Acquiring the Home Video Rights to Old Niche Titles

[bigmdime]

Hi - I've been a regular reader of DVDFILE for years, and am finally participating in the community. Looking forward to talking with you all.

A little background. I'm an experienced entrepreneur with quite a bit of success under my belt in the interactive biz. Now I'm trying to pursue my first love, film. I have specific interests in cult/specialty films and old television and in particular, noteworthy films and TV from the past 30 years that have been overlooked for home video distribution. There are literally hundreds of high profile titles. Whether it be most of Dario Argento’s films, early De Palma like Hi, Mom!, Fellini’s Casanova or Soylent Green, there are a wealth of titles that are not available due to their niche audiences or other marketing challenges. My goal is to develop a brand specializing in these “must see” films for any film lover, and find innovative ways to market the DVD titles to them. I know this is an ambitious goal, but one needs to start somewhere. I guess you can think Criterion Collection, but a little more "lowbrow" and cult.

I also have some key contacts in the home video business, but I prefer to call on them when I need them, as I'm still in the exploratory stage of this. But they're there for when I need them - for distribution or whatever...

I guess my initial question is - what are the most effective ways to learn who owns the home video rights to certain titles, learn whether or not the rights have expired (if they've already been bought - I believe they last for 7 years) and inquire as to their cost? For starters, is there some online or offline index or database with this info? Or is more detective work required?

Thanks in advance. Let's see where this discussion goes.

Michael