Derann ... RIP

[Osi Osgood]

I have forgotten, over the years, ( and may not have known in the first place), as to why Derann closed it doors in the first place. Were the film labs closing, or they weren't providing a decent print? Disney had pulled out shortly before the close, but Derann had plenty of other material to work with. Was they're own equipment becoming unreliable? Would love an answer from those that were there to the end, of possible.

[Steve Klare]

Basically it comes down to the costs of operating a brick and mortar store (as I remember it: insurance in particular) rising pretty dramatically around that time and the business not being able to cover its own costs. It wasn't the film business in particular that was the root of the problem, but their audio-video retail business. Had they stopped film years earlier it may not have made any difference at all.

I was completely amazed at a company still making film prints when I discovered them about a decade earlier: they seemed to be above the laws of Economics, if not gravity itself! -but at the end of the day it turns out they lived in our world anyway.

I was outside film collecting around the time so many others (-like Blackhawk) went under (I was busy with College, girlfriend(s), engagement, marriage (just one!), career, house, cars, even more college: I got a chance to make up that time because of Derann.

What can you say? It was fun while it lasted!

There was a Bankruptcy filing on the 'net for a long time, but I can't find it anymore.

[Brian Fretwell]

If I remember correctly they said that they were only using part of the big building in the last few years but had to pay business rates on it all and when the energy costs for heating went up it was totally unviable to continue. The lab, Film North, had given up making Super8 prints a couple of years before and they had ordered as many as they could afford when they were given a deadline.

[Rob Young]

Osi, I think that Ged Jones would be the best person to answer your question.

I was a customer of Derann from the mid 1980s when VHS had already seen the demise of most 8mm distributors.

I was there at Dudley on the last day of trading too in 2011 and although it was very sad for many reasons, I think it is truly amazing the legacy, fun and enjoyment that Derann gave us over the years. I have so many happy memories of going to the various conventions with my family and buying so many fabulous Derann films over the years.

Ged has given indications as to the closure of Derann during his interviews at the Blackpool conventions, but I think that the closure was a culmination of several things; insurance costs, customer base; the closer of the lab had to be a big one though.

My personal understanding is that the lab was owned by a television company here in the UK that were still filming many TV drama programmes on 16mm film until the mid to late 2000s. As digital capture took over, the lab was closed.

If Ged still reads this forum, I hope he could clarify this.

Being in the TV industry, I was very aware of the drive to move from film to the cheaper and inferior digital formats of that era.

Derann were truly special to me personally. But, I guess, all good things come to an end.

[Steve Klare]

There is kind of a historical record of it happening on the old forum, including a statement by Adrian Simmonds:

Topic: DERANN CLOSING DOWN

My business with them wasn't finished: I had a number of titles I still wanted at the end. Every so often, I get a second chance and I leap at it!

The last day used sales were pretty brutal: given the 5 hour time difference, the used-list always showed up in my work E-mail Friday lunchtime, right around noon. I opened it as soon as it came in, picked out eight titles (usually it was two, maybe three) and sent a reply as quickly as I could.

I knew this was a last opportunity and so did the rest of the World!
-out of that eight, I got exactly zero!

-usually if I picked out two, I got them both.

[Brian Fretwell]

Yes, it was on the UK news that Dudley High Street had about the highest proportion of closed shops to open ones in the UK. Other trade (Hi Fi, TV etc) must not have been good.

[Osi Osgood]

While they were still open, (I got back into the hobby in 2006), I was very small potatoes, finance wise, and while I couldn't afford brand new prints, I could snatch out a lot of the used ones. Gary Brocklehurst made me many a deal. On one occasion, I traded him, from the list a complete collection on brand new, multi-colored Beatles 45's, for a complete, slightly edited scope " My Name is Nobody". I was tickled pink! I really missed them, and still do.

[Steve Klare]

Gary was a great guy to deal with. I went through this time early on where I hadn't bought a sound projector yet and I was trying to cope with the idea of a film seller that only sold sound prints. I asked a lot of questions, for example "Do you have any silent editions in your catalog?" -but he patiently counselled me and I bought my first sound machine (Bolex/Eumig).

Life has not been quite the same ever since!

He engaged in this almost...international conspiracy with my wife when she bought me a brand new Toy Story for Christmas in 2009. He accepted her order and she swore him to silence on the subject until at least December 26th! (You can imagine that I needled him a little over this!)

He was always fair when there was a problem, and I would say he tended to lean a little bit on the customer's side, especially a regular.

[Osi Osgood]

I loved getting those catalogs over the emails, and I saved that last one, as soon as I found out that they were closing, and I was very annoyed when my email collapsed and I lost it! I had one of their printed catalogs, and being I got back into super 8 in 2006 and discovered Derann awhile later, for all I know, it might have been one of their last catalogs. I need to look for it. I remember at the time thinking the prices were high .... then I look at the prices for the same prints today ... used! 🫢

[Steve Klare]

I'd say their pricing was pretty reasonable. When I first got into film collecting in the 1970s (when things were still "mass production"), I was paying about $26 for a silent 200 footer. in the 2000s I was paying about twice that at Derann for a 200 footer with sound, even after new Super-8 prints had become an extremely niche product.

When you factor in all the inflation in-between, this starts to sound almost cheap!

My Dad bought a new midsized car in the 1975 for about $5,000. I bought a sub-compact in 2013 for $21,000!