Novelty gag gift industry

Here's a neat article on fake vomit--it actually contains quite a bit of industry data. The Chicago Tribune covered a local company who is a leader in this gag gift market:

"The building holds a secret.

A vile and totally eeeewwwww secret, one that brings together 12-year-olds and 12-year-olds at heart.
From the outside, it is another two-story brick warehouse on Chicago's West Side. Step inside, and visitors return to a certain back-of-the-comic-books kind of American childhood.

The secret is this: It's the world capital of fake vomit, where it's still made the old-fashioned American way, ladle by ladle, formed and coagulated for the next generation of pranksters and troublemakers.

Helping put the ick in America since 1941, Fun Inc. is a repository of practical jokes, magic tricks and gag items -- from chattering teeth to hot pepper gum, oversize sunglasses to oversize toothbrushes to oversize anything. The building, near Grand and Major Avenues in the industrial Hansen Park neighborhood, is where springs were once manufactured and, later, Cracker Jack prizes.

Guests walking into the office of Fun Inc. President Graham Putnam might expect to be greeted by a joy-buzzer handshake or a whoopee cushion planted beneath a chair seat. But it is surprisingly bare bones, a room he shares with his wife, Kathryn, the company's corporate secretary and a clutter of paperwork and faux wood paneling. Fake vomit, it turns out, is serious business..."

Read the whole article HERE

Empty Bottle is looking for interns

Looking for a cool internship? The Empty Bottle, a hip nightspot and band showcase located on the West Side, is looking for a few good people. Check it out:

Interns
The Empty Bottle is looking for you… especially if you are looking for an internship. We would like to bring two interns on board to work with us here in the Bottle office. Internships run 5-20 hours per week, and cover a wide array of tasks and responsibilities. That said, we do need responsible and industrious folks who are interested in learning more about the concert industry. Internships are unpaid, but man alive, you want to talk about perks? Free shows are just the tip of the iceberg. School credit is preferred, but certainly not necessary. If you are interested, please send a resume to morgan@emptybottle.com or fax it to 773.276.3607.

Behind the scenes on the Hollywood picket lines

From yesterday's New York Times: When the 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America decided on Nov. 4 to strike, Hollywood wondered how hard the white-collar group would fight. The guild addressed the worry before the first pickets hit the streets.

"In years past, our picketing schedule has gone, 'Picket on Mondays for two hours and then meet at a bar until the following Monday,'" said David Young, the union's director, early this month. "That's not how we're going to do it this time."

Read the whole article HERE

Deadline Hollywood Daily: Alternative news source or Hollywood power broker?

From yesterday's New York Times: When some striking members of the Writers Guild of America created a series of videos depicting speechless actors in support of the writers' cause, they did not post them on the guild's Web site or on YouTube. Instead, the videos made their premiere exclusively on Deadline Hollywood Daily, a Web site owned and operated by Nikki Finke, a columnist for the alternative newspaper LA Weekly.

Since she began the site in 2006, Ms. Finke's Web site has become a critical forum for Hollywood news and gossip, known for analyzing (in sometimes insulting terms) the behind-the-scenes maneuvering of moguls.
But it has been the screenwriters' strike that may have finally solidified her position as a Hollywood power broker. For this article, more than a dozen executive producers, writers and agents offered to attest to her influence. But with those plaudits also come complaints -- only anonymous ones -- that Ms. Finke plays favorites.

"Like it or not, everyone in Hollywood reads her," said Brad Grey, the chief executive of Paramount and, like many executives, an occasional target of Ms. Finke's scathing reports. "You must respect her reach."

For many of her readers, Ms. Finke's Web site has supplanted traditional media as a primary source of strike news. Before the strike, Ms. Finke said Deadline Hollywood Daily averaged 350,000 page views a day. Since the beginning of the strike, she said the daily average had soared to about a million.

Read the whole NYT article HERE

Bloomberg News also covered Deadline Hollywood Daily. You can read the article HERE, but note that Ms. Finke has commented that there are some errors in this (although she doesn't provide details).

A new model for online entertainment sales

From today's New York Times: LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19 — Amway, the door-to-door peddler of vitamins and soap, wants to reinvent how Hollywood sells entertainment. The owners of the multilevel marketing company are pouring millions of dollars into a new online store called Fanista (pronounced fa-NEE-sta). The Web site, set to make its public debut this week, will initially sell DVDs and CDs...In the coming months it plans to add video games, digital downloads and books.

People can simply use Fanista as a place to shop. But the company hopes most consumers will join as members — signing up is free — and then recruit their friends.

The carrot: If your friend joins and buys something, identifying you as the reason for joining, you get 5 percent of the sale in cash or credit.

Read the whole article HERE

Stagehands and writers: What are the differences between their strikes?

From yesterday's New York Times: It was a good weekend for the labor that is organized around the creative arts.

Yesterday, Local 1, which represents the striking stagehands of Broadway, was in the midst of intensive talks with theater owners that seem destined to get the "Grinch" and other Broadway productions back in time for the holidays.
Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike since Nov. 5, agreed to go back to the bargaining table with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, although not until Nov. 26.

On the surface, the writers would seem to have all the cards, and the stagehands few. Hollywood writers fuel a much larger enterprise owned by publicly traded companies, have creative expertise and they even had Ron Howard walking a picket in front of Viacom in New York last Thursday. (When you're riding with Opie, your cause must be just.)

But the stagehands, who began striking almost a week after the writers, are most likely the ones who will be heading back to work first. The writers still confront the stalemate over distribution of revenues from digital content. So how will 400 or so (mostly) beefy guys in Manhattan accomplish what currently seems beyond the reach of the 12,000 members of the writers' guild?...

Read the whole article HERE

Behind the scenes look at producer Brian Grazer

From yesterday's New York Times: Brian Grazer, one of the most successful producers in Hollywood, would seem to be a memorable guest, with his energetic manner and elaborately spiked hair. But to make sure he is not forgotten, he will often leave behind a small photo of himself in an inexpensive heart-shaped frame after attending a dinner or party, hiding it among his host's family photographs...There is another level to the joke: despite Mr. Grazer's enormous success in the movie business, his public profile remains relatively slight when compared with his Hollywood peers. Imagine Entertainment, founded 20 years ago by Mr. Grazer and the director Ron Howard, has produced a strong slate of films, including "Liar Liar," "Eight Mile," "Inside Man," "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Da Vinci Code." His latest, "American Gangster," opened two weeks ago as the top film in the country, taking in more than $43 million at the box office its first weekend.

Read the whole article HERE

The strike is on!

Hollywood screenwriters have officially gone on strike. What will this mean for network TV shows and the viewing audience? Networks and advertisers are paying close attention.

Read the New York Times' coverage from today HERE

Bridges to Success Clothing Drive

Here's an opportunity to clean out your closets *and* help others:

A message from Fashion Retail Management:
COLUMBIA COLLEGE COMMUNITY: MAKE FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT!

Is your closet ready to EXPLODE?
Why don't you clean out the back of your closets and help put those clothes in the front of someone else's future?

WHO WE ARE
We are Fashion Retail Management seniors who are engaged in a service-learning project with Bridge To Success. Bridge to Success is a partner of Heartland Alliance and a program of Heartland Human Care Services.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

ALL sizes (especially large sizes) of men’s and women's business appropriate attire
Shoes & Handbags
Jewelry
Ties & Belts

DONATIONS MUST BE ON HANGERS (sorry no folded donations except sweaters)!
Donations must also be CLEAN AND READY TO WEAR

WHEN
Donations will be accepted October 29th through November 9th.

WHERE

1104 S. Wabash Suite 301 Mike Bright, Film Office

1006 S. Michigan Suite 400 Chris Peak, Fashion / Retail Management Office

600 S. Michigan Suite 907C Allison Ratliff, SFPA Dean’s Office

624 S. Michigan Suite 700 Naomi Couch, AEMM Office

623 S. Wabash Suite 703A Lynda Roddy, Fashion Design Office


Have a question? Contact Dana Connell, dconnell@colum.edu

WHY
Donations help Bridge To Success maintain a clothing inventory large enough to wardrobe over 2,000 individuals annually.

Bridge to Success is currently the only workforce training program that offers services to both men and women in the Chicagoland area.

The Fashion Management students and Bridge Success appreciate your help.

"HHCS's mission is to achieve freedom from want, fear, and injustice for people marginalized by poverty, displacement, or situations of vulnerability by developing and providing a continuum of services that meet basic needs, build strengths, safeguard human rights, and provide opportunity for positive change."

THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

And many thanks to our Columbia building partners who are accepting the donations in their offices!

Dana D. Connell, Faculty Fashion/Retail
Arts, Entertainment and Media Management

Screenwriters eyeing walkout?

Unions representing 12,000 screenwriters asked members on Monday to authorize a strike at any time after their contract expires at the end of this month. If granted, authorization would set the stage for Hollywood's first industrywide walkout since writers struck in 1988...Negotiations between the guilds and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the makers of films and television programs, have been stalled over issues including the payment of residuals for the use of movies and shows after their initial screening.

Check out the New York Times coverage here: Movie Writers Eye Early Walkout and here: Guilds Ask Screenwriters For a Strike Authorization

Listen to NPR coverage from this morning HERE

Local tea company profile

An interesting profile of Argo Tea, a local Chicago chain, from yesterday's NYT. You'll see that you can find market and company information throughout the article:

It isn't every cafe in America that responds to the complaint "I'm thirsty" with a glass of iced tea. But here in the nation's third-largest city, a fast-growing chain called Argo Tea is selling just that notion.
Argo Tea, a four-year-old homegrown company, has developed a distinctive brand that has captured the palate of young professionals. From its novel recipes for sweetened iced teas -- Bubble Tea, a mix of Indian black tea and coconut pearls from the Philippines, is very popular -- to its signature interiors of greens, reds and browns, the brand has become so well known that this month the company opened its eighth cafe, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. It plans two more by the end of the year.

Along with hot and iced tea -- and Illy coffee -- the cafes sell sandwiches and pastries, some baked on the premises.

Sales are expected to reach $5 million this year and nearly $10 million in 2008, company executives say. The concept has proved so successful that Argo Tea is planning cafes in other cities, starting with Boston or Washington in 2009.

Read the whole article HERE

Update: Job Fair employers announced

Don't forget! Tomorrow is the Fall Job Fair. More info from the Student Employment Office HERE

Here's a list of the employers who will be eager to interview our students for regular part-time and seasonal jobs:

American Girl
AVID Tutoring Program for Chicago Public Schools
Bank of America
Club Monaco
Chicago Bears Retail
DuSable Museum of African-American History
EXPRESS
Garmin International
Grassroots Campaigns, Inc.
Hamilton Communications
Mad Science of Chicago
NIKETOWN
Nordstrom
Photogenic, Inc.
TEFL Institute
The CAPS Group
The Chicago Theatre
University Center Conference Chicago
UPS
YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

Job fair next week!

Spread the word (and work!): Next Wednesday, September 12th, the Student Employment Office will be hosting a job fair. See this page for more information.

The ups and downs of movie distribution

This article from today's NYTimes details how a movie that was made over three years ago is just now being released. A behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of movie distribution: Anton Yelchin’s voice was still changing when, at barely 15 years old, he starred alongside Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland in “Fierce People,” an offbeat, surprisingly dark coming-of-age movie that Griffin Dunne directed in the spring of 2004... That a film with such a pedigree could sit on the shelf for so long (it’s already available on DVD in Argentina, Finland, Greece and Hungary) is one of the vagaries of a business in which too many movies from too many distributors are vying for too few weekends, good ones that are released theatrically often fail to attract an audience, and countless others go straight to video.

That “Fierce People” did not ultimately get tossed in the celluloid waste bin is a testament both to the persistence of its backers — among them the No. 2 executive at Lionsgate — and to the importance to a film’s marketing of not just money but attention. Read the whole article HERE.

Entertainment marketing

From today's NYT: FIRST, television presented real news. Then came fake news on parody programs like “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” This weekend, Fox Broadcasting will send fake news vans onto the streets of four cities to promote a real show...In addition to the vans, the agency behind the campaign to publicize “Back to You,” A.D.D. Marketing and Advertising in Los Angeles (note from Celia: ADD is hiring), will put up a Web site that creates humorous images of users as news anchors, seated at a desk between Ms. Heaton and Mr. Grammer. The images, which can be sent by e-mail, will be at www.backtoyouanchorizer.com, which is to go live this weekend.

The “anchorizer” is arriving weeks after a corporate sibling of Fox Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox, promoted “The Simpsons Movie” with www.simpsonizeme.com, which creates images of users in the mode of characters from “The Simpsons.”

Read the whole article HERE

Founder of CBGB dies

(click the image above for CBGB’s : thirty years from the home of underground rock )
From today's NY Times: Hilly Kristal, who founded CBGB, the Bowery bar that became the cradle of punk and art-rock in New York in the 1970s and served as the inspiration for musician-friendly rock dives throughout the world, died in Manhattan on Tuesday. He was 75. Read the whole NYT obituary HERE

Read a profile of Hilly Kristal from Billboard magazine in 2002 HERE

Chief of Universal Finds Success at the Back of the Pack

I'm on an "out of hiatus" roll!

From today's NYT:

The hilltop theme park outside the 14th floor office of Ron Meyer, president of the Universal Studios Group, anchored by past glories like its "Jurassic Park" and "Backdraft" rides, could stand a makeover.

An attraction based on "Transformers," the smash hit from Universal's former ally, DreamWorks SKG, might add a little pizazz. But "Transformers" went to Paramount in a deal made many months ago, and DreamWorks soon followed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Meyer, 62 years old and the longest-serving chief of a major movie company, had to rent a hit with his recent deal to feature Warner Brothers' "Harry Potter" series in Universal's Florida park.

So it goes at Hollywood's sixth-place studio. Though profitable for the last nine years, Universal has been noticeably short on blockbusters to call its own.

That is largely by design...Read the whole article HERE

Producer Versus Studio

From yesterday's NYT: Another article that was hiatus-interrupting worthy. This one details a battle that is underway between Alan Ladd, Jr. and Warner Bros. Studios. The article gives some behind-the-scenes looks at how licensing and royalty payments work. If this case goes to court (every similar case in the past has been settled), it may impact studio accounting across the board. Stay tuned and read the whole article HERE

Concert promotion strategies

Had to come out of hiatus to post this article--a great example of how you can find info about vaguely-defined industries (like concert promotion) and get clues to help with the rest of your research.

From today's NYT: The music industry may seem like a broken record of bad news these days, with plunging album sales and confusion over the digital future. But in the concert business at least one corner is booming: clubs.

In New York heated competition among concert promoters has driven a building spree of small and midsize spaces over the last two years. And a pivotal player in this behind-the-scenes contest has emerged in the Bowery Presents, a promoter that has grown steadily from crowded downtown boites to the big leagues of the concert industry...

Click HERE to read the whole article

Summer hiatus for AEMM News

Some of you may have noticed that posting to AEMM News lately has been sporadic at best. Save for the flurry of posts I entered today, there hasn't been much activity here over the last few weeks. It will likely remain like this throughout the summer. In the meantime, as you enjoy your time teaching a summer AEMM class or resting up in preparation for AEMM Fall 2007, please know that I am available to assist you with any library or other research needs you might have. Please feel free to contact me anytime (my contact info is linked in the sidebar to the right).

Happy Summer!