Schmidt video release November

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Oh no. I was looking forward to owning the DVD. Isn't there a way to make a DVD which can't be copied?
If the video can be displayed on your PC's screen, it can be copied. A free video capture program (screen copier with sound) came with a relatively cheap video editor I got. I imagine there are free versions. If the video can't be displayed on your screen, it has limited use.:wink:

The main things that prevent piracy of something like this are lack of distribution channels and dilute interest. Someone may share it with a friend, but someone making thousands of copies for no payback is unlikely. If someone puts a copy up on Youtube, it's fairly easy to get it taken down.

I think Vimeo would have been the right way to go and maybe that will eventually happen. I hope so. In the mean time it will be interesting to see how many views it gets in private showings.
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just received an update to this from LA.

December 31, 2019 at TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Mann's Chinese Theatre)
will show "The Run, my path to 626" in IMAX. Tickets are $17 and there will be a red carpet gala, with the arrivial of such pool dignitaries including: "Blackballed, logical, lfigureoa, Jimmy G, and 4 more.

There will be a Q+A afterwards with the actor and Danny Harriman will be moderating.


Oh yay!! I live 20 minutes from there. Should I wear a necktie?
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For anyone interested there’s a “thing” called the Bel Air Circuit, it’s a hard drive with any movie that’s released on the day the movie hits theaters. A courier drops it off at your house the day before the theatrical release. When the movie hits the theaters they email you the “key” to unlock the hard drive contents and you can watch the movie in the comfort of your home the day it hits theaters. The code unlocks the content for 48 hours, in some cases it’s a PPV each time you play the content.

This is what celebs and industry people use so they don’t have to go to theaters to see the first run of any movie.

Point is it’s possible to distribute content that costs millions to produce without the risk of piracy.

Google “Bel Air Circuit” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Ole Fatboy might not be too bright but somehow he knows about this....hmmm wait, he has the equipment for it too. It’s about $100,000 for the player that reads the hard drive which the content is on.

Shots fired,

Fatboy
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Once again, congrats to John on his amazing run. Too bad the aftermath has turned into one big clusterfck!
 

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
Predator should edit the video and place their banner.
Pay JS and monetize it at youtube.
 

KRJ

Support UKRAINE
Silver Member
Once again, congrats to John on his amazing run. Too bad the aftermath has turned into one big clusterfck!

But this thread keeps on going and going, which is NOT a bad thing. Keeps it in the "news".. more and more folks on AZB have and will read this thread.

Marketing 101: Always keep them wanting more. Chevy only waited 50 years to finally bring out a mid-engine Corvette. But, man, folks have been talking about it for.... yup, 50 years. Now it's here with the 2020 model.
 

CreeDo

Fargo Rating 597
Silver Member
If the video can be displayed on your PC's screen, it can be copied [snip]
...The main things that prevent piracy of something like this are lack of distribution channels and dilute interest.
...
I think Vimeo would have been the right way to go and maybe that will eventually happen. I hope so.

Yup, that's the gist of it. Accu-stats has a big catalog of stuff on Vimeo.
Including, say, the 2016 US Open. The videos are great quality.
But years later, you can't find it on any torrent tracker, or youtube.

Why? Because nobody cares enough to bother, even at the low price of $5 per match.

I could be wrong but I think fewer people care about this run than about a US Open finals.
 

CreeDo

Fargo Rating 597
Silver Member
What did he spend 10,000 on to break the record.

Yeah I was curious about that myself. A custom gold crown with forgiving pockets?
Nope, he played on a public pool room table. Airfare to Arizona?
Even at first class rates with +1 it's not that expensive.
Is he counting 10k worth of entry fees and gambling over the decades?
 

CreeDo

Fargo Rating 597
Silver Member
Would you buy one for $50? How many overall do you think would sell in a couple years? Only need to sell 200 @ $50 to get to $10,000, seems pretty doable to me

Exactly. There's expenses and shipping, sure, but still, I'd pay $50.
There should be more than 200 other people who would.

Or, go the other route: offer it for so cheap, and make it so convenient,
that piracy doesn't even seem worth the bother.

Louis CK did that with one of his comedy specials, a $5 download with
"no regional restrictions, no crap. You can download this file, play it as much as you like,
burn it to a DVD, whatever."

A friend told him "everyone's going to steal it"... Louis's reaction was
"...so I just wrote a note that said, you know, please don't do it. And they didn't.
So it made a lot of money."

About 1.1 million bucks in 10 days.
 

one stroke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yeah I was curious about that myself. A custom gold crown with forgiving pockets?
Nope, he played on a public pool room table. Airfare to Arizona?
Even at first class rates with +1 it's not that expensive.
Is he counting 10k worth of entry fees and gambling over the decades?

That number would surly be much Higher , Billy Thorpe thumped him in one pocked himself for far more than 10k himself,

1
 

arnaldo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
. . . But this thread keeps on going and going, which is NOT a bad thing. Keeps it in the "news".. more and more folks on AZB have and will read this thread.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
One less reader (supposedly) of the 626-related threads and all other AZB threads:
John posted the following on his Facebook page about an hour ago:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Schmidt I will never ever look at or open azb again. It's keyboard haters hiding behind screen names. Screw that torture brother. They can buy Danny Harriman DVDs lol
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Too bad, actually. There are numerous well-intended gems of good marketing suggestions for him within the various 626 threads. I do imagine that some of his friends and team members will continue to regularly screen the AZB threads and pass ideas on to him without source attribution (for easier acceptance by John)..

Arnaldo
 

one stroke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
But this thread keeps on going and going, which is NOT a bad thing. Keeps it in the "news".. more and more folks on AZB have and will read this thread.

Marketing 101: Always keep them wanting more. Chevy only waited 50 years to finally bring out a mid-engine Corvette. But, man, folks have been talking about it for.... yup, 50 years. Now it's here with the 2020 model.

Ya it keeps going and going because of a hand full of people, I think he overestimated the runs worth and he's now scrambling to make money off it ,
Why hasn't Predator stepped up to the plate with a big offer lock him up to do exhibitions at all the big events at thier booths , like APA did with Dr Cue and Venom trick shots
I have to believe they think thier marketing is so good / best in the business they don't need any help so it's simply not worth much to them , just like Corvette the product is so good it sells itself
You have to believe at this point anyone interested has done their homework on ROI possibly also
The constant is pro pool players are a group that think thier craft belongs with the likes of other sports and that never has been the case and never will be the case


1
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
-------------------------------------------------------------------
One less reader (supposedly) of the 626-related threads and all other AZB threads:
John posted the following on his Facebook page about an hour ago:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Schmidt I will never ever look at or open azb again. It's keyboard haters hiding behind screen names. Screw that torture brother. They can buy Danny Harriman DVDs lol
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Too bad, actually. There are numerous well-intended gems of good marketing suggestions for him within the various 626 threads. I do imagine that some of his friends and team members will continue to regularly screen the AZB threads and pass ideas on to him without source attribution (for easier acceptance by John)..

Arnaldo

I was on FB for years before quitting. I've never seen anything remotely bad on AZ as compared to FB. Whatever the topic, people go insane on it. And, they are all using their real names and pictures. Does John really not have the same comments on his FB posts regarding the run as there are on here?
 

wayne

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was on FB for years before quitting. I've never seen anything remotely bad on AZ as compared to FB. Whatever the topic, people go insane on it. And, they are all using their real names and pictures. Does John really not have the same comments on his FB posts regarding the run as there are on here?

Just do a search for John Schmidt on Facebook and take a look at the comments. They are nothing like on here, probably 95% positive.
His first showing is probably going to be in Ventura, Ca. and after that he will have a good idea if his plan is a good one.
My personal guess is he will have a very good or great turnout and make a big chunk of money in Ventura. This will be followed by his cross country tour.
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
Just do a search for John Schmidt on Facebook and take a look at the comments. They are nothing like on here, probably 95% positive.
His first showing is probably going to be in Ventura, Ca. and after that he will have a good idea if his plan is a good one.
My personal guess is he will have a very good or great turnout and make a big chunk of money in Ventura. This will be followed by his cross country tour.

I have said that if all the posters on AZ were actually casting a vote for or against JS...
...JS would win by a landslide.
But I guess he wants universal acclaim...which nobody gets.
 

jrctherake

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
His approach actually makes sense to me.

Everyone has already stated he won't make much money here if he puts it on Youtube or sells DVDs. We know that. And selling the rights directly doesn't make him much either. Let's assume that he makes 10K either way. So what he has doesn't hold huge traditional market value.

So why sell? If you owned a car that you spent your entire life restoring and someone offered you next to nothing for it, wouldn't you rather just keep it? Well, John has spent his life in a quest to achieve a world record on camera. I don't blame him for not wanting to disperse it for pennies. I believe this is the same reason that Jay hasn't released Earl's 10 rack run for the million (which I would LOVE to see, Jay, PM me if I could ever do a 'private showing'!).

In the meantime, if he creates a tour from city to city and conducts 'tours' of his run in person, I see him filling up rooms. A chance to spend the afternoon with a US Open champion walking you through a record breaking straight pool run and doing Q&As? I'd support that. Not sure how big the groups would be, but if it was 10-20 people I'd chip in $1-200. I'd guarantee I'd learn something from that session and if I could have a good time, witness a record run, meet some friends, and pick up a few nuggets, for me that's worth taking a day off work.

Even if most people aren't interested that's fine with him. As long as he gets enough people in every city for him to tour the country and use this as a draw, why wouldn't he? Maybe he can't pull it off, but at least it's a good try.

It would fly in Huntsville, Alabama. I know at least 40ish people there that would love it.

Now, they may not pay $200 each but, I'm pretty sure they would do $75 each for an exhibition for a couple hours.

Also, I think John should capitalize on "giving lessons".

Right now he should be able to charge a premium.

Anyways, he wouldn't make a lot from any one room unless he was able to schedule a couple lessons at each. In that case, yeah, I think it would be very profitable.

We have to remember what the average pro player makes a year. Its not much and I'm pretty sure John doing exhibitions coupled with lessons would be more profitable that chasing "maybe" money from tournaments where you facing a room full of world beaters for the same small piece of the pie.

Jeff
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have two experiences with traveling exhibitions put on by top pros. Both in the Philly burbs.

The first was about 1997 at a room called Alpha Billiards. It was a new room, maybe open for a year. Business was good. Mostly filled on the weekends, 2 weekday tournaments that each drew about 32 consistent players. The owners hired Nick Varner to do an exhibition. They hired/invited a professional cameraman, advertised, etc. The gate was 20 a head to get in. There were maybe 15 people that paid, I was one of them.

The next was also in Philly suburbs, 15 minutes away from the first room, in maybe 2000. The room was Drexeline Billiards, owned by a pro btw. Business was about double the first room (super good, waiting list on the weekdays as well as the weekends). He hired Grady Mathews to do his exhibition. Free admission. Maybe 100 people showed up to watch him. I was one of them.

I don't know what other people's experiences are with paid and free pro exhibitions. Or how time and the general pool decline has changed it. The first room above closed up about 2010 or so. Business all dried up. The second room has about 1/3rd the business now as it did in 2000. And at least 5, maybe even 10 other Philly burbs rooms closed up due to business drying up in this time span.
 
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