Looking for an unconventional work-from-home business? How about Dove chocolate?

By Gabrielle Pantera

Dove chocolate candy, a delicious home business

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 2/14/2010 – Mars, one of the largest candy companies in the world, has a secret. They can put you in the chocolate business with Dove Chocolate Discoveries, a venture that intends to make direct-selling a sweet experience. Hosts of the chocolate parties are “chocolatiers” who serve Dove chocolate or make it into special treats.

“The biggest financial advantage of becoming a chocolatier has been being able to pay a few of our monthly bills myself and having the ability to travel and see my friends and fellow chocolatiers,” says Dove chocolatier Ruth Miller. “Whether it’s a girls’ night out, a couples’ wine and chocolate evening, a moms’ play group breakfast or a child’s birthday, we have the entertaining idea to fit. No cooking experience necessary. But if you are able, you can experiment with new recipes until your heart is content.”

“With minimal startup costs, it’s the only direct-selling chocolate company and is perfect for stay-at-home moms or dads looking to make some extra money,” says Overcoming Underearning author Barbara Stanny. “In a time of such financial uncertainty (more…)

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LAVA start-up CEOs and VCs discuss improving economy at event on January 12th, 2010

by Robin Rowe

Greycroft Partners VC Dana Settle, anticipating more IPOs in 2010

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 1/11/2010 – “With a large number of companies in the IPO pipeline, if the market remains somewhat stable or improves there will probably be more IPOs than we’ve seen in quite a while,” says Dana Settle, the partner who oversees West Coast investments at early stage venture capital firm Greycroft Partners with its $75 million fund. Settle, along with Redpoint Ventures general partner Greg Martin, are moderating a breakfast panel of start-up CEOs at an event hosted by LAVA, the Los Angeles Venture Association.

“Capital will continue to be scarce in 2010 with a large number of venture funds raising their own funds,” says Settle. “But as always, there will be capital available to great new companies. Keeping focused with an eye toward profitability gives a CEO the greatest number of options.” For their investments, Greycroft looks toward ad technologies, online marketing, next generation e-commerce infrastructure and to a lesser extent cloud computing and wireless applications. One of Settle’s profitable start-ups with Greycroft investment is United Sample based in Encino.

“2009 was a strong year of growth for us,” says United Sample CEO Matthew Dusig, who’ll be speaking at LAVA.  Dusig says his company has experienced strong growth, despite the economy, with triple digit growth year after year. United Sample provides (more…)

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The year began with virtually every major studio in town telling small budget productions to go take a hike

By Dennis Toth R&R Consulting

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 12/22/2009 – The year 2009 is nearly over, and not a moment too soon. After exhaustive studies, scientists have firmly concluded that 2009 is the crappiest year in living memory. Undoubtedly it is the lousiest year of the 21st Century. It is barely equaled by 1914, 1918 and 1929 in the 20th Century. Heck, it’s almost tempting to say that 2009 is the worse year since 476 (that’s the rough date for the fall of the Western Roman Empire). (more…)

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Future of Film Summit looks for hope from Paula Wagner as Redbox slashes DVD prices

By Dennis Toth R&R Consulting

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 12/15/2009 - As far as Hollywood is concerned, the red menace is back. Last week, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation released its report on the impact of low-rent DVDs through the Redbox system, and guess what – Redbox will result in the complete end of civilization. Like a biblical plague, the pesky little vending machines are in the process of (more…)

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Film budgets soar as Hollywood hopes for bigger box office

By Dennis Toth R&R Consulting

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 12/8/2009 - Like any sane person, I hate to keep beating a dead horse. So why does Pamela McClintock at Variety keep propping up the same smoldering corpse. OK, it seems to be her job to keep insisting that Hollywood is having a swell year despite all obvious signs to the contrary. But you would think (more…)

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Bankroll seminar and other Hollywood events for film and television professionals
By Robin Rowe

Bankroll by Tom Malloy, raised money to star in a film with Amy Smart

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 10/26/2009 – Bankroll book author Tom Malloy presented a seminar on how to bankroll your own film to a packed house at the 99-seat Lost Studio in Hollywood on October 24th.
Malloy described his experiences as an actor-producer financing his own films. Rather than wait for a casting director to cast him and the studio to greenlight the picture, he’s reached out to high net worth investors to back his films. His latest film, Love and Dancing, stars himself and Amy Smart.

Malloy says he likes to have film projects in the $250k to $6M range, that less than $250k would mean he’s working for free and that over $6M is unlikely to be profitable without studio backing. In pitching individual investors, Malloy says a key technique is to pitch to the vested interest. For example, a major investor in Love & Dancing is the owner of a chain of dance studios. And, Amy Smart loves to dance. Accepting the role meant she’d receive weeks of training from a top ballroom dancer.

http://bankrollthebook.com/

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Three new films in top ten, Where the Wild Things Are leads with $11M Friday box office
By Robin Rowe

Where the Wild Things Are leads box office

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 10/17/2009 – Films opening in theaters this weekend, from October 16th, 2009, include Where the Wild Things Are, Citizen and Stepfather.

Where the Wild Things Are was positioned as the big opener this week and is leading the box office. The family adventure stars Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker and James Gandolfini.

“In a way, it’s an action movie starring a nine-year-old,” says director Spike Jonze. “There’s a lot of physical mayhem like dirt clod fights and rampaging in the forest. The island offers up every youngster’s fantasy: the freedom to run and jump and howl, to build and destroy and wrestle and throw things as far as he can. Most of all, to (more…)

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If one were to believe all the news reports, it would appear that the entire motion picture industry has just fallen into the Pacific and sunk slowly beneath the waves
by Dennis Toth, R&R Consulting

Film slowdown. Paramount lot staying busy shooting five new TV series. NCIS Los Angeles starring Chris O'Donnell (above), Big Time Rush, Community, Men of a Certain Age, and Three Rivers.

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 10/17/2009 – Gee gosh golly, what’s wrong with everybody? Last I heard, Variety and the MPAA were telling everybody that everything was okey dokey.

OK, as some of us already knew, they were simply bluffing. Yes, it really isn’t okey dokey. In fact, it is getting kind of poopy out there. Just look at all of the senior executives currently cleaning out their desks. The first round (and I do mean it’s only the beginning) has already hit hard, and the headlines are taking on all of the subtlety of a news report on a mob massacre.

In an article slyly titled “Bloodbath in Hollywood,” the British newspaper The Independent details the major firings and layoffs at Universal Pictures, Disney, Paramount and MGM. Along with the shake-ups at the majors, there are (more…)

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Southern California’s top venture capital conference brings together start-up companies with angel investors, venture capitalists and private equity firms
By Robin Rowe

Bessemer Venture Partners VP James Cham, finding opportunities in a down economy

COSTA MESA, CA (Gosh!TV) 10/8/2009 – In a live event similar in concept to the ABC TV reality series Shark Tank, VentureNet invites Southern California’s most promising companies and entrepreneurs to meet with investors, strategic partners and business leaders from around the country. VentureNet’s been doing it annually for ten years. The one-day conference, held on October 7th, offered a peek into the future of Southern California technology companies.

“Everyone feels the effect of the economy,” says Bessemer Venture Partners VP James Cham. “Nobody likes to see so much wealth destruction. On the other hand, the companies we’re looking at see change in the economy and find opportunity. I’m impressed with how clever people have been to find ways to work in this new environment.” Cham is one of eight venture capitalists taking pitches from southern California companies at VentureNet.

Bessemer Venture Partners is a 100-year-old venture capital firm that invests broadly in technology companies, putting in $100,000 to $25 million. At the smaller end of the scale of VentureNet investors are angel investment groups such as Tech Coast Angels. TCA deals are (more…)

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A TV network in last place looks to Jay Leno and slashes costs with wolves at the door
By Robin Rowe

NBC feels the Jay Leno Effect

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 10/2/2009 – Why is GE ready to talk to Comcast now about selling 51% of NBC Universal? Could it have anything to do with Jay Leno? Will Leno save NBC?

At the Beverly Hills Hotel, during a TV Caucus industry breakfast on September 22nd, 2009, executives discussed the fall season and Leno in particular. “The Leno effect is about cutting costs and delivering for a third or 25% of the cost,” said Lionsgate TV Programming and Production President Kevin Beggs. “If it does a 1.5 they’ll make $300M over a year,” said WME Entertainment Worldwide Head of Non-Scripted TV John Ferriter. “It’s not the best decision for delivering the highest quality content; it helps cable,” said HBO Programming Group President Michael Lombardo. “It’s a smart tactical move,” said USA Network Original Programming President Jeff Wachtel. “It saves money, and perhaps more importantly, it keeps Leno.”

The disarray at NBC scripted television became obvious on August 5th, 2009, when an otherwise mild-mannered Hollywood press corps became irate and hostile as NBC executives laid out plans to turn around NBC’s lackluster third-place network performance. Ben “Ben-B-C” Silverman had recently been fired for NBC’s failures, yet NBC executive Angela Bromstad, in charge of scripted programming, told the press not to expect much change.

When asked about Silverman’s exit, Bromstad drew unintended laughter from the press when she said (more…)

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