You've been the customer liaison for Criterion for along time. How long exactly have you been with the company and how did you get started with them?
I have been with the company on-and-off since the beginning, serving as customer liaison and performing other roles within the company as well.
How many e-mail messages do you get in a day? Do you try to read every one, and do you ever have to recruit your co-workers to help you out with answering your e-mail? Also, back in the laserdisc days, you used to have a semi-regular column on the website that answered frequently asked or interesting questions. Have you simply run out of time to do this, or is it something that you might revive in the future?
It really varies from day-to-day, but I get quite a few. I typically answer both the Mulvaney and Tech Support mail, so they add up. Tuesdays tend to be heaviest, for some reason.
I do indeed read every piece of mail that comes our way. Usually I respond personally, but I will occasionally defer to others within the company. I am constantly checking with various members of the Criterion crew for information and explanations, confirmations or updates. No one is immune from the Mulvaney mail!
The old Mulvaney column was phased out largely due to time constraints. Some time ago, we decided that each individual customer should receive an individual response. Instead of posting a column addressing Criterion issues generally, I now try to answer every customer query/concern directly. Hence, we have no plans to reinstate the old Mulvaney column, but I wouldn't say it's completely out of the question somewhere down the line.
A genie has granted you this wish: You can have the DVD rights, free of charge, for any one film on Earth for Criterion to release. What would you choose?
That is a difficult question. There are quite a few films that we'd absolutely love to get our hands on. I guess, for sentimental reasons, I would say Citizen Kane. It was our first laserdisc and I think I speak for everybody when I say it would have been a privilege to take a crack at the DVD.
Criterion has announced Night and Fog at an unprecedented $14.95 price point. Is this a one-time only deal, or is Criterion considering releasing more short works at this lower price?
At the moment, we have no plans to release any other short films at a reduced price. I can't say this won't happen again in the future, but it isn't the first in a series. It's our feeling that Night and Fog is an important film that deserves its own disc and needs to be seen by the broadest possible audience. Also, because it is only 31 minutes, our tech costs were commensurately lower and we were able to pass that savings on in the form of a lower price.
The Kurosawa and upcoming Hitchcock sets seem to be very successful - are there any plans for more of these kinds of reduced-price collections? Perhaps a Fellini or Bergman set?
We have no immediate plans, but as people seem to appreciate these sets, I think it's pretty likely that we will release another such set sometime in the future.
A few areas lacking representation in the Criterion Collection are animated, African, and Latin American films. Are there any plans to look into releasing films of this type, or is this perceived to be outside the scope of the collection or outside the current areas of expertise of your producers?
You are absolutely right about the lack of Latin American, African, and animated films in the collection and I can assure you that we are working to fill these holes. It is our goal to make the collection as eclectic as
possible and we're constantly searching for ways to include new genres and nations. Our producers are knowledgeable and fearless and are ready to take on any new challenges. So please - send suggestions! Especially when it comes to lesser-known national cinemas, the Title Suggestion function on our website is an important acquisitions tool. And, if you do decide to send a list of, say, Senegalese films, please write "Senegalese films" or "The Cinema of Senegal" in the subject heading of the email. This will catch the eyes of the acquisitions team, who see every single message submitted through the website flagged "Title Suggestion".
You've announced that several Ozu titles will be released at the end of this year. Can fans expect a slate of individual titles, or are there plans for a major box set of Ozu's work (or has this even been decided yet)? There is perceived to be a race to release Ozu titles among Criterion in the US, Arte in France, and Tartan in the UK. Is this a concern for Criterion?
We'll be releasing the Ozu's individually, with the exception of Floating Weeds (1959) and The Story of Floating Weeds (1934), which will appear on the same release. No box is planned at the moment.
Due to the upcoming centennial of Ozu's birth, a number of companies are gearing up to release Ozu DVDs, but we don't feel any particular competition. On the contrary, we are more likely to our international counterparts when putting together our releases. We all have the interests of the films at heart.
You undoubtedly get many requests for films held by major studios that may not be likely to give up the rights, despite the fact that they seem to have no plans to release the title themselves (Warner's reluctance to release Ken Russell's "The Devils," for example).Does Criterion ever pursue these titles even though you are likely to be turned down, or do you ever communicate to these studios the great demand for these titles?
We are in direct contact with major studios all the time and we make our interests pretty clear. I can't comment specifically on our acquisitions efforts, but I can say that we're always fighting to get our hands on great, neglected films.
Has Criterion thought of reaching out more regularly to the fans? You had the great opportunity for fans to submit interview questions for the "Down by Law" disc, but has the idea ever been discussed of holding a contest for fans to design cover art for a title or perhaps conducting a poll to see what the most-wanted title might be? What about the possibility of selling merchandise with the Criterion logo such as t-shirts or mugs?
The Down by Law fan outreach was a tremendous success and we'd love to do more. We're actively trying to find new and better ways to incorporate fan input into our releases. If anyone has any ideas, please send them along to me.
I don't imagine we'll be doing any polls in the near future. First of all, picking titles for the collection has never been a popularity contest or a matter of market research. Also, there are already plenty of web polls out there. Instead, we monitor the Title Suggestions carefully and we feel that gives us a broader and more interesting view of what Criterion collectors might like to see.
As for Criterion swag, that's an excellent idea and one that I'll be discussing with the powers that be.
I know you've been asked repeatedly about possible releases of Luis Buñuel's Spanish and Mexican work, particularly "El Angel exterminador" and "Viridiana." Are the rights too complicated or expensive to negotiate, is there just no interest in producing these titles, are they being considered for future release, or are there other circumstances? Apart from Renoir's The Rules of the Game and Fellini's La Strada, these are the most asked-about titles on our forum.
We are absolutely interested in Bunuel's Spanish and Mexican films. As I'm sure you guys know, we're big Bunuel fans over here. Films such as The Exterminating Angel or Viridiana are, however, extremely complicated from both a rights and film elements perspective. We are continuing to investigate this situation and are eager for any information that met help to clear up this mess. If anyone out there happens to have any useful tidbits, please send them my way. As you surely know, quite a bit of terrific information about films and supplements has come to us by way of the Mulvaney inbox.
The cover art for your releases has become more design-oriented and iconic not only since the laserdisc days, but also since your earlier DVD releases. Could you shed some light on how your designers come up with concepts for the art and how the final art is chosen? For example, do the designers watch the film to get a feel for ways to approach the cover art? How many concepts might be developed for a particular title before a final design is chosen?
Criterion's art department has an extraordinary stable of designers and for each release we try to select a designer we feel will have an affinity for the project. Working from a brief by the producer and art director, the designer watches the film and submits a handful of different design concepts based on their interpretation of the material and the producer's goal. Then the art department, in conjunction with the disc's producer, will decide which direction they feel is best for the film and ripple that concept through all the other elements of the release.
Are there any plans to begin including Spanish and French subtitles on discs for your fans in North America for whom English is not a first language?
As you know, it's our current policy to include only English subtitles on our releases. This is largely because we do not want our European licensors to feel we are encouraging sales outside of the U.S. and English-speaking Canada. There is, of course, a large and growing Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. and Canada and we are aware of the demand for Spanish subtitles on DVDs sold in these territories. For now, we have no immediate plans to add additional subtitles to our releases, but it is not by any means a closed issue.
Image Entertainment is releasing a DVD of Bodies, Rest, and Motion that includes the supplements that were developed for the Criterion laserdisc edition of the film. What other titles can we expect from other distributors that will include content that was on the Criterion laserdiscs?
You'll find our commentary on Anchor Bay's Halloween disc, our Monty Python and the Holy Grail commentary on Columbia's disc, and our Bodies, Rest, and Motion commentary on the New Line (Image) disc. We do make such arrangements occasionally and I imagine we will continue to do so from time to time.
Finally, can you give us any hints or tidbits on upcoming titles Criterion is working on? Are there any special plans to celebrate your 200th DVD release or the upcoming 20th anniversary of The Criterion Collection?
Hints and tidbits, eh? Let's see...
We have high hopes that the second half of the year will see the release of a number of long-awaited, long labored over titles, as well as a box of Swedes, three German women, two American psychos, an old man, a devil, and a club-footed hunchback king. How's that?
Thanks for your questions and please continue to be in touch. Criterion loves the Criterion Forum!