Straight to DVD series. When will it happen
 

With alot of cancelled TV shows getting quick DVD releases, when will producers just skip the TV middleman and go directly to DVD. I think it'd work. 13 episode seasons, 750k-1mill per episiode. at $10 per episode, only 100k needs to be sold to break even.

Someone float me $13million to get this idea off the ground.
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But why would anyone buy a DVD series based on a show they've never seen. TV is an introduction to a show and encourages some people to buy the DVDs in much the same way as enjoyment of a movie in the movie theatre drives movie DVD sales. How much sales would there be for something no one has seen or heard? Only exceptions are bad movies cheaply made and Disney non-theatrical releases.

Besides, commercials help pay for TV series. And if a show is popular and viewed by huge audiences, everyone wins for the show. That's alot of revenue they would be missing without it airing on TV first.

When Farscape was axed, I'm sure there were more than a few people who would have paid for another season on DVD.

Straight to DVD movies are popular and most of those never get to any network. DVD series are just the next logical step.

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I know no one, let alone 100k people who would spend $130 on a season of a show that they've never seen. This just wouldn't work.

I'm intrigued by the idea of a cancelled series having its life extended on DVD. How much would it cost to produce a season of a series? $30 - $40 million? That's cheaper than many movies are made for. At $40 or more a pop, a series would only have to sell a million or units to turn a profit. If they make concentrated 12 episode seasons instead of 22 or more, you can still sell the sets at $40 or more a pop but your cost is half of what it used to be.

It'll never happen, because once a show is dead, it's dead (unfortunately), but it's an intriguing idea nonetheless.

Maybe a video-direct subscription service . . . :p

Yes, and the Disney ones you're talking about are the "sequels" to animated films, right? Those are at least based on existing properties that people are familiar with. It was the same deal with the Olsen Twins DTV movies.

Mhepburn20, I assume he was referring to the MSRP so almost nobody would actually be spending $130, but in that case they would have to sell even more to break even.

Well, except for "Family Guy."

You dont sell them all at once. 1 episode = $10. Release an episode every 2 weeks.

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There's still a huge stigma to the words "direct to video", in that the majority of the public equates it with pretty much the lowest quality entertainment (below even made for cable nowadays). It would have to have really good starpower and a big marketing push to succeed, and if it had these things then it would have gotten picked up by a network in first place. So its kind of an endless circle.

This might work for something with a big enough existing cult following, but even then I'm not sure it would be cost-effective for the studio.

Japan does this all the time with some of it's anime. It's called OVA or OAV, standing for Original Video Animation. The direct to dvd titles are not always based on pre-existing shows or movies, but they are usually expensive and short (or, each release is short-- there may be a series of one-episode volumes, for example). Then again that's a different culture and what works in Japan doesn't necessarily work in America.

I think it works in japan because they advertise the shows.

Why couldnt they advertise the DVD shows in the US? A few commercials for 'The Blue Mask' starring 'Brendan Fraiser' on the SciFi channel or Spike or OLN. (I made up a title and plopped in a random star).

If it's well made, the buzz will get going and a lot of people will shell out a 10 spot to check it out. The following eps may fall in sales numbers but the core audience would stay and hopefully be enough to sustain it. If not, no second 'season'.

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That doesn't fit the topic. Family Guy was brought back to life as a series on network television. They didn't produce new eps just for the video market.

There are certain shows that could warrant this...Just because they were axed to early, or when it was too good. Off the top of my head I could think of Farscape, Buffy/Angel, Firefly, Tru Calling (atleast a full 2nd season)...many many more. Unfortunaly, thats not how it works. Only 1 show has ever been 'brought back' and that was Family Guy. The best you will get is a Mini-Series (Farscape) or a movie (Serenity).

Because it's never been tried. At least let it fail before calling it a failure. Instead of a production company begging Fox to let them make more eps, take the power away from the studios and give it to the fans/consumers.

If it's well made, it would be on regular television. Also, no one is going to pay 10 bucks an episode for downloadable 1 hour shows. There are enough complaints the way it is over classic HBO shows like The Sopranos coming out to like 6 dollars an episode on dvd; why would you pay anything more for something you can't physically keep and for a show that most likely isn't as entertaining? Even if networks allowed on-demand downloading of seasons of already released shows, I couldn't see myself spending more than a dollar or two per episode to watch them (if I even jumped for it at all).

I could see maybe season twos being produced for DVD only if the series was cancelled and found a huge audience on DVD but who is going to buy a set of 13-26 episodes blind and what would have to be inflated prices, as the show never made a dime off of advertising or syndication? Most shows these days SUCK. Honestly, how many new series that premiers every year makes it past season one? And out of those that do make it on TV, how many do you want to buy on DVD?

I would love nothing more than to see season two sets of Wonderfalls and Firefly put on DVD, but it is not going to happen. Hell, even when Paramount had people throwing money at them for free, they passed on the chance to produce another season of Enterprise (I know the fans were trying to keep it on the air, but theoretically, they could have produced it for DVD only).

Another thing, I think a good series grows and benefits over the course of the season by having feed back from the fans. You'd lose that kind of growth if the shows were produced all at once, with no feed back coming in at all from fans until they saw the set on DVD a year later.

The only way I think it could work is if they put out a pilot of a new series on DVD, advertised the hell out of it, and if it did well, continue with producing the rest of the series, and maybe release them in four or eight episodes per DVD volumes. I don't see a time when full direct to DVD season sets would be viable. But it would really have to be a cult fan favorite to work.

And not to mention I wonder how many big name talents are behind those shows? If Stephen Spielberg decided to produce a full season of a specific show he wanted to do for DVD release only and pumped the kind of money into it like he did for Band of Brothers and it had the highest quality he could give to it, do you think it would sell better than some new show of a bunch of nobodys that some creator decided to put on DVD because he couldn't get one network to pick it up? I think so.

Still a terrible idea. Right now, to watch a show, I plop down on my couch, and turn on the TV. I would have to order it or go out and buy it. Not interested.

Plus, $10 an episode is crazier than HBO prices. I can get 24 episodes of the OC for $45 on release week. That's $2 per.

Also, the point of TV on DVD is that you can watch several episodes at once. What's the point of waiting two weeks inbetween? This and NO buzz from already viewed episodes.

Sorry man, this just ain't a good idea, no matter how you slice it.

It is an established show with fans so this might work. However, not many will put $50 into a show they have never seen and might hate.


These are usually cheap $10-$15 and are one shot deals. If the story decribed on the back seems interesting, I and others are willing to pay $10 to get it. If it sucks, then we didn't invest too much. $50 is too much for something that might suck.

Often the Direct-to-DVD movies are based on something else. Ex: Starship Troopers 2 so fans of the movie might want the sequel.


The way a direct to DVD series might work is not as a TV series but a series of movies. Sort of the way Land Before Time is. There is probably 10 DVD only movies of it and you could call them a series.

I wish Kevin Smith would create a new season of Clerks TAS for DVD. I know those would sell!

Bring on The Blue Mask! I've heard it's Brendan Frasiers best work in years.

Selling a new episode for $10 a week would be killed pretty fast by bootleggers. Sad, but true. Just look at all the TV shows available by searching around the web.

Or, if not a series of movies, then perhaps shorter seasons with a low price point per season.

For example, do a season like a British show with six episodes or so and sell it for $20 or less and maybe people would give it a chance.

I don't anticipate ever seeing it happen, though.

There's really no reason to do a direct to video "tv series." With hundreds of channels nowadays, there's always a place for content to go between networks, cable and satellite. It makes no sense to cut out a potential revenue stream and go straight for the second.

Go tell that to Farscape and Tru Calling and Angel and The Inside and a ton of other shows. Just because there are a lot of channels doesnt mean that TV should be the only distribution method. Because in the end, there are a few executives deciding what shows we get to watch.

TV Shows could be like books or music. A writer can self publish and still stay profitable. Many musicians go their entire careers without a major label deal, but they still make money. TV shows should be the same way.

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