When Adrian rang the film lab, a ‘new’ voice answered the phone! Wrong number?!
No. Worse! New voice, new company! . . . . . A fresh broom! 
‘Well, we can take a look. said the new MD. But we’ve cleared out a lot of the old stuff in the store’,
He would ring with an update in a couple of days.
Adrian suddenly knew how much he wanted the film. It CAN’T have gone!
Can it?!

As Adrian picked up the receiver a few days later, the laid back ‘Hi’ disguised his inner turmoil.
‘Yes, we’ve found it – you’re lucky!’
‘A few more weeks and . . .’
Adrian had ceased concentrating and just blurted out, ‘What now?’

While Adrian hadn’t dared think about the future, the MD had. That was his job.
Well, we will comply with our Contract. Terms and Conditions. All agreed when it was booked in – 20 years ago.
It’ll take a few months – giving all parties the correct length of time to respond.

If no one comes forward, then it’s yours.

We will just need payment for all our work – and for 20 years secure storage!
Adrian just said OK. He’d have said ‘OK’ anyway.

So he had two months, three at best, to raise the money.

Asking around his DJ and music biz friends, a name kept cropping up. A guy in Soho.
A guy with a music shop.

He wanted an option.

He’d do it through his shop. He knew the process – and had the distribution. He’d take a big cut – but, he had promised me enough – in weeks – to save my design business.
Save me. Save the film.
Well, times were tough. I had no choice.
When I phoned the film lab months had passed.
Was the film still there? All I had was an agreement on paper. What if someone offered more? All they seemed to care about was the money. What if someone had come forward ?
It was just like the first time. Nerves were high.
Same secretary. Same delay before the MD came on the line.
‘Oh, so you’ve raised the money?’. When I replied that I had, the MD even seemed a little happy. Became quite chatty.
‘Come in tomorrow morning and my secretary will type out the releases etc.
We’ll put everything in place’.
Taking their advice the lab would make tape copies – and VHS’s so I could see what I’d bought!
I still hadn’t seen it!
The whole lab would swing into action. Between Christmas and New Year – their down time. I suppose it gave a nice Christmas bonus to the guys working there.

So the deal was done.
It was on their terms – but it wasn’t worth bartering.
Whatever I eventually would see on those VHS tapes would be history!
David Bowie. Genesis with Peter Gabriel. Hawkwind.
Unseen.
It’s where it all began.
1970
I could relax over Christmas and look forward to an exciting New Year!