Say 'Hasta La Vista, Baby' To DVD Extras
Posted Thursday, December 6, 2001 at 8:21 AM Central
by Tim Briscoe
According to a report in a recent Video Business publication, the DVD extras we've come to know and love may become a thing of the past. Features like audio commentaries and documentaries could very well be axed by studios due to rising production and talent costs.
Case in point, Artisan Entertainment paid Arnold Schwarzenegger an enormous $75,000 for his audio commentary on the recently released Total Recall special edition disc. That amount is far more than the total budget allowed by most studios for DVD production, says Video Business.
With the record-breaking sales of DVDs, everyone it seems wants a piece of the cake. And some studios would rather drop the additional content rather than pay exhorbent fees to talent. "Pretty soon we'll just stop doing them," said one studio executive.
Directors and actors who used to volunteer for audio commentary and involvement in the DVD production simply for personal reasons or as part of the necessary promotion are now demanding payment. In fact, the new Writer's Guild of America agreement with studios sets an additional $5,000 salary to be paid to the writer for every movie produced on the digital format.
Since DVD extras have become such a major selling point in the minds of consumers, here's betting (and hoping) that studios will ante up for actors and directors' involvement in the DVD process.