I suppose it’s a curse of my chosen bizarre little profession, dealing with obscurities and oddities of cinema and gaming, but I’m having a hell of a time here.
There are several production companies for movies that I’ve been trying to contact. I have a lot of reasons for wanting to do this, licensing issues and what have you, but naturally, these movies were so shitty and so much time has passed that I can find virtually nothing on them except for the barest of cast and crew information. Take for example Yor: Hunter From the Future, and that’s one of the better-known movies. I can’t find any contact information on the production company, or whether that company even still exists.
At what point is it safe to assume the rights to these things are just up in the air? These companies don’t have any contact info on IMDB, there’s nothing in Internet phone directories, and in some cases, the original rights-holders are probably long dead. I really don’t know where else to go with this research, and I’d like to stay on the right side of the law if at all possible.
Edit: Regardless of how much you think you know about it, let’s just leave fair use out of this discussion for now. I’m talking more about how I can track these people down, if there are other avenues I haven’t pursued. These movies can’t be in the public domain. Someone owns the rights, but how the hell do I find them? At what point can a person reasonably assume the search is futile?
The fair lady Scarlett recently sent me a giddy e-mail demanding that I see about attending next year’s Phoenix Comicon as a guest. She appealed to my own massive ego and cooed things about my burgeoning Internet celebrity status, which was wise, but I strongly suspect that she’s just using me to get close to Wil Wheaton. Fair enough, and well played, but don’t start screaming betrayal when you walk in on me and Felicia Day macking it out behind Lou Ferigno’s booth, you filthy harlot!!
(But seriously, Felicia’s on the threesome list, and if I score I’m totally holding you to it.)
WAIT! I haven’t agreed to anything. Scarlett’s enthusiasm aside, I’m just not sure it’d be a good idea for me to show up. I could reserve a “small press” table for about $300 or a larger exhibitor’s booth for about $600 (after taxes), but either way I’m not sure I’d really fit in with the comic book set. I’m not an artist and I don’t have any products to sell. I could have a bunch of t-shirts made, but really I’d just see myself being relatively anonymous and signing a couple of autographs. It’d be a great opportunity to sell some DVDs, but I don’t have any, so that point is moot. Also, if I told you all where I was going to be, it’d be too good of an opportunity for my enemies to strike…
I don’t know. What do you think?
The time has come! The campaign has started. Nominations are over, and I’ve made the final five in the running for Mashable’s Funniest Person to Follow award.
So don’t delay! Vote for The Spoony One today, tomorrow, every day! A Walken in every pot!
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Oh, so now we have a forum full of comedians, huh?
The Mayans warned us…but they didn’t see the end of their own civilization coming, now did they?
