Legally Blonde MTV Recording- Page 2

[darreyl102]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 1:44pm

Because it’s awesome! LOL.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 3:25pm

Yeah, there are places to announce such things. This is not the best place. Industry folk are all over the place here, and not all of them take kindly to such things.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 3:29pm

Yeah, it's awesome! I love ripping off artists and producers! Woo-hoo!

[darreyl102]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 8:41pm

Don’t really see how anybody is getting ripped off when no money is exchanged or made in Bootleg trading. And until someone can show me some figures that show that Broadway shows are suffering in ticket sales due to bootlegs, they don’t seem to be hurting Box Office Business. But you are entitled to your opinion.

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 11:30pm

"I quite honestly don't think the sale of a Legally Blonde musical DVD in America will undermine Asian ticket sales."

Not undermining ticket sales is precisely why official DVD's of Broadway performances aren't sold, and why bootlegging is illegal. This would be especially true for Asia, where copyright infringement and bootlegging are major issues. The year in which the broadcast was done is irrelevant. Updated On: 1/1/14 at 11:30 PM

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 12:56am

I do not care about the Asian market. I am speaking directly to the North American market, and the lack thereof. It is THAT simple. If there were a market for the DVD of the broadcast, the producers would have pushed for distribution... Again, it's that simple.

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 9:23am

You seem to imply that a DVD released in the U.S. couldn't get pirated in Asia. Nothing could be further from the truth - ask any Hollywood exec. Here's the relevant part of the NY Times article linked above:

"Broadway and British producers see a potentially lucrative market in China, but they are proceeding with caution, they say, given that doing business there raises a hefty range of issues — royalty agreements, licensing contract terms, copyright protections, piracy concerns — that have yet to be negotiated or resolved with Chinese theater owners, producers and government officials." If you don't agree, you could write a letter to the Times.

I'm sorry, but the reason you suggested -- that a DVD wouldn't be profitable in a U.S. release -- just doesn't hold water (it costs what, like five cents to manufacture and distribute a DVD?). I'm sure producers and Actors' Equity care about the North American market at least as much as you do, but maybe there's a reason they don't release DVD's of their stage properties in general. That's quite different from deciding to do a broadcast.

Updated On: 1/2/14 at 09:23 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 9:29am

It costs a lot more than that to manufacture and market a dvd. And as mentioned earlier there are contractual considerations with Equity and the other unions.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 10:19am

"I'm sorry, but the reason you suggested -- that a DVD wouldn't be profitable in a U.S. release -- just doesn't hold water (it costs what, like five cents to manufacture and distribute a DVD?)"

As Taz already said, it is MUCH more than "five cents." I would recommend you do some research before making such ridiculous claims. Here's a starting list of expenses for putting the broadcast on DVD, and I'm sure someone like Besty--who does this for a living--could add on:

- Mechanical Licenses [Royalties]
- Audio and Visual Remastering (for DVD quality)
- Graphic design and artwork
- Content creation & programming
- Physical manufacturing and production: hard disk, box, labeling
- Marketing and Promotion
- Distributor's fees & costs (if any)

...Not to mention the costly arrangement they would have needed to work out with AEA. Five cents, huh?

[darreyl102]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 10:33am

There is always the burn on demand option, where the DVD is created when ordered- that would help prevent them from creating a bunch of DVDs that might gather dust on store shelves- but there is still all the costs. The market for Musicals and Broadway related things is for a select market- not really a mass market either. It’s not the kind of thing you will find in every household, which is why we probably have very few releases- due to the market not being high enough.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 10:34am

It is typically more cost effective to do everything in "bulk," or larger quantities. But there's not a large enough market to justify that. So, regardless of how it's done, the expenses would be too high (and the potential profit much too low).

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 1/3/14 at 10:19am

I was using hyperbole to make a point, not being literal -- sorry if that wasn't clear. What I was saying is that compared to producing and marketing a live tour, producing and distributing a DVD is very inexpensive.

My basic point is this: if, as you suggest, a decision to sell a DVD were a simple matter of North American profitability, you'd see lots of official DVD's of Broadway shows. But as you may have noticed, none -- including mega-hits -- sell official DVD's of their performances. It's not because they can't (producers and Actor's Equity could work out that deal if they wanted to). It's because if you sell a person a DVD, they're much less likely to buy a ticket for the tour which, though more expensive than a DVD to produce, has a higher profit margin. The profitability in live theater rests in putting people in seats, not peddling DVD's.

Televising a performance before a national tour is one thing; that acts like an advertisement for the tour, and helps sell tickets if the DVD is not available as an alternative. I'm certain a Legally Blonde DVD would sell, because it is one of the most popular stock and amateur musicals in the U.S., with about 4,000 performances done in high schools a year (and that's not hyperbole -- you can check it). But selling a live tour to an enormous Asian market is potentially much more profitable. It's obvious producers wouldn't want to undermine that by releasing DVD's that might get pirated.

Any analysis of North American DVD sales decisions that fails to recognize these considerations is flawed. The fact that Broadway hits do not put out DVD's proves the point.







Updated On: 1/3/14 at 10:19 AM

[Hairspray0901]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 2:56pm

BUMP - does anyone know if a Legally Blonde DVD recording has been released since this last discussion post (over a year ago). My parents are cleaning out their house and I found an "old" VHS recording of the show from when it aired on MTV in 2008. It's horrible quality but I really loved this production. Any help would be appreciated.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 3:02pm

No, I don't think it's been released. They really should just make a DVD; it's not like MTV will ever air it again anyways, plus many young fans of the show weren't old enough to appreciate it when the thing originally aired.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 3:29pm

Apparently the two most recent posters did not read any of the previous posts. No it will not be released on DVD. It wasn't in the original contacts and going back to renegotiate those contacts and produce a physical DVD would be cost prohibitive, especially with a niche market. If you want it, find a good quality copy on-line and steal it like everyone else.

[Hairspray0901]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 4:04pm

actually, i did read the thread, jimmycurry01. and the original post mentioning the contracts not including the DVD release ended with:

"I have heard people say that the original contracts did, indeed, include the possibility of a DVD release, but I'm not sure who is telling the truth."

[Julia Ott]

Posted: 10/18/18 at 11:25am

Tbh I'd like a dvd recording of it along with The Search for the Next Elle Woods. Yeah, they're both on youtube but there are a lot of reasons why I would've paid good money for a dvd on which I would have access to both in better quality

[raddersons]

Posted: 10/18/18 at 11:26am

Julia Ott said: "Tbh I'd like a dvd recording of it along with The Search for the Next Elle Woods. Yeah, they're both on youtube but there are a lot of reasons why I would've paid good money for a dvd on which I would have access to both in better quality"

I've been dying to get my hands on this recently! #TeamAutumn

[bdn223]

Posted: 10/18/18 at 12:31pm

I would too, but as this thread debated previously wasn't the contractual issues very foggy about this when it came to releasing this for home video format. (I'd say dvd, but at this point I'd hope to get it on netflix)

I could of sworn though that the contracts for the filming of Legally Blonde were so tightly written in legal-jargon that MTV was even limited in the number of times they could play it on their schedule. It was the first of the modern musicals "filmed live on Broadway" with Rent, Memphis, Shrek, Alliance, She Loves Me, Newsies... the list goes on all coming about after. There is one major difference between Legally Blonde and the subsequent filmed productions. Legally Blonde was films and shown on MTV as a publicity stunt and not a possible revenue stream. As such I would assume contracts were written similarly to standard TV appearances and not for future profits of the filming. As producers saw filming as a more viable revenue stream though, I am sure they adjusted contracts accordingly for distribution. The DVD cost was probably the main reason why producers didn't push for later distribution rights in the contracts. At the time of filming streaming video's online really wasn't a thing, and there was no Broadway DVD market,  so putting it out on DVD would of lost money.  If  producers could sell the streaming rights to netflix, hulu, amazon, or even BroadwayHD they would of by now, as there are  8 million+ views between 3 YouTube uploads of the full MTV production, which doesn't count the countless other uploads that have the production spliced into 10+ videos, which is more views then people that bought tickets to Mamma Mia on Broadway during its 13  year run.