New Trends in the Entertainment Business

          

           There are many trends that come and go so many that are here and gone in a flash except for the following: 3D movies, Digital downloads of music, and apps for smart phones that one can access their social media sites and play games on the go now. 

           We have been witnessing a rise of 3D movies on the big screen and now in our homes on flat screen T.V.’s.  This technological advancement brings excitement to a once mundane screen to having objects literally jump out at us while watching a movie.  With each new wave, however, the technology takes a leap forward. The first craze in 3Dmovies in the 1950s used red-blue anaglyph images, but this distorted the film's color. When 3D came around a second time in the 1980s, there was a new way to make 3D images: polarized anaglyphs. These images used light levels, rather than colors, to produce 3D. Now, in 2010, even the way 3D is filmed has taken another step forward.

         

ALTERNATIVE FUNDING SERVICES

           

             It is important that people especially entrepreneurs know that there is financial assistance available to them to help start or improve their businesses.  There are lots of companies that may offer assistance but from researching various websites I have found two that may help the most to small businesses in this time of an unstable economy, and they are the following:  The Opportunity Finance Network, and the Association for Enterprise Opportunity. 

            The first organization is Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), and it is a national network of community development financial private institutions that offer affordable lending to small businesses–it is great in that they help people open businesses, and create jobs in impoverished towns.  As well, OFN is in collaboration with Starbucks to help create jobs across the country, “Get America back to work.”  Thus, this network has originated more than $23.2 billion in financing in urban, rural, and native communities through 2005 at 1.4 % interest.  Also, OFN has financed 60,261 businesses.  They have a strong mission statement that includes the following:  financing, public policy, knowledge sharing, strategic counseling, and strategic communications.  Therefore, it is wonderful that they included those topics within their mission statement to address the importance and what they want to accomplice- this keeps the network focused, dedicated, and on track of what the network entails. 

             

Oprah Winfrey On The Value of a Business Plan

   

My expert views on business plans would have to be Referred to Oprah Winfrey. Also, she is recognized expert in their field of business.  Oprah has established herself and proven that her business plans are very successful. 

            

            Oprah Winfrey was born January 29,1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi.  Oprah suffered a hard time growing up but eventually graduated Tennessee State University in 1971 with a degree that landed her a job in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville.  She then moved and worked several television shows to eventually launching her own show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1986.  Oprah’s fame continued to escalate to Forbes magazine naming Oprah the richest African American of 20^th Century and world’s only Black billionaire for three years consecutively. 

           

STEVE JOBS 1955-2011

     Apple’s IPhone 4 s sales soar- predicted to be over 4 million sold by time weekend is over, and it’s a tragedy that the man who was one of the most innovative men of all times could not live to see the success of his latest project. 

      Steve Jobs 1955- to 2011 was the co founder and as of to August 2011 when he stepped down, due to cancer, was the CEO of Apple Inc.  Steve will be greatly missed as he brought the world into a new exciting realm of modern technology.  “Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 and, with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak, marketed what was considered the world's first successful personal computer, the Apple II.” (Potter, 2011)  Jobs innovation never stopped he went onto develop the iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPad, and the iPhone. 

     

VICTORIAS SECRET BRILLIANT MARKETING STRATEGIES

          Victoria’s Secret has bombarded my mailbox for the last few years with direct mail advertising.  However, in our modern day of technology VS has taken there advertising into apps on mobile devices such as the IPhone.   VS have integrated their ads into Pandora music app-as they are now focusing on geo-targeted mobile ads. These geo-target ads are such that when listening to music one may see banner ads to show consumers where the closest VS location is to purchase their latest fashion showcasing NFL. 

            Victoria’s Secret is targeting the widest population of mobile device users since most people are utilizing their phones for virtually everything now.  VS new campaign is a new clothesline they have marketed around the NFL as their banner reads the following: Pink loves NFL. Shop New York Giants. 1.2mi away.  As the banner advertises that VS loves NFL and to buy NY Giants clothes. As well, the app has integrated the navigation system into the feature allowing the consumer know the proximity to the nearest VS store. 

           

SIZZLE REEL

What is a “Sizzle Reel”? A sizzle reel is a new concept or pitch to a company to sponsor ones brand, and to disprove a misconception about the brand.  The above sizzle reel on the WWE is phenomenal as there is a lot of misconceived notions about the WWE like it’s just for adults when in fact it is a PG content across the board. 

Another surprising fact is that WWE is aired in 145 countries and converted into 30 languages.  Also, they encourage every American to vote at voting time and they stress the importance of giving back to the community in so many ways.  The WWE traveled to Iraq to help build up the moral with the troops visiting 130 bases and hospitals while there.  As well, they are involved in the make a wish foundations making very ill children’s dreams come true. That really opened my eyes to the side of the WWE that really shows heart and real feelings when one can do great things for others.    

Risky Game –Sports Sponsorships

                In todays world one used to always associate sponsorships with sports.  However, in the last few years we have seen a trend in the decline of sponsorships going to various well-known athletes.  The trend started with Tiger Woods scandalous behavior off the golf course that negative bad behavior in personal life that was trickling into his career so inevitably sponsors dropped him.  Why would a highly respectable brand want to be associated with an athlete with a tarnished image- it would ruin the brands credibility and veracity with the public.

         

MEDIA AND SPORTS

       Media and Sports go hand in hand due to the fact that they both depend upon each other. They depend upon each other in the sense that the media would not have sports to report on if there was not any, and athletes get recognition from the media after they win a game.  However, there is always positive and negatives about the media reporting on sports.

        The pros of media coverage on sports is that athletes once they win a game they are recognized in the newspapers, T.V., public forums, and blogs.  Thus, media can bring about amazing praise, glorification and expectation. As well, intense national marketing and exposure tends to make any sport very popular and provides top dollar to the top. 

        

Bigggest Sports Conflict 2011

          The biggest sports conflict of this millennium is one of the NFL lockout.  This was huge as it was a major intense negotiation between the owners and the players who wanted a 60/40 split on revenues.  Thus, because the owners desired to make the regular season from 16 to 18 games the players rightfully deserved to be compensated for their extra games.  Therefore, due to the increase of millions of dollars from the cable TV contracts that would go into effect starting with the 14 seasons.  Also, more than just television revenue is in the mix with additional deals in digital and broadband arenas.   The negotiations consisted of how the two sides were to spit the $9 Billion in revenue. 

       

        

TradeMark Battles In Sports

          Sport fan enthusiasts recognize and associate their favorite teams logo, and mascots with certain teams- this is what stands them out and makes them different from the other teams.  Therefore, we need to protect this and not have trademark infringement.  Trademarks protect words, names, sounds, colors, symbols, sports mascots utilized in commerce to distinguish goods and services from one business to another. (Morrow, 2010)  An example of a popular mascot since 1947 is the Cleveland Indians mascot of the “Chief Wahoo.”    Thus, when people infringe upon these, as reproducing a mascot on the Internet this is a trademark infringement. 

            Universities have been fighting trademark infringement costing schools millions of dollars in lost licensing fees-Miami University sued a bookstore for using its Redhawk trademarks in bookstore advertising material. (Morrow, 2010)  I think that this is necessary to protect ones copyrighted works and material from being stolen without paying the rightful owner some money.  If someone comes up with an idea that idea should be protected and the illegal profiting of ones goods should have harsh consequences. 

           

Interview with T.K. Sports Agent

       I interviewed Tsubasa Kee for approximately 40 minutes to gain further insight into the world of being a sports agent.  Tsubasa is very knowledgeable in the world of sports having friends who play in the NFL and the NBA. 

       Tsubasa Kee known as T.K., is currently working at Sports Management Worldwide, in Portland Oregon as an athlete advisor /manager.  As well, he is the founder and President of 1^st class Athletes, a managerial company.   T.K graduated from Washington State University in Pullman, WA and with a Masters degree from Concordia University in Chicago.  (smwwagency, 2011)

         My first question to T.K was, what made him interested in this job as a sports agent?  He told me that a bunch of his friends play in the NFL pro league and they encouraged him to do it. Also, the film Jerry Maguire was an inspiring movie that excited him to pursuing his dream of sports agent.  He said when asked as a little kid what he wanted to be when grows up the answer was always a sports agent.

       

Social Media

        Social Media is a very important if one wants to have a successful business and to expand. Here is my presentation on the WWA and how they can improve upon utilizing social media more.

Facilities Management In Hard Economic Times

       
        This paper will discuss creative ways in which to attract fans to a facility in a down economy. The article begins out by stating that even though we are in a recession, sports still draw crowds to their events.  There still is fan loyalty to the larger collages and pro levels however; smaller teams are not doing so well in this economy.  It is found that Southerners stay passionate about football even during hard times as Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, and LSU brought in a combined $303 million.  Therefore, it appears that these teams and their rivals will continue to be successful in ticket sales, and T.V. contracts. 

         The devotion of the fans still attending events explains why television network ESPN and CBS have agreed to pay the Southwestern Conference $3 billion to broadcast football games over next 15 years.  Thus, ESPN and CBS remain positive that there will be a tremendously huge turnout for all the events still despite a crippling economy because people still need to see their favorite teams play and to support them. 

          

Biggest Sports Story of Past Decade

CNBC VIDEO- "The Biggest Plays in Sports Business"

        Alex Rodriguez was born July 27, 1975. He is a known as the best all around professional Baseball player, and plays third baseman for the NY Yankees. This is the biggest sports business story of decade as Alex, known as A-Rod, secured and finalized a $275 Million dollar deal with the Yankees.  Thus, this makes A-rod the highest paid Baseball player. 
          A-Rod deserves all this money as of Sept. 2010 he hit a home run surpassing Sosa's mark of 604 home runs.  Also, he was the youngest player to hit 50 home runs.  This is a remarkable story as he beat his previous mark or deal that agent Scott Boras helped him achieve with the Texas Rangers of a $252 million dollar deal.  This was due to the fact that A-Rod always wanted to return home to play with the NY Yankees but his agent told A-Rod that the Yankees did not want him back. However, this turned out not to be true and A-Rod found himself negotiating a deal by himself with Steinbrenner and his brother Hal, an executive vice president with the Yankees.  A-Rod knew what he was worth and is a very valuable player even thought never won or reached a World Series yet. He negotiated with the Yankees and after 2 conversations the  deal was made.  The deal was as follows: A-Rod is to receive approx 32 million a year for 10 years, a sign on bonus of 2 million, and 6 million each for five milestones that team designates as historic achievements.  As well, there is a no-trade clause in that A-Rod can not be traded without his permission.  This is a great contract in that it allows A-Rod to earn $30 million more for reaching historic milestones.
      

Negotiating The Deal

       
        

          Negotiating a deal maybe very rewarding if one knows how to prepare oneself prior to negotiating.  In my Interview with Reina Orozco, Agency Director for BMG Talent Agency, I asked her the following questions relating to how to negotiate:

1.  The first question is with your expertise in working in the entertainment industry for a huge talent agency how do you separate the people from the problem when negotiating with the client a rate for the models? Reina stated that she keeps the talents best interests foremost to get what they are worth regarding hourly and day rate.  As well, Reina emphasized that it is important to keep the client happy to within the negotiation but not to undersell her talent.  Thus, the client pays the talent based on his or her experience. 

Lady Gaga The World's Most Powerful Celebrity 2011

       Lady Gaga just hit number 1 on Forbes 100 list for being the highest ranking celebrity.   She is as eccentric as she is incredible.  As well, Lady Gaga beats out Oprah's number one spot on Forbes because Lady Gaga made a reported 90 million on her Monster Ball Tour.  She has an astounding 32 million fans on face book, 10 million followers on Twitter, and Born This Way single had 1 million digital downloads in five days.
       Although, 25 yr old Lady Gaga has shown to be very wild wearing a meat dress, and another time an egg at the Grammy's earlier this year yet she claims to be very traditional.   She was inspired by her parents Joseph and Cynthia Germanotta who bought her albums such as: Stevie Wonder and the Beatles. As well, she grew up listening to Bruce Springstein, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Elton John all whom had a big influence on how she is today.  She says she wants to have children someday but for right now she quotes,"I'm giving birth to lots of little monsters so I need to keep clear of stretch marks."  Thus, she refers to her fans as "Little Monsters".
     

Warner Music Sells Itself to Access For Billions

Warner Music sold itself to Access for $3.3 Billion dollars.  Warner music is the worlds only publicly traded major music company. WMG, was involved in the recorded music business and the music publishing business.  As well, WMG is recognized as holding the best known labels such as Asylum, Atlantic, Cordless, East West, Elektra, Nonesuch, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, and Rykodisc.  Also, WMG was involved with artist services as the following: artist management, merchandising, touring, fan clubs, VIP ticketing, sponsorships, and brand endorsements. Therefore, one can see how WMG was the world's largest recorded music business, and one of the musics most successful companies.
       On Friday April 29,2011 Warner Music Group (WMG) agreed to sell to the investment vehicle to the Russian billionaire Len Blavatnik for approx $3.3 billion dollars.  Therefore, Access Industries will pay $8.25 a share for WMG and this is a 4.4 % premium to company's closing price of $7.90. Also, its 34% higher than WMG's avg share price over last 6 months.
      

James Cameron & the Inspiration Behind Filmmaking

 

   

       James Cameron, a writer and director, of The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2, Titanic, and Avatar to name a few has dominated the movie industry for the last twenty years. 

James Cameron gave a speech on his life and his inspiration on making various movies.  As well, he stated his personal interests and love of scuba diving.  His speech was very inspiring to hear as personally for me it gives me insight into the making of movies, as I want to represent actors/actresses.

     He first started out  by  explaining how he has always had a passion for reading science fiction books and a curiosity of science.  He loved to go hiking and collected snakes, and pod water to take back and analyze it under a microscope.  In doing so he was curious to understand about the world and it’s possibilities.  As well, James took this passion, and curiosity of robots, aliens, spaceships to draw and paint them –these were the images in his mind and the only way he knew how to express them was to put them on a movie screen. 

 

Motion Picture of Assoc. of America and Campaign on Public Awareness

      The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), is a professional association that is very interesting, and awesome.  This association began in 1922, by the presidents of major motion studios-Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayor, Jesse Lasky, and Joseph Schenck.  Their goal was to form an association to resist the demand for government censorship of films, and to provide a better image for the film industry while protecting the silent films in mainstream America.  Thus, this first association was called,"Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Assoc. of America before it became to be known as MPAA. Thus, this Association was led by General William Hays to create what is known as the, "Hays Code." This code protected the public from never seeing offensive material, as the Hays Code was enacted by the studios for self censorship-there was a review of all manuscripts to ensure of the viewing safety for the public. However, in 1960 there was major change bringing a new revision to the Hays Code so that film makers would be given freedom to their artistic creations. The new system flourished in 1966, by Jack Valenti, who was named the next president to the now MPAA.  
      This new system consisted of a voluntary rating system, it protected filmmakers so that they could create what they liked and also, protected the minors because their parents could be the judge of what their kids watched.  Today, the MPAA is represented under the leadership of CEO Chris Dodd, who is dealing with the positiveness or this digital age, but also the drawbacks such as copyright theft.     

    

WORLD ROBOT BOXING

Dreamworks has done it again to soon release its latest creation, REAL STEEL! 

        Director, Shawn Levy plans to release the movie November 2011.  The birthplace of robot boxing is the Korma Club in Tokyo, Japan in the Alchihabara district.  This movie is highly futuristic sci-fi movie, and has a real boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard as a boxing trainer.  Although, this looks similar, at first glance to transformers, it will be a new take on how boxing can be integrated into a huge robot machine.  This movie will hopefully be another successful film produced by DreamWorks Studios.  It's amazing that there has been already eight decades of family entertainment made by Disney Studios.

DreamWorks & Movie-War Horse

        Director, Steven Spielberg is on a new mission making another incredible movie to add to his hits of awards winning movie titles.   War Horse is projected to be released and in theaters January 13, 2012. This movie is set in the World War I era, and is a story about the love between a boy and his horse.   Albert, the boy, goes on a mission to save his horse, Joey, after his father sells the horse to the British Calvary.  Thus, this movie is bound to strike the audiences many emotions throughout the movie as it sounds very thought-provoking and heart felt.
        Steven Spielberg, is the director of many films produced and made by Dreamworks- A Hollywood Studios motion picture company.   Dreamworks was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen to produce, develops, and distributes films, video games, and television programming.    However, in 2005 the company was sold to Viacom, Paramount pictures, and again in 2008 to India's Reliance Group ADA for 1.5 Billion.  Thus, 50% of Dreamworks distribution is owned by Reliance and led by Anil Ambani.  Therefore, the Dreamworks partners include Steven Spielberg, Stacey Snider, and Anai Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Also, Dreamworks has a worldwide distribution deal with Walt Disney who markets and distributes their films.
       

Sports are Awesome

Zen -:)

Oprah Winfrey Speech at Stanford

        The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take that away from you. The secret to getting ahead is the lessons to learn for self improvement and to evolve moving forward in passion and growth. We should all try to get the lesson to enrich ones spirit. There were lessons that Oprah learned while trying to emulate Barbara Walters from beginning of her career.  Oprah was asked to change her name and was also, told that they didn't like way she looked at her new job working for a TV station at the start of her career as a news anchor. However, she didn't like to report on peoples tragedies because she wanted to help those people in tragedies.  As well, she wanted to be spontaneous and didn't always read copy, in her reporting of the news, but was juggling expectations and obligations so she would write in her journal every day to formulate her ideas. When, she lost her job she was put on a talk show and was so happy because this position felt right.  Thus, when doing what feels right makes ones happy she learned.   Therefore, check ego at the door and one must go for it in order to succeed- right decisions come from the gut. When one does not know what to do, Oprah says, get still till you know what to do-personal life and competitive edge in life gets better.  Thus, empathy and joyfulness blossom when doing what we love-trust your heart and success will come to you.

Favorite Quotes

Though I'm grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn't changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes.
Oprah Winfrey

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey

These 2 quotes are very powerful, in that the first one is stating that Oprah is still the same person with same moral and values that she always has had.  Thus, success and wealth has only put on her more expensive shoes but she seems to be so very appreciative of everything she has to from this quote.  As well, the second quote is a very humble approach to being thankful for what you have, and if we are truly thankful meaning thankfulness for health and the family around us one might end up having more-how profound this statement is and powerful. Also, the last part if one focuses on what one doesn't have one will never be satisfied and will be always wanting more. Therefore, these are very wise quotes and the more one reads them the more deeper they are to how they may affect our own lives.  

Inspiration that triggered me to become an Entertainement Agent

People who I admire in the industry and who have inspired me to follow my dreams are the following:
Ariel Emanuel
Oprah Winfrey

Success

The New York Times  has labeled Ari Emanuel as the dominant power player in Hollywood.  Ari Emanuel was born in 1961 in Chicago, Ill.  "This audacious wheeler and dealer is responsible for guiding the careers of more than 1,000 clients as the head honcho of WME Entertainment, a full service talent agency with offices in New York, Beverly Hills, Nashville, and London. It’s an impressive position for a 48-year-old former intern, but one that Emanuel is more than able to handle thanks to his trademark tenacity and unparalleled vision. "

AskMen, Initials. (2011, February 3). Ariel Emanuel celebrity profile, news, gossip,photos. Retrieved from www.askmen.com