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Post by johnmabes1987 on Mar 5, 2012 18:08:46 GMT
A friend and I are going to be putting ads in our local paper and doing a leaflet hand out about missing episodes in general. There aren't any financial aspects becasue I have the acces to printing materials no problem at all but. Just to let those know who are in the essex area I will be doing this in local papers etc soon ;D
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Post by Greg H on Mar 5, 2012 18:14:14 GMT
You could always post a scan of your leaflet here if you like so we can have a look at it. What sort of thing are you planning?
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Post by johnmabes1987 on Mar 5, 2012 18:16:05 GMT
I wasn't going to put about anything specific. Just about old film cans etc. Not going to mention DW or other such things. Let me get a draft together and I'll show to see what you think.
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Post by Steven Sigel on Mar 5, 2012 18:48:19 GMT
Honestly, I think you are wasting time and resources - there are not that many film collectors, and they are scattered all around, so in order to stand any chance of finding anyone, you'd need to find a venue that hits a lot of people, rather than just a small local area.
The other thing that people really need to understand is that even if you find film collectors, chances of them having any missing TV are very slim -- in the past year or so (for instance), I've bought several large collections of films - totaling about 5,000 prints . Of those prints, there were about 100 TV episodes, and they were all things like Perry Mason, The Odd Couple, MASH, and such that were heavily syndicated shows. I've probably had close to 100,000 prints go through my hands in the past 20 years, and even then I've only run across about a dozen missing episodes (and almost all of those came from a single source in Australia).
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Post by Rob Moss on Mar 5, 2012 18:54:33 GMT
I think this is an interesting idea, although I'd guess that you'll have a very low hit rate - how many people do you know with film prints of anything at all..?
You'll need to think about what you're asking for - are you asking for TV shows..? Black and white TV shows..? Film prints..? Domestic video recordings..? Which formats - do you know which formats are likely to yield potentially missing material..? Are you going to pick and choose - "yes, I'll take the big square ones, but not the SVHS tapes"..?
Are you asking for people to get in touch and let you look through what they've got..? Are you looking to buy or borrow from people..? If so, are you absolutely certain about what exists and what doesn't..? Do you have storage space for boxes and boxes of tapes..?
What if people offer you home movies..? Will you take them on the offchance they contain some off-screen footage..? What about equipment, such as old VTRs from the 60s..?
How will people contact you? Are you prepared for the hoaxers..?
Lots to think about, and I'm sure people will have other comments..!
But good luck - props to you for actually thinking about doing something!
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Post by Greg H on Mar 5, 2012 19:01:26 GMT
I wasn't going to put about anything specific. Just about old film cans etc. Not going to mention DW or other such things. Let me get a draft together and I'll show to see what you think. Well, its a shot in the dark for sure, but good luck with it. You never know when fate might be in a pleasant mood
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Post by Rob Moss on Mar 5, 2012 19:25:06 GMT
Honestly, I think you are wasting time and resources - there are not that many film collectors, and they are scattered all around, so in order to stand any chance of finding anyone, you'd need to find a venue that hits a lot of people, rather than just a small local area. Steve, I agree the chances of hitting a film collector are low, but there's a better chance of hitting someone with a box of Philips tapes. Good thought about finding a venue, although the need for caution there is far greater!
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Post by Steven Sigel on Mar 5, 2012 19:32:48 GMT
I can't say much about videotape - not my area, but the O/P mentioned "film cans" rather than tapes.
The other thing I would say is that most film collectors are aware that film prints have value (regardless of their missing or not missing status) and so you will need capital in order to buy prints. Also, many collectors do not have a good inventory of their collection, and in order to really thoroughly investigate a collection, you might have to buy the whole thing and hand check every reel.
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Post by Tim Burrows on Mar 5, 2012 19:52:43 GMT
Good for you, John. Good luck!
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Post by John Andersen on Mar 5, 2012 20:42:29 GMT
Also, many collectors do not have a good inventory of their collection, and in order to really thoroughly investigate a collection, you might have to buy the whole thing and hand check every reel. The situation you described seems to be increasing in terms of film collecting and sales on the Internet. There have been forums and other online advertisements where somebody is selling a collection, and they claim to have no idea what they are selling. You ask for a film list and they won't provide one. They expect somebody to hand over a ton of cash without knowing what is being bought. It is like going to a car dealership and buying a car not knowing whether it will even start.
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Post by John Wall on Mar 5, 2012 20:42:51 GMT
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
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Post by Steven Sigel on Mar 5, 2012 20:55:24 GMT
John Anderson : you are quite correct. I can't tell you the number of times I've had someone offer me a collection with zero details... Generally if I think it's a worthwhile collection, I'll go have a look at it myself, it's really the only way to know whether it's worth buying.
John Wall: Not sure what your point is -- as a film dealer who buys and sells thousands of film prints every year, I think I qualify as someone who is "in the arena" and knows about buying film collections...
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Post by John Wall on Mar 5, 2012 21:02:29 GMT
John Wall: Not sure what your point is -- as a film dealer who buys and sells thousands of film prints every year, I think I qualify as someone who is "in the arena" and knows about buying film collections... My point is that somebody is proposing to put their money where their mouth is and stand up and be counted - we should be supportive and constructive.
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Post by johnmabes1987 on Mar 5, 2012 21:07:40 GMT
John Wall I appreciate your kind words but I truly do give up sometime. For a group that all wants the same thing there appears to be a hell of a lot of negativity when someone comes up with solutions. So do you know people. Sod it! We can all just sit back and wait another 10 years until something falls out of the sky. I genuinely thought I was on to something but as usual there's a lot of bitterness that just aims to hurt. Yeah there may never be another doctor who print returned but who the hell gives people the right to say you're wasting your time.
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Post by Richard Bignell on Mar 5, 2012 21:09:04 GMT
That doesn't mean that good advice from someone experienced in the field can't be offered as well though, does it?
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