A Potential Lead- 6/30/17

Hi Everyone,

I apologize it has been a while since the last update.  This is all being done in my free time with limited research/stalking experience so, it all takes time.

Since we last touched base, I had hit a bit of a dead end.  I'm not the most persistent person when it comes to ideas/quests.  I tend to go through an excited phase, burn through my energy, and then lose interest.  Luckily for me, the internet has a LONG tail on delayed communications.

I've connected with several people tied directly to The 11th Hour.  Most recently, I've heard from Greg Goodrich senior producer for The 11th Hour and CEO of Pound Sand games.  He was extremely kind and said he thought David Wheeler and/or Graeme might be the best resources in my hunt.  He even shared a bit about his time with John Hurt during the filming of Tender Loving Care.

I also heard from James Yokota, currently of Cypress Digital Media, and producer on The 11th Hour.  He too, echoed that David Wheeler, along with Graeme, and Howard Schreiber would be the best bet for finding any video footage from the Trilobyte days.  James has also been very open with what he knows.  He advised that the footage he knew about was on Digital Beta, which is still used today in some production circles and has a pretty high overall bitrate considering the age of the format.

However, the big break may have been with Howard Schreiber.  I had messaged Howard on LinkedIn last week but, never heard back.  After getting the recommendation from James, I did a little more digging and found an email address for Mr. Schreiber.  I sent him an email and he responded that he had actually tried to contact me on LinkedIn.  I never got the message.

Howard let me know that he MAY have some of the original footage from The 11th Hour in storage.  He won't have an opportunity to look into it until the end of July at the earliest, however, it is the first major lead/hit in this journey!  I am trying not to get too excited because, who knows how much of the footage Howard has or if there is none at all.  We'll have to wait and see!

In the meantime, I'm also trying to figure out what will happen if this footage is all found.  Will Rob want me to send it directly to him, or will he want me to figure out the re-capture and potential up-scaling of the footage?  Even more importantly, other than preservation and sharing with other fans, what else might be a good use of the footage?  It's thinking about a future that may never come but, it keeps me going for sure.

I'm nervous about trying Graeme for more information on Facebook or elsewhere.  I've been told by several people that he isn't as open about the Trilobyte days, and honestly, I can understand that.  However, he may also have some of the footage or may know who does.  I also haven't yet found a reliable way to get through to David Wheeler, who would definitely have an idea on what became of all the footage.  Although, I secretly am hoping that when Howard said "some", it might turn out to be a majority instead.

I can dream right?

Anyway, I hope this update is as exciting for you as it was for me and again, any encouragement or contact tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

The Quest for The 7th Guest is the unofficial hunt for the original video and audio footage from The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour games.  To provide information/aide in the quest Click Here.

Update 6-11-17

Not much in the way of progress on the quest this week.  Almost none of the previous contact attempts have panned out thus far, with the exception of those I've previously noted.  Although, this is a free-time project and I can only put so much time and effort into it from day to day.

That being said, I did hear back from Rob Wright, who worked on The 7th Guest.  We've had a couple of messages on Facebook and are hoping to have some future conversations when we both have the time.

I also found that Dianne Watson seems to be a different person than Diane Moses.  According to MobyGames, Dianne Watson did some of the sound design on T7G.  Strangely it connects her to work on T7G in 2010.  I'm not sure if this is when the re-release took place or something else.  Either way, I've been unable to find any contact information for her anywhere.

Again, I'm mostly relying on the internet and social media contacts for my search right now.  If anyone has any recommendations or has more direct information for former Trilobyte, Inc. employees, please reach out to me!

Thanks,
Chris

The Quest for The 7th Guest is the unofficial hunt for the original video and audio footage from The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour games.  To provide information/aide in the quest Click Here.

Chatting with The Artist 6-5-17

I had some additional feedback on Sunday which I am including in this update.  However, I have not had any contacts since then.  I'm awaiting responses on LinkedIn and via emails from a variety of people.  Although two have befriended me on Facebook,  I have not received a response to my messenger inquiries at this time.

I will continue to find contacts as I can, but any assistance that the T7G/T11H fan community would be greatly appreciated.

Reddit

I also created a post on Reddit's gaming sub-Reddit in order to see if anyone in the Reddit community might have some ideas.  Feel free to up-vote that post here: https://redd.it/6fapng .  The more eyes on this idea/project, the better chance there is of finding a solid lead into where the footage might be.

Since Last Update:

• Received an email back from Rob Stein III
• Rob advised that the last he saw of the Trilobyte assets was in 2001.  
• They were in a storage facility being managed by Dianne Watson on behalf of Graeme.
• I wrote back asking if Dianne Watson = Diane Moses.  Married name?
• Game assets were likely on password protected Gold CDs
• I question if the uncompressed video could be stored on CD, given the capabilities of CD as a storage medium at the time.  But who knows what else might have been stored there.
• He believes that these assets were given to Rob Landeros.
• Sent an email to Rob L. to follow up on this.
• Rob S. himself may still have the original 3D files backed up on magnetic tape but, states that even if he could find the tapes, he'd have no idea what the passwords were
• Sadly, my attempt to contact Jeff Buccellato failed.  I received a bounceback from the only email I could find.
• If anyone has an active email address for, or could reach out to Mr. Buccellato on my behalf, it would be appreciated.
• I will continue to look for an alternate contact for him.

Thanks,

Chris

The Quest for The 7th Guest is the unofficial hunt for the original video and audio footage from The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour games.  To provide information/aide in the quest Click Here.

Day 2 - The Producers of T11H

Thanks to all who have messaged me with potential contacts and support!  While I can't promise I will be doing something every day on this, I will try to keep this blog updated when I do.

Today's work focused on trying to contact most, if not all, of the producers from The 11th Hour.  Chances are that one or more of them might have been with Trilobyte closer to the end of things and might have an idea.  The executive producers who were with Virgin at the time might know if Virgin grabbed any of the assets or not.

Help the Quest!

I added an "Aide the Quest" page so people can contact me with hints or contact information for people who might help in finding the original T7G/T11H audio and video.

Most of the contacts I am using are through LinkedIn and social media.  However, these are not always the most reliable methods.  So, if anyone has any direct contact information for people from Trilobyte, Inc or can forward them to me via the contact form here it would be greatly appreciated.

Day 2 List:

• Thanks to the suggestion of Robb Alvey, I reached out to Rob Wright via Facebook and YouTube contact links.  - Response Pending
• Sent LinkedIn message to James Yokota, co-producer on The 11th Hour.  Also contacted via contact form at Cypress Digital Media, Mr. Yokota's company. - Response Pending
• Got email back from Paul "Bones" Van der Meer.
• He recommended contacting Graeme Devine, Kellyn Beeck, and David Wheeler.
• I did reach out to Graeme via Facebook
• Attempted to connect with Kellyn on LinkedIn, but will look for other contacts.
• Attempted Facebook message but, not currently a "friend" so will be relegated to a non-approved contact tab in messages.  Kellyn also hasn't posted on Facebook since 2015 from what I can see.
• Attempted a best guess at Kellyn's work email address and sent a message there as well. (perhaps a bit stalker-ish but, I am desperate)
• All contact responses are pending for Mr. Beeck.
• Already emailed David Wheeler but, may look for other contacts for him as well.
• Paul also advised the T7G original footage might be SVHS per the Rise and Fall of Trilobyte article.
• Got email back from Tommy Tallarico from Video Games Live.
• Audio he had done for Trilobyte was recorded on DAT.
• Tapes were then sent to Trilobyte directly.
• States Graeme Devine would likely know what happened to original footage/recordings.
• Emailed Robert Stein III lead artist for The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour. - response pending
• Reached out to R. Scott Russo (T11H Exec. Producer) on LinkedIn. - response pending
• Attempted to contact Jeff Buccellato, (T11H Exec. Producer). - Response Pending
• Can't do LinkedIn as I am not close enough to him to request connection.
• Attempted to use an older e-mail I found.
• Sent LinkedIn contact to Chris Archer (T11H Exec. Producer) - Response Pending
• Sent message to Calvin Kennedy (T11H Cinematographer) - Response Pending
• Got 404 error when clicking submit on the website contact form.  Hope email actually went through.
• Will look for more contacts if no response is received.

Thanks,

Chris

The Quest for The 7th Guest is the unofficial hunt for the original video and audio footage from The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour games.  To provide information/aide in the quest Click Here.

The Quest Begins

As a fan of The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour and team member of The 13th Doll fan game, I've often wondered what happened to the original video and audio recordings for those games.  I'm not talking about the final game footage but, the actual raw recordings on-location, against blue screen, and from makeshift audio recording facilities.

This has, as I mentioned, bothered me for years.  What scenes were filmed that never made it?  What kind of stuff happened on set?  What could be done with the original footage with today's technology?  How awesome would it be for fans to see and hear the original recordings in full?

I asked Rob Landeros of Trilobyte LLC if I could have his permission to try and hunt down the original game footage through internet sleuthing and he gave me the OK.

So today begins The Quest for The 7th Guest. (and The 11th Hour too)

On day one, I've done the following:

• Got Rob Landeros's permission to try to find the footage.
• Attempted to contact Graeme Devine on Facebook and LinkedIn - Response Pending
• Emailed David Wheeler, director of The 11th Hour - response pending
• Attempted LinkedIn contact with a couple of producers of either T7G or T11H - Response Pending
• Greg Goodrich (producer) - Pound Sand Games
• Kellyn Beeck (exec. producer)
• I think a couple others that I can't remember.
• Wrote to the representatives of Douglas O'Keeffe and Suzy Joachim from The 11th Hour to see if they might have original footage from their portfolios.
• Got response that Douglas O'Keeffe was no longer represented by the company I contacted.
• Sent an email to Paul "Bones" Van der Meer, T7G enthusiast, historian, and one of the founding members of the original The 13th Doll project. - response pending
• Sent an email to Geoff Keigley, the reporter who wrote "The Rise and Fall of Trilobyte" for Gamespot some years back. - response pending
• Called Vulcan Capital who were the venture capital behind Trilobyte Inc. at the time.
• They had no idea what to do with my request and advised to send an email.
• Sent email and got a standard response.  If no additional response is received, nothing can be done with my request.
• Called the number of someone in Oregon who may or may not be Diane Moses, the former office manager of Trilobyte, Inc.
• Left message with my information, hope it is the right person.
• Note: Diane was with Trilobyte Inc. from day one through closing day.  If anyone would know who was responsible for asset management at the time of liquidation, it would be her.
• Emailed Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live who did some sound design for The 7th Guest and had met with Ryan of The 13th Doll team at Cedar Rapids Comic Con. - Response Pending
• Sent an email to Robb Alvey who co-produced The 7th Guest and is an avid Theme Park enthusiast.
• Received an awesome response which indicated that the original footage my be in BetaSP format and some copies might be on LaserDisc.
• He also gave me the name of Rob Wright and a Facebook page for him as a potential source of information.
• I also posted information about my quest on The 13th Doll group on Facebook.  If there were a group any more devoted to Trilobyte, its history, and its legacy, it would be them.

So thus begins the journey.  I'll probably look into Rob Wright tomorrow, along with attempting to track down the contact information of some of The 11th Hour's producers.

Note: This blog is very basic right now.  I might make it better, I might leave it basic.  Honestly, it is more for me to keep track of things and to let people know than anything else.  I'm not looking for credit, so much as putting this out there in an attempt to get help.

Thanks for all of the encouragement!

Thanks Again,
Chris

The Quest for The 7th Guest is the unofficial hunt for the original video and audio footage from The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour games.  To provide information/aide in the quest Click Here.