Deconstructing Pop Culture

Here are the Annual Reports for Warner Communications; Time Warner; AOL Time Warner; and the Warner Music Group.  In some cases I have substituted what the Securities and Exchange Commission calls “Form 10-K,” which is a different version of the annual report (typically with more information).  Some of the ones from the 1970s are copies [...]

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A release off Bloomberg News ran today (November 13th) in the Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood Reporter, and other industry media: “Relativity Sues Citi over financing.”  It detailed the travails of Ryan Kavanaugh and his company Relativity Media.  Relativity has been phenomenally successful in financing movies by packaging film slates and brokering them to Wall [...]

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A couple of years ago I was the subject of a profile in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. The topic: reality television. Here’s a .jpg of the front page of the article. Some quotes from the text (which, incidentally, I still totally stand by): David Kronemyer … heads a production company called Cerberus Films. [He] [...]

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By now, everybody pretty much has had it with the “writer’s strike.” There simply isn’t a way for the writers to “win,” whatever that means. The large, international multi-media conglomerates – which, for sake of consistency, I’ll refer to as “LIMMC’s – simply are too well hedged. In addition to Disneyland and Disney Studios, Disney [...]

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A recent legal case highlights the issues set forth in So Much for Asset-Backed Film Financing (August 10, 2007).  It provides an interesting take on just what is a “security” under Federal law.  It also illustrates the juxtaposition of Western concepts of financing versus those found in Muslim and Islamic countries.  The defendants in the [...]

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It is axiomatic that in any business depending on creative talent, personal relationships are extremely important, if not decisive. They are, among other things, the vehicles or devices through which new, emerging talent is presented to institutional decision-makers at record companies, film studios and publishing houses. These firms in turn depend upon a steady supply [...]

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For those who have been out-of-touch with the financial markets over the past several days, here’s a news flash: they’ve been roiled by instability, volatility and (unless you’re a short) loss. Initially the culprit was so-called “sub-prime” mortgages – those made to borrowers of less-than-stellar credit stature. However, panic soon spread – as it is [...]

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The downfall of Chris Albrecht as Chairman of HBO illustrates two principles. The first is that of hubris. Mr. Albrecht no doubt believed he either was immortal, or descended from gods. A former stand-up comedian, a former agent, and the self-identified architect of hit series such as “The Sopranos,” he could do anything he wanted. [...]

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I refer to the recent “Because I Said So.” Produced by the Englishman Paul Brooks, also known for his “straight to video” productions, it brings a distinctively British music hall sensibility to the romantic comedy genre. There are times when movie reviewers seem to trip all over themselves, trying to out-do each other with superlatives. [...]

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Fortress Investment Group LLC issued stock at $18.50. Shares opened at $35. On the first day of trading, they closed at $31 – 68% higher than the IPO price, Zuckerman, G., Sender, H. & Patterson, S., “Hedge-Fund Crowd Sees More Green As Fortress Hits Jackpot with IPO,” Wall St. Journal (Feb. 10, 2007). Now this [...]

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