Thriller (Michael Jackson album) video that would appeal to the mass market ended up influencing the way that professionals now market and release their songs. John Landis' production of a mini-movie, rather than the usual short music video, would raise the bar for other directors and producers. Before the success of "Thriller", many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airing because he was black. In an effort to attain air time for Jackson, CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff pressured MTV and declared, "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to go public and fucking tell them about the
Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video) remove the phone from his ear. Jackson's record company had little interest in making another video for "Thriller", believing that the album had peaked. Yetnikoff eventually agreed that the company would contribute only $100,000. To help finance the production, Landis's producer George Folsey Jr suggesting a making-of documentary that, combined with the "Thriller" video, would produce an hour-long film that could be sold on television. Initially, the television networks refused to finance the project, sharing the view that "Thriller" was "last year's news". MTV, which had found success with Jackson's videos for "Billie Jean" and "Beat It", had a policy