ATTN JMS: Toys, premiums, tie-ins, and your input

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: ATTN JMS: Toys, premiums, tie-ins, and your input
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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s  1: Jan 24, 1997: ericj at tiac.net (Eric Joslin)
*  2: Jan 25, 1997: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: ericj at tiac.net (Eric Joslin)
Lines: 30



One aspect of producing a show (especially sci-fi) that has always 
intruiged me is the production of toys and other tie-ins.

Babylon 5 has been rather scant in the production of these items.  I have 
always assumed this is because of either a lack of time on your part to 
review these thing for accuracy/quality, or a lack of PTEN consortium/WB 
allowing the copyrights to be used.  Is it one of these, a combination, 
or something else?

We all know that you have a certain level of involvement in the approval 
process for these types of things- When the Micro Machines came out, you 
mentioned thet you were impressed when they "came across your desk", and 
the developers of both the role-playing game and the tactical starship 
game have mentioned fact-checking and approval processes relating to the 
offices of Babylon 5.  What level of involvement do you have in the 
production of these items?  Would you like to have more/less?

Do you beleive that part of the success of a show can ride on successful 
marketing of high quality tie-ins?  More to the point, do you beleive 
that low-quality tie-ins (and overuse of the show in tie-ins) can add to 
the failure of a show?

Thanks for your time and answers,

eric




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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 23

We haven't done a whole lot of merchandising mainly because I want to get
into that slowly, and not let it begin to influence the show or put
priorities in the wrong order.  

I work to varying extents with the licensees, but basically I get input at
every stage of the product's development, from conceptual artwork or
outlines, through to the final product.  

For instance, today I got the revised transparency for the Delenn
collector plate coming out from Hamilton...and it's gorgeous, just signed
right off on that one, probaby the best of the two I've seen so far (#1
being Sheridan).  Delenn/Mira almost glows off the image at you.  Others
require more more work...when the novels come in, I do what I can, but
often the deadlines are so tight that in the past it's been hard to get
all the stuff I want revised, revised.  This time on the next 3 I worked
more hand-in-glove at the outine stage, so that they would be better.


 jms




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