Tagged: Business

Frazetta break-in update

  • News
  • December 11, 2009

Continuing from our earlier article: Frank Frazetta’s son breaks into father’s museum using backhoe, attempts to take $20 million in paintings

See this? It’s Frank Frazetta’s “Berserker”, used as the cover to Conan The Conqueror. It hung in the Frazetta Museum for ten years until about a month ago, when it was sold to a private collector for one million dollars.

That link is interesting, because it also mentions that Frazetta contradicted himself at times… so if he told his son to get the art and then later said he didn’t, well… that could put his son’s words in a new light.

Heidi MacDonald has been doing great work on this story, and she adds a connection I didn’t make: one of the people who assisted in the break-in was Kevin Clement, who lived next door to the Frazetta museum. Clement is a familiar figure to east coast fantasy fans are the organizer of the Chiller Theatre Expo horror conventions held twice a year in New Jersey. Clement, it is important to note, has not been charged with any crimes.

She also reports:

Over the years Frank Frazetta Sr. has held on to his artwork,
refusing huge sums to sell such iconic works as his Conan covers.
However, after Ellie’s death, Frazetta’s three other children, Heidi,
Holly and Bill retained art dealers Robert Pistella and Steve Ferzoco
to start handling the artwork, licensing and other business matters.
The two formed Frazetta Management Corp. and the way Frazetta’s art was
being handled began to change — in November for the first time one of his legendary Conan covers was sold for $1 million. Not chump change and just the beginning of a likely goldmine.

It’s not exactly a secret that there are a lot of legal questions regarding Frazetta’s iconic artwork — the Frazettas had a legal entanglement
with David Spurlock/Vanguard productions, for instance. With mentions
of a family lawsuit, and other infighting it’s clear that just how to
run the family business has become a matter of contention to the point
where a backhoe was brought in.

This story is just getting started, I think.

So let me ask all the creators who are reading this: have you updated your will yet? How about your power of attorney? When writer John M. Ford died, Neil Gaiman was extra saddened to discover that his good friend and favorite writer had not made out a will to deal with his literary estate. So he went and commissioned a simple boilerplate will that anyone could use so no one would have to suffer this grief and creators’ works would be handled the way the creators would want.

Powerpoint advice from the Incredible Hulk

  • News
  • August 21, 2009

This is the week for angry business stuff here, isn’t it? Yesterday, we had Evil Inc. and Fox Business News, and today we have advice on preparing your business presentations from the Incredible Hulk:

  • Showcase hidden strengths
  • Find something to care about
  • Don’t overdo it
  • And for heaven’s sake, stay calm:

Whether you are the unfortunate victim of a gamma radiation overdose
or just a guy trying to pull off a great presentation, the rule is the
same: Chill out! Things are going to go wrong. Outlets aren’t going to
work. You will forget your extra batteries on the day when your
batteries finally die. Yes. Your fonts are beautiful – and unfathomably
tiny. Here’s an idea: live, learn and laugh. You can’t prepare for
every factor that will mess with your perfect presentation. That’s why
should always be preparing to present the imperfect one. Trust me, throwing the lectern through the wall will solve nothing.

Personally, I always use Jedi skills when giving business presentations. They always work well on the weak-minded.

San Diego Comic-Con Tips, plus one or two extra

  • News
  • July 20, 2009

It’s that time of year again, the time when San Diego Comic-Con goers, grizzled veterans and fresh faced newbies alike, are reading Tom Spurgeon’s 100 tip list and seeing if they forgot anything. Tom’s list is long enough this year to qualify for a novella, but is either the most or second-most useful piece of reading for the con, right up there with the program schedule.

That said, Tom missed a few tips:

Keep your cell phone on vibrate. At all times. You may not be able to hear it ring on the main exhibit hall floor or any late night bars, and you will disrupt a panel if it rings there. Better: when possible, text a message instead of calling– again, because ambient sound levels where you are may be too high to hear anything or because they should be very low.

When asking a question at a panel, if it’s too long to put in a Twitter message, it may be too long to ask. Consider rephrasing.

And you have no excuse for not having a business card. No matter who you are. They’re cheap, easy and quick to get. You don’t have to go crazy on one, but you do have to have something. You never know when you’ll need one– buying a drink for a Playboy Playmate, for example. At worse, buy blank cards and prepare to write your name a lot– but write a few in advance, for speed’s sake.

frank-elle-frazetta-5524025

Eleanor Frazetta, 1935-2009

  • News
  • July 17, 2009

frank-elle-frazetta-5524025Eleanor ‘Ellie’ Frazetta, the wife of celebrated artist Frank Frazetta, passed away today after a courageous one-year battle with cancer.

Eleanor Kelly was born in Massachusetts and moved to New York where she married Frank in November, 1956. She acted as his business partner as well as his lifelong companion. Known for her feisty personality as well as her intuitive business acumen, she was instrumental in successfully establishing record prices for Frank’s work throughout her life.

She is survived by her husband Frank, her four children, Frank Jr., Billy, Holly and Heidi, numerous grandchildren, and many friends.

A public memorial is planned and details will be announced shortly. In the meantime, the family requests privacy.

Our condolences go out to the Frazetta family.

UPDATE: We originally listed Mrs. Frazetta’s birth date as 1956. We regret the error.

ComicMix Quick Picks – what day is it? March 32nd?

What it’s been like here recently…

sifting-through-ideas-1600105

Just way too much stuff to go through, and we’ve been very busy with the print announcement and rushing to get things ready for the Previews catalog, and I have dozens of tabs open to blog about and consolidate. Wheeee!

So this will be more of a high-speed link dump from the last few days. Onward:

  • The cast and crew of Battlestar Galactica at the United Nations – "We are all Cylons. We are all Colonials." Alex Epstein’s take on the last episode of BSG: Seriously? That’s What You Got? My favorite comment on the finale, from Sabrina: "There can be no more spoilers for BSG, because they spoiled it themselves."
     
  • Don’t forget tonight’s Family Guy/Star Trek The Next Generation crossover.
     
  • Non-comics link of the day: John Mellencamp on The State of the Music Business:
    Over the last few years, we have all witnessed the decline of the music business, highlighted by finger-pointing and blame directed against record companies, artists, internet file sharing and any other theories for which a case could be made. We’ve read and heard about the "good old days" and how things used to be. People remember when music existed as an art that motivated social movements. Artists and their music flourished in back alleys, taverns and barns until, in some cases, a popular groundswell propelled it far and wide. These days, that possibility no longer seems to exist. After 35 years as an artist in the recording business, I feel somehow compelled, not inspired, to stand up for our fellow artists and tell that side of the story as I perceive it. Had the industry not been decimated by a lack of vision caused by corporate bean counters obsessed with the bottom line, musicians would have been able to stick with creating music rather than trying to market it as well.
    Hmm– maybe it is a comics link after all.

    14576phantom-md-3224377

  • ‘The Phantom’ will be on SciFi or SyFy or whatever they’re calling it. Impress me: get Billy Zane to do cameos.
     
  • Speaking of SciFi’s name change: SciFi Founder Hates Syfy, Issac Asimov would have hated it, and yo9 for the win.


  • Dharma wants you… since the 70’s apparently.
     

Anything else? Consider this an open thread. (Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.)

ComicMix QuickPicks – January 16-18, 2009

The weekend wrap-up of comic-related news items that might not generate a post of their own, but may be of interest…

* Tom Mason interviews Dan Thompson about his new strip RIP HAYWIRE at Comix 411.

riphaywire010609-6775207

* The Comics Reporter: Dan Vado on the recent changes at Diamond:

…the thing that slaps us up in the face most is the raising of the Purchase Order benchmark to $2500. What that means is that every book needs to generate $2500 of revenue (that would mean a little over $6000 in sales at retail based on the discount we give to Diamond) in order to be listed with Diamond. That does not mean that Diamond is going to cancel or not carry books which appear in the Previews but do not reach that benchmark, but it does mean that if you have a line of books which consistently do not meet that mark, you will not be getting your books listed in the Previews for long…

…what few books we published as floppies will probably not ever see the light of day. While a first issue might sell well enough to meet the benchmark it is more than likely that everything from a second or third issue on will not. Again, I think your average reader might be shocked at how poorly some comics sell. So, if you’re a small publisher or a self-publisher and your plan is to release a mini-series and then collect it as a trade, those plans might change.

It’s a tough spot for everyone to be in. Diamond is in essence asking everyone to sell more in a recessionary environment or find themselves out of the catalog. Short term, a lot of publishers are going to find themselves with no distribution.

Read the whole thing.

* And while we’re getting depressed on comics economics, we have Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics and Games on the Current State of the Comic Market. Via ICV2. Also, who says the Book Business Is Dead? Why, Jason Epstein does… here’s his Autopsy of the Book Business. I’d be slightly more worried if Jason hadn’t been calling the alarm for 15 years… on the other hand, it doesn’t mean he was wrong then or that he’s wrong now.

* It gets even uglier: Anderson News Warns of ‘Implosion’ in Mag Business:

Magazine distributor Anderson News CEO Charlie Anderson is warning of an “implosion in the business” as his company attempts to impose new charges on magazine publishers, according to a report in Folio. Anderson, which represents over 20% of magazine distribution in the U.S., is demanding that publishers pay an additional $.07 per copy distributed (gross, not net of returns) to return magazine distribution to profitability for his company.  “The business has not been profitable and has not been for a very long time,” Anderson said.  “What we are trying to do is give some stability in the channel.  Short of that, there will be an implosion in the business.”  Anderson says he believes that three of the four magazine wholesalers that distribute magazines nationwide are unprofitable.

* Even uglier than that: theBookseller.com reports that book sales were discounted by nearly a billion dollars in England last year.

* Can it get even worse? According to Tom Spurgeon, yes: more newspapers can fold– the Minneapolis Star Tribune just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy– or they could just cut back on their comics sections. And we haven’t even heard about bookstore returns.

* Exhibits examine ties between Jews and comic books — although it amazes me that I find out about an exhibit at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island by reading a newspaper web site in Richmond, Indiana.

* Sir John Mortimer, the creator of Rumpole of the Bailey, has died.

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Jeffrey Katzenberg Sees the Future in 3-D

  • News
  • November 21, 2008

Jeffrey Katzenberg firmly believes in 3-D and told the audience at the inaugural 3DX Film and Entertainment Technology Festival, "In five to seven years, all films, regardless of budgets or type, will be made in 3-D."

As seen this year and reported yesterday, more and more animated films and concert films are being shot for 3-D using improved technology.  Katzenberg, according to The Hollywood Reporter, continued to say, "3-D is how we see, how we take things in. It’s natural. This is not a gimmick; it’s an opportunity to immerse the audience, to heighten the experience."

The DreamWorks co-founder and former Disney executive foresees a day when 3-D technology will be available on mobile phones and laptops. "This is not my father’s 3-D," he said. "There’s no ghosting, no eye strain and best of all, you don’t throw up. Throwing up is not good for anyone’s business."

Producer John Landau added that 3-D would "do for cinema what stereo did for the audio industry." He says the immediate challenge is to get movie audiences to see 3-D as something other than a gimmick from B-films and the 1950s. Once accepted, he says the sky’s the limit.

"Consumers clearly prefer 3-D if they have a choice," Katzenberg said. 3-D films are estimated as being able to earn two to three times the business of a standard 2-D release.

Disney leads the pack with eleven films currently scheduled for release between 2009 and 2010. DreamWorks’ next 3-D offering will be March’s Monsters vs. Aliens and Katzenberg estimates nearly 40% of the ticket sales will come from 3-D fans. He predicts the percentage will jump to over 80 for Shrek 4 in 2010.

Stressing the technical advances that made the latest incarnation of 3-D different from past efforts, Katzenberg said 3-D "will bring people back to the movies who have stopped going."

Marvel’s Maisel Discusses Film Franchises

  • News
  • October 23, 2008

David Maisel, Executive Vice President, Office of the Chief Executive, and Chairman of Marvel Studios spoke to investors last weekend and IESB has a complete transcript up for those interested.

Highlights of the talk, though, indicate that Marvel is working hard to maximize their film franchises without blowing the budget on any single film and prefer controlling the films since that gives them the latitude to maximize scheduling.

Investors questioned if Spider-Man 4, were it to come out in 2010, would complicate Iron Man 2 and Thor?  Maisel said, “It would be a nice situation to have, I think there’s room enough for all three and we’d work that out. But it would absolutely be a nice situation to have for Marvel’s fiscal results that year.” On the other hand, Sony has announced Spidey 4 as coming in 2011.

“This is one of the reasons we did our own studio,” Maisel explained to the room full of non-fans, “because not only, well, three reasons. One, we’ve got, now, the economic upside to the movies, we have 100% the economic upside from Iron Man and from the merchandise of Iron Man, whereas before we only got the small license fee and we had to share merchandising. The second reason is, we can control our destiny, we can announce, ‘hey, Iron Man 2 is this date and we’re making this movie and we’re making Thor and we’re making Avengers and Captain America.’ Sony controls that with Spider-Man and so I can’t comment on when the movies come out beyond what they’ve said. I guess all I can say is that Spider-man films have done so well, that it would be, I would assume, unlikely that we wouldn’t see a steady stream more of Spider-Man films going forward. The exact timing and year is up for them to announce.” (more…)

Orphan Works Bill Back Before Congress Today

  • News
  • October 3, 2008

After killing the Orphan Works bill earlier this week, the House of Representatives is taking it up again today outraging talent from coast to coast. As a result, an urgent call has gone out to fans of all creative endeavors to lobby their congressmen to kill the bill one more time.

According to OpenCongress, the bill “would limit the amount of damages a copyright holder could collect from an infringer of an orphan work if the infringer performed a diligent search for the copyright holder before using their work. The goal of the legislation is to free up for reuse copyrighted works whose holders cannot be found. It would also set up a process for the Copyright Office to certify commercially-produced visual registries to help people locate the holder of a copyright and prevent the orphaning of works in the future.”

The Senate version of the bill can be seen here.

The House version of the bill can be seen here.

Organizations from across the creative arts field have risen to protest the bill as seen at this site.

Wikipedia describes an orphan work this way: “An orphan work is a copyrighted work where it is difficult or impossible to contact the copyright holder. This situation can arise for many reasons. The author could have never been publicly known because the work was published anonymously or the work may have never been traditionally published at all. The identity of the author could have been once known but the information lost over time. Even if the author is known, it may not be possible to determine who inherited the copyright and presently owns it. Nearly any work where a reasonable effort to locate the current copyright owner fails can be considered orphaned. However the designation is often used loosely and in some jurisdictions there is no legal definition at all.”

U.S. Representative Lamar Smith introduced a bill in May 2006 trying to tackle the issue by limiting what can be done when the copyright owner cannot be located.  It was withdrawn from consideration that September.  A similar bill surfaced in March of this year and was formally introduced to congress on April 24. The senate version includes the creation of a database of orphaned pictorial, graphic and sculptural works. (more…)

If You’re Not There, You Just Won’t Get It, Part 2, by Michael Davis

  • News
  • August 15, 2008

milestone-hat-6156711This is part two of the Milestone Media story I began last week. What follows is a brief overview of last’s week article.

Read last week’s article. End of overview.

Denys Cowan, Christopher Priest, Dwayne McDuffie, Derrick Dingle and myself started meeting about building Milestone a few days after Denys rallied the troops. I remember that Priest was a freakin dynamo! This guy would show up with reams of information at every meeting. He was also very inpatient, if we were stalled on something Priest would present a variety of different ways something could work, just to move the process along.

I loved his energy. I loved how he saw the importance in every detail and even when we butted heads (which was often) I respected his point of view. Dwayne wanted to make sure that our books were the best they could be. He stressed professionalism and excellence over everything. He dismissed with respect what was being done in comics then as “What they are doing. Not what we should do.” Derrick was all about the business; he wanted to make sure that we were protected and smart about our business plan. Denys was focused on the magnitude of Milestone – what we could be and our sense of history. Me? I wanted to make sure that we brought new talent into the industry that included people of color.

Yes, Derrick wanted the business to work on a grand scale. Dwayne wanted excellence in everything we did. Denys to make history. Priest to create a dynasty. I wanted to find talent that could make Milestone the absolute best place to be. All of these made up Milestone. Notice that none of these objectives had anything to do with keeping the company black or excluding anybody with regards to race. Shit, we were too busy trying to make this a GREAT company to worry about it being a black company.

Oh, and there was a non-black member (although unofficial) to Milestone. Her name was Chantal d’Aulnis. Chantal was a V.P. at DC Comics and a friend who gave us invaluable advice in the beginning. No, she did not create any characters, or write any (creative) bibles, her advice was along the lines of. “Look at the way that deal was done.” Or “Maybe you should ask that question of so and so.”

This was important because she gave us a matter-of-fact look at who we were. One of the BIG misconceptions about Milestone is that we were owned, created by or part of DC Comics. Over the years we have tried to answer that clearly but somehow it never quite took, so I’ll try and say it clearly here. MILESTONE WAS NEVER OWNED OR CREATED BY DC COMICS.

(more…)

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