Catch Up, FOX

During the last few years, Fox has not had a hit reality show on their network since MasterChef in 2010. X-FactorUSA did not perform as well as executives had hoped. American Idol has beenstruggling over the last few seasons to connect with their viewers. Fox used to take chances and broadcast risky reality shows like “Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire” and “My Big Far Obnoxious Fiancé”.  Fox has looked to reality shows outside the country to adapt. Boom and Utopia were two shows that were being adapted for U.S. audiences that were automatically controversial. The reality competition Boom where players try to defuse a bomb by answering questions correctly. Fox needs to take risks on their reality series and promote their product.

During the summer of 2014, Fox debuted their “social experiment” reality show called Utopia. Utopia is a reality television series about 15 people who are in an isolated area for a year and are presented with a chance to create their own civilization. In April 2014, there was concern that the show would not perform as well as the Dutch version. The original version debuted in the Netherlands in January and did very well in the ratings for 10 straight nights. However, TV analysts also saw that ratings began to decrease over time and a few executives at Fox were concerned it would not do well. Ratings for Fox’s Utopia’s September premiere were a 2.0 rating and then dwindled down over the next 2 months. This show was a big gamble for Fox costing the network more than $50 million dollars. There were also changes that the new executive at Fox wanted producers on the show to comply. This show was bound to fail before the show started filming because of the internal arguing between executives, the high cost, and not having a soliddirection for the show. One of the issue viewers had with Utopia was that there were no prizes for the participants. There was no rooting or cheering for a particular contestant, but watching them create a new government. Reality television will not fade away as some people would hope, but it will evolve. Utopia was a great concept, but if it were executed correctly, the show would have done well. The show could have changed the reality television format like what MTV’s The Real World and CBS’s Survivor did to television.

Experts on Business Plan

Tim Berry is the best business planner and he has written several books on the subject. He has a Stanford MBAdegree, MA in Journalism from the University of Oregon and BA from Notre Damein Literature. He is founder and chairperson of the Palo Alto Software and founder of the website bplans.com, a website dedicated to the helping people on their business plans. Tim is also an angel investor that read many submissions sent.

In Tim’s Huffington Post article, he says that, “I didn’t read the business plans, just the summaries.” When his fellow angel investors have a lot of submission to read they go through the summary first. The first thing they look for is the background of the management team. They want to make sure they can trust the team with the money they are investing because they want to ensure they gain it back. They are more likely to invest in businesses that have people with knowledge and experience on start-up companies. Tim looks for signs of potential high market growth because he wants businesses that can double every year.

Jim Blasingame is one of theexperts on small businesses and he is the founder of Small Business Network,Inc.  Jim has a radio show that discusses small business plans and appeals towards the small business community. He also has published multiple books and Google has him ranked as the #1 small business expert. One of the key takeaways from Jim is to evaluate opportunities andchallenges and compare them with the company’s strengths and weaknesses.

The investors want to see what they are investing and what the risks are.

            There were multiple recommendations from both Tim Berry and Jim Blasingame that are essential for my business plan. The best suggestion was from Tim Berry and when he wrote his article about not having enough time to read all the business plans. Therefore, they read the summary of the company and research whom is on the management team. Ideally, not every investor is going to have time to go through all the business plans sent to him or her so I have to ensure that my business plan summary is excellent and all my numbers are accurate.

Netflix and Sandler's Punch Against Movie Theatres

On October 1, 2014, Netflix had announced that they signed an exclusive four-movie deal with Adam Sandler. According to Variety, Sandler’s films have grossed about $3.9 billion worldwide but his recent movies have not done well in movie theatres. Adam Sandler’s films fare better through Video on Demand, DVD sales and streaming. He will be starring in and producing these films exclusively to Netflix worldwide. This deal is assumed to be starting in 2015 when the first film is projected to be released and the genre is assumed to be a comedy.

The Netflix deal unfortunately does not cover Adam’s current Sony deal. Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions under Sony has released 25 films over its 15-year partnership. The deal with Sony also dealt with television shows like “Rules of Engagement” and “The Goldbergs”. The deal with Sony Pictures Television expired but is in the course of being renewed. Even though Adam still has the exclusivity deal with Netflix, Sony still has the first looks on all projects by Happy Madison. So if Sony does not want to distribute a film, it can be shopped somewhere else.

            The importance of the Sandler-Netflix deal comes at a great time because Netflix had previously announced that they secured the sequel for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Netflix has made an impact on the television industry when they started airing original programming like “House of Cards”.  Movie studios are now realizing that they don’t have to distribute movies through movie theatres, they have other avenues now. One thing that might hurt the sales of Sandler’s Netflix movies and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”,  is that movie theatres are threatening to boycott the showing of the movies. According to Clevver Movie's YouTube Page, in 2011, movie theatres declared that they would ban Universal’s “Tower Heist” if they aired it earlier on video on demand. Universal caved in to the theatres and that was the last discussion or thought of showing new movies through a different platform.  

Apple and U2 Interactive Music

In September 2014, U2 signed a $100 million-dollar deal with Apple where their music will be given to Apple users free for a limited time. Although their partnership was something that was seen before with Jay Z and Samsung, but was for Samsung cellphone users only. A week after their album was released, it was reported that U2 and Apple are working on a new digital music format. This is something that the music industry will be paying close attention to. Bono has said that it will be “an audiovisualinteractive format for music that can’t be pirated and will bring back albumartwork…”. Apple and U2 are hoping that this new interactive music format will have people buying music again.

This is a very good deal for U2 because music-streaming sites are becoming more popular and people are not paying for music. I am not sure if Apple will benefit from this because they currently own Beats streaming service and their new interactive music format might drive customers away. Another issue consumers might have with Apple, is that it will only be compatible with apple products and not other mp3 players or cellphones.

If it is compatible with all other products other than Apple, I do think that music companies will go to it. Music companies and artists want to make money and if this new interactive music format will allow them to decrease the number of music piracies, YouTube and music streaming then they will do a test run. Bono has said that this new digital format will be available in 18 months, but they have not mentioned what artist or album will be the first to utilize this new format. If successful, then I see not only Apple changing the way consumers listen to music but other companies like Google and Amazon.

Industry Liabilities

I will be identifying three recent legal controversies that are currently prominent in the film industry. The first lawsuit comes from the Bender-Spink Production Company and their claim that they are due profit shares from The Butterfly Effect. According to the lawsuit, the defendants: FilmEngine, Highwire, Roulette and Rhulen are considered an “interrelated film production companies.” In 2003, Bender-Spink and FilmEngine signed a memorandum to produce the movie The Butterfly Effect and promised 50% of all net profits. FilmEngine and the other defendants informed the plaintiffs that the film was still in the red and that there would be no payment. Purportedly in 2012, the plaintiffs received information from another source that the defendants had received a large payment from the film’s distributor. The film was now in the black and had yet to pay the plaintiffs. After years of requesting finance and accounting reports, FilmEngine sent a one page top sheet where it indicated that the film was still in the red.  According to the lawsuit, Bender-Spink is “demanding 50% of all net profits made by FilmEngine and Roulette.” TheHollywood Reporter states that, “the plaintiffs claim that the production company suffered damages in an amount subject to proof at trial.”

Bender-Spink Production Company should have requested the books from FilmEngine in the beginning. I think that in the contract there should have been a deal for Bender-Spink to look at the books and to know the financial information regarding The Butterfly Effect. They should have their lawyers deal with getting the information from the defendants early on. If they had spoken to their lawyers early on, they might have gotten a look at the movie’s finances.

Another case I am paying close attention to, is the Midnight Rider case. On February 20, 2014, the production was filming a scene on the train tracks when a freight train injured four-crew member and killed camera assistant Sarah Jones. The production entered therailroad tracks without the appropriate paperwork and permission from theproper authorities. This case is very important because it deals with employee safety. The producers had claimed that they obtained emails giving them consent but they have yet to present this information to the authorities.

 I think that the production company should have delayed the start of the film or changed their production schedule. By changing the production schedule, they could have moved to an inside studio scene or get a film permit to another outside location. The family did file a civil suit on May 21 against Greg Allman, Open Road Films, and the companies that own the railroad tracks and the surrounding land.  The family’s lawyer told Variety that “he hadfiled partly because he had run out of patience with the District Attorney’soffice.” I understand why the family filed a civil suit and agree that someone should be responsible for the negligence that occurred during the production of this movie. For any future filming, I will be ensuring that I have the proper paperwork on any location that is off set. I will also make sure that producers have safety meetings with each department and ensure that we follow protocol from Labor-Management Safety Committee.

The last case I will discuss is Garcia vs. Google, which The Hollywood Reporter states, “that the plaintiff,Cindy Lee Garcia, could assert a copyright interest in her performance in thefilm.” She had ordered Google to take down the film Innocence of Muslims from the YouTube site because of death threats, she was receiving. Chief Circuit Judge Kozinski has declared that, “an actor’sperformance, when fixed, is copyrightable if it evinces some minimal degree ofcreativity.”  

The case is very interesting because there is no information on the contract she had signed with the filmmakers. I do not think that an actor or performer with a minor role should have a choice with the distribution or outcome of a film. Garcia allegedly stated that the movie’s title was changed and that producers had her voice dubbed. If her statements are true, then she should dispute it if there was no work-for-hire contract. I think the filmmakers needed to give their talent contract that informs them that they are just performers and do not have any right to the material where they participate. The importance in this case, is making sure that talent is signing the deal memos or contracts that are specific in what the rights of talent are.

Negotiation Tactics

In negotiation or in bargaining, there are many techniques a negotiator might do when trying to come up with a deal or solution. There were three videos on YouTube that I watched that helped people know how to separate the person from the problem, having a best alternative to a negotiated agreement, handling dirty tricks and using objective criteria. The lessons from the video helped me further my knowledge on how to negotiate a business deal and knowing how I should behave when in a negotiation.

In the “Entrepreneurship-Part 7: Negotiation” it tells the viewer to have a filing system for any negotiation deals and have a paper trail. When negotiating deals the wording has to be specific because it can be interpreted any way it can suit either you or the opponent. When you go to a negotiation the client and I want to get something out of this negotiation and if not we should have a BATNA. The speaker in the video also recommends not getting into a battle or contest of wills with their opponent in negotiations because it does not help resolve the issue.

When trying to come up with my Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement I have to make sure that I don’t think about just the price but what other areas I can use in bargaining. I need to make sure what the BATNA for both sides are. Something I need to keep doing is to write everything down in all negotiations and know keep the information updated. It makes it easier for me remember in the long term of what the details are in a contract or deal. I learned to also use trade publication magazines as a source of objective standards in negotiations. One of the issues I know I will have to deal with is the pay rate for the free-lancers I would employ. In order for us to work together and avoid any confrontation or disagreements, I would research the local pay rate for the job role that person would be taking.

In “Getting to YesNegotiation”, it lets the viewers know to be aware of your emotions be sensitive to where they are when you go into a negotiation. I also need to understand and acknowledge the other person. One of the things I learned is that people do not listen in negotiations. People assume that they need to be soft on the problem and on the person when in a negotiation. Sometimes negotiators need to take a step back from the issue and try to see it from their opponent’s view. This will help see the other person’s perception in a negotiation. Three issues that are problems in bargaining for people are emotions, perceptions and communication.

In this video, I learned to be hard on the problem not the person. I will have to know to tackle on the negotiation and be careful of not insulting or hurting the other negotiator’s emotion. If any personal attacks are done during the negotiation then nothing will get resolved. Any relationship or trust would be gone by any personal attacks taken during the negotiations. I will also need to know how to communicate properly because information or any details can be misconstrued in the manner that I speak to a person. I have to make sure that I listen to the other person and not be disrespectful by having selected hearing. During the video, various scenarios were shown to the viewers that became very helpful. One of the negotiations, helped me realize how easy someone can drift away in a conversation and have selected hearing. By having selected hearing in a negotiation, everyone can get frustrated and emotions can run high. 

            In “Handling Conflict in Negotiations”, the speaker talks about the five conflict modes and using them in any negotiations. The first mode he speaks about is accommodating and its benefits in negotiations. He does not recommend this as a style but to use it in certain situations.  When you collaborate, it takes time to come to a mutual agreement on negotiations. The speaker also showcases the four principles of interrogative negotiations: “separate the people from the problem, focus on interests ratherthan positions, invent options for mutual gain and insist that the agreement bebased on objective criteria.” The speaker also discussed the different types of dirty tricks that are commonly used by some negotiators in a bargain.  

In this video, the speaker identifies the different dirty tricks people use when bargaining. In order for me to stay a step ahead when dealing with someone that bargains utilizing dirty tricks I would have to take my time and do my research to make sure that no false information is given. I would also get to know the person that I am dealing with and inquire if they have a supervisor that approves deals made in the negotiations. I learned to let the other person know that you are aware of the dirty tricks being done in the negotiation and take a break to calm things down. I would not attack the person but I would attack the problem just like when I separate the person from the problem.