Hot Topic was our hero. I know those aren’t words that are uttered all that frequently, but let me take you in Doc Brown’s DeLorean for a moment. Circa 2000 or 2001 when Ghostbusters was almost completely off the radar, we considered ourselves lucky the moment that official merchandise was being released through Hot Topic in the form of a red “ringer” t-shirt and a hoodie. It was the most we had been enticed with since Extreme Ghostbusters, and we loved every minute of it (you’ll also recall that there was a cell phone cover for the candy bar Nokia phone of choice released at the same time). That red ringer shirt was a big deal, and the message boards were lit up with fans trying to track one down (long before the internet Hot Topic site made things accessible).
Here’s the scary part… I still have that t-shirt. In fact, in complete contrast to 2001, I now have enough Ghostbusters t-shirts that I could probably wear a different one every day for two weeks straight. That’s a lot of damn Ghostbusters t-shirts, and many of them (especially the older ones including the aforementioned “red ringer”) are ugly as sin. I never wear 80% of them.
Why does this come up? Why is Troy waxing semantics about t-shirts? I moved for what seems like the fiftieth time out here in Los Angeles last June and I sat, looking at the stack of Ghostbusters t-shirts in front of me and actually faced a dilemma that “Me of 2001” would never have dreamed of… should I give a few of these to Goodwill?
Aside from my GB Video Game promo shirt and my 25th Anniversary Logo shirt, I never wear them. In fact a few of them were only purchased because of the excitement that I finally had the ability to buy Ghostbusters shirts again. So why am I hanging on to several of these shirts? Nostalgia? Not really, unless I was nostalgic for the “I’ve Been Slimed” shirt that I had as a kid (that, coincidentally you can now buy again from the GBFans.com store). I’m telling you, I could donate a handful of these and before you knew it, you’d see an army of homeless dudes in Santa Monica rocking the No-Ghost logo.
Maybe that’s indicative of how readily available the shirts are now; I can buy a variety of shirts from a variety of places. And, that being the case, maybe the allure of holding onto the shirts from nearing ten years ago had lost its luster. As B.B. once famously said, maybe the thrill is gone? I’m curious if anyone else out there has gone through this transition or faced a similar dilemma?
As an aside, I’d like to thank everyone for their comments and questions following what was just the introductory column of The Private Sector. I figured 9/10ths of folks would be scratching their heads saying, “Net who? That’s a lame name for a lame guy.” (It is, and I am). I’m going to run one question per week with a short answer that hopefully everyone will benefit from… this week’s question comes from “Bennythegeek”, who – in a great letter asks:
“We all know that everyone involved in getting the project running have all said ‘maybe, possibly, it will happen, 2010 start date, 2011 release date & need a production number.’ How can we all sit here and just accept what we’re being told about Sony Pictures not greenlighting the project? Truth be told, ever since the first hints of a new GB video game the GB merch business (ie. figures, RGB box set, ect.) has been booming! But why would they approve it all if Sony had no intentions of doing a third film? Think about it, man! What’s the best way to get a huge fanbase for your film BEFORE it hits the screen?”
Benny, good point – here’s the scoop. The term “greenlight” is thrown around outside of Hollywood quite a bit as the term for “go ahead”. Makes sense – “I just got the greenlight from the wife to play poker tonight”, right? But in reality, here in LaLa Land, it’s a little different. The greenlight isn’t as informal as a “blessing” or “permission.” The greenlight is the term for the official moment that all pieces are in place for the actual physical production of a film to start (that’s also when the majority of the funding is provided by the studio or by the financial backer to start spending money, hence Dan Aykroyd’s quip several weeks ago). Sony is well aware that a third Ghostbusters movie is in pre-production, in fact – they’re the ones that put in the order and approved the new screenwriters to be commissioned to write the film. They have every intention of making another film – as long as all of the proverbial ducks are in a row (and committed to marching in step). So there’s no deception or curtain-pulling involved. Once all parties (including the studio) are happy with the screenplay, once agreements are put into place for key roles including the directors, lead actors, etc., and (without going too far into the business side of things) a very specific line-itemized budget has been submitted and approved, a movie receives the greenlight and (generally) principal photography starts very quickly after that. Sometimes productions WILL have all the pieces in place, but the studio doesn’t want to commit to the financial obligation – and the movie will sit in a purgatory state, infinitely waiting for “the greenlight.”
That said, it’s a pretty safe bet that licensing and merchandising is working very closely with the marketing departments at Sony on a very specific strategy to increase awareness. None of these home video releases, toy releases, etc. is coincidence. These things are planned years in advance… I pause for dramatic tension on this ominous note because I want to tease that there’s someone, wearing a very nice suit, sitting in a very nice desk chair, that knows exactly what’s in store for us all over the course of the next couple years. Think about that…
Whew. That’s all the space the guys are kind enough to give me this week, as always keep your thoughts and questions coming to me at netsolo [at] aol dot com and here in the comments sections of the respective sites. See you next week!
[The Private Sector is a weekly syndicated column written by Troy Benjamin presented every Wednesday on Proton Charging, GB Fans, and Ghostbusters.net as an op-ed look at the goings on in the world of the Ghostbusters franchise.]
Right on, Troy! Great start! I’ve always felt that…with all this excitment about GB3 lately, that it had to have started with something concrete, somewhere. In my entire life, excitemnt of this magnitude has never shown-up unless something is actually going to happen. Honestly, if a few websites were to just bring up GB3 again, this much speculation and excitment wouldn’t be happening. Something truely is close, I can feel it!
I question the idea of you finding the red-ringer shirt ugly while allowing yourself to be seen in that oafish video-game freebie.
The one and only GB shirt I want is a plain sky-blue tee with a large logo. Just like the ones seen at the end of the movie. How is that not the most obvious one to make, T-shirt Industry?
I don’t mean to be rude, but is that not the case? These days with media the way it is, and everything ranging from Piracy to the sheer amount of drama, that if their was a Ghostbusters 3 being made, if “Mysterious group of suited men” wanted us to know we would, and until they think it’s right on we won’t?
I know this is kind of a stretch, but recently a PS3 game known as Dante’s Inferno was in the news for sparking a large religious strike, and supposedly they were boycotting the game.
Thing is, the whole thing, all the coverage was made ((This is to my knowledge proven but it might not be.)) because the head of the games marketing campaign called someone and set the whole thing in motion.
After all, any publicity is amazing publicity. Good bad, it doesn’t matter.
So who’s to say that since before even the game was announced some marketing people didn’t get together, and plan out EVERYTHING, heck who’s to say Dan Akroyd hasn’t been getting a check this whole time playing the “hero” of the GB 3 story?
Obviously this is a bit of a paranoid theory at least the last part, I honestly believe Akroyd wants a sequel, and he seems genuine, but he’s an amazing actor, but I think for my own sanity I’ll say he truly wants the third movie, just because if not my heart would probably shatter.
On the other hand, who’s to say Murray hasn’t been getting a check to be the “villain” but again we’ll leave that for another time, since I’m hoping that isn’t true.
The worst part is, honestly, I wouldn’t care. Oh sure if the actors were well acting I’d be heart broken, but if say five years ago some marketeer in Sony decided to play god with our franchise, as long as we got a third movie, I wouldn’t care. I want the movie, and if that means havign to accept and make a deal with the devil, we’ll I’m planning on seeing the movie ATLEAST a dozen times, the first with my friends with our unlicensed nuclear accelerators on our backs, and in grey jump suits.
Sorry, I also meant to say welcome back to the community, I somewhat recently started even though I’ve been a fan since the beginning of my life, and while I may not have known or heard of you before you seem like an educated fan who knows what their talking about and I look forward to more of your insightful opinions and views.
@ Prologic9
“I question the idea of you finding the red-ringer shirt ugly while allowing yourself to be seen in that oafish video-game freebie.”
Video game freebie doesn’t strangle my non-existent biceps like the ringer shirt does. I’ve never been able to pull off ringer shirts… well, I take that back – I could pull it off back in high school when I weighed about 90 pounds.
“The one and only GB shirt I want is a plain sky-blue tee with a large logo. Just like the ones seen at the end of the movie. How is that not the most obvious one to make, T-shirt Industry?”
http://www.gbfans.com/shop/vintage-blue-ghostbusters-logo-shirt/
…no studying…
@Tommy
“I don’t mean to be rude, but is that not the case? These days with media the way it is, and everything ranging from Piracy to the sheer amount of drama, that if their was a Ghostbusters 3 being made, if “Mysterious group of suited men” wanted us to know we would, and until they think it’s right on we won’t?”
Mysterious groups of suited men have more control than you think… but that said, you guys are getting the information leaked faster than some executives are.
“So who’s to say that since before even the game was announced some marketing people didn’t get together, and plan out EVERYTHING, heck who’s to say Dan Akroyd hasn’t been getting a check this whole time playing the “hero” of the GB 3 story?”
Not the case at all, in fact – Aykroyd has been fighting the crusade for another Ghostbusters film without any reimbursement… well, except for the fantastic royalty checks he gets for the first two films (among others). A lot of times things are done “on spec” here in Hollywood – that is, you’re doing the work for free in hopes that it will pay dividends later. Aykroyd has written several sequel scripts “on spec” (if you’re bored do a little digging for “Ghostbusters: The Seed”) because he’s so passionate about the project.
…also, Aykroyd left his on-lot Sony production office (and presumably his expense account) several years ago.
Now Eisenberg and Stupnitsky are a different story as they were commissioned by the studio (and Montecito) to write the new draft of the film. Writers that are commissioned are often paid (and paid completion bonuses for each draft and revision they finish). If Sony is shelling out money for writers, you can bet they’re very serious about the film’s development.
“I want the movie, and if that means havign to accept and make a deal with the devil, we’ll I’m planning on seeing the movie ATLEAST a dozen times, the first with my friends with our unlicensed nuclear accelerators on our backs, and in grey jump suits.”
Good! Be as vocal as you can, it’ll help!
@Ryan
“Something truely is close, I can feel it!”
I’d suggest a restraining order. That sounds uncomforting…
Net…
Could you please elaborate on “Ghostbusters: The Seed”? I did some digging but only found an old post on of the GB boards from last year that you wrote which contained that terminology. You have me so intrigued!!! I never heard of that before.
@Ryan
“Could you please elaborate on “Ghostbusters: The Seed”? I did some digging but only found an old post on of the GB boards from last year that you wrote which contained that terminology.”
Take a look over here on this Wiki entry:
http://ghostbusters.wikia.com/wiki/The_Last_of_the_Ghostbusters
It incorrectly quotes Dan Aykroyd as if he was referring to The Last of the Ghostbusters (he’s actually talking about his original draft of Ghostbusters II which was called Ghostbusters: The Seed)… while I can’t, for confidentiality reasons that I promised to a former employer, go into more detail let’s just say the Ghostbusters went to Scotland and Sigourney Weaver would have been doing voiceover for a pig… it’s weird, man.
(“The Last of the Ghostbusters” was a joke-title that Bill Murray had quipped famously during an interview when Ghostbusters II hype was just building where he had said, “If I had my way, I’d call this ‘The Last of the Ghostbusters’…” insinuating that he didn’t want any more sequels.)
Hey Net,
I love the article and cant wait to see what you write about for the future.. I remember the that time when Hot Topic had stuff, I bought like 4 no ghost patches and a Ghostbusters air freshener lol
I’m glad your telling people about the inner working of a studio cause most people are clueless about it.. I know I’am but its not hard to figure this stuff out.
I cant wait to see what other things Sony has up there sleves.. right now they put a lot of money into restoring Ecto-1a so I cant wait to see that girl go on tour with her sister.
@Ecto
Dude, Chuck! Long time!
“I love the article and cant wait to see what you write about for the future.. I remember the that time when Hot Topic had stuff, I bought like 4 no ghost patches and a Ghostbusters air freshener lol”
Thanks, sir! Having a lot of fun doing this, so can’t wait for next week myself, I better get writing. You know, the funny thing about that No-Ghost patch was that we all hated on it because it wasn’t the arm/shoulder patch for costumes that we had all hoped it would be… but now that I think about it, that white circle patch would be pretty cool on a jacket or backpack. Wish I’d have picked one up back then.
Net,
Great article, looking forward to checking this out weekly. After all the recent excitement with the game, Blu-Ray, etc. things are finally calming down a bit now that they’ve been released and I think this is a good way to keep the GB fanbase entertained while waiting for whatever the future holds. Anyway, to the topic at hand, I remember exactly how exciting it was to see (and purchase) the red ringer. I’m surprised you refer to it as ugly, I’ve always quite enjoyed it and it still remains my favorite GB shirt (out of 5). Don’t forget that around shortly after the ringer and hoodie were released, they also began to carry a Stay Puft ringer and I believe a Slimer one as well. I remember they had some other GB merch at the time, post cards perhaps? I might be way off base but I know there was a bit more. The funny thing is that at the time I bought up everything I could get my hands on that had a GB logo on it. This is the first year I’ve actually had to be quite discriminant with my GB purchases. Which isn’t at all a bad thing.
Wasn’t that a Ghostbusters work shirt sold at Hot Topic during the first wave of merchandise? I don’t recall Hot Topic ever selling a hoodie.. when that red ringer came out (which was huge – funny how something as small as a t-shirt was like a resurgence in the franchise to us back in 2001), they sold the GB patches, a lanyard (which I still have on my keyset), that ringer shirt, and the work shirt. It was khaki and had a giant logo on the back of it. I thought I remember you mentioning you had that on either the HQ board or the GB board way back when.
Maybe I just missed out on the hoodie but I would’ve bought it day one had I known. We still haven’t gotten an officially licensed hoodie (just some crappy iron-ons on eBay) so when I read that I was taken aback.
All that aside, nice read Troy.
Thanks for taking the question! You made some good points I hadn’t considered yet. As for the “Suited men”… Com on folks. We all know that our governments don’t really run the show. It’s the secret underground society that runs everything.
@ Benny, the first rule about the scary men in suits is you don’t talk about the scary men in suits, second rule about the scary men in suits is you don’t anger the scary men in suits, they wont’ kill you they’ll just make you not exist, and you’ll never know why. Third rules about the mysterious men in suits, you know nothing about the mysterious men in suits. Fourth rule, if the mysterious men in suits say jump you jump and ask how high after you reach your maximum height.
Seriously though as much as I’d love to pull the conspiracy theory the goverment probably isn’t run by a shadow organization, although Holly wood always has been, if memory serves back in the old days it was the Gangsters, now it’s probably Walt Disney’s head, the Warner Brothers, and their sister dot. Just kidding, but seriously I hope the shadow men are pro GB3, and otherwise I don’t care.
@Net
Not the case at all, in fact – Aykroyd has been fighting the crusade for another Ghostbusters film without any reimbursement… well, except for the fantastic royalty checks he gets for the first two films (among others). A lot of times things are done “on spec” here in Hollywood – that is, you’re doing the work for free in hopes that it will pay dividends later. Aykroyd has written several sequel scripts “on spec” (if you’re bored do a little digging for “Ghostbusters: The Seed”) because he’s so passionate about the project.
…also, Aykroyd left his on-lot Sony production office (and presumably his expense account) several years ago.
Now Eisenberg and Stupnitsky are a different story as they were commissioned by the studio (and Montecito) to write the new draft of the film. Writers that are commissioned are often paid (and paid completion bonuses for each draft and revision they finish). If Sony is shelling out money for writers, you can bet they’re very serious about the film’s development.
I’m glad to hear that, I truly am, and I honestly always believed he was, but just another minor conspiracy theory after all their are hundred of others, some saying Bill Murray was responsible some saying the studios didn’t want to, some saying no director, some saying a Gozerian cult abducted all the studio heads, wait maybe that last one isn’t true. I guess technically that isn’t a conspiracy theory, but yeah I’m glad to hear Akroyd truly wants it, to me that sells it.
Good! Be as vocal as you can, it’ll help!
I’m pretty sure as a whole the community is being vocal, I’m honestly somewhat surprised no one has made a petition or something, sure it wouldn’t be REALLY helpful, I doubt a movie studio would put down a few million dollars for a movie just cause they got a few thousand signatures or even a few million, but it might help show ya know this thing has a market.
They probably ((And you can answer this since you’ve been in the community longer)) did so a long time ago right? Some sort of petition or Email campaign or something, Obviously with a Movie like GB it woudl be somewhat harder, but I still think it might show interest.
@Matt
“Wasn’t that a Ghostbusters work shirt sold at Hot Topic during the first wave of merchandise? I don’t recall Hot Topic ever selling a hoodie..”
Indeed, there was a hoodie. It was all black with just the logo. And it’s been elusive ever since. That’s one of the things I wished I’d have tracked down and picked up. The work shirt came a bit later if memory serves.
@Tommy
“the first rule about the scary men in suits is you don’t talk about the scary men in suits, second rule about the scary men in suits is you don’t anger the scary men in suits, they wont’ kill you they’ll just make you not exist, and you’ll never know why.”
Two by two, hands of blue…
“They probably ((And you can answer this since you’ve been in the community longer)) did so a long time ago right? Some sort of petition or Email campaign or something, Obviously with a Movie like GB it woudl be somewhat harder, but I still think it might show interest.”
I don’t feel a petition seems appropriate. Best thing you can do? Tweet about it, Facebook about it, make some fan made GB3 trailers… just talk about it and get as excited as I am for it.
@Benny
Thanks for asking it!!
TROY! long time, no… errr… well, “see” isn’t the right word. ummm.. YO! digging the new column!
i’m a nut for ringer shirts… i’ll never part with my old hot topic stay-puft ringer. although i think you’re a nut for wanting to donate your ringer shirts to goodwill, i dig the idea of an army of socal homeless guys tromping around in GB shirts.
I remember picking up a shirt and patches for the MTGB back in the day at Hot Topic. I looked like I belonged in there about as much as Luis Tully would have looked in the front row of a Metallica concert.
Clothing wise- my favorite item was the Ghostbusters Ball cap I got from Intergalactic Trading Co. Black Cap + logo, no distressing, no color on the bill- just a simple, beautiful cap.
(Ebay is your friend, ordering a new one right… now…)
he makes a good point about it not just all being coincidence with the current boom in marketing for Ghostbusters. Think about another 80’s Giant was marketed then the following summer, the movie hit theaters. The Transformers Movie:20th Anniversary edition DVD,along with a collector’s Optimus Prime,etc…so it definitely makes sense that Sony would market the hell out of Ghostbusters before it made any moves to kind of bait alot of people in. And it obviously seems to be working…between the RGB set,the Video Game,shirts,costumes,Matty Collector figures,EBay items (even though Sony doesnt see those numbers),etc…Ghostbusters is slowly gaining momentum and I just hope its not in vein. I am on the other hand hoping whatever they do they do it well as im sure Dan,Harold,Bill,Ernie and Ivan are hoping for too since it seems they all have Ghostbusters put on a special sort of pedestal in their careers. oh and did i mention how excited for Halloween i am? time for a lil Sam Hain episodes and the classic Halloween Door special.
I’ve finally got to the point where I’m not giving anything away, but I used to buy any new GB stuff that appeared, because not much ever appeared, but I’m not buying the dolls or the coin banks. One bigass Staypuft is enough.