Acquisitions

An “acquisition title” is a feature film, TV show, documentary etc. that is purchased by a studio, network or distribution company for the purpose of distribution. This may be brand new product or even an older library of movies or TV series. The rights you sell will determine what delivery materials are necessary. Is your product “technically” acceptable? A good rule is to follow the SMPTE broadcast specifications. Do not post your project without any technical guidelines. Common reasons for rejection are missing sound effects, production sound problems, film dirt/damage problems, artifacting or conversion issues. Artifacts that cause rejection include aliasing, dithering, rendering errors and macro blocking. Take your master and the written rejection report to your facility to ascertain what is needed; then you can figure out if the elements need to be completely redelivered, if you can just fix the material you originally delivered and redeliver that, or if you can deliver the fix on a separate element. If you just fixed a spot or two, maybe the licensee will return the materials and allow you to insert your fixes and redeliver, since this often benefits both parties.