I want to say, “Finally!” The NYT reports on the players in the burgeoning medium of DVD extras: directors like Laurent Bouzereau (Spielberg) and producers like Mark Rowen (Shrek 2).
Bouzereau started in the laser disc business and spent time at standard-setting Criterion–which gets short shrift in the article, by the way; The Matrix may have made the DVD business, but Criterion made the DVD extra–before setting up his own shop. He’s the making of documentary and bonus material guy.
Meanwhile, it’s the producer who takes the blame for the pointlessly animated, time-killing interactive menus. And it’s suits like the guy from Lion’s Gate who think no one cares about DVD extras who are to blame for nearly naked DVD’s with little more than a few crappy trailers tacked on.
That said, there are plenty of directors whose fans would surely appreciate some more DVD material who can’t get their distribs to rub more than two dimes together for a 10-min. making of, Gus Van Sant. Now that I think about it, the quintessential DVD extra–director commentaries–get almost no play at all in the article, even though they’re almost a medium in themselves. [Carrot Top’s commentary track on Rules of Attraction is in a category all its own.]
The Powers Behind the Home-Video Throne [nyt]
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the making of, by greg allen