What kind of action will get SW's attention?

[zns]

I didn't want to immediatly "turn them off", so first off I simply let them know how much I had always been a fan of theirs, as well as a die hard SS fan. I let them know how much I admired their work, and how I felt it would be a real honer to personaly meet them some day. That being said, I simply asked at the end of the letter if they might know anything about what may lie in store for all the early episodes made before the "new format" was created, and, if so, if they might be able to simply give us a "heads up", per say, without putting their own jobs in jepordy.

I feel it was "open" enough that it should have made it possible for them to have responded, one way or another, by now.

Sounds reasonable enough.

 

[Rosewood]

We need a "letter count"

Okay folks, I need to ask a special favour of all involved in this. If you have sent a personal letter reguarding the subject addressed in this thread to SW, and havn't already reported it, I need to know, so that I can get a realistic idea as to how effective this plan has actually become. If, indeed, we do have as few responses as it seems, than I'm open for more suggestions as to what would be a better way to do this. If it means re-writing the letter so it's contents are put differently, I'll be glad to do it.

But, from what I gather from the posts I have read, it may simply be a case of me not totally understanding what were dealing with here. And if, indeed, I have "jumped the gun" on this issue, I need to know. Any input or insights from you, my fellow members, have been and would still be greatly appreciated. Does anyone out there truely feel that this is all just a waste of time?

 

[zns]

Okay folks, I need to ask a special favour of all involved in this. If you have sent a personal letter reguarding the subject addressed in this thread to SW, and havn't already reported it, I need to know, so that I can get a realistic idea as to how effective this plan has actually become. If, indeed, we do have as few responses as it seems, than I'm open for more suggestions as to what would be a better way to do this. If it means re-writing the letter so it's contents are put differently, I'll be glad to do it.

But, from what I gather from the posts I have read, it may simply be a case of me not totally understanding what were dealing with here. And if, indeed, I have "jumped the gun" on this issue, I need to know. Any input or insights from you, my fellow members, have been and would still be greatly appreciated. Does anyone out there truely feel that this is all just a waste of time?

Rosewood, I am as huge a fan of Sesame Street as you are, and I am really desperate for some classic material. I really feel that this is an important issue that we are all dealing with here. But as I said before, this is the kind of thing that will take time. And I'm sure that a lot of people here have sent letters to SW, but they may just be too busy to let you know that they did. I don't mean to upset you with all this, but I think we may all need to be a little patient with here. I am sure that we can all prove to the people at SW how important this is to us. But we still cannot keep being silent for a while until they finally come to a decision. But I know that this will work. We all need to have faith. I myself plan to write to SW, and I will let you know when I have sent a letter.

 

[Rosewood]

Thanks, zns. Thats what I needed to hear.

Rosewood, I am as huge a fan of Sesame Street as you are, and I am really desperate for some classic material. I really feel that this is an important issue that we are all dealing with here. But as I said before, this is the kind of thing that will take time. And I'm sure that a lot of people here have sent letters to SW, but they may just be too busy to let you know that they did. I don't mean to upset you with all this, but I think we may all need to be a little patient with here. I am sure that we can all prove to the people at SW how important this is to us. But we still cannot keep being silent for a while until they finally come to a decision. But I know that this will work. We all need to have faith. I myself plan to write to SW, and I will let you know when I have sent a letter.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not about to just roll over and give up here by any means. I just havn't ever taken on anything like this before. And I don't really want people to think I'm so bent on getting "my way" that they begin to think I'm not willing to concider other options. If it's patience that it's going to take in order to get the results we are looking for, than I'm all for bidding my time to get them. I guess I just needed a little reasurance that I wasn't going so far with this that it would end up doing more harm than good in the end. And don't worry. You didn't "upset" me, by any means! LOL!

 

[BEAR]

I agree. Patience is key. There has already been a response from SW regarding the possibility of DVD releases of the classic material and it seems like they are willing to do it at some point, just not now. There are plenty of factors that go into a project like that that has nothing to do with the Workshop's permission alone. It's a longer process than you think. While I support this and am dying to see this stuff rereleased again, I am with the Workshop on this too in that it takes time. Send the letters but let's not overwhelm them too much also. They are busy and they do read their mail. Its just that they can't always take the time to write personal letters to every single person they get requests from. Let's just be patient and have hope. The possibilities that it will happen are high but it can't be done over night.

 

[Oliver]

It all boils down to money.

They need to feel secure that they will not only get a return on their investment in the production, distribution and marketing costs, but that the effort will not have been for nothing and they will turn enough of a profit to justify the venture. Therefore, we simply need to drive the point accross, that there are many of us out there willing and waiting to part with our money for such products, if only they'd deliver! What we need to do, is come up with a proven way of expressing this and making it seem possible because it's not enough for us to feel secure in knowing this. They need to believe it! So how do we sell them this idea?

 

[Rosewood]

After much research into all the different ways.....

It all boils down to money.

They need to feel secure that they will not only get a return on their investment in the production, distribution and marketing costs, but that the effort will not have been for nothing and they will turn enough of a profit to justify the venture. Therefore, we simply need to drive the point accross, that there are many of us out there willing and waiting to part with our money for such products, if only they'd deliver! What we need to do, is come up with a proven way of expressing this and making it seem possible because it's not enough for us to feel secure in knowing this. They need to believe it! So how do we sell them this idea?

After putting alot of research into the different ways of getting this message across to them (i.e. - letter, petition, personal contact, ect.) I've weighed the pro's and con's of all and come up with the following results:

Petitions

Written
Pro - They are easier to get people to respond to because all they need to do is put their "John Hancock" on a line. Minimum effort.
Con - They seldom get taken seriously because they are so easy to fill up with forged signatures.

On-Line
Pro - They are even easier to get people to sign because it can be done from the privacy of home.
Con - They NEVER get taken seriously by the organization being confronted due to the fact that names can be forged even easier, and multiple e-mail addresses can always be held by a single person (not to mention stolen).

Personal contacts

By Phone
pro - You speak to a real live person.
Con - You seldom reach the person needed to get the right response. Plus, you can run up a steep phone bill if a 1-800 number is not provided, and even if one is, you can still be left on hold for eternity, waisting precious time.

By e-mail
Pro - Easy to do from home.
Con - Once again, identity theft runs rampant, so they are almost never taken seriously.

By personal letter
Pro - So far this has been the most productive way I have found to get their attention. First - It's been proven in past studies that personal letters received by organizations being confronted on certain subjects are taken far more seriously than any other form of communication, due to the fact that it takes a person being willing to take the time needed and being willing to pay the needed postage to mail the letter to get the message to them. Because of these required "personal touches" it not only makes it more believable to begin with, but it also convinces organizations (like SW) that, if a single person felt inspired enough to take the time to write a personal letter, that there must be many more out there who feel the same way, but just have not taken or had the time to write. So, officially, every personal letter received reguarding a certain concern or subject is counted not as 1 but actually 1,000 individuals who feel the same concern!

Con - It takes time. You have to personaly write the letter, stick a purchased stamp on it, and mail it off. And with the hustle and bustle of today's busy life, not many people find the time to sit down and write a personal letter, especially when theres no guarantee that it will do any good in convincing the organization to see things our way.

But the more people we can get to sacrifice the small amount of time it takes to do this, the more I truely feel they will start to finally take us seriously. If you will just take the time to write a personal letter and send it off, I truely believe our wishes will start to be noticed more.

 

[Oliver]

You know what would be a great idea... a video project!

I'm dead serious. If we came up with something structured and well thought out to pay tribute to the classic SS years and get as many people as we could to reflect on memeories of the show and how it impacted their childhoods, but did this all under the outward objective of selling the idea that the world wants to revisit classic Sesame Street from the 1970s and 80s on DVD, it could not only be an ingenious merketing strategy to get SW interested, but if done in a professional direction, could even be used as a promotional tool for SW with upcoming DVDs or a special feature or something. This way the company has faces of actual people to accompany the names on a petition so it's more than just a bunch of eccentric fans on the internet sending emails and so on. We could even display photos of ourselves as chuldren and how we grew up with Jim Henson in our homes everyday and throughout the years as we matured, began to appreciate his artful ways of teaching and communicating with children through this creative world he created with psychedelic characters and imaginative puppets, colorful animations, great songs, humor, culture, etc. We could video tape a montage sequence of everyone we shoot indicating that they'd buy classic Sesame Street on DVD if it were available. Shoot people on the street, friends, anyone remotely interested or even just willing to reflect on the nostalgic pressence from their youth. Than we send it in and I guarantee it would make an impact. There's no way something original and thoughtful like that would be ignored.

 

[Rosewood]

I'm always willing to try anything once......

That does sound like a great idea. SW has already done a similar project, but instead of using common simpletons, like ourselves, they used high-ranked officials from the show along with other celebritys and famouse individuals who have "made it big" somehow to reflect how SS has had such positive effects on people. They used to show a clip from it right before each show, but it already seems to be getting old enough that they have even stopped showing those.
Don't get me wrong, I like your idea! But we would have to find someone who has the video technology and capability to do such a thing. Would you be interested?
I do think we need to take into concideration what alot of other members have said, and mabey bide our time on this. If we get to frantic, SW is simply going to tune us out completely.
However, if you would be willing to take on such a task, and go out and ask people like you suggested, you would not only have my great appreciation, but my blessing as well. I have seriously concidered doing something similar with the letters. If you honestly think something like this would have as great an impact as you say, and you have the material required to do so, I say go for it! Unfortunately I don't have the physical or technical capability required to do such a daunting task. Let me know what you decide, either way. I like your way of thinking!

 

[minor muppetz]

That does sound like a great idea. SW has already done a similar project, but instead of using common simpletons, like ourselves, they used high-ranked officials from the show along with other celebritys and famouse individuals who have "made it big" somehow to reflect how SS has had such positive effects on people. They used to show a clip from it right before each show, but it already seems to be getting old enough that they have even stopped showing those.

That was only done for season 35 as part of the anniversary.