The "Write" Thing To Do

When you put in 27 years in one industry, you either gather “comfort” dust, hiding in the margins doing the same job sufficiently over and over, or you find other nooks and crannies of the business to try out.


Back in the mid-80's, when I was working for Video Wonderland and Movie World in Ardmore and Philly, I met Douglas Kircshner and Steven Apple, who published a video industry trade magazine called VIDEO INSIDER. I had been in this business for about a year or so, but I knew my movies and I knew my videos.

As such, through conversations, I was invited to write, of all things, a children’s video column for the magazine. I wrote it for a couple of years, looking at kids video through a businessman’s eye. Since this was the era of cheap, crap VHS, there were a ton of kids videos being released everyday, and many, if not most, weren’t worth it, but there were some gems. It was my mission to sort these out intelligently and profitably, and I think I did a great job.

If you read more than a little of my missives, you will see that I have a “full steam ahead” style, kind of a stream of consciousness style. I try to write off the cuff, and find that if I have to think too long about a topic, it ain’t gonna show. My best work, if you can call it that, are the musings that come out of the moment.

I tend to agonize over what to write, because I want to interest you, the reader, but I don’t want to bullshit you, my friends. So, it may be days or weeks between writing something, because I have to please you. However, I also want to please me, so I will share things that I hope you find interesting, and if not know, and least entice you to come back next time.

With INSIDER, the same things would happen. I’d agonize over columns, not happy with what I wrote because it seemed forced and phony. Many deadlines were pressed because what I wrote didn’t entice me in the end, so why should it interest you? Of course, that need to do something unique and interesting, and not just rote, could cause problems.

Also, I was a retailer at the time, not a journalist. My interest was the latest news and rumors. I later learned the protocol to keep the publicists happy, but there were a few times that I broke a new product line or promotion before the studio wanted the news out there, so the studio heads bitched and I got chastised. But, I did my best, and think some of my columns were pretty sweet.

During my short tenure, I interviewed Shari Lewis, Itzhak Perlman, Raffi, and surprisingly, Frank Zappa, among others. My favorite was a phone call with MisterRogers. What was scheduled for 10 minutes went onfor over an hour, as we talked about all sorts of things, and I got to interview the other denizens of his Neighborhood. Fred Rogers even spent 10 minutes talking with my brother, Tommy, who was 15 at the time, including talking to King Friday.

In the end, my column and eventually VIDEO INSIDER disappeared. There is only one video industry trade mag now, HOME MEDIA RETAILING , with Video Business closing down this year. These are and were the trusted sources for industry news. There are plenty of blogs and self-starters, but very few of those have my trust.

So, there you have it. A little look into my storied past. I would love to write for real again someday, not just a blog, so who knows? But first, to get my foot back on the video industry door…