So what does it take for a North American company to get the rights to an
anime series, or to obtain the rights to a merchandising spinoff? Often it's
hard negotiations, said the members of a panel discussion at Anime Boston
- from left to right they're game designer Mark MacKinnon, David Williams
of ADV Films and Jerry Chu of Bandai. Often it's just dumb luck, as MacKinnon
discovered when his company was curious about the rights to a Sailor Moon
game. When they enquired, thinking there was no chance of getting the rights,
they found that another company with the rights to a Sailor Moon game went
bankrupt, so they managed to get the rights. "For us it was stumbling onto
it and saying let's see what happens," MacKinnon said. "Now it's more of
a business end and we have to be more astute about what we do."
How does a U.S. company know where to seek the rights to a show? Williams
said it's not easy to tell. Where the credits mention a "committee" that
has a copyright to a show, that usually means that several companies have
divided up the rights to a series, its music and possible souvenirs, Williams
said, and the hopeful U.S. companies have to make sure they're negotiating
with the partner that has the rights to the elements of the show that they
want. Home video rights don't always equal television or theatrical rights,
the panel noted. "There's an infinite number of combinations of license,"
Williams added. "Whether you have them for a certain time period or perpetually,
no two licenses are the same." Of course, having broadcast and cable rights
to a series looms large in an era when anime becomes more fashionable.
Japanese companies are writing their anime contracts with U.S. businesses
so that the Japanese companies have final approval over packaging, advertising,
titles and even character names, the panel said. If there's a case where
a name doesn't seem right to English speakers, it's not because the U.S.
company doesn't understand grammar but because the Japanese company insisted
on a certain spelling. As an example, the panelists noted the "Arucard" and
"Alucard" spellings that pop up in the Hellsing series. On the other hand,
there's a growing number of cases where U.S. companies put up the money in
advance for seemingly Japanese productions because there's more money in
the U.S. to pay for the productions than in Japan, the panelists said.
So what does it take for a North American company to get the rights to an
anime series, or to obtain the rights to a merchandising spinoff? Often it's
hard negotiations, said the members of a panel discussion at Anime Boston
- from left to right they're game designer Mark MacKinnon, David Williams
of ADV Films and Jerry Chu of Bandai. Often it's just dumb luck, as MacKinnon
discovered when his company was curious about the rights to a Sailor Moon
game. When they enquired, thinking there was no chance of getting the rights,
they found that another company with the rights to a Sailor Moon game went
bankrupt, so they managed to get the rights. "For us it was stumbling onto
it and saying let's see what happens," MacKinnon said. "Now it's more of
a business end and we have to be more astute about what we do."
How does a U.S. company know where to seek the rights to a show? Williams
said it's not easy to tell. Where the credits mention a "committee" that
has a copyright to a show, that usually means that several companies have
divided up the rights to a series, its music and possible souvenirs, Williams
said, and the hopeful U.S. companies have to make sure they're negotiating
with the partner that has the rights to the elements of the show that they
want. Home video rights don't always equal television or theatrical rights,
the panel noted. "There's an infinite number of combinations of license,"
Williams added. "Whether you have them for a certain time period or perpetually,
no two licenses are the same." Of course, having broadcast and cable rights
to a series looms large in an era when anime becomes more fashionable.
Japanese companies are writing their anime contracts with U.S. businesses
so that the Japanese companies have final approval over packaging, advertising,
titles and even character names, the panel said. If there's a case where
a name doesn't seem right to English speakers, it's not because the U.S.
company doesn't understand grammar but because the Japanese company insisted
on a certain spelling. As an example, the panelists noted the "Arucard" and
"Alucard" spellings that pop up in the Hellsing series. On the other hand,
there's a growing number of cases where U.S. companies put up the money in
advance for seemingly Japanese productions because there's more money in
the U.S. to pay for the productions than in Japan, the panelists said.
