home Video. That's something I've always been interested in knowing about. Also, see if he can provide a brief history of the company. If this interview comes to pass, it's going to be amazing! We'll definitely be talking about this, he shed some insight in the pre-interview that may surprise some people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheGreatPuma Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Here's one. Why were they so expensive? A lot of VHS tapes were really expensive in the 80s. I think the movie studios priced them out of the market intentionally so they could make their money through the video rental stores. Correct; most VHS releases were "priced for rental." At $59.95 and later $39.95 they were actually pretty cheap, Hollywood movies were closer to $89.95. yep I can remember my cousin getting Back to the Future on VHS in I guess 86 or 87 and it cost like 90 dollars. Unreal And with inflation, VHS tapes cost even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted November 16, 2013 Report Share Posted November 16, 2013 Find out how much my mint condition sealed King of the Ring 95 VHS goes for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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