I would not bet on the Swank salesperson being a big film buff. Things might have changed over the year, but that certainly was not their reputation in the past. My favorite of all Swank stories involved a school that had ordered a 35mm print of classic film for which a studio had done a major reissue just about a year before. It was not a small reissue and I would bet several dozen new/restored prints were made. The programmer reminded the Swank booker to MAKE sure they got one the new prints as the "old" ones were known to be horrid. The day of the show the print arrived, it was red, splicy, and very beat up. It was clearly a decades old print. The irate programmer called up the Swank booker to complain as we could not even show the print. The Swank booker looked up the title in the Maltin TV/Movie book and pronounced " The film is 50 years old. What did you expect?" Apparently they had no concept a NEW print of a 50 year old film.
On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 11:16 AM, Dennis Doros <milefi...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 10:59 AM, Maureen Tripp <maureen_tr...@emerson.edu > > wrote: > >> As Sandra Jackson said, it seems it depends a lot on the film, anticipated >> audience size, and other factors--but I now have a ballpark range of >> estimates--I appreciate it, everyone! >> > > > I should also mention that it depends a lot on how well you get along with > the salesperson at the company. Most of us are in the business because we > love films. If you discuss favorite films (and books and museums) and what's > out that week and how's the family, you'll do well. If somebody comes and > complains that they are non-profit and we should treat them better, they > don't get as good a break. The retired Edith Kramer at the Pacific Film > Archive is a legend in this regard. She would spend two or three hours on > the phone charming the salesperson until she got the rate she could afford. > Funny thing is -- we had the same automatic friends rate for her for twenty > years and she still would spend an hour with us. One of our favorite > customers. > > -- > Best, > Dennis Doros > Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero > PO Box 128 > Harrington Park, NJ 07640 > Phone: 201-767-3117 > Fax: 201-767-3035 > email: milefi...@gmail.com > www.milestonefilms.com > www.ontheboweryfilm.com > www.arayafilm.com > www.exilesfilm.com > www.wordisoutmovie.com > www.killerofsheep.com > AMIA Philadelphia 2010: www.amianet.org > Join "Milestone Film" on Facebook! > > > VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues > relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, > preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and > related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective > working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication > between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and > distributors. > >
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
