You could do a copyright search at the library of congress. There are several
reasonably priced researchers but I expect it costs
at $100 per film. However don't waste your
money. Major studios are VERY,VERY, VERY unlikely to be interested in lesser
known
B pictures. Right now they are going to be spending the next several YEARS
going through their back catalogue of major titles to
put out on DVD.
You would have a much better chance trying
to convince TCM to run them on cable
Trust me there is NO point in wasting your time by writing to studios for
video/dvd releases. As a friend of mine who works
for a major studio once scrawled for me
on a napkin when I made complaints
about their disinterest in both prints
and videos of older titles "THEY DON'T CARE"
Jessica Rosner
On Wed, 28 Aug 2002 00:16:27 -0700 Sharon Knolle <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Thanks Donald.
> Does anyone know if there is a way to look up
> rights to specific films so as
> to know whom to petition for video release?
> Thanks.
> Sharon
>
>
>
> > From: "Larsson, Donald F."
> > Reply-To: Film and TV Studies Discussion List
>
> > Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 18:26:44 -0500
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Monogram and RKO films
> >
> > Apparently, it's a long story, but after
> Howard Hughes ran RKO into the
> > ground, the studio was taken over by Desilu
> Productions, which in turn was
> > absorbed by Paramount. So some of the titles
> remained with Paramount but Ted
> > Turner did get TV rights to many of those.
> Of course, Turner sold out to
> > TimeWarnerAOL, which has its own story!
> There's a pretty good summary at the
> > Scarlet Street Forum Q&A:
> >
>
http://pub4.ezboard.com/fscarletstreetrkoandotherstudios.showMessage?topicID=4
> > 5.topic
> >
> > "Only connect" --E.M. Forster
> > Donald F. Larsson
> > English Dept., AH 230
> > Minnesota State University
> > Mankato, MN 56001
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Sharon Knolle
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Tue 8/27/2002 4:58 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Cc:
> > Subject: Monogram and RKO films
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi,
> > Does anyone know who ended up with
> distribution rights to Monogram and RKO
> > films from the '40s and '50s? I've seen some
> RKO films end up on Turner Home
> > Video, but certainly not all.
> >
> > Many thanks,
> >
> > Sharon Knolle
> > Entertainment Writer
> > [log in to unmask]
> > Online Portfolio:
> http://home.sprintmail.com/~sknolle/frame.html
> >
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