The Business Brief
The Business Brief
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Four minutes from the heart of Hollywood from Matt Holzman, producer of “The Business,” public radio’s show about the business of show business.
RECENT SHOWS
Mommas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be in Show Biz
In 1939, California passed a law to keep unscrupulous adults from stealing the earnings of child actors. But no one ever got around to crafting legislation that would shield these kids from the psychic damage they’d suffer under the cruel lights of fame...
Below the Line and Under the Gun
After a year of working without a contract, the Screen Actors' Guild finally signed a deal with producers last week. Even so, SAG is a union deeply divided. But this isn't a commentary about Hollywood labor strife but the strife currently being felt by Hollywood laborers. I know, it's tough out there for working people everywhere, but if you're below the line in movie or television production, it's downright cataclysmic.
Do You Hulu?
At the end of April, Disney, which owns ABC, announced that it would become a partner in the television web site Hulu. So now, Hulu has three of the four major networks on board, and they have those great commercials with Alec Baldwin. But does Hulu have a future?
Friends with You
Relationships are a core part of the way a lot of businesses do business. But no business tosses around the word “friend” to describe those relationships like they do in Hollywood. A talented film executive I know lost his job recently and he’s been having trouble finding meaningful employment. “In times like these,” he told me, “you can really tell your friends from your Hollywood friends.”
Hollywood Gets Back into the Games Game
In 1995, the then-new DreamWorks studio announced they were getting into the business of making video games. CEO Steven Spielberg insisted that they were committed to interactive projects. Four years later, realizing they were ill-suited for the inexplicable world of games and gamers, DreamWorks sold out their half of the business...
The Business: Scared Straight?
As the government was cobbling together its plan to save the economy earlier this year, lobbyists for the entertainment industry headed to Washington with their Armani hats in hand. But about that time, lawmakers saw the impressive box office numbers for a surprise hit called <em>Paul Blart: Mall Cop</em> and they said "Hey, they don't need our help!" The business is recession proof!"
Indian Jones
Legacy Player:
I recently had the distinct pleasure of serving as a juror for the Indian Film Festival at the Arclight in Hollywood. I have to say that I don't generally love what I see as niche festivals -- which put the subject matter before filmmaking, which is a nice way of saying that the movies usually suck. I mean there are something like 2,500 film festivals in the world, and that spreads the great movies pretty thin. Of course, it was silly of me to think of Indian film as niche since India is the world's largest producer of film and has a storied history of filmmaking – from Satyajit Ray to Mira Nair to Bollywood blockbusters...
Down on 'Up'
Legacy Player:
The way things are going on Wall Street these days, you’d think everyone would be ignoring what stock analysts have to say. But when someone says something negative about Disney’s Pixar – the most successful company in Hollywood, well people listen…as the old E.F. Hutton ads used to say. After all, schadenfreude is the black coffee of the business...
A 3-D Future?
Legacy Player:
The first revolution in film was sound; the second was color. And according to Jeffrey Katzenberg the third – are you ready for this – will be 3-D. The head of DreamWorks Animation predicts that in the near future, audiences will expect films to be in 3-D the way they now expect them to have music and dialogue...
Star Salary Schadenfreude
Legacy Player:
A couple of weeks ago on The Business, heard on this very station Mondays at 2:30pm, the chairman of the Walt Disney Studios acknowledged that the faltering economy had finally given Hollywood the leverage to cut bloated star salaries....
Making It Big in the Business
Legacy Player:
Today, a business brief quiz. Which of these traits is a guarantee of success in show business?...
The Shark Goes Un-Jumped
Legacy Player:
n 1987, the weatherman at WLS-channel 7 Chicago did a hard-hitting piece about windy city residents who had been abducted by aliens. He also managed to get work in a plug-in for the alien abduction special he was hosting the following night...
Sign of the Times?
Legacy Player:
It appears the Los Angeles Times intends to become the “go to” newspaper of the business, judging by an announcement they made last week. They’re consolidating their entertainment reporters, editors and producers from their business and calendar sections and bringing back their popular “company town” feature to anchor their reporting on the business. TV ratings, box office and download sales will be tracked every week, as well as the stocks of media companies that will comprise the “company town” index...
Bailout for the Business?
Legacy Player:
They say that the movie business is recession proof. And it is true that when people couldn’t run two dimes together during the great depression, the movie business boomed. And it looks like the same thing is happening today. Even though the economy is going to hell in a hand basket, movie ticket sales are up 17.5% this year to a whopping $1.7 billion according to the box office tracking company media by numbers...
Oscar Roundup
Legacy Player:
Most people watch the Oscars for the fashions, the show, the speeches and, of course, the faux pas. Come on -- everyone loves to see an elegantly dressed train wreck...
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