Interview with David Williams from ADV Films 

by Daniel Kurland

Daniel: Hi There. Do you mind telling us your name and what you do for ADV Films?

David: Hi, I'm David Williams and I'm a DVD Producer for A.D.Vision. I oversee DVD production for most of the titles at ADV. Work with the authoring houses to encode the video, author the discs, and test them. Approve menu designs and what goes on the DVDs and how it's presented. I work closely with our DVD Coordinator, Janice Williams, to try and release the best discs we can. I've also done a little ADR directing and use to do some website work and subtitling for ADV but don't do that these days. I'm also the official voice of ADV on the internet and attend cons to get feedback from the fans.

Daniel: How long have you been working with ADV and how did you get interested with what you do

David: I've been working with ADV since the beginning of the company over nine years ago. We worked on our first video, Devil Hunter Yohko, in my living room. I was friends with Matt Greenfield, one of the co-founders of the company. We both ran anime clubs in Houston and were both anime fans from back in the early 80s. We did fansubs for our clubs use so figured going commercial would give us a way to support our anime habits. :)

Daniel: Wow, ADV has gone through a lot of real successes the most common titles that come to mind are "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Garasaki". What are your opinion's on those 2 anime. What are your opinion's on those 2 anime

David: Yes, both were big hits. I particularly love Gasaraki. It's the type of show that brought me into anime to begin with. I enjoy both of them but I tend to like Gasaraki a little better. I think there are as many interpretations of Eva as there are fans out there so everyone can kind of form their own ideas about that show. Gasaraki has the type of involved story and great mecha animation that I enjoy.

Daniel: On the topic of EVA, what can you tell us about the first DVD being rereleased in a remastered version along with the EVA Boxset

David: Well not a whole lot at this moment. :) We're rereleasing Eva Collection 0:1 in a version without the overlays we used in the first one. At the same time we're going to be releasing a boxset of all 8 discs. We plan on two different boxes, one more standard box and a very special box which will sell for a little more. We plan on having a way for fans who already own the discs to buy the new remastered volume 1 and a box without buying all the discs again. That's about all the details I'm ready to give out at this point.

Daniel: That sounds like a good idea. Any details on the EVA movies being released by Manga?

David: Other than the fact that they used most of our original Eva voice actors, I don't have a lot of info on their plans. I wish them luck with their release. Well I wish I had a source at Manga who could key me in on the details but nope, I don't have any info since it is a Manga project and not an ADV one.

Daniel: You guys at ADV have a very long list of titles and more new hits coming out such as "Orphen" and new releases not far behind such as "Power Stone" and "Ganbare Goemon", what do you have to say about them?

David: We have so many new titles coming down the line it's hard to cover them all. Orphen is doing real well and I'm always happy to see more fantasy style anime out there. Excel Saga is coming out soon and I think that will be a big hit. We have some pretty big plans for the DVDs for Excel Saga. So many titles we've had to build new studios to work on all of them.

Daniel: Wow, it sounds that you guys are really taking care of business, are there any anime series you wish you got to work on or you wish that you didn't license?

David: Hmmm, can't think of anything that I wished we didn't license. We're pretty careful about what we license and what we don't. And titles that might not be my favorite are generally something I know will sell well and let me get more of my favorite titles. As for titles I wish we had licensed well there are several. I would have like to have done the Crusher Joe series and Cowboy Bebop would have been fun. :) All in all I'm pretty happy with the selection of titles ADV has produced. We're looking at expanding into shoujo titles and I think that will go well for us. For example we're doing Princess Nine now and that should be a big hit I think.

Daniel: yeah, Cowboy Bebop was a big success along with Trigun

David: Bebop was a pretty good show. I really enjoyed the ending.

Daniel: So did I, the movie should be just as good.

David: The ending of Bebop was something you saw often in older anime but newer shows have gone for the happy ending. I was glad to see them take the chance.

Daniel: Its good that you enjoy your work, if you weren't doing DVDs for ADV, what do you think you would be up to

David: Well I use to be a program designer. Did C and C++ programming for years. So if it wasn't for ADV I'd probably still be doing that. Or photography, I love taking pictures and developing them. Special effects photos are my favorite. Of course digital cameras and computers take a lot of the fun out of that these days. :)

Daniel: That sounds all very interesting. What is the anime you had the most fun working on and the least fun?

David: I'd say the one I had the most fun on was the Original Dirty Pair series. Jessica Calvello and Pam Lauer were the voice actors on that series and they were a blast to work with. Love them both. They would cut up in the studio and I was recording everything they did. We ended up with a bunch of really good bloopers. That was probably the most fun I've had on a show yet.

Daniel: Sounds like you really had a fun time. Ever consider putting bloopers such as that on the DVD as extras?

David: Of course I have fun on every show. I really love working on DVDs. I can't think of what the show I had the least fun on would be. It's just too much fun working for an anime company. Well, I wanted to put some of their bloopers on the disc but many of them were, shall we say, a little too adult for the disc. I do show them at cons from time to time. We plan on putting some bloopers on some of our future discs we're working on now. Just have to be careful which ones we use sometimes.

Daniel: Well, I really enjoyed this interview and you really revealed a lot about the company .Any last words to the fans out there?

David: Thanks for the chance to chat with you and I hope everyone enjoys reading this. Last words? I guess, just remember that anime is entertainment and I hope you enjoy which ever shows you pick up. No matter who puts them out. Oh and if you see me at a con, please feel free to say hi. I really do enjoy talking with people at the cons and getting their feedback on shows and DVDs ADV puts out. If there is something you liked, let me know and if there was something you didn't like well tell me that too. Can't improve without the input from the fans. Wish everyone happy anime. :)