Hollywood eyes the dot-com life
Apr 07, 2000 02:29 PM ET
By Carolyn Ayon Lee, dbusiness.com
EXCLUSIVE LOS ANGELES, April 7 (dbusiness.com) -- They formerly had the full panoply of corporate perks as executives at the top of the Hollywood hierarchy: company jets, huge offices, large staffs and megabuck salaries.
Today, they are Internet entrepreneurs, adapting to a different scale and approach to doing business, and many of them say that they made the leap from "traditional media" to New Media with gusto.
"I was brought up (in the corporate world) to live and die, quarter to quarter," hitting the financial targets, said Greg Meidel, former chairman and CEO of Studios USA (which was formerly Universal Television Group).
Meidel, who spoke Thursday night at a seminar held at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, is now devoting his energies to a variety of concerns in running a company involved in digital-rights management.
"It`s truly the entrepreneurial experience of doing something great on your own with a fabulous team and seeing it come to fruition," he told a full house at the academy`s seminar, "Is there a Dot-Com in your future?"
The academy organized the seminar after a survey of its members showed that the major topic on their minds was career opportunities in convergence media.
Panel moderator Brad Marks said the Internet fervor reminds him of the excitement and pioneering spirit that permeated the early days of television as it replaced radio as the main medium.
"We`re going through the biggest Industrial Revolution of our lifetime," he told the audience.
Marks, the chairman and CEO of Brad Marks International, an executive recruitment firm in Los Angeles, said there`s intense demand for staffers for online companies. His company gets half of its revenue from work for Internet-related businesses, he said in an interview.
Meidel, president and COO of Massive Media Group of Santa Monica, Calif., said his company is hiring at the rate of five people a week.
"The most difficult thing for us in the start-up phase is hiring good people at all levels," he said.
A member of the audience, Rick La Fond, vice president of strategic planning at Castnet.com of Los Angeles, said the psychic rewards of working at a start-up are enormous.
"It`s working on an idea that no one has done before, doing something creative, and it`s about being the best and the first" in the field, said La Fond.
Michael Jay Solomon said that going to an Internet start-up is not for everyone. Solomon is a former president of Warner Bros. International Television, and is now the chairman, president and CEO of Castnet.com. The company helps actors, casting directors and agents make connections.
"I think it all depends on how much guts you have," Solomon said. "You need a lot of courage to go to a brand-new company, and in exchange for that risk, you get stock (options)."
Two panelists said the Internet world has opened up opportunities to those who had been locked out from traditional media.
"It`s the most level playing field there is," said Christy Haubegger, founder and president of New York-based Latina Magazine, which also has an online presence at www.Latina.com.
Chuck D, founder of the rap group Public Enemy and founder of Rapstation.com, a Los Angeles-based Website for the global hip-hop community, said the Web has opened up access to artists and groups who had run into closed doors.
"The appetite for the music didn`t get fulfilled" through the traditional outlets, Chuck D said.
He also said the attention span in the virtual world is much shorter. For online entrepreneurs, "your business has to fit in a much quicker medium," he advised. "Don`t be afraid to add a new paradigm." For many users, it`s click, click, click, "I`m bored," followed by more surfing on the Net, he said.
As for hiring, Haubegger cautioned against hiring "the mercenary worker," who is only after more money and more stock options.
She said she looks for workers who believe that "we`re building something great and noble."
Haubegger and Chuck D both said that breaking into the world of venture capitalists has been difficult. Haubegger said the rise of Latin music into the mainstream has been a big help. "God bless Ricky Martin," she added.
Carolyn Ayon Lee covers Los Angeles and Orange County for dbusiness.com. She can be reached by e-mail.
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