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    Invelos Forums->DVD Profiler: Contribution Discussion Page: 1 2 3 4 5  Previous   Next
CoO of American Werewolf in London
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantRifter
Reg. Jan 27, 2002
Registered: March 13, 2007
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Quoting northbloke:
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Quoting Rifter:
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But without New Line, his artistic talent would be worth didly, and those movies would never have been made.  New Line "produced"  Lord of the Rings by 'producing' the money that enabled Peter Jackson and Wingnut to do the work.


That's not strictly true. It's already been stated that Peter Jackson took LoTR to New Line, not the other way round. So it's safe to assume if New Line hadn't paid for it, someone else could have.
And a film producer doesn't produce the money, they manage it.

I've just realised - how have we ended up discussing LoTR in an American Werewolf thread?


Same problem.  Title doesn't matter.
John

"Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice!" Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964
Make America Great Again!
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantRifter
Reg. Jan 27, 2002
Registered: March 13, 2007
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Quoting JonM:
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Quoting Rifter:
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But this discussion has never been about artistic production, nor did the comment from Gerri address that.  It is about the 'production company of record.'  Take LOTR, for example.  I greatly admire Peter Jackson's talent and artistic sense - LOTR and Kong are two of my favorites.  But without New Line, his artistic talent would be worth didly, and those movies would never have been made.  New Line "produced"  Lord of the Rings by 'producing' the money that enabled Peter Jackson and Wingnut to do the work.


The discussion for me has always been about whether or not CoO should be the artistic source or the copyright owner.

If it's the copyright owner, I would find the data ultimately useless. As I said in the thread I started, it may so often be US ownership of many worldwide productions, simply because they are willing to pay for them. Which is a good thing, but look at this list (I've added a couple of obvious US to beef it up):

Taxi Driver - US
An American Werewolf in London - US
Godfather - US
A Fish Called Wanda - US
LoTR - US

What's the point? Boring data just listing copyright owners. Most of the list will have "US". IMO, this version is far more interesting and relevant to the content:

Taxi Driver - US
An American Werewolf in London - UK
Godfather - US
A Fish Called Wanda - UK
LoTR - New Zealand



Aesthetically, emotionally, artistically, you can call them whatever you want as far as origin is concerned, but that doesn't mean anything beyond that.  Every example you give above for UK was filmed in the UK (or NZ).  Well, so was John Wayne's "McQ."  But it was produced by Wayne's production company, Batjac.  It's no more British than I am.

The company that paid the freight by ponying up the cash, whether or not it actually did any of the filming, is the company of record, and that means country of origin.  Everything else is nothing but personal preference, prejudice, whatever you want to call it.

And no, I don't particularly care one way or the other.  Somebody said to just nuke this CoO thing.  Well, I've got a couple nukes I'll loan for that job. 
John

"Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice!" Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964
Make America Great Again!
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantxradman
Registered: June 17, 2002
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Quoting JonM:
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If it's the copyright owner, I would find the data ultimately useless.


I agree wholeheartedly.

How about all the Columbia/TriStar films or the new Rocky Balboa from Sony? Should we label those films as Japanese since Sony Entertainment owns those labels?
My Home Theater
 Last edited: by xradman
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar Contributornorthbloke
Registered: March 15, 2007
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Quoting Rifter:
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The company that paid the freight by ponying up the cash, whether or not it actually did any of the filming, is the company of record, and that means country of origin.  Everything else is nothing but personal preference, prejudice, whatever you want to call it.


But Gerri has already specified that it's the production company that we need to be looking at. The production company is the one that does the filming, so your statement that it's the company that ponies up the cash that we should be looking at is wrong.
It sounds to me like it's your personal preference that's colouring this debate, not ours.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantJonM
Registered 28 Dec 2000
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Quoting Rifter:
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Every example you give above for UK was filmed in the UK (or NZ).  Well, so was John Wayne's "McQ."  But it was produced by Wayne's production company, Batjac.  It's no more British than I am.


Location doesn't matter. Yes, McQ is an American film, just like Enter the Dragon is.

Good call on Sony, Xradman! That'll be Spider-Man as well, won't it?
Jon
"When Mister Safety Catch Is Not On, Mister Crossbow Is Not Your Friend."

DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantxradman
Registered: June 17, 2002
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Quoting JonM:
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Good call on Sony, Xradman! That'll be Spider-Man as well, won't it?


That and Casino Royale, Stealth, SWAT, Hitch, Click, Monster House, Underworld, Tears of the Sun, Black Hawk Down, etc. The list goes on, all great films from JAPAN!  
My Home Theater
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantRifter
Reg. Jan 27, 2002
Registered: March 13, 2007
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Quoting northbloke:
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Quoting Rifter:
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The company that paid the freight by ponying up the cash, whether or not it actually did any of the filming, is the company of record, and that means country of origin.  Everything else is nothing but personal preference, prejudice, whatever you want to call it.


But Gerri has already specified that it's the production company that we need to be looking at. The production company is the one that does the filming, so your statement that it's the company that ponies up the cash that we should be looking at is wrong.
It sounds to me like it's your personal preference that's colouring this debate, not ours.


Except that somebody also posted a definition of 'production company' that said it could ALSO be the company in charge of causing that to happen.  There is no rule I'm aware of that restricts a prod. co. to ONLY filming.
John

"Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice!" Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964
Make America Great Again!
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar Contributornorthbloke
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Quoting Rifter:
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Except that somebody also posted a definition of 'production company' that said it could ALSO be the company in charge of causing that to happen.  There is no rule I'm aware of that restricts a prod. co. to ONLY filming.

OK I'm assuming you're referring to this quote from Wikipedia:
Quote:

Production company refers to a company responsible for the development and physical production of performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production or may do so through an intermediary. The production company may be a small company, selling its product to a film studio or presenting it at a theatrical venue, or, in the case of film and television, it may be the studio itself.


Using this definition I can't see how New Line can be classed as the production company. Yes they were responsible "for the raising of funding", but note the words may also in that sentence.
In order for New Line to be the production company, they also need to match the criteria in the first sentence: "the development and physical production" which they don't, WingNut did that bit.

And on a different track, if we take the copyright holder as the basis for CoO, what happens if New Line decided to sell their copyright? If they sold the films to a French company, would that make them French films? We can't use the copyright holder because that can change, we use production company because that can't change.
 Last edited: by northbloke
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantxradman
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Seriously, in these days of multinational conglomerates, CoO for even financing company is difficult to determine. I don't think even John (Rifter) would say that Rocky Balboa or Spider-Man is a film from Japan. So some clarification and common sense needs to be applied at times.
My Home Theater
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantJonM
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Quoting xradman:
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So some clarification and common sense needs to be applied at times.


Now that's just crazy talk.
Jon
"When Mister Safety Catch Is Not On, Mister Crossbow Is Not Your Friend."

DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorTheMadMartian
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Quoting ya_shin:
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I thought it was already established earlier in this thread, that in fact it was Peter Jackson and WingNut film being the driving force behind the project and if New Line hadn't bought the rights for him, somebody else might have...

But I may have misunderstood that part of the discussion.


I will give you the basic...very basic...history.

Jackson and his wife wanted to make the LotR films.  Miramax helped them get the license to make them from Saul Zaentz...note I say 'license' because Saul Zaentz still claims the movie rights on his website.

The trilogy was originally going to be two films but Miramax, citing budget concerns, decided to turn it into a single film.  Jackson refused and, after some back and forth, Miramax decided to sell the entire project to New Line.

New Line did put up the money and they did do some production work so, at least in my opinion, they are a production company.  The question then becomes, which of the two production companies takes precedence?
No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever.
There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom.
Against this power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand.
The Centauri learned this lesson once.
We will teach it to them again.
Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.
- Citizen G'Kar
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorTheMadMartian
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Quoting northbloke:
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OK I'm assuming you're referring to this quote from Wikipedia:
Quote:

Production company refers to a company responsible for the development and physical production of performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production or may do so through an intermediary. The production company may be a small company, selling its product to a film studio or presenting it at a theatrical venue, or, in the case of film and television, it may be the studio itself.


Using this definition I can't see how New Line can be classed as the production company. Yes they were responsible "for the raising of funding", but note the words may also in that sentence.
In order for New Line to be the production company, they also need to match the criteria in the first sentence: "the development and physical production" which they don't, WingNut did that bit.


I beg to differ  All the words 'may also' mean is that sometimes the production company provides financing and sometimes they don't.  As I said earlier, I remember Jackson complaining about lack of sleep because he had to have late night production meetings with New Line.  New Line did more than just provide funding.  Both New Line and WingNut acted as production companies...each just did a different part of the production job.  The question, as I just said, becomes how do we determine which one is more important?  New Line did some production work and provided all the financing.  WingNut did most of the production work but provided none of the financing.  So which is more important?

The problem we have is the field doesn't allow for joint production credit.
No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever.
There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom.
Against this power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand.
The Centauri learned this lesson once.
We will teach it to them again.
Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.
- Citizen G'Kar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar Contributornorthbloke
Registered: March 15, 2007
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Quoting Unicus69:
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The problem we have is the field doesn't allow for joint production credit.


I completely agree. I have never denied that of course it should be "NZ/US" as CoO. The problem is we can't and I'm of the opinion that it's the company that did the bulk of the production work that gets the credit.
And of course there are a lot of European co-productions out there that are going to get even more complicated!
PS I have to admit I read the Wikipedia quote differently. To me it reads that a production company "may also" raise the money for a film, but that it's not necessary for them to do that to be a production company.
And as for all the meetings with New Line, if you'd given a bloke $300 million wouldn't you keep tabs on what he was spending it on? I've worked with commissioning editors from tv channels who have been very hands-on (ie. interfering!) but it still didn't make the tv channel a production company.

To put it briefly (too late), yes New Line should be listed in the CoO, but alongside WingNut, not instead of.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantRifter
Reg. Jan 27, 2002
Registered: March 13, 2007
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Quoting northbloke:
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Quoting Rifter:
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Except that somebody also posted a definition of 'production company' that said it could ALSO be the company in charge of causing that to happen.  There is no rule I'm aware of that restricts a prod. co. to ONLY filming.

OK I'm assuming you're referring to this quote from Wikipedia:
Quote:

Production company refers to a company responsible for the development and physical production of performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production or may do so through an intermediary. The production company may be a small company, selling its product to a film studio or presenting it at a theatrical venue, or, in the case of film and television, it may be the studio itself.


Using this definition I can't see how New Line can be classed as the production company. Yes they were responsible "for the raising of funding", but note the words may also in that sentence.
In order for New Line to be the production company, they also need to match the criteria in the first sentence: "the development and physical production" which they don't, WingNut did that bit.

And on a different track, if we take the copyright holder as the basis for CoO, what happens if New Line decided to sell their copyright? If they sold the films to a French company, would that make them French films? We can't use the copyright holder because that can change, we use production company because that can't change.


'May also' is inclusive, not exclusive.  It means that a production company can wear many hats at the same time as it deems necessary.  And THAT means you can't exclude New Line from being the production company for LOTR, etc.
John

"Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice!" Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964
Make America Great Again!
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorLopek
Lovely day for a...
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Quoting Rifter:
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'May also' is inclusive, not exclusive.  It means that a production company can wear many hats at the same time as it deems necessary.  And THAT means you can't exclude New Line from being the production company for LOTR, etc.

I don't believe anyone ever has. But WingNut remain the main production company of the films.
Andy

"Credited as" Names Database
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantRifter
Reg. Jan 27, 2002
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Quoting Unicus69:
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Quoting ya_shin:
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I thought it was already established earlier in this thread, that in fact it was Peter Jackson and WingNut film being the driving force behind the project and if New Line hadn't bought the rights for him, somebody else might have...

But I may have misunderstood that part of the discussion.


I will give you the basic...very basic...history.

Jackson and his wife wanted to make the LotR films.  Miramax helped them get the license to make them from Saul Zaentz...note I say 'license' because Saul Zaentz still claims the movie rights on his website.

The trilogy was originally going to be two films but Miramax, citing budget concerns, decided to turn it into a single film.  Jackson refused and, after some back and forth, Miramax decided to sell the entire project to New Line.

New Line did put up the money and they did do some production work so, at least in my opinion, they are a production company.  The question then becomes, which of the two production companies takes precedence?



Which one actually got it made?  Three guesses and the first two don't count.
John

"Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice!" Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964
Make America Great Again!
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