I was so fortunate to have grown up during, what has been often called “The Golden Era of Hollywood.” It was truly a time when fantasy came alive in front of your eyes and it was a time when it was first class or no class. Thanks to my dad’s position at MGM, I was able to go there on the weekends and enjoy the incredible magic that was being created there at the time. Those moments with my father will be with me forever. When people tell me how great it is to go to Fantasyland at Disneyland, I remark that they have no idea what Fantasyland is and that I grew up in the ultimate Fantasyland, riding stagecoaches, covered wagons, steam trains, paddle wheeled river boats and running through the streets of the world where legends walked.

When I entered the film industry in 1965, the studio system was, for the most part, on it’s way out. After my father got me an interview with the head of the Columbia Pictures Camera Department, Bill Widemeyer, and several days of waiting, I entered the business with a one-day call to photograph Jane Fonda doing a commercial and I soon found out how much I had to learn. Shortly afterward, I took a one-day call at 20th Century Fox as an Assistant Cameraman that would turn into a five year learning experience that was far beyond anything that any university in the world could have offered me. What I didn’t know at the time when I started at Fox was that the studio was completely broke and the lot was barely surviving on the money being made by the TV series that were being filmed there at the time. Richard Zanuck, who ran the studio at the time, had gambled the studio’s remaining cash, after the Cleopatra disaster, on the musical film “The Sound of Music” and if that film had bombed, we would have all been at the unemployment office and the Fox lot would have become a condo development.  I will never forget attending a employee preview screening of “Sound of Music” and when Julie Andrews came over the hill singing The Sound of Music, there were tears in the eyes of many and we all knew we had something very special.  After hearing Zanuck’s producing partner David Brown exclaim, after the film’s conclusion and a standing ovation, “That’s not the Sound of Music, that’s the sound of money”, and as we all know, how right he was. Shortly after, the studio painters changed the huge Sound of Music mural on the side of the camera department to read “ The Sound of Money.” As most people know, the film became a mega-hit and the studio quickly rebounded and produced many of the finest and most popular films of the late 1960’s.

By the time I became a Still Photographer in mid-1969, we were in another Golden Age of Hollywood with great films and movie magic occurring everywhere. I was blessed to be able to work on the type of productions that Hollywood doesn’t make anymore. As clichéd as it sounds today, studios don’t do films today like they did then. Today, battle scenes are populated with computer-generated soldiers instead of real people and the incredible sets of films like “Day of The Locust’ are for the most part virtual with the actors standing in front of a green screen instead of the real thing. It seems that what made the film so profoundly beautiful, is that something amazing that has been forgone and lost from that time to this time. Thank goodness several of today’s film directors, Michael Mann, Rob Marshall, and Martin Scorsese still have the vision to do it in the old fashioned way. I can’t think of anything more boring then shooting an action or epic film in front of a green screen with all the action to be added at a later time. I did a bit of that toward the end of my career and it certainly helped make my decision to leave the industry.

Unbelievable site that I recently discovered somehow (if I could retrace the site-to-site-to-site-ad infinitum itinerary, I promise I would.): Kiddie Records Weekly: Classics from the Golden Age. Kiddie Records Weekly features a weekly selection of  vintage children’s album designs. Their archives are enormous, AND they stream all the audio! It’s pure old-school craziness! Go forth and enjoy. And, for now, here are some of my faves (but I still have stacks to pore through):

Aren’t they amazing? Love them. Love the colors, love the type, love the illustrations… love it all.

Furieux d’être viré, dévore son patron

Originally silent, the lion’s roar was added to films in August 1928

MGM is home to some of the most famous franchises in cinema history, including James Bond and the Pink Panther. But staggering under the weight of almost $4bn of debt, the studio is now looking for a buyer.

Read Article.

]]> http://cinecinecine.com/2009/11/20/mgm-sera-vendida-por-titulos-no-por-empresas/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:27:49 +0000 HGarza http://cinecinecine.com/2009/11/20/mgm-sera-vendida-por-titulos-no-por-empresas/

Logo de la MGM

Si de por sí muchos de los cinéfilos veían con preocupación que la MGM fuera a ser vendida en forma fraccionada, pues eso marcaba prácticamente el fin de la empresa como tal, el nuevo anuncio que se hace sobre la subasta es mucho más alarmante. Se decía que la compañía sería vendida en forma de subsidiarias pues se había adelantado que no se haría en forma total. Pero por lo visto, las especulaciones estaban equivocadas: La misma se colocará por títulos y/o franquicias, de modo que los compradores podrán quedarse con los derechos de las diversas producciones para su uso comercial. Al parecer, los bienes inmuebles serán subastados como tales, lo que implica que estamos viendo realmente el fin de la MGM.

Microsoft lance,en Belgique, le service Zune au travers de sa console de jeux Xbox 360. Le joueur de Xbox 360 Live pourra désormais downloader des films streaming en qualité HD. Microsoft a un accord avec les principaux distributeurs de film (Paramount, Universal, MGM et Warner Brothers) et devient par conséquent un concurrent direct à Telenet et Belgacom TV. Les video seront disponibles au moment de leur sortie en DVD.

Microsoft lance,en Belgique, le service Zune au travers de sa console de jeux Xbox 360. Le joueur de Xbox 360 Live pourra désormais downloader des films streaming en qualité HD. Microsoft a un accord avec les principaux distributeurs de film (Paramount, Universal, MGM et Warner Brothers) et devient par conséquent un concurrent direct à Telenet et Belgacom TV. Les video seront disponibles au moment de leur sortie en DVD.

 

 

LOVIN’ LAS VEGAS: Don’t know why I thought that Lily Tomlin and Sin City were not a natural fit. Turns out they are. La Tomlin premiered her new

TOMLIN & WAGNER: Viva Las Vegas

one-woman show, Not Playing With A Full Deck, at the MGM Grand, and reportedly loves Las Vegas! Lily’s partner and personal muse, the unabashedly brilliant humourist Jane Wagner, is the mighty pen behind her new show as well as such previous Tomlin megahits as The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In The Universe and Appearing Nitely. Lily’s new show is a mix of Greatest Hits – the characters her fans still can’t get enough of, like Ernestine and Edith Ann – and new characters, and

SHORT: Damages control

new technology. Tomlin’s new show ‘try-out’ played in MGM’s Hollywood Theater, which seats about 2,000 people at each performance. And when Tomlin isn’t hanging out with her Big Business co-star and Caesars Palace headliner Bette Midler (The Showgirl Must Go On) or trying to coax Jane (“it’s come down to begging, really,”) into writing a new Broadway show for her, she’s commuting to New York to shoot her scenes in the new season of Damages with Glenn Close. In it she plays the matriarch of a powerful family determined to destroy shady legal eagle Close. Assisting Lily in this mission are Martin Short as her high-powered attorney and Campbell Scott as her son. And yes, she confesses, she and Marty did misbehave one day on the set, when

MIDLER: The show must go ... off

she read her lines as Ernestine and he did his as Ed Grimley. “But never when the cameras are rolling!”

THE SHOWGIRL MUST GO OFF: P.S. for Vegas-bound Bette Midler fans: Your heroine ends her two-year residency at The Colloseum – aka The House That Céline Built – on January 31. Says Bette: “These legs have had such a great run in the desert, it may be time to haul them to places with more humidity and fewer slot machines.”

GET OUT YOUR HANDKERCHIEFS: Yes, it’s true, the latest YouTube sensation is a recent audition for Simon Cowell’s British talent show The X Factor. The singer is a 40-year-old cabinet-maker named Daryl Markham. Markham has his own website now, and is now a household

MARKHAM: YouTube sensation

name for millions of people all over the world. But can he sing? You be the judge. To see his now-historic audition, just click here.

NO BIZ LKE SHOW BIZ: Leave it to Reg Hartt to find a copy of the sumptuous MGM musical Kiss Me Kate, with Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and young hoofers Bob Fosse & Tommy Rall competing for Ann Miller’s machine-gun taps., in — wait for it — 3D, its screen original format. Cineaste extraordinare Hartt unspools the classic Cole Porter musical this Sunday and next at 5 pm at his Cineforum HQ at Bathurst & College. Adds Reg: “Bring your own popcorn and we will zap it for you.”

WILLIAMS: ReelWorld decade

Hmmmm, wonder if Stratford’s Kiss Me Kate star Juan Chiorian, now on stage at the Factory Theatre in The Madonna Painter, has ever seen this version? … fan faves Colin Mochrie & Deb McGrath guest with Ron James tonight at 8 pm on CBC Television …  the Kate Rogers Band performs live tomorrow morning on CBC Radio One’s GO! Show. “Tickets are free and everyone is welcome!” sez Ms Rogers … speaking of tickets, you can still snag some for this weekend’s performances of the National Ballet’s spectacular Sleeping Beauty revival before it closes Sunday .. and can you believe that Tonya Lee Williams’ ReelWorld Film Festival, the little movie marathon that grew, celebrates its 10th anniversary next spring? Ms Williams, of course, is currently stationed in Washington, D.C. — on screen, at least — in The Border. And BTW, the ReelWorld call for submissions has already started. So if you have a feature, documentary, short, music video or animation from the Aboriginal, Asian, Black, Latino, Middle Eastern, South Asian or other multi-racial community, click here and fill out the submissions form.

Happy weekend!

-/-

http://reelworld.ca/

It has become a tradition (for the youth) that on people’s birthdays they give the person a shower of eggs, ketchup, flour and things like that. So, because Isaac has become very popular within the youth in our church, he has become one of them, and therefore deserve to be treated the same way. They did that before the service started, giving him enough time to get cleaned up.

We started the Encounter with supper, then the worship time started at 9:30PM. We had a great worship time, presentation of the different cities represented and presentation of a video.

On Saturday morning our choir and praise team wore African clothes. For the past few months, as the choir practiced each week, we lifted our African brothers and sisters up to the Lord in intercession. So, because we love them, we decided to wear their style of clothes. The men had beautiful African shirts and the women wore all the same type of “capulana” as it is their custom to wear the same fabric on special occasions. Pr. Geraldo, who went to Africa this past October, brought us all the shirts and capulanas that we needed.

Bruce was one of the 6 men who prepared messages to be preached at the Encounter. There were actually about 8 messages in a booklet well done, but because of time, there would not be enough time for all the messages to be preached. They do it this way so that people will have the messages written down to read and think about them afterwards. So, Bruce didn’t know exactly when or if he was going to preach.

Bruce, Tammy, Babi and I were doing the translation for the Americans. So, on Saturday morning we listened to 2 messages first. Great messages! The theme of the Encounter was “The Cross – Jesus’ and Mine”. So, Bruce got called to preach. We were all surprised. He was under the impression he would still have the afternoon to better prepare for it. But… despite the “short notice”, God used him in a powerful way! Like someone said, he got a lemon and made a good lemonade.

On Saturday afternoon we had a very special event. As the Mustard Seed Ministries believe in “ordaining” couples as pastors, on Sunday afternoon 5 couples were ordained. One of those couples were Marcos and Tammy. What a joy to see that happen! The reason why these couples were ordained is because they have already been operating as pastors by shepherding groups of people. So, the ordination is just a recognition of their ministry. The following picture is: Bruce and I, Marcos and Tammy and Marcos’ parents (Pr. Antonio and D. Neide).

Saturday night, after supper, we had another great worship time. It seemed like we had gone to heaven, such was God’s presence!

On Sunday morning, Bruce and I wore African atires again. We took the “offering time” to share a little bit about our ministry and what’s going on in Africa. Kim Wilke shared for a couple of minutes about her involvement with “Vision 360 Ministries”.

We explained about how we can help the Africans and took up offerings for both the Encounter and Africa. Right away 2 children came up to Bruce saying that they had U$1,000.00 to give to Africa. We were touched and blessed by that! Then, we suggested that people would dance towards the front as they went to put their offerings in, just like the Africans do. What a blessed time!

After that, Pr. Daniel preached his message. What a powerful message on “The Cross – God’s love…”

We had then, communion. Powerful and special time! The choir was asked to sing the two special songs that we had done on Saturday, again. What a blessing and a privilege!

Then, Pr. Iran and Neuza closed the Encounter with some prayer time. We actually got done right around noon. Had lunch and got ready to come back home. Exhausted, but truly blessed.

Wendell Messimer came home with us. He will be staying here for his last week in Brazil. Bruce took Wendell, Ben and Poli out on Sunday afternoon so that Ben would buy a few more souvernirs to take back home.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is close to $4 billion dollars in debt and they will soon be looking for a buyer. The studio owns – among other things – the rights to the James Bond franchise, but this situation doesn’t seem to be affecting the momentum of the next film in the series. Apparently, the 23rd Bond film is already in pre-production and will start filming in the latter half of 2010. We can expect it to come out sometime in 2011 if everything goes according to plan. If you can’t wait until 2011, here is a short review for Casino Royale and my thoughts about Quantum of Solace from the end of last year. Also, if you’re really impatient and you happen to have several billion dollars lying around I’m sure you could buy MGM and get things moving a little faster.

Streaming Media West is in full swing.  With 150 speakers and 40 sessions, it is a real treat that all the videos will soon be posted at StreamingMedia.com. The video to my Commonwealth Club Smarter TV event from earlier this week will also soon be available on FORA.tv.  Between the two events, there was much discussion about the features (entertainment, social, commerce) of the connected devices and their ability to serve as monetization platforms for indie content, so this post is dedicated to providing a short synopsis of what was discussed and an overview of the market offerings.

Xbox 360
- 16mm consoles in North America, 33mm worldwide
- 1.5mm active before and after the Superbowl
- starting at $199 plus subscription to Xbox LIVE
- 25,000 pieces of content via Netflix (17,000) and Zune Marketplace
(Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony, MGM, Disney, ABC, CBS, NBCU, TBS, MTV, WB)
- Indie games get 70/30 split on XBLA via creators.xna.com/en-US
- Indie content best path to Xbox is via New Video, a Zune aggregator
- The Guild, Xbox chart-topping show, was a direct deal
- Magical friending features allow 8 Xbox LIVE living rooms linked to watch same shows, also integrating FB photos, Twitter, Last.fm
- Xbox is working toward a remoteless future with Project Natal
(per Marc Whitten, Xbox @ SMW talked about going from one to many to many to many, the channel of one, from audience to community, from programming guide to contextual search and social discovery with ratings and recommendations, tapping into the 300mm FB users, and 25mm Twitter users, and 1B+ mobile phones, PC was smart then got connected, phones were connected then got smart, TVs are now smart and connected, Xbox creating a world where it all just works – gaming, internet, tv, focused on content, community, curation, control; more details at:  http://itvt.com/interview/6110/radio-microsoft-xbox-live-general-manager-marc-whitten)

Ps3*
- 8mm+ consoles in North America, 29mm consoles worldwide
- starting at $299 includes Blu-ray player, no charge for access to Net
- Sony launching Sony Online Service for movies, tv, music, books, games
- 10,000+ hours of download content, 14,400 TV shows, 2,300 movies
- 40 partners incl Netflix, Lucasfilm, Cinetic FilmBuff, ContentFilm Intl, Image Ent, MPI Media, New Video, Showtime, Starz, G4, E!, Summit Entertainment, Weinstein, HD Net, VIZ Media, FUNimation, Magnolia,
- Best path to PS3 is via New Video, aggregator for iTunes, Hulu, Zune..
- Social integration with Facebook games

Wii*
- 56mm consoles worldwide,
- Japan video service: original branded programming, CinemaNow
- no US movies or TV yet, Netflix maybe never

TiVo
- 1.6mm – 3.5mm subscribers, launched 10yrs ago
- $249 + $129/year (also bundled with cable/sat packages)
- DVR stores up to 1TB of TV, broadband features, integrated search
- 50,000+ VOD movies/tv via Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, CinemaNow, Disney, YouTube, Rhapsody, Music Choice, Live365
- Thousands of video podcasts which indie producers can add to at:
www.tivo.com/rssvideo
- Indie producers can also get on TiVo Amazon VOD via CreateSpace.com
- no FB integration, Twitter onscreen chat, can share lists w friends
- in-show purchasing with remote related to specific ad campaigns
(per Evan Young, TiVo @ Commonwealth Club Smarter TV)

Apple TV*
- 500,000-6mm units sold, now starting at $229
- 50,000 tv episodes,175,000 podcasts, 2500+ movies
- Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Miramax, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Touchstone, Universal, Disney, WB, YouTube…
- Best path on to iTunes is via an aggregator like E1 or New Video

Boxee
- 700,000 free software downloads, expect to be at 1mm by CES
- Boxee box – partnering with TV, Blu-Ray, DVR, Game Console OEMs
- 180 partners incl Netflix, MLB, eGuiders, Pandora, Last.fm, Flickr, KidMango..
- Open SDK for indie producers to put up a channel: developer.boxee.tv
- Integrating payments platform for monetization of show content, merchandise
like having first two episodes ad-supported, buy now button for the rest of the season
- monetization should be available by summer 2009
- 2009 improve platform, grow user base, 12/7 Boxee Beta Unveiling w global search
- Cool friending feature to generate virality
(per Andrew Kippen, Boxee @ Commonwealth Club SmarterTV)

Roku
- 400,000 give or take a few hundred thousand units sold
- $79, $99, $129 wifi models sold on Roku.com and Amazon
- Netflix, Amazon, MLB, Revision3, Twit.tv, Blip.tv, Mediafly
- Open SDK enables any indie producer to launch own channel
- not about social interaction, no merchandising
(per Jim Funk, Roku @ Commonwealth Club SmarterTV)

Vudu
- 100,000 units sold starting at $150
- now licensing to LG, Mitsubishi, Vizio
- On-Demand TV/Movies, Pandora, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa..
- Select video podcasts, RSS Feed not accepting indie content yet
(per Rob Holmes, Vudu @ SMW)

Yahoo! Connected TV
- On Samsung, Sony, LG, soon Vizio (WiFi TV), Toshiba (DVD player)
in 13 different countries, remote with slider keyboard
- CBS, Y! Finance, eBay, Amazon, Blockbuster, Flickr, USA Today, Twitter
- Widget SDK: http://connectedtv.yahoo.com/developer
- Leverage 70mm US and 6000 existing widgets to bring best of the web into a TV friendly environment
- No app commerce, open surf or in-show merchandising yet
(per Russ Schafer, Yahoo! Connected TV @ Commonwealth Club SmarterTV)

ZillionTV
- Entertainment and marketing service, not selling boxes
- Going through ISPs/telcos, OEMs embedded software stack, direct to consumer
- 60+ content partners including major media players:
Fox, Sony, NBCU, Disney, WB, Lionsgate, Paramount + 60 indie producers
- Self-selectable advertising play, consumer choice ad categories
- VISA rewards to allow interactive in-show purchasing with remote
- Best path to get content onto ZillionTV is content@zilliontv.tv
- And there will be a social component, fan of Nicholas Negroponte’s Being Digital
(per Mitch Berman, ZillionTV @ Commonwealth Club SmarterTV)

Sezmi*
-Just landed $25mm, starting trial in LA
(For more:  http://itvt.com/interview/6109/radio-sezmi-co-founder-chairman-and-president-phil-wiser)

FLO TV
- Bought Channel 55 spectrum in digital transition
- Now able to broadcast TV, no broadband capacity issues, no buffering
- 24/7 access to live sports, breaking news, hit shows, animation,
kids programming, soaps, game shows, reality, comedy, crime dramas
- CBS Mobile, (Y&R, CSI), Comedy Central (quick ht snacking)
- perishable content that offers social currency where live matters
- viewers watch on average 30min/day more than Hulu at 9min/day
- 900min/month more than the average voice minutes used per month
- Peaks at 1pm, stays relatively consistent 2-10pm
- 7/7/09 MJ Memorial 49minutes, most viewed in history of FLO TV
- most watch 150hrs/month, 120-180hrs range,
95% broadcast, 5% on demand
- In the top 100 cities in the US
- ATSCMH standard, DVR capability more of a rights issue
- FLO TV is standard in Japan, not using US technology
- Can’t disclose current subscriber #s, many millions split
between ATT and Verizon
- 99% subscription based, not ad supported model
- Projecting 43mm mobile tv users by 2013, 67mm by 2019
- Focusing on mobile, personal tvs and auto-entertainment
- 3″ PTV is $249, $10/month (first 6m free with purchase)
- working on monthly passes, day passes, event passes
- Established content delivers the comfort and safety of brands they know
- Original content like LXD, Amanda Congdon’s SometimesDaily
keeps them coming back for more
- Path for indie content on to FLO TV incl MyDamnChannel
- FLO TV might be integrated in nexgen iPhone
- No plans for a 20″ FLO TV but great alternative to cable
(per Bill Stone, FLO TV @ SMW)

*not present at SMW or Smarter TV

NATPE, 1/25-28
NATPE, beloved trade association that champions content deal flow, was onsite as well interesting new media companies in being showcased at the NATPE Market in Vegas in January.  The show will have a featured section for the Connected Home, and qualified exhibitors are being offered face time with major media players, venerable press outlets, and possibly even brand sponsors.  For more information, visit www.natpemarket.com, check out our NATPE LATV Fest coverage, or contact evie@natpe.org for exhbitor opportunities.

Back to the party
The party is still going strong tonight with the Reader’s Choice Awards and performance by VJ remixers Eclectic Method.  You can watch it via live stream.  And tomorrow, Epix kicks off the morning keynote which will be streamed live as well, then its another full day of programming.  In addition, there is a sizable show floor with a demo stage and rows and rows of exhibitors.  Check out Google’s little plush googlers. who won Content NOW’s Best of Schwag.  And be sure to stop by Tandberg for their timeshifting keychain and remote mints and Microlink for their pocket frisbees.  End of day, the remarks from Epix will be posted along with those from Revision3, MTV, Next New Networks, FUNimation, Tubemogul, and Electric Farm.  And then when the SMW video posts I’ll circle back on yesterday’s sessions with Hot Topic and HBO Broadband. Many thanks to conference director Dan Rayburn who embraces his attendees, offering them his cell number, free industry analyses and business development introductions. He was an enormous help to me with my Smarter TV event and this post.  He lives and breathes the stuff, and it shows.  Check out his post on the market:
http://blog.streamingmedia.com/the_business_of_online_vi/2009/09/breakdown-on-the-number-of-broadband-enables-devices-sold-in-the-us.html

MGM is officially for sale. They’re going to divide up their assets and sell them. They owe 3.7 billion in debts. They said they are “beginning a process to explore various strategic alternatives including operating as a standalone entity, forming strategic partnerships and evaluating a potential sale of the company.” That’s really too bad. They’ve made some of the great classic films like Gone With The Wind and Ben-Hur.

But let’s take a look at what they’ve done lately…Fame, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Pink Panther 2, Valkyrie, Soul Men, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. The only hit lately was Quantum of Solace and even that cost $200 mil to make and only made $168 mil in the US. I’m sure they made up the difference over seas and on the DVD, but still it’s not impressive.  I guess with flops like Valkyrie, it’s not much of a wonder that they are going under. They do own The Hobbit, so hopefully they can sell it and it can actually get made someday.

Here’s some other film news from Variety:

by Michael Fleming.

 Disney has put “Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in dry dock.

The picture, tentatively scheduled to begin production in February, has been halted indefinitely, and McG is no longer steering the ship.

The studio confirmed that it won’t proceed with the film for now, and reps for the director confirmed he has withdrawn. While names like Will Smith were rumored as possible stars, no cast was ever set. The project had been on a fast track under the Dick Cook regime. Studio sez event pics like “20,000 Leagues,” “John Carter of Mars” and “Tron” are still priority under new chief Rich Ross.

Disney’s next big water-based shoot will likely be the fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Pic is expected to set sail in May, with Rob Marshall in talks to direct.

McG will concentrate on other projects that include “Dead Spy Running,” a Warner Bros. drama that Stephen Gaghan is writing. McG is also attached to “Terminator 5,” though that movie is on hold indefinitely as the Terminator franchise works its way through bankruptcy court. McG also just teamed with “Borat” helmer Larry Charles on a new NBC comedy (Daily Variety, Nov. 16).

Tres compañías se fusionaron en 1924 (Metro Picture Corporation (fundada en 1915), Goldwyn Picture Corporation (fundada en 1917), y Louis B. Mayer Pictures (fundada en 1918) para crear Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, y desde 1928, su característico logo, una cabeza de león rugiendo, ha protagonizado el inicio de sus producciones, propiciando un chiste entre los espectadores cuando aparece en la pantalla “el león de la Metro”: “Esta película ya la he visto…”

Mucho ha llovido desde ese 1924, y muchísimos films, durante décadas, nos han llegado de su mano.

“Avaricia” (1924), de Erich von Stroheim, “El cameraman” (1928) de Clyde Bruckman y Buster Keaton “La parada de los mónstruos” (1932), de Tod Browning, “Lo que el viento se llevó” (1939), de Victor Fleming “Historias de Filadelfia” (1940), de George Cukor, “Mujercitas” (1949), de Mervyn LeRoy, “Mogambo” (1953), de John Ford, “Ben-Hur” (1959), de William Wyler, “Rey de reyes” (1961), de Nicholas Ray, “2001: Una odisea del espacio” (1968), de Stanley Kubrick, “Cuando el destino nos alcance” (1973), de Richard Fleischer, “Hair” (1979), de Milos Forman, “Fama” (1980), de Alan Parker, “Rain Man” (1988), de Barry Levinson, “Thelma & Louise” (1991), de Ridley Scott, “007: El mundo nunca es suficiente” (1999), de Michael Apted, “De-Lovely” (2004), de Irwin Winkler, son una representación mínima de esos films.

Fue en septiembre de este año, cuando al tener “El Hobbit”, una de sus proyectadas producciones, vía libre para comenzar a realizarse, cuando transcendieron los problemas financieros de MGM Studios, y se hablaba de que su precario estado podía llevarle a subastar sus activos, que incluirían los de la mencionada “El Hobbit” y sus derechos sobre James Bond.

Dos meses más tarde, la revista Variety informa que, de forma oficial, los estudios ya han salido a subasta, aunque se les otorga un mes para poner al día el pago de sus deudas. Pero para salir a flote, sus mayores esperanzas estarían fijadas en la venta de los activos de su historia, el logo, la compañía United Artists (adquirida por MGM a principios de los años 80, al declararse en bancarrota después de producir “La puerta del cielo” (1981), de Michael Cimino, la película más cara de la historia hasta el momento, y que resultó un escandaloso fracaso comercial), James Bond, la mitad de su propiedad de “El Hobbit”, añadiendo también la posibilidad de vender su fabulosa biblioteca, que incluye unos 4.000 títulos. En principio, Time Warner, News Corp, y Lionsgate, parecen interesadas en participar en la puja.

La emblemática compañía está a punto de fraccionarse, y no será está vez el león de su logo el que ruja. Otros leones de las finanzas estarán ronroneando de placer, pensando en lo que puede producirles, por ejemplo, Bond, si cae en sus zarpas.

Y es que el mundo es así. Puedes ser hoy el rey de la selva, y en nada, ves como los buitres se disputan tus despojos para engordar con ellos.

-

Otros logos de los estudios MGM

El león de la Metro

-

Swanson 

Well the good news is… things aren’t getting any worse. Not that there was much scope for the spec script market to fall any more. Universal and Sony have used up their development budgets for this year, or had it taken away form them The other studios aren’t faring much better. So far this year, the proportion of scripts that have gone out wide and sold, hovers at around 1%. That’s about the same figure during the writers strike. Dire news, but at least it’s honest.

Although the persistent economic storm clouds are gradually starting to  lift, with major companies beginning to recapitalize, things should turn in the new year. Progress is likely to be slow as we still face the possibility of a double dip in the economic recovery. You know things are bad when the top tenpercentaries are selling single single digit numbers of projects. Scripts are still being circulated so that writers can display their wares. Make sure you’re one of them and get as many query letters out there as possible, hopefully even a few reads. We still need to market ourselves and network like crazy.

The screenwriting landscape has changed dramatically since the WGA strike of 2008. Television networks are relying on reality tv shows despite audience drops of around 20%. Reality tv shows can cost less than half that of scripted dramas, so are highly profitable. Networks have learnt to live without us. Where major shows used to hire 10-12 writers, the number has dropped by around 30 -40%. The number of pilots commissioned by the television networks has fallen by a similar amount. The good news is that the best television writing around these days is in cable television. Ratings of scripted cable shows have improved by around 20 -30%. Look at the Emmys, with shows like “Mad Men”, “Breaking Bad”, “Weeds” and “Hung”. Go Showtime, HBO and AMC. You rock!

The feature business is murkier. Producers are finding it tougher to get projects off the ground in light of costs increasing by around 10% per year. Many studio films are unprofitable and are considered advertisements for DVD sales and merchandising, both of which faced decreasing sales in the current economic climate.  Old school mentality dictated that you were only as successful as your last project. This adage no longer holds true. Studios are increasingly hedging their bets with franchises, sequels and comics. The beleaguered MGM studio is likely to be auctioned off shortly. In the absence of many serious buyers, it may not survive, given that it’s library is considered old and unlucrative. The worst case scenario would be one less buyer and one less lion roaring.

It has been argued that in 2009, it was easier to get a $200 million plus project like “Star Trek” greenlit than a $10 million indie. The “specialty” film business, which was once swallowed up by the studios, have still not returned in vogue. Studio balance sheets show that the more you spend on a movie, the more money it earns to justify their budgets. Studios aren’t even sure where to  spend their P & A dollars anymore. Given the declining ratings, traditional television advertising isn’t as effective as it once was. Virals and other internet campaigns are gradually being rolled out as audiences are spending more time on the internet.

However, we need this destruction to allow for new creation. How biblical! Old debt based business models need to altered to suit the new streamlined modern age. Can you believe that shows celebrating their 100th episode are really celebrating when they break even financially? How could that be sustainable? You gotta hand it to “The Simpsons” who are just recently starting to post profits. There’s creative accounting for you.

Still, the world will always need storytellers; that means us. However, the media in which we operate will change. As writers, we need to diversify our outlets. Consider writing for downloadable or streamed radio plays, webisodes, audio books on CD, mobile phone content. Nobody has figured out a viable business model for these formats, but they will in time. Necessity is the mother of invention, so we too must evolve. New foliage will sprout in the burnt out forest and we’ll be there to nurture it.

Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) is holding up better than many might have expected after the stellar rise seen in the casino stocks with Macau ties.  Melco Crown turned a wider loss over a year ago, despite a 70% revenue rise.  The loss was on a net basis rather than operating basis on higher depreciation and related expenses as well accounting for interest payments from the City of Dreams project.  This has implications for the coming Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) IPO, and possibly even for MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) after Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) managed its IPO for Macau.

The net loss was $39.5 million, or -$0.08 EPS. The good news is that Thomson Reuters was at -$0.09 EPS.  The 70% revenue jump was to $500.3 million, but that was short of Thomson Reuters figures of about $520 million.  The revenue gain was due to the opening of City of Dreams in June 2009.

The company said that its estimated share of gross gaming revenue in Macau was approximately 17% in the third quarter.  The CEO further noted, “…. It is important to note that our gross gaming revenue market share has been achieved with player rebate rates at City of Dreams set at a level that is compliant with the announced commission cap legislation…. Our grind mass market business has demonstrated sequential volume improvements across the reporting quarter and this growth trend has continued into the fourth quarter of this year. We have not yet reached our full potential in this segment and the recent opening of the Grand Hyatt Macau is now having a positive impact on performance….”

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is on deck for its overseas asset IPO soon.  The company did confirm that it will resume construction in January on massive gambling resort.  The company had suspended development because of funding and operations elsewhere.

Las Vegas Sands started offering the IPO out on Monday and the hope is to raise some $3.3 billion from the deal.  Of that, about $500 million will be used for restarting the construction.  The company will also pay down a large chunk of debt.  This IPO follows a very similar IPO path already seen by Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN).

Because of Wynn’s success, it seems that even MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) may get in on the Asian asset IPO game.  What is still true is that the opportunities are huge for Macau and those companies operating there can realize significant rewards.  But this is not without risk and not without regulation at the local level.

JON C. OGG

Wie kürzlich durch die “New York Times” bekannt wurde, steckt das Hollywood-Studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer bis über beide Ohren in Schulden – von etwa vier Milliarden US-Dollar ist die Rede. Angesichts dieser Schuldenlast stehen nun ernsthafte Überlegungen an, das Filmstudio zu verkaufen.

Der Wert des 1924 gegründeten Unternehmens wird von Finanzexperten auf bis zu drei Milliarden US-Dollar geschätzt, wobei das Familiensilber des Filmstudios vor allem aus über 4.000 Filmklassikern wie zum Beispiel “Ben Hur” (mit Charlton Heston), “Meuterei auf der Bounty” (mit Marlon Brando), “Das war der wilde Westen” (mit Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark und Karl Malden), “Doktor Schiwago” (mit Omar Sharif), “Manche mögen’s heiß” (mit Marily Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon) oder auch “Rocky” (mit Silvester Stallone) besteht sowie den Lizenzrechten an der bislang 22-teiligen James-Bond-Reihe. Bond Numero 23 war eigentlich für das Jahr 2011 geplant. Sollten sich jedoch die Besitzverhältnisse bei MGM drastisch ändern oder lässt sich womöglich gar kein Käufer finden, steht die Zukunft des Doppelnull-Agenten wohl vor einer ungewissen Zukunft.

Seit fünf Jahren gehört MGM unter anderem den Finanzinvestoren Providence Equity Partners (29 Prozent) und TPG (21 Prozent) sowie dem japanischen Elektronik-Konzern Sony und dem Kabel-Provider Comcast mit je 20 Prozent. Damals sollen rund fünf Milliarden US-Dollar in die Kassen von MGM geflossen sein.

Erst im August musste der MGM-Boss für eine Dreierspitze inklusive einem Sanierungsexperten seinen Platz räumen, worauf erste Gerüchte über eventuelle Geldnöte von MGM auftauchten.

Logo de la MGM

Si bien la bancarrota de la MGM era un indicativo de que se avecinaban varios cambios, todo parece indicar que serán mayores de los que se imaginaban. Dado que la próxima subasta de la empresa se realizará en forma fraccionada, es muy probable que la misma desaparezca completamente, pues si bien hay una gran cantidad de compradores interesados, ninguno de ellos piensa llevarse la mayoría de las filiales. Esto implicaría que cada división sería adquirida por compañías distintas, que obviamente acabarían absorbiendo a las mismas, por lo que MGM como unidad desaparecería. Todavía hace unas semanas se daba por un hecho que los estudios sólo cambiarían de dueño, pero eso se ve cada vez más lejano.