Dvd

[maureen & harry]

Have been playing DVD Portrait of Matt and so nice to see again.

There are some great songs by Matt in black and white and wonder if any of them can be added to his channel and especially I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

It appears that Odeon own the copyright 2005 and think they are no longer in business and getting permission will be a problem.

[Rmoore]

Hi,

Those clips are from the 1966 Australian Dulux Special. These, unfortunately, still belong to the original Australian TV station who want a small fortune to licence for You Tube (same for all US and Australian clips) Odeon don't own them. They still exist but due to the name clash with the cinema chain, they are now called Screenbound.

There are very few clips left that can currently be licenced, unfortunately.

[karl]

Everyone is so greedy these days charging ridiculous fees Wouldn't it be more sensible to charge a reasonable fee and let Matt's fans view the footage on dvd rather then languishing in a vault where nobody can see them?

[maureen & harry]

Thank you Richard and iti is such a shame they want a small fortune and agree with Karl why wont they accept a reasonable fee. Dont understand why they will keep it locked away and could get a reasonable fee instead of nothing and in years to come could be worth less or perhaps nothing.

It must be so frustrating for you and Michele to come up with this attitude so often but do appreciate all your efforts for us Matt fans.

[Rmoore]

It's something we've argued for years, at least the BBC and ITV (to a point) have seen sense. The USA is the worst. At one point they wanted $2000 per minute, it's why we never licenced the Ed Sullivan. At least there is an Ed Sullivan channel now, although they are very slow to put Matt's performances up. There are three in total, only one of which they have issued.

There is some wonderful material. Some even we have never seen. A company called Reeling In The Years has the rights to a David Frost show from 1972 (and possibly a Merv Griffin, although we've never been able to confirm that) with Matt Singing "This Way Mary", but they won't even consider letting the estate get a copy without paying thousands for a licence. They state "Reelin' In The Years Productions does not supply our material to fans, collectors or other private entities.We will only send material out for legitimate projects to clients in the entertainment industry." so it's unlikely that clip will ever be seen now unless somebody makes a new Doc on Matt.

There are some wonderful Don Lane show clips From Australia (Controlled again by Reeling In The Years) Steve Allen Show, Shindig, Mike Douglas Show, Red Skelton, Tom Jones (UK TV but controlled by a US company). BandWagon (Canada), Mike Walsh (Australia) plus UK Shows we can't get rights to - Tony Bennett Show, Little & Large, David Nixon (All Fremantle - owner of the Thames Libary) and Big Night Out & the Go Go with Matt Monro Film (Canal - A french owned company) none of which will help us. There aren't millions of clips, but we could probably add another 30 or 40 songs to the channel if everyone would play ball. - Maybe one day.

[ROBERT M.]

That is so sad that these greedy companies involved will not see sense. Their stubborn attitude are stopping Matt fans all over the world from seeing rare and much anticipated performances from all those years ago by magical Matt.

[karl]

How much more legitimate do they want? Matt Jr is a professional singer and I'm sure Michelle is also professional with all the talks she gives onboard ship.

[ROBERT M.]

Yes, well said Karl

[Rmoore]

Not enough for them. They insist you are a production company and must prove it's a bonafide film/video/tv project. Even then the clips they send you have a massive watermark right through them, which they only remove when they have full payment!

We did get one piece of footage for the last DVD we did (Around the World). All the ITV/BBC etc clips Odeon licenced worked out as probably about £2000 for them in total - EXCEPT "Let's Face The Music" from Red Skelton (via Reeling in the Years) which cost £1500 JUST for the one clip. This was the most expensive clip Odeon ever licenced and they only did it because it had become Michele's favourite clip ever - If you haven't seen it, Matt is wheeled around whilst sitting on a bit of "portable" wall whilst everybody else dances. Now DVD sales are now very low compared to then (and licensing costs and other costs have gone up!) so it won't ever happen again, unfortunately.

[ROBERT M.]