Important Update: Release of season 1.2 & 1.3 delayed

Important Status Update

Regarding our Season 1.2 & 1.3 release delay

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We sent out the following personal message to all of our early-beard supporters two days ago. 

Today I would like to publicly update all of you on the status of our Season 1.2 and 1.3 DVD sets. 

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Dear Bruddha! 

You are one of our many 'Early Beard' Supporters for our new Season 1.2 & 1.3 DVD sets and are probably wondering what happened to your order and when the DVD sets will be shipped to you. 

Unfortunately, I have some very disappointing news for you: We will have to delay the release of the two new seasons until the End of June (another two weeks). The tentative release day is now June 23rd. 

With this email I would like to explain to you in detail what went wrong. 

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The 'Good' Delay

When we made Season 1.2 and 1.3 available for pre-order, we announced both sets to consist of two DVDs.  

When we started editing the material in January, we quickly noticed that we had too much awesome material for Season 1.3 to fit on two DVDs.  

The question for us was: Do we cut the material down to size and stick to the original release schedule or will we simply add a third, free DVD to Season 1.3? For us, the answer was clear: We wanted to give you the best value and decided to go for three DVDs.  

As we updated you on our blog and on Facebook, this decision meant that our original production plan (editing until the end of March and delivery mid April) was seriously in danger.  

So we invested in a new rendering-super-PC and took Matt Cexwish - our featured artist on the Season 1.3 DVD set - on board for three months to edit the videos - again, everything just to give you more value than you expected. 

Editing a single DVD takes a long time and we were very happy that we were able to complete all the editing and pre-manufacturing processes by mid April. Our DVD manufacturer received the masters in the third week of April. In short, we were three weeks late but gained an extra DVD for you.

Everything looked awesome and we told you about it on our Blog and Facebook. We even revealed our 'Secret Stretchgoals' which we had planned as our 'surprise Thank You' for all of our Early Bird Supporters all along.

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The 'Bad' Delay 

We have had some very good experience with our DVD replicator when we did Season 1.1 - Target Identified. They delivered the DVDs right on time and doing business with them was generally very pleasant.  

Like with Season 1.1, our contract with the DVD replicator for Season 1.2 and 1.3 states that we would receive the finished DVD sets 10-12 working days after 'approval' of all the proofs for print media (packaging and so on). We approved the production in the first week of May.  

Even though we expected the delivery no later than the third week in May, I felt that I should play it safe by scheduling the shipment of your DVDs for the last week of May - after all, there are a lot of public holidays in Germany in May. We prepared everything to get your orders out as soon as we would receive them.

Since the approval of the proofs I was in contact with the DVD replicator at least twice a week to inquire about the project status and a delivery date, even just a tentative one. I was always told that the project 'was going according to schedule', but a definite date was not quite available yet.

By the third week of May - the week we expected the delivery - I still had no delivery date and our project manager at the DVD replicator 'went black' - I could not get a hold of him, no answers to my phone calls or emails. 

That is when I contacted the owner of the company for the first time and he promised me an update immediately. In spite of my daily inquiries it took a week to get an update from him. He told me that the production was almost finished - and I am going to spare you any further details - three days later (last Friday night) I finally got a reply from our project manager: They had not even started production yet.

On Tuesday this week we finally received a tentative delivery date for the DVD sets: June 23rd. 

Two more weeks. 

We could not believe it. I could not believe it. In spite of all of our efforts and investments, 10-12 production days turned into 8 weeks. 

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Blame & Responsibility 

It is always easy to blame someone for something they did or didn't do. I generally find that to be counter-productive as I believe that you only need to identify who's responsible. 

At the end of the day, I am personally responsible for what we as Painting Buddha do. I promised you two awesome DVD sets and so far I failed to deliver. And yes, I find this unacceptable myself. You deserve better - and we can do better. I can do better. 

Believe me when I say that all of us here at Painting Buddha: Ben, Mati, Matt and me are at least as frustrated as some of you understandably must be. 

Lessons learned

After we completed all of our editing work in April, Ben, Mati and I sat down and critically evaluated our first year as Painting Buddha - even before we knew about the delay in the DVD production. I also personally talked to many of our friends and supporters world-wide to ask them how we can improve. 

We have big plans. We want to be the perfect hobby related community company for you. We want to Share & Enjoy our hobby! And we will continue to work hard to get there!

Yes, we are doing a lot of things right, but there is so much we can do better, differently and more efficiently. If you want to help us shape the future of your community company, I invite you to engage in our 'Operation Infinite Improbability Drive'! 

If you like, send me an email with your comments, criticism and ideas - and if you would like to talk to me - even if it is to blow off some steam - you can talk to me on our dedicated Painting Buddha Skype (user name 'paintingbuddha'). 

Our apologies

In closing, I would like to once again apologize for the delay of our Season 1.2 and 1.3 and for the frustration you must feel. I would like to thank you for your continued support and your patience! We could not do this without you - and we promise to work hard on getting better!

Thank you!

Best regards from all of us here at Painting Buddha, 

Michael Bartels

Manabu - paintingbuddha.com

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I have received an incredible amount of positive and encouraging emails in response to this status update. To be honest it was a very humbling and moving experience for me. It proves that we have the best supporters in the Universe - and working for Bruddhas like you makes everything worthwhile for us!

We are, however, aware that not everybody is going to be happy about the DVD delay. Again, I can only apologize and accept responsibility at this point. We are very critical about our shortcomings and in one of our next 'Operation Infinite Improbability Drive' updates we'll talk about a few more things we currently are not really good at - and talk about how we are going to fix them.

I promise you that while we probably never will be perfect, like the Borg we will not yield in our pursuit of perfection. Resistance, after all, is futile. 

The good news for all of you out there is that the Early Beard Special will be extended until June 30th and all early beards include the super-secret-stretchgoals. 

;tldr 

The release of the Season 1.2 & 1.3 DVD sets has been delayed until about June 23rd. I am very sorry.

SHARE & ... well, just SHARE, I guess.

Early Beard Deals extended until June 30th! All stretch-goals included!