A Conversation with DVD Dave

It is January 11, 2003 and the Adult Entertainment Expo is in full swing and Wicked calls some of us together to discuss their upcoming release of "Hercules" on DVD. You can tell by his presentation that David is really excited about this movie. He has worked hard to make this disc the best it can possible be and I think he has achieved just that. Here is a list of some of the features that you will find:

All of this on 2 packed DVD 9's. As David said "it should keep you busy all weekend."

In our interview back in June of 2002 you said you were aiming for a September day/date release for "Hercules". What happened?

David Crawford - Editing. I had to get the movie done before I could get the extra features going. Really it was a big project and it just got bigger than I thought it would. It kind of got away from itself really and when I saw the menu's I was like..take as much time as you need. Do what you need to do to make it right. There was no way I could have day/date it unless we sat on the movie for another 4 months and we wanted to get the VHS out in time for the awards. Steve (Steve Orienstein - Head of Wicked Pictures) lets me do what I need to do to get the job done and I felt a little more time was needed to get the job done right.

You are one of the few companies, mainstream or adult, that uses the "macrovision" technology to combat pirating. Does it really have that big of an impact on pirating?

David Crawford - Bottom line is that we have to protect our content. You are right in that if someone wants it then they are going to get it but it does stop middle america, joe blow. There is a reason why mainstream is doing it. There is some new technologies coming out like water marking and things of that nature that we are looking into and if it is something we want to do then we will do it. Basically protect our content at all costs.

Does Wicked have a big pirating problem?

David Crawford - No, we don't but just because of that doesn't mean we aren't going to take steps to protect ourselves. Though I think there are some guys out in New York that pirate everyone. We have been pretty lucky.

In Hercules you are coming up with a couple of new features but is it getting harder to come up with "new" features for your DVD's?

David Crawford - Yeah we tried the director's diary and there are a couple of new things we want to do but it is hard to come up with new things. Once we get it to the level we want it we want to take it to the next level. On the "Wicked Weapon" I tried the comic book which was cool so when you are watching the movie you can flip over and see the comic book. Not only see the comic book but hear it in three different languages. Four if you count English. It has got German, French and Spanish tracks. So if you hit the angle button you are going to see the comic book and if you hit the audio button you can cycle through all of the different language tracks. We do a 5.1 on all of our front line stuff. We don't do it on some of our vintage titles. We are trying new things but it is hard to keep the level up, be creative and find new ways of doing things. That is what it makes it fun.

What is your opinion on chapter stops? How many, where they should be, etc.

David Crawford - I put them in a little before each sex scene. If it is a big movie I will maybe put one in if there is a little something I want the customer to see then I will put one in but basically I will put the stop at the beginning of the set-up for the sex scene. Now when you go to the bios you have the direct access to the sex.

Recently we have had some very elaborate DVD's released such as Evil Angel's "Fashionistas" and Privates "Perfect". Has this changed any plans you had for future DVD releases?

David Crawford - Oh yeah they did some great releases. I especially liked the packaging for both those releases. It definitely started me thinking about that. It got me really excited. I am happy that everyone is stepping up and raising the bar. I support anyone who does quality work regardless if it is for my company or not.

Have we reached the limit to where DVD technology can take us?

David Crawford - NO. We still have high definition, sensory perception things like in the "Lawnmower Man" movie. There is tons of stuff coming down the pipe. We are not any where near done.

In 2002 we saw you start to release some of your "vintage" titles on DVD. Some people have questioned whether or not you should have done that instead of spending you time getting your newer releases out a little faster. What is your take on that?

David Crawford - Basically, I didn't stop. I haven't changed my release schedule. I am just adding (doubling) what I am doing. I am not taking away any thing. I have done about the first 100 some odd titles are out. My titles are expensive as they should be but the first 100 titles ..I don't want to charge someone the same price for an older title then I am charging them for say "Euphoria" because they aren't worth the same honestly. The vintage editions we do what we can with it. If there is a language track we can put on it then we put it on it but we do the best that we can with it. But some of these titles are almost 10 years old.