...FTV 183B “PRODUCING 2: ENTERTAINMENT ECONOMICS” WINTER 2015 5. Midterm Paper The paper is to be completed by Week 6 (Wednesday, February 11 at 11:59 PM). You will write a research-driven paper on an independent entertainment company outside of the major entertainment companies discussed in class. You need to have your choice of company approved by the instructor prior to writing the paper by Week 2. Please submit your company to the TA who will compile a list. Some non-traditional entertainment companies you may want to consider: Twitter, Relativity, Lionsgate, AMC, Starz, DreamWorks Animation, MRC, Legendary, MGM, a major MCN (Awesomeness TV, Fullscreen, Machinima, Maker), WME, Scooter Braun Projects, or another professor approved independent media company. Topics should include Historical Background, Principals Involved, Content, Business Models and Revenue Structure. This is your opportunity to write about a company you’re passionate about, other than the major media companies. The paper will be 5 to 7 pages (double-spaced, 12 font, 1” margins) plus notes/bibliography. Midterm paper is due Wednesday, February 11, 2015, no later than 11:59 pm on Turnitin. 6. Final Paper: Now that you have learned the landscape of the current media & entertainment industries, for your final paper you will be asked to predict how the market will evolve in the medium term (3-5 years) and discuss Disruption, Development, Integration, new business models, and what the structural movements could...
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...JOURNAL CASE IN THE NEWS [LO 2-1, 2-2, 2-5] More Action, Less Drama at Disney Some Hollywood studio chiefs make their mark in a new job by signing deals with big name stars. Others announce their intention to rethink the ways movies are made and released. Alan Horn did it with a talking monkey. In one of his first moves after being named chairman of Walt Disney Co.'s movie studio last May, Mr. Horn approved reshoots for “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” a prequel to the “Wizard of Oz” that comes out Friday. The biggest change was to give star James Franco a wacky sidekick in the form of a chatty flying simian. In the version of the movie shot before Mr. Horn began, the monkey talked only late in the picture. Page 76 “Alan took the movie over and really made it his,” said producer Joe Roth. Few in Hollywood would be comfortable during their first weeks in a new job ordering up $15 million of changes to a movie that already cost about $200 million. But insiders say Mr. Horn, a 70-year-old industry veteran, has brought gravitas to the top of a studio embroiled in drama since 2009, when Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger filled the job with Rich Ross, a television executive who had no filmmaking experience. Mr. Ross lasted less than three years. “There really is a feeling of stability and that is exactly what was needed,” said Mr. Roth, who held Mr. Horn's job from 1994 through 2000. “A year or two ago you'd talk to agents and they couldn't figure out what Disney was up to.” Mr...
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...Management Problems, Activities, and Discussions 1) Explain how operations management activities affect the customer experiences described in the anecdote at the beginning of this chapter. What “moments of truth” would a customer at Disney World encounter? Think about the total experience including lodging, food service, shopping, and transportation, as well as theme park attractions and operations. The anecdote of a Disney experience focuses on the role of goods, services, and processes in creating customer satisfaction. Students will have many great examples of their Disney or theme park experiences. Moments of truth might include (a) booking a Disney vacation and the associated service encounters with a call center and/or travel agency (b) parking at the Disney site and taking the shuttle, (c) asking Disney employees for directions, (d) waiting for a ride or attraction, (e) where to throw away trash (trash cans located at key points and about every 25 to 50 feet, (f) watching a Disney parade, and so on. Whatever the student describes make sure you lead them into a discussion of key lessons that focus on the role of OM such as (1) process design and customer flows, (2) service encounter design and Disney employee training, (3) integrating goods and services into a CBP, (4) the importance of service management skills, (5) how services differ from goods, (6) biztainment, and (7) a continuous improvement orientation. Get the students participating...
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...Just over two thousand students sit in Disney Concert Hall on the symphony’s education outreach day. The symphony sits patiently on stage as the conductor gives his speech to us restless third graders; he then introduces the guest soloist. He is a tall man with hardly any hair and skin that hasn’t been touched by the sun in years it seems. He held a silver trumpet in his left hand as he waved with his right. The conductor strikes up the orchestra and after only a few seconds the soloist begins with the most beautiful note. This note flowed from his horn and touched the ears of over two thousand students. Of those students probably no more than a handful gave it any thought. With that note a new generation of trumpet players is born. In Susan Griffin’s “Our Secret” she speaks of a matrix that ties events in our together to determine who we are as people. She tells tale of influences upon others later turning into their influences upon another. This is the case when I was listening to that soloist, someone influenced him to play and he in turn influenced me. It is through these influences that we are given a common past. Susan Griffin speaks of Nazi Germany and the child rearing policies that created the people behind the holocaust. To describe such an event she weaves excerpts of comparison to well-known objects or ideas to make the idea seem less abstract. Griffin’s essay is about the head of the Nazi secret police, Heinrich Himmler. She begins with describing the journal...
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...to so many aspects of business life. From investment banking to marketing, from entrepreneurship to corporate planning, understanding the techniques of business communication will be an invaluable addition to every Stern student’s portfolio of knowledge. This course is a highly-interactive and participative experience that introduces the basics of business communication strategy and delivery. Deliverables will include written documents and oral presentations based on several cases. You will present both individually and in a team and will receive feedback to improve your presentation effectiveness. In the final team presentation, your challenge is to craft an oral presentation that will persuade your audience to accept your strategic recommendations. By doing this, you will see how ideas, data and advocacy are combined for a professional, persuasive presentation. Pre-Work 1. Form a team of five people before the first day of class. Refer to the class roster on Blackboard and try to link up...
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...an extension of the frameworks and materials learned in BUAD 497. In particular, MOR 465 focuses on four main substantive areas of interest: Module 1: Basics of Corporate Strategy Module 2: Competitive Rivalries Module 3: Managing Strategic Change Module 4: Academic Research on Strategy Module 1: Basics of Corporate Strategy extends the frameworks and cases taught in BUAD 497 on “Corporate Strategy”, meaning issues that companies with multiple strategic business units face. We focus on the following issues in this module: 1. 2. 3. 4. The basic tenets of corporate strategy; Diversification and the notion of core competences; Vertical integration, Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) & the “make or buy decision”; and Corporate governance and “managing” the managers We examine these issues through both Harvard Business Review readings and Harvard and Stanford Business School cases. Module 2: Competitive Rivalries examines in more detail how firms compete with each-other in fast-moving markets. We read several chapters from the Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson (2005) book Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization (Concepts and Cases). By this stage of the course, we will also be immersed in the corporate simulation (see below for more information), and we will use the materials in Hitt, et al. book to help formulate corporate strategy for the simulation....
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...Disney and the American Princess: The Americanization of European Fairy Tales [pic] Marina Alexandrova Student number 3021874 MA Thesis, American Studies Program Utrecht University Course code 200401064 23943 words 12 August 2009 Contents Title page………………………………………………………………1 Contents……………………………………………………………….2 Introduction……………………………………………………………3 Chapter 1: European Fairy Tales and Values about Gender and Class………………………………………10 Chapter 2: Disney Animation and American Culture…………………24 Chapter 3: Disney Animation and (Gender) Commodification…………………………………………..55 Conclusion…………………………………………………………...73 Bibliography…………………………………………………………78 Introduction Among the various aspects which define contemporary life, popular culture – and in particular, American popular culture – is undoubtedly one of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting. Throughout the twentieth century, people around the world have enjoyed film, music, animation, and written works by various authors and artists. One of the most famous and significant American entertainers of the lot has been Walt Disney, introducing millions of children and adults to his world of limitless (or so is widely believed) imagination and magic, from the earliest short cartoons produced in the 1920s, to full-length feature animations such as Snow White and the Seven...
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...he 1964 world première of “Mary Poppins” was held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, and it was the kind of spectacle for which the Disney organization had become famous. Throngs of screaming fans were greeted by Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Snow White and the dwarfs, as well as by entertainers who gestured toward the movie’s Edwardian setting: a twelve-piece pearly band, chimney-sweep dancers, valets dressed as bobbies, and a bevy of pretty Disneyland hostesses, whose traditional uniforms (kilts and black velvet riding helmets) suggested a general Englishness. Hollywood luminaries arrived in chauffeured automobiles, the women in ball gowns and mink stoles (Angie Dickinson, Maureen O’Hara, Suzanne Pleshette), the men wearing dinner jackets (Edward G. Robinson, Cesar Romero, Buddy Ebsen). The arrival of the movie’s principals aroused muted excitement: Julie Andrews, who played Mary Poppins, had never appeared in a movie before, and Dick Van Dyke—the chimney sweep Bert—became much better known after the film’s release. Then Walt Disney himself arrived, stepping out of a stretch limousine and gallantly reaching a hand into the car to help his wife, Lillian, onto the pavement. Disney was by then immensely famous, appearing on his own television show every Sunday night. He had carefully engineered his entrance: when his car pulled up, the Disney characters mobbed it, and soon afterward clouds of balloons were released into the air. Inside the packed twelve-hundred-seat theatre,...
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...The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Management 223 - Business Policy & STRATEGY Spring Semester, 1999 Course Description and Syllabus Instructors: Phanish Puranam (PP) & Michael G. Jacobides (MGJ) Office: 2061(PP) /2055(MGJ) SH-DH (Management Dept. Suite) Tel: 898-1231 (PP) / 898-1224 (MGJ) Email: puranam@management.wharton.upenn.edu jacobides@management.wharton.upenn.edu Class Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00 to 1:30pm Office Hours: By appointment (PP) Course Overview This course focuses on strategic management and strategic decision making and examines issues central to the long-term and short-term competitive position of the company or division / business unit. Students are placed in the role of key decision-makers or their advisors and asked to solve problems related to the development or maintenance of the competitive advantage of the firm. We start the course by looking at strategy at the level of the business unit, which is the fundamental level for competitive analysis. The perspective taken is of a manager in a given unit with particular assets, capabilities and competitive challenges. We look at industry analysis, examine the sources of competitive advantage, and explore generic strategies: How can we analyze the competitive environment, and what are the basic options for business-unit level strategy? What are the bases of competitive advantage? What is the nature of the value chain? Following...
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...Letter January 2012 Dear Shareholders, Fiscal 2011 was a year of great accomplishment for The Walt Disney Company, marked by creativity and innovation across our businesses globally, record financial results and numerous important steps to position the Company for the future. While 2011 brought us so much to cheer about, it was also marked by profound loss, with the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve’s incredible stewardship of Pixar, and his decision to sell Pixar to Disney in 2006, brought Steve into the Disney family, as a board member, a shareholder, a mentor, and a friend, and we were so lucky for all that he represented and all that he contributed. Disney, ESPN, ABC, Pixar, and Marvel are an amazing collection of brands that grow stronger every day as new platforms and new markets provide enormous new opportunities for high quality content and experiences. To that end, we are fortunate to have a talented group of employees who are committed day in and day out to building our brands around the world. Since becoming President and CEO in 2005, I have focused on three strategic priorities: creating high-quality family content, making experiences more memorable and accessible through innovative technology, and growing internationally. In fiscal 2011, net income attributable to Disney was a record $4.8 billion, an increase of 21% over last year, and revenue was a record $40.9 billion, up 7% from last year. Diluted earnings per share increased by 24% to a record $2.52. I’m particularly...
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...The speech was designed to push all of the warm fuzzy buttons of his listening audience that he could. All the green lights for acceptance were systematically pushed by the President’s speech with the help of a controlled congressional audience. The truth on the other hand doesn’t always tickle the ear and warm the ego of its listeners. The light of truth in this book will be too bright for some people who will want to return to the safe comfort of their darkness. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I deal with real facts, not theory. Some of the people I write about, I have met. Some of the people I expose are alive and very dangerous. The darkness has never liked the light. Yet, many of the secrets of the Illuminati are locked up tightly simply because secrecy is a way of life. It is such a way of life, that they resent the Carroll Quigleys and the James H. Billingtons who want to tell real historical facts rather than doctored up stories and myths. I have been an intense student of history since I could read, and I am deeply committed to the facts of history rather than the cover stories the public is fed to manipulate them. I do not fear the Illuminati...
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...Company Analysis The Walt Disney Company has been in the entertainment business for more than 80 years and is well recognized around the world as one that delivers an exceptional entertainment experience. Walt Disney Company strengths can be grouped in three main categories: 1) diversified distribution channels, 2) strong brand portfolio, and 3) financial strength. Despite Walt Disney’s success, the company has some declining segments in their domestic business. In addition, Disney’s biggest challenge in creating theme parks and resorts abroad is their inability to tailor the attractions to the local market while maintaining Disney’s brand image. In the past, international theme park implementations, Disney had failed to adapt their strategies to the local market. Therefore, Disney’s weaknesses can also be also grouped in three categories: 1) declining segments, 2) difficulty adapting to other cultures, and 3) weak managerial skills in terms of international operations. Diversified Distribution Channels Disney has a strong diversified distribution channel. The company operates by four strategic business units (SBU): 1) Media Networks and Broadcasting, 2) Parks and Resorts, 3) Studio Entertainment, and 4) Disney Consumer Products (Banton, 2007, p.31). The Media Network segment comprises of all broadcast television network, television production and distribution operations, television stations, cable networks, broadcast radio, publishing and digital operations (“Fiscal Year...
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...Winston Wood English 1101 For many people, music is one of the most important aspects of life. It can help someone through a hard time, bring out creativity and passion and even heal the soul. Unfortunately, with the advancements in technology, that very same creativity and passion ceases to exist in most music today. The soul of music has now been destroyed. Musical instruments have now been replaced by computers, which take away the physical and emotional connection between artists and their instrument. As a musician, I am utterly disgusted by this. Also, more and more artists do not write any of their own material anymore, especially if they have sold out to big companies such as Viacom, Walt Disney and Time Warner. Since the “digital age” of music, artists have been in a race with one another to see who can make the most popular and highest grossing material the fastest. This results in single and album flops, because the producers and artists do not take the time to thoroughly review all the material, basically creating less- than desirable music. The relationship between artists and their work is sacred, and not only in music. Imagine this; an extremely talented painter just finished her newest painting. She wishes to sell the promotional rights of her newest piece to a big company to gain exposure for her work. Instead of promoting the original painting she created, they edit the piece with cutting-edge technology to their own liking and promote their edited...
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...Module 10 . LearningAcross Bord.ers: Disneyland. theMore on Ml0-25 DisneyGoesto Tokyo Crossingthe Pacific In the mid-I970s, the Oriental Land Company, a ]apanese development company that owned a large tract oflandfill east ofTokyo zoned for pubIic leisure activities, approached Disney with the idea of building a Disneyland in lapan. Six hundred acreswere set asidefor the project. But, in an era of conservative (caretaking) management at Walt Disney Productions, senior executivesat Disney were hesitant. After all, lapan was far away, quite distant in terms of culture, and Tokyo not only had much colder winters than California or Florida but endured a lengthy rainy seasonin lune and July. Yet, after exploring alternativeoptions at some length (including other sitesin Asia), Disney decided to go ahead. Nevertheless,it insisted on a deal that left Oriental Land with virtually all of the risk. Instead of taking an ownership position in Tokyo Disneyland, Disney demanded royalties of I0 percent of the revenues from admissions and rides, and 5 percent of the receiptsfiom food, beverages,and souvenirs. Disney also asked for and more or less received artistic control of the park. Its partner, with its experience in developmer-rt projects in Tokyo, looked after the complex relationships with local planning and regulatory authorities, financing, and adjacent development. At first glance,Tokyo Disneyland seemsto be a close physical and social copy of Disneyland...
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...Preface Let me begin this preface with a confession of a few of my own biases. First, I believe that theory and the models that flow from it should provide the tools to understand, analyze, and solve problems. The test of a model or theory then should not be based on its elegance but on its usefulness in problem solving. Second, there is little in corporate financial theory that is new and revolutionary. The core principles of corporate finance are common sense and have changed little over time. That should not be surprising. Corporate finance is only a few decades old, and people have been running businesses for thousands of years; it would be exceedingly presumptuous of us to believe that they were in the dark until corporate finance theorists came along and told them what to do. To be fair, it is true that corporate financial theory has made advances in taking commonsense principles and providing structure, but these advances have been primarily on the details. The story line in corporate finance has remained remarkably consistent over time. Talking about story lines allows me to set the first theme of this book. This book tells a story, which essentially summarizes the corporate finance view of the world. It classifies all decisions made by any business into three groups—decisions on where to invest the resources or funds that the business has raised, either internally or externally (the investment decision), decisions on where and how to raise funds to finance...
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