Q n' A with Joe and Brian of SyFy's Hollywood Treasure at C2E2 2012

Saturday, May 5, 2012 by Christopher Young Filed in: TV | Video/TV

We were lucky enough to nail down a little time with Joe Maddelana and Brian Chanes at this year's Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. For those who do not know, These guys have an awesome show on SyFy called Hollywood Treasure, which follows Joe and his team at Profiles in History as they dig up some of the coolest Hollywood memorabilia ever. Once they have compiled a good selection of rare items an auction takes place and the conclusion can be astounding.

I did meet with both of them at the same time, so the answers reflect a mixture of comments.

HF: We at horror-fix.com are huge fans of Gothic horror author Robert Chambers. We were thrilled to see the Chambers art that went to auction in season 1. If we remember correctly, it brought a lot more than expected. Do you see that often? These obscure pieces that you think might not have an audience bringing in significantly more than expected.

HT: Yeah, although I do not remember the specific piece you mention, we see a lot of items like the title credits/art RKO card from King Kong. That was a piece we had 600-800 in, and it went for $95,750.00 at auction.

HF: We are massive Walking Dead fans here, and it was exciting to see the relationship you have with KNB FX. Their studio has a enormous creep factor. Do you ever get any pieces that truly creep you out?

HT: There was this phallic sword type of thing similar to what was in the movie Seven. There was also the piece from Stan W. that was a female corpse cut in half from The Black Dahlia.

HF: We see there are pieces you actually have to push for and the owners still cannot surrender them. What has been the hardest item to walk away from?

HT: Bill Malone had Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet which we really wanted, but could not get. There was also the Lawgiver statue from The 1968 Planet of the apes movie.

HF: Will we be seeing any more pieces from the Stan Winston Studios next season?

HT: Yes, We will have the gorilla mask from the 1999 film Instinct.

HF: Obviously our focus at Horror-Fix is horror. Can the horror fans expect any surprises for season 2?

HT: You can expect to see items from AMC's American Horror Story TV show.

HF: Out of all the items you have sold what has surprised you the most?

HT: Walter "Matt" Jefferies had some carpeting that was originally used on the Starship Enterprise which was later torn out and repurposed. The 3 foot piece of this carpeting went for $11,000 to a gentleman who broke it down and made collectible Star Trek pieces from it.

HF: Out of all that has passed through your offices, what has made it into your personal collections?

HT: We have a number of Stan Winston items in the collection including, Terminator items like the Exo Skeleton from T2-T3 and a Small Soldiers diorama. There is also a Chef Boyardee Statue that was kept.

HF: If there is one thing you can leave us with in regard to the second season, what would that be?

HT: Season 2 is going up from a 30 minute program to an hour long. So expect more detail and time spent on specific items. Right now we probably spend 3 minutes, so you can expect somewhere in the ballpark of 9 minutes per item this season.

HF: Ok, one final thing, can I touch the hammer from Thor?

HT: Sure, let us get someone to unlock the case.

Both of these guys were awesome, and they were answering fans questions all day at their booth.