Shareholder Value?

Today, it's reported that NBC Universal is in talks to buy Dreamworks SKG.

Why is it that the term "shareholder value" no longer applies to having healthy profit margins and respectable dividends and earnings?

It is outright foolish to me that our market has this hellbent notion that a company MUST ALWAYS GROW LARGER. As a matter of fact, I think it's a notion that is hazardous to the health and well-being of a company.

A healthy company is better than a big company any day of the week.

Sharp?

Well, for whatever it's worth, Mr. Billion Dollar producer (actually, over 3 billion if you want to count) evidently said I was "sharp" after I left the meeting.

That's nice to hear.

Now let's see what comes of it.

Push, Push, Push

He who hangs on by his fingernails the longest... has the strongest nails?

It's been 7 years and 8 months since I arrived in Los Angeles. Over the years, I've been in situations of varying difficulty, and had a few times of bounty as well.

The last few months, while they have been very difficult, is also the first time in my life where many irons in the fire actually seem pretty hot. There are no more middle-men. There are no more 2 or 3 degrees of seperation between the people I'm speaking with, and the people I should be speaking with.

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to go into a meeting at 9:30am with a multi-billion dollar track record producer, and try to close a 7-figure equity placement.... and in doing so, create the job and opportunity that I've been working towards since arriving out here.

I don't know how he'll respond, but what I do know, is that I'm ready to go in, and give a great presentation.

Following that meeting, I have another follow-up call with the first nationwide satellite network I ever pitched a show to, 2 weeks ago, and the CEO of the company made a verbal commitment to distribute the show in North America. That's a big deal. Now lets see if there's some cash attached to it so we can actually make the show and not have to find some way to deficit finance it.

Then, I have a meeting on Thursday with a guy who works with China Mobile putting out content to their wireless customers (who, for reference, is a SINGLE mobile carrier that services 204 MILLION subscribers in China - which is more than ALL of the mobile subscribers in America), to see if there's an effective way for us to provide creative and production services for delivering programming to China.

And lastly, I should hear this week on a Mobile Media consulting job with a local production company that wants to play in the space, and needs guidance in setting up their workflow and delivery process. That would be a good thing too.

Let's hope the rest of this week brings some cash-flow positive turnabouts:)

Disney's Foot Bridge

You know, every day I drive underneath a pedestrian bridge that Disney built a few years ago, between it's film studio backlot and their animation/ABC broadcast building.

I should go take a pic of it to post here, and maybe I will. For the time being, suffice it to say that it was designed with these neat little lights on the sides that make it look like a twisted up piece of film (the 35mm kind that goes through a film projector). At first, I thought this was kind of cute.

Now, it pisses me off.

Here's why.

The Disney corporate dipshits decided to create a footbridge (a functional piece of construction, to be sure), which visually represents their PRODUCT. Or more specifically, one stage, of SOME of their product.

What would have been a better option, you say?

Let me tell you.

The people who walk across, drive under, and see that bridge everyday, are the people responsible for creating the things that support the vast Disney empire. Things that are rooted in an experience and a style of communication FAR deeper than a mere piece of "film."

How about creating a piece of architectural functionality that has a sense of history, and INSPIRATION for your talented employees? Something that beckons the imagination of your animators and television programmers? A piece of art in it's own right that fuel imagination and a sense of purpose???

Instead, not only did you leave your workers with a symbol of your own products self-importance, you left your neighbors with a perfect symbol of your arrogance.

Thanks again, for nothing, ye Studio of Old.

We'll enjoy watching your whale bones bleach in the sun.

Teamsters Split

I'm definitely watching this labor split with a close eye today, and an even closer eye in the future.

In my opinion, labor unions in general have become little more than their own self-absorbed dollar sucking entities that help themselves (the organizations) more than they help their members.

We've run into union reps in our business that straight up tell us that we're going union, or they'll shut us down, no matter what our budget is. And if we only have XXX number of dollars a day for a particular position, well then XX% of that is coming to the union, and we've been told to pay the WORKERS less per day, in order to pay the UNION instead. (by the union reps).

So, instead of actually looking out for their members, they're stealing money from them.

I would rather give my employees more money to take home in their pocket than pay them less. And I have a sneaking suspicion that workers who are treated properly, would say the same. For example, those at most of the Honda auto plants who still haven't unionized, because their employer treats them fairly.

Better idea.

Hate Looking Stupid

You know, I'm looking back on the last 6 months, and am... slightly annoyed at how much assistance I've had in making myself look like a jackass.

Let me be more specific, as all of this leads up to a current situation in which there are some wonderful "possibilities" lingering about - that are just that - possibilities. And possibilities cannot be used to pay your bills, nor buy food, nor help maintain your credit rating.

Almost 6 months ago, when my consulting business was doing well, I was approached by an Academy-Award nominated businessman to work with him and his company developing new feature film projects. They began building an office for me, and for a week or two, I was even being pushed to "come in and start working," in a temp office. And the question was, "work on what?" And here it is, almost August, and not only are the offices not even finished (ran out of $$$?) - but there's been no further discussion of the feature development work, at all.

Now then, the same company, came back to me last month, and wanted to know about Mobile Media stuff, and how to get me to come in and start developing and producing and delivering programming. This seems like an exciting partnership. And yet there were lots of layers to financing structure that I was not made aware of. Once again, what I got was a general feeling of urgency, actually, make that a very SPECIFIC feeling of urgency - and once again, the opportunity has failed to materialize as advertised.

This is not the specific fault of that company or the person that was leading the charge for this, however, when I'm asked things that make me put other things (like, maybe having to find another JOB) on hold in order to try and put together something that could be a dream come true - based on a request from someone with some... juice - I gladly and happily and enthusiastically go for it, and produce the goods. And get excited. And get wound up. And get ideas. And get disappointed.

And the part I have the hardest time with, is that, when good things happen, the first thing I want to do is tell my close friends and family. And now, I look like an idiot for having believed in what I was being told, because I'm struggling once again to find things that just "pay the bills," instead of doing what I thought I was being offered a chance to do.

Lesson of the day, once again, don't believe anything until you see it, touch it, and more importantly, the check clears the bank.

I'm lazy, BUT...productive when it counts

So, I've been remiss about updating my blog. Oh well. I'm sure my journal misses me too.

And while I've pissed away many an hour chatting with friends, or reading the brilliant and banal over on Craigslist Rants and Raves (warning: some patently offensive material inside), I've still managed to make some progress on several projects.

First, and foremost, we have launched the official website for my latest film project "Family." We also got to sit down last week and view the first full length rough cut of the film and we are going through notes this week for next revision. The best news is that we HAVE ourselves a movie. There's a few small story holes to deal with, but overall, it's a good damn flick. And my friend and business partner, Josh Logan who tackled this flick for his first time directors hat, is doing a great job with it. Not only creatively either, but in terms of collaborative spirit and professionalism, much kudos are due.

Second, one of our board members steered us to a guy in Manhattan who has his own set of satellite channels, and I came up with a show to pitch them, we refined it a bit, and they're interested. We're discussing further tomorrow. (and while, "discussing" is not a deal, it's far better than "we're not interested.") Would be a fun show to do I think.

Third, I'm still working on getting clients moved over to an "uglyshz" brand and working with programmers who do the work under my brand. This is slow going, but started happening just this week with one client. We'll see how the experiment goes.

Fourth, I have had a few meetings for some mobile media consulting - possibly going in to set up programming, production and delivery workflows for companies wanting to create and deliver mobile media. It's an interesting business and one I've managed to suck up a lot of information on in the last 7 months - and since I take a kind of "global" approach to all the things on the smorgasboard, it seems to be synthesizing pretty well. These consulting gigs could be very interesting and challenging.

Lastly, I've managed to make satisfactory progress on a script that has been percolating for 3 years already, and been in the hands of two other hired writers who didn't manage to turn in anything usuable. Not for lack of trying - but there were some gigantic holes in the story that I think I've actually managed to solve. Though no one will know until I turn over a completed script and some production art for the pitch probably in October. I think it's good, and working... but sometimes it's hard to keep perspective when it's just you. I may have it checked out with a couple of other folks before the presentation... so we'll see.

The bad news in all of this, is that nothing is producing immediate revenue.. which is causing some ripples in my personal space-time-finance continuum. This, however, is soooo NOT new territory. Hopefully some other business knocks loose soon... soon enough.