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October 15, 2005

DreamWorks "Back" In Universal Dealing

Sept 27, Hot Blog - “You’ll probably hear rumblings about WB being interested soon. And then, expect the Universal/DreamWorks deal to be done before November 15. No other option makes sense for either side.”

Oct 15, LA Times - “Two weeks after abruptly halting talks with NBC Universal, DreamWorks' owners received a counterproposal Friday from the General Electric Co.-owned studio” and “In recent weeks, Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc., has initiated discussions with DreamWorks.”

Duh.

So it was Paramount as the pliant cuckold, spreading its corporate legs wide enough to put the real target, Universal, back on the scent that they were really not that far off of anyway.

The math is not hard to figure out. DreamWorks is roughly $1.2 BILLION in the hole when you count the Paul Allen money. It’s over. Men as powerful as Steven Spielberg and David Geffen don’t want to spend so much of their time sticking chewing gum on their house of cards when there are plenty of people out there who are more than willing to feather their nest with platinum down.

More than just a "Nyah nyah, told you so," looking at this story with remotely clear eyes is a good look at how worthless entertainment journalism has become. One has to respect David Geffen for using the media to negotiate deals, just as Brad Grey has repeatedly, because it is a tool that can be used. But should the media be a tool that can be used by businessmen? Shouldn't there be some counterbalance, just as there is on the Op-Ed pages for politics? Is it right for major papers to simply print what “sources close to the story” tell them every time when it turns out so often that the information is nothing but a negotiating tactic.

We all know the score in this game. We know who uses the media as their publicist. Well, most of us. There are a few reporters who sincerely seem to believe that they are reporting something when things magically drop into their laps. That, my friends, is where the work starts… getting that crumb is not getting the story.

Geez… I though Geffen would wait another month before flipping the switch on Universal again. It’s too obvious. But not for the media.

But this is the same media that bends over when Harvey Weinstein announces that he’s raised one-quarter of what he told everyone he was after, mostly (apparently) in $10 million chunks, and still spins the story of the huge corporation that he and his brother dreamed of and “report” how he’s charmed Wall Street. It’s a classic scam… and you have to give Weinstein credit for his genius at both spin and finding suckers to print this crap. He spin and spins without ever getting the money he needs… comes up with a pittance, which could as realistically as not be more than 50% his and his brother’s money… and then uses the New York Times and L.A. Times and the trades, etc. to sell the great future The Weinstein Company has to potential investors.

And hey… The Weinstein Company may have a great future. Their bookkeeping games are legendary, so I don’t know if the future is that great for the investors. But there is no doubt, Harvey Weinstein can offer up a great, fun, exciting ride for anyone who wants to get on his coattails.

The are only two facts that I have issue with in Claudia Eller’s story on the “revived negotiations.” 1. The Dreamgirls deal may have been one tool Geffen used to signal Universal that he was serious (can’t write that without laughing) about Paramount, but Paramount was not the first studio the film was pitched to for co-financing. The $35 million deal signals nothing in reality.

2. I was of the understanding that both parties did want the deal closed by year-end for tax purposes and in fact, that clearing out the DreamWorks library by year-end was very much the plan. Things change. But the deal can effectively close and can actually occur in whatever quarter works for everyone. That’s just paperwork.

No doubt, there is some ego in being the only person writing realistically about some of this stuff. But I would far prefer that I was lost in a crowd of entertainment journalists who think as complexly on the page as off.

The New LAT Story / The Old Hot Blog Story

Posted by poland at October 15, 2005 08:12 PM

Comments

Posted by: Bruce at October 15, 2005 09:43 PM

Posted by: Angelus21 at October 16, 2005 01:38 AM

Posted by: jeffmcm at October 18, 2005 11:35 AM

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