$25K to do a good documentary of Coupes is cheap-cheap. Sounds like all he wants is to reduce the loss some. There won't be any profit in such a film unless by chance it strikes a chord and becomes popular..unlikely. Why not look into it further? As for the releases, it does sound like standard fare. Don't be so suspicious!
Ralph Finch From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of William R.Bayne Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 9:49 AM To: Ercoupers Tech Talk Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Re: Ercoupe doccumentary Hi All, I will do what I can to help Don Abbot's half-hour video be "first class" as to accuracy. If not him, who? If not now, when? Regards, WRB -- On Jul 10, 2009, at 02:28, Dan Hall wrote: Skip & Sid, ...I'd prefer to get the Ercoupes story out. ...to preserve the legacy and Keep Coupes Flying. Best regards Dan Hall On Jul 9, 2009, at 21:54, Syd Cohen wrote: Skip, I think we should give him all the support that we can. I think his intentions are honorable, and he seems like a very honest and earnest Ercouper. Syd On Jul 9, 2009, at 7:35 PM, [email protected] wrote: At the National Convention Don Abbott one of our members wanted to do a documentary on the Ercoupe. He came and interviewed several of us on video. Don a professional TV person then asked all of us to sign a release........said it was standard procedure. (Flag Goes up in my mind).....why does he need a release? He told me that he was going to donate a portion of the profit to the FEW fund (see budget below ). I have been tied up with family matters (death of my step dad) and have not had time to send him all the items he requested. I saw some comments that Syd and Ed had made regarding the draft and I also commented on the draft. I asked Syd if he had mentioned any type of compensation to the club and he said no. We have some very valuable material that could be used to make a lot of money. My question is should we sanction this venture and give him all of our material to use (sell) or should we stop it all right now. He has sent a press release to be included in this months Coupe Caper asking members to send him material. I need to get this resolved ASAP so I can get the newsletter out. I contacted Don and here is his reply.................. Skip, After receiving your message about profits from the documentary, I asked our budget folks to come up with some figures for hard costs. The costs represented are for cash out items only. As you can see, if we do a first class production (which is the only thing we know how to do) we wind up with a pretty significant loss. Some of that could be recovered perhaps by selling the documentary to a TV channel, but I know from experience, considering cost of sales, that is not a great money maker either. I hope you understand I am really into this because I want to see the Ercoupe story told properly and accurately. Fortunately I have the resources to fund the project and am willing to take all the risks. I hope this serves to further resolve any concerns you might have. Don Abbott <Untitled.jpg> Don must be very well off to undertake a $24,650.00 loss! I really need your comments so that I can resolve this issue!............Skip Dell Studio XPS Desktop: Save up to $400 - Limited Time Offer
